YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

SUPPLEMENT

GIBSON'S
I » N
PRESERVATIVE FROM POPERY

Smpntol €m\im m tin %mty Cnntrnrat|.

VOL. VIII.
POPERY AN ENEMY TO SCRIPTURE,
BY JAMES SERCES.
ROMA ANTIQUA ET RECENS,
BY P. MUSSARD.
ON THE UNITY OP THE CHURCH,
BY ISAAC BARROW, D.D.

LONDON:
PUBLISHED BT THE BEITISH SOCIETY TOE PROMOTING THE
RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLES 0E THE BEEORMATION,
8, EXETER HALL, STRAND.
1850.

POPERY AN
ENEMY TO SCRIPTURE.
BY JAMES SERCES.

THE RELIGIOUS RITES
OF
ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME.
BY P. MUSSARD.

A DISCOURSE

CONCERNING

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.
BY ISAAC BARROW.

CAREFULLY REVISED AND EDITED
FOR THE BRITISH SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING THE RELIGIOUS
PRINCIPLES OF THE REFORMATION,
BY THE REV. R. P. BLAKENEY, M.A.
INCUMBENT OF ISOH GREEN, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE.

CONTENTS.

POPERY AN ENEMY TO SCRIPTURE.
Preliminary considerations. page.
Popery is an empty form of religion . . .1
It destroys, 1st, The certainty of the senses . . . 2
2ndly, The use of reason . . .3
Absurdity of such an undertaking . . 3
It subverts, 3rdly, All revelation, the Christian in particular . 4
Five assertions to be proved in the following discourse . . 6
I. HEAD.
The Church of Rome prohibits the laity to read the holy Scriptures 6
This is proved,
1st, From Gregory VII. authority . . . 7
2ndly, From a decree of the Council of Trent . . 7
Absurdity and impracticableness of the same . . 8
Here it is proved, that the writings of the Fathers have
been corrupted by the Church of Rome . . 8
3rdly, From the fourth rule of the Index Expurgatory . 10
Reflections on the seventh rule of the said index . 12
4thly, From the plainest declarations of the most celebrated
Romish writers . ¦ . .12
Objection. The Galilean Church is of a quite different opinion on
this subject . . . . 13
Answer . . . • . .14
Sthly, From the Constitution Unigenitus . 18
6thly, From the opinion of the English Roman Catholic
Divines . . . 20
The principles of D. W. on this subject examined . 20
Judgment on the Translations of the Bible made in the
Vulgar Languages by Roman Catholic Authors . 24
Three Reflections on the Prohibition to read the holy Scrip
tures . . . . .26
A Critical Judgment on the Sermons of the best Roman
Catholic Preachers . . 28
II. HEAD.
Three Principles of the Romanists, which are entirely destructive of
the authority of the holy Scriptures . . .31

V11I CONTENTS. PAGE.
1st. That the Scriptures have no authority of their own . 31
Confuted . . . . . 32
2nd. That they are an imperfect Rule of Faith . . 33
Confuted . . . . . 34
3rd. That they are dark and obscure . . 36
Confuted . . . . . 37
An Inconsistency of the Romanists with regard to the holy Scrip
tures . . - • • .38
III. HEAD.
They speak of the Scriptures with the utmost contempt. Proved at
large . . . . 39
IV. HEAD.
They do not scruple to make Decrees diametrically opposite to the
acknowledged Decisions of the holy Scriptures . . 42
That they arrogate to themselves this enormous prerogative is proved,
1st. From their theory . . 42
2nd. From their practice. Four instances of it. .43
V. HEAD.
The Romanists shamefully corrupt and falsify the holy Scriptures,
to serve their private views . . 45
An account of the Version printed at Bourdeaux in 1686 . 46
„ of the Version of Rouen . . 47
Reflections on the Versions of the New Testament made by
the English Roman Catholic Divines . .47
On the French Versions, especially those of Bourdeaux and
of Rouen . . . . .49
We find in them two sorts of Falsifications.
I. Falsifications less considerable . . .51
Passages misrepresented to support
1. Romish Penances . . .52
2. Pilgrimages . . . .53
3. Unwritten Traditions . . .56
4. The Translation of Relics . . .57
5. Processions . . . .57
6. The Use of Crucifixes . . 57
7. Ecclesiastical Orders and Dignities . .57
II- Falsifications that are most substantial and of the deepest dye 59
Passages falsified to support
1. The Worship of other Beings but God . 59
2. Of Angels . . . .61
3. Of Saints . . . .63
4. Of Images . . .65
To support 5. Transubstantiarjon . . .67
6. The Sacrifice of the Mass . . 70

CONTENTS. IX

7- Purgatory . . . .74
8. The Pains of Purgatory . . 75
9. The Merit of Works . . .76
10. The distinction between mortal and venial Sins 78
11. The Immunities of the Clergy . . 79
To prove 12. That Marriage is a Sacrament . . 80
13. Which the Clergy. is not to partake of . 82
14. Two Texts relating to Marriage strangely adulte
rated . . . .84
15. Passages on various subjects falsified . 87
16. A Bold Stroke for Popery : The words Roman
Faith thrust into the Holy Scriptures . 89
CONCLUSION.
Sixteen Corollaries, or Inferences arising from the foregoing Romish
Principles . . . 92—106

ROMA VETUS ET RECENS.
CHAPTER I.
The occasion of this treatise. The confession of adversaries and
their vain pretences . . . .109
CHAPTER II.
Of the Pontifex Maximus, or Sovereign Pontiff . . 114
CHAPTER III.
Of the sundry orders of Ecclesiastics and their revenues. Of the
monks, hermits, &c. Of their vows, clothing, and austerities. 124
CHAPTER IV.
Of the Mass and the ceremonies depending thereon . . 138
CHAPTER V.
Of Processions ..... 154
CHAPTER VI.
Of Festivals, or Holy Days . . . .162
CHAPTER VII.
Of the Saints, their canonization, the worship paid them, and the
offices attributed to them . . . .175

CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VIII.

PAGE.
. 184

Of Churches . CHAPTER IX.
Of Altars, Relics, the Holy Water Pot, of Asylums, of Votive
Pictures hanging up in the Churches, by the Pagan Romans
called Tabulae votivce ....
CHAPTER X.
Of Images ...••¦ CHAPTER XI.
Of Prayers, of Agnus Deis, of Funerals, of the sound of Bells, of
Purgatory . CHAPTER XII.
The Conclusion, and Reply to the Reasons of our Adversaries . 229

198

205

224

ON THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.
Importance of the subject . . . .241
What the Church is . . . .242
The grounds of Unity among Christians . . . 246
I. Consent in faith .... 247
II. Mutual charity and goodwill . . . 250
III. Spiritual alliance .... 252
IV. Incorporation into the mystical body of Christ . 252
V. Peaceable concord and confederacy . . 253
VI. Consent of the Pastors in doctrine, &c. . . 258
VII. Specifical unity of discipline . . . 260
VIII. Conformity in matters of prudential discipline . 261
Unity under one external head or government not necessary, nor
designed by Christ ..... 262
Answers to the Arguments alleged in proof of such a Unity . 276
Groundless clamours and unreasonable pretensions of Roman
Catholics, &c. . . . . . . 286

ERRATA IN VOL. I.

P. 10, line 11, after " Christ" put a colon.
— 11, note *, after " est" dele the full stop.
— 11, note t, for a full stop after " iniit," put a comma.
— 12, note t> after " Ecclesise" dele the comma.
— 12, note 11, supply from Athanasius the first word of the Greek
sentence, cnrtXStvv.
— 12, note **, put a full stop after " Ariana," and for "Libri" lege
"Liberi." — 12, note tt, put a comma after " detestabilis," and in next line lege
"pergentem." — 13, note $, " Cologne, 1673 :" for 1673, lege 1670.
— 18, line 2, put a semi-colon after " ruin."
— 19, lines 5, 6. The reference in this paragraph is to the document
given infra p. 170-182. Consequently for "Brunswick" (where there
was neither Archbishop nor Bishop) we should read Brundusium, and
" Gibertus" at p. 182 corrects the reading here of " Gibet."
— 19, line 16, " Conimbria" is according to Gibson's text; but
" Coimbra" is the name in common use.
— 74, line 3, " ^Eneis" should be "jEneas," as two lines lower; and
in note *, read " Tergestinus." VOL. II.
P. 43, bottom, " Nicolaus de Malhermis and Antonio Brucioli. See
further particulars in M'Crie's " History of the Progress and Suppression
of the Reformation in Italy ;" 1833, pp. 104-108.

*** The following important paper has been received from
the Rev. J. Pratt, A.M., for whose kind and valuable sug
gestions the Editor of Gibson's Preservative is truly grateful.

Vol. II., p. 115, line 8. "And by these rules all these practices are
common," &c] — Thus the passage stands in Gibson: in the second Edition
of Burnet's Treatise, London, 4to., 1688, which Gibson evidently used, the
words " and by these rules " conclude the last line of a page, while " all"
appears as a pass-word underneath " rules," indicating that the next page
should commence with "all:" this is not the case, however, for the
next page begins with a new paragraph, " These practices are common,"
&c. It is strange that Gibson should not have perceived that something
had dropped out : the passage wanting is here supplied between brackets
from the first Edition of Burnet's Treatise, London, 8vo., 1677.
"And by these rules all [the Primitive Discipline was contrived and
managed ; that it might be a wholesome Medicine for the reforming the
World : and every honest Priest ought to consider these as the end he must
drive at in all his dealings with Penitents, and for this end the Abso
lution is to be withheld till it appears that the person is truely
penitent : and that, both for the Priest's sake that he may not give the
comforts of the Gospel, nor make use of his Ministerial power of loosing
sins, without good grounds : and also for the sinner's sake that he may
be kept under the fear of the wrath of God ; and be excluded from the
comfortable Privileges of the Christian Church, till he had given some
convincing proofs, that he is a penitent indeed. For if he be freed from
these fears by a hasty absolution, it is very like he will be slight in his
Repentance. There must be also some proportion between the penance
and the sin committed ; such as fasting for sins of Intemperance, bodily
severities for Inordinate pleasures, Almsgiving for sins of Covetousness,
great and frequent Devotions for sins of Omission, that so the penance may
prove Medicinal indeed, for purging out the ill humours and recovering
the sinner, and to make the sin more Odious to him. Therefore such
slight penances as saying the Penitential Psalms, and abstaining from
some Meats, with other trifling things of that Nature, are a betraying the
power of the Keys, which was given for Edification and not for Destruction,
and tend to an exposing of Religion, and the Priestly Function to
Contempt.] "These practices are common," &c.
The above is extracted carefully from a copy of the first Edition of
Burnet's Treatise in the British Museum.

POPERY AN
ENEMY TO SCRIPTURE

AN ACCOUNT OF THE SEVERAL METHODS PURSUED BY THE
CHURCH OF ROME TO SINK THE AUTHORITY OF THE
HOLY SCRIPTURES;
AND OF THE VARIOUS FALSIFICATIONS INTRODUCED IN SOME
VERSIONS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT,
Published by the Divines of that Communion, in French and English,
particularly the last in English, by Dr. Wetham, Professor of
Divinity at Douay.

By JAMES SERCES,
Vicar of Appleby in Lincolnshire, and Chaplain to the Right Hon. William
Lord Harrington, one of his Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State.

" Accipe nunc Danaum infidias, et Crimine ab uno
Dices omnes." Virg. Mh. Lib. ii. 65,
"We are not as many, which corrupt the Word of God; but as of
sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ."
2 Cor, ii. 17.

POPERY

ENEMY TO SCRIPTURE.

Preliminary Considerations.

St. Paul forewarned the Christians of his days, that " pe
rilous times should come, when men would have a form of
godliness, but deny the power thereof:"* these words may
with a great deal of reason be applied to the Church of Rome.
They have a form of godliness, and even an empty form ;
their devotions consist mostly in external practices ; their
public worship is made up of a heap of ceremonies, which
being pompous and noisy, are indeed very apt to strike the
fancy, and please the eyes and ears ; but fitter to divert the
mind from serious and spiritual thoughts, than to raise it
above sensible objects. Being repugnant by their nature and
number to the simplicity and genius of the sublime mysteries
of the Gospel, they are rather a clog and an encumbrance to
them, than an ornament ; and like a strong varnisb, that
darkens and corrodes by degrees the colours it was designed
to preserve and to brighten, so these forms eat up the very
heart and substance of that holy religion, which they were to
maintain and to set off.
But the worst in that communion is, that they seem as
solicitous to overthrow the grounds of religion, as they are
ambitious to make a great show of it ; they profess indeed the
fundamental truths of the Gospel, but in reality they destroy
them ; they set them up with one hand, and pull them down
with the other ; the principles of Popery being utterly incon
sistent with those on which Christianity stands ; nay, they
being an axe set to the root of all rational knowledge, of all
religion whatsoever, as may be easily made evident.
* 2 Timothy iii. 5.
VOL. VIII. B

POPERY AN ENEMY

The Principles of Popery are destructive of all Religion, and
rational Knowledge.
All the knowledge we are capable of as men, must of ne
cessity come to us, either through the channel of the senses,
or by the means of our reason, or by the help of an extraor
dinary revelation from God : if these passages are once stopt,
or supposed to be improper to convey instruction into our
minds, then we must give up all hopes of ever knowing any
thing at all, and resolve to live and die like brutes, without
any sense of duty and religion.
And yet, it is upon this absurd supposition that the whole
fabric of Popery is built ; for —
In the first place, a man that is listed a member of the
Roman Church, must divest himself of his senses, and deny
them all manner of credit ; this is the immediate consequence
of his admitting transubstantiation, seeing he cannot receive it
without acknowledging that four of his senses concur to mis
inform him. I do not design to insist here on all the monstrous
absurdities this opinion is full-fraught with ; I would only ask
such a man, why, when his priest tells him, that in the sacra
ment of our Lord's Supper there is no substance of bread and
wine, but the very body and blood of our Saviour, he trusts his
ears, rather than his eyes, that aver quite the reverse 1 How
does he know, that his teacher does not pronounce quite dif
ferent words ? Hath our hearing alone the privilege of being
out of the reach of delusion ? And if so, how comes it to pass,
that our other senses are deprived of that advantage ? But, if
he can assign no good reason for such a difference, as certainly
he cannot, I infer, that he has much less ground to believe,
that his priest teacheth him such a doctrine, than to disbelieve
his senses declaring against it ; because he has but one sense
that assureth him of the first ; whereas he has four that con
tradict his auricular instruction ; and if he cannot be sure that
the words he hears in this circumstance from his teacher's
mouth, are such as they sound in his ears, how can he possibly
be certain that he does not mistake him in any other ; and
consequently, how can he depend upon any religious lectures
that are read to him? And if he cannot, all his religion
vanisheth of course into a total uncertainty, and dwindleth into
nothing. But this is not all ; stript of his senses, he must resign his

TO SCRIPTURE. •>
reason into the bargain ; " The wit and judgment of Ca
tholics,"* says Mr. Cressy, " is to renounce their own judg
ment, and depose their own wit." His new mistress does not
admit of a partial sacrifice ; she requires the whole man : and
truly, why should he repine at the command laid upon him, it
being entirely for his good ? His reason is a silly, dim-sighted,
hood-winked+ thing, filled with prejudices within, surrounded
with darkness and precipices without ; however sharp and
sagacious it may be as to secular affairs, it is blind as to
spiritual ones ; it will necessarily lead him out of the road of
salvation, if not handed and supported by an infallible guide,
which is herself. Thus the Church of Rome addresseth every
day those, whom she would bring over to her communion ;
but— 1st. It is a strange thing indeed, that any should have the
face to pay so ill a compliment to a rational being ; and more
strange still, that it should be heard tamely and in cold blood ;
the attempt to persuade a man in his wits, to make over by an
irrecoverable deed his understanding and his senses to any
body else, to have no more reason of his own, to pull out his
own eyes, in order to see with those of another, is to me most
amazing ; but success in such an undertaking is much more so.
2dly. It seems no less absurd, to presume to reason a man
out of his reason ; for if reason be in itself a dangerous master,
it is never to be hearkened to, no more in a Romanist, who
soever he be, than in a Protestant ; or if it be ever to be
obeyed, it is always to be submitted to.
3dly. But let us overlook for a moment all these inconsis
tencies ; let us admit the Romish hypothesis, and turn reason
out of doors ; how can a man embrace Christianity, or even
Popery itself, upon any justifiable terms ?
To profess Christianity upon solid grounds, he must be con
vinced of its truth and divinity, examine its several doctrines,
and perceive its suitableness to, and connection with some
primary and unquestionable principles, with some standard and
rule of a divine original ; but, for God's sake, where are those
principles, that standard, that rule to be found, if not in reason
itself? Man is made up of two different substances ; his body
cannot apprehend spiritual objects, this is the proper work of
the soul : but how can his soul come at them, if not by that
* Appendix, chap. 7, sect. 8, quoted by Tillotson, Rule of Faith, part
III sect. 1.
t So Mr. Cressy calls it, quoted by Tillotson, ibid.
B 2

4 POPERY AN ENEMY
congenial faculty, which we call reason ? So that, if she is
not allowed to make use of this, she is forbidden to see, and
know any thing within her sphere ; and if complying with such
a prohibition, she nevertheless gives credit to any doctrine,
though never so excellent ; her adhering to, and persevering
in it, is mere credulity and stubbornness, not faith, as being
destitute of all motives of credibility, at that rate, a man
might as well be a Turk, or a heathen, as a Christian ; or, to
speak more rationally, he should be, he should believe nothing
at all, because nothing is to be admitted without some proof
of one sort or another.
But further, in the hypothesis, that reason is not to be con
sulted and relied on in matters of religion, a man can have no
just inducement to turn Papist ; this is plain to a demonstra
tion. The fundamental doctrine of Popery is the infallibility
of the Church ; I will allow it to be as true, as I believe it to be
false ; yet, as long as I am supposed to be incapable to inquire
into the grounds, and to discover the proofs, on which it stands,
I cannot be influenced to assent to them ; while I do not per
ceive them, they are no proofs to me. Besides, either those
proofs are agreeable to reason, or no : if the first, they deserve
to be discarded, as being conformable to a crooked rule ; if the
second, they can be of no weight; the strongest demonstration
will never persuade me to contradict my reason ; could it be
had, it would be liable to the same exceptions which I am
making against the arguments for the Church's infallibility.
3. Therefore if the Church of Rome will entertain any hopes
of ever prevailing with me, she must of necessity permit me
to consult my reason, at least, while lam deliberating, whether
I shall side with her or no ; for she cannot pretend, that I
should pay her an universal obedience, before I am convinced
that I ought to obey her at all : but should she carry her com
plaisance so far, I do not see what she could get by it ; for,
my reason being supposed a blind faculty, how could it direct
me with safety in the choice of a religion ? And if notwith
standing this great imperfection, it can lead me to the true one,
why should I not trust it for the time to come ? After it has
proved exceedingly useful in the most important and most
critical juncture, it seems, that, out of prudence and gratitude,
I ought to take it for my constant companion, for my bosom-
friend. But if I keep acquaintance with it, and mind its dic
tates, I fall out with the Church, who can bear no rival in
point of authority ; so that, for all my endeavours, I cannot

TO SCRIPTURE. 5
see any reason, why I should ever become or continue one of
her members.
That tender mother is so careful of her dear submissive
children, that for fear they should ever go astray, she emanci
pates them at no time. Should they live as old as Methuselah,
she would not think them to be of age, nor discreet and strong
enough to take one step by themselves without being held by
the strings of her infallibility.
Such is the mean, the despicable opinion she entertains of
humanity, that in some cases, she makes no difference
between men and brutes, but uses them all alike ; if she
entitles the first to her prayers and good wishes, so she does
the last. On St. Anthony's day, by her appointment, whole
herds of oxen, horses, and hogs are solemnly sprinkled with
holy water, and blessed by a priest : can one forbear inferring,
that, had it not been for the light which the Reformation has
brought into the world, she would openly have used men like
brutes, seeing in these our days she uses brutes like men.
But in this respect, as well as in a great many others, God's
thoughts and ways are as distant from the thoughts and ways
of the Church of Rome, as the heavens are from the earth.*
Though men were sunk into the deepest abyss of ignorance,
error, and corruption, yet even in those deplorable circum
stances, he entertained so good opinion of their natural
faculties (and I hope he will be allowed to know his own work
better than all the Popes and Councils put together), that he
thought they might, by proper application, be reclaimed into
the paths of knowledge, truth, and virtue. He dealt with
them as with rational creatures, capable of receiving instruction,
and of being persuaded by solid arguments. It was upon
these grounds, that that merciful Father sent them his own
Son, to acquaint them in the clearest and fullest terms with
what he would have them believe, do, hope, and fear : this
gracious revelation, so fit for him to make, and for men to em
brace, we have delivered in the books of the New Testament,
and recommended to our care and constant perusal, as being
our heavenly Magna Charta, the foundation of all our
privileges. Most true it is, that these merciful methods had not the
good luck to be approved of by the leaders of the Church of
Rome : one would think, that they know the way to heaven
* Isaiah lv. 8, 9.

0 POPERY AN ENEMY
better than God himself: he designed to lead them thither by
the way of knowledge, but they think ignorance the safest and
the shortest ; they preach it up as the parent of religion ;*
they are afraid men would have less regard for them and their
decisions, if they were to call nobody master but Christ, f and
hear him alone ; hence it is, they have left no stone unturned
to persuade their disciples, or rather their slaves, that the
holy Scriptures are a sealed book, which they are not worthy
to open and look into ; hence they have abused them with the
most scurrilous language, and tried all ways possible to make
them quite useless : by which final stroke, they made it plain
to all the world, that, what show soever they make of Christian
godliness, they in fact utterly deny the power thereof.
This will appear evident beyond contradiction, when I have
proved the following assertions.
I. That they prohibit the reading of the holy Scriptures
under severe penalties, and lock them up from the laity.
II. That they hold principles entirely destructive of their
authority. III. That they speak of them with the utmost contempt.
IV. That they do not scruple to make decrees diametrically
opposite to the acknowledged decisions of our sacred volumes.
V. That they shamefully corrupt and falsify them to serve
their private views : and this last proposition I design chiefly
to insist and enlarge upon, that the most bigoted Romanist
may see, how honest are the heads of his Church, and how
far they deserve to be trusted.
I. The Church of Rome prohibits the reading of the holy
Scriptures under severe penalties, and locketh them up from
the Laity.
That the priests alone should be entitled to the privilege of
reading the holy Scriptures, and the laity debarred from it,
is so strange a paradox, that even some of the most learned
Romanists J have attempted to persuade the world, that such a
doctrine was never authentically asserted, and generally received
by their communion ; but for all they could say, the thing
remains still as certain, as it is shocking.
To make it evident, I might fetch arguments even from tbe
* Mr. Rushworth, Dialog. III. sect. 7. quoted by Tillots. Rule of Faith,
Part III. Sect. 7.
t Matth. xxiii. 8, 9, 10 ; xvii. 5. Revel, v. 1, 3.
X See Dupin, Dissertat. Prelim, sur la Bible, liv. 1. ch. ix, § iv.

TO SCRIPTURE. 7
times of Gregory VII. It is well known that in the year
1080,* he peremptorily refused "Wratislas, Duke of Bohemia,
the permission of having the divine worship performed in the
language spoken by his subjects; for which he gave this
reason, that " God had thought fit, his word should be con
cealed in some places, for fear it should fall into contempt, and
the people into error ;" and ordered him to oppose with all his
might the vain rashness of those, who had put him upon such
a demand. But waving to trace up the matter so high, I will confine
myself to some of those authorities that are to be met with in
history since the famous Council of Trent.
I begin with the decrees of that Council itself, the great
standard of the present Roman faith.
Though the canon concerning the use of the Holy Scrip
tures contains no positive prohibition to the laity to read
them, yet it is so framed, that it will appear to any considering
man, to comprehend a remote, but a very strong prohibition ;
seeing to permit the use of a thing upon a condition impossible
to be fulfilled, is in effect absolutely to forbid it.
The Councilf enjoins expressly to all those, who shall
peruse the holy books, that they should' be very careful, " not
to wrest them to any sense contrary to the sense that was, and
is actually received in the Church, or to interpret them other
wise than agreeably to the unanimous consent of the Fathers." J
I will not urge, at present, that the rule of interpretation
here prescribed, is a deceitful one, 1st, Because it supposeth
at least that the Fathers never mistook the true meaning of
the Scriptures ; whereas it is undeniable, that there is hardly
one of them, but is fallen into some error, as has been fully
demonstrated, chiefly by two learned moderns, Dallseus§ and
Barbeyrac.|| 2ndly, It supposeth that the Fathers are unani
mous about matters of faith, whereas it is certain that they
* Pictet. Hist. duxi. Siecle, a 1' Annee 1080. p. 773.
t Sess. 4.
t [This rule is moreover deceitful, forasmuch as it requires the Scrip
tures to be understood according to the sense of the Church. No such
thing as an authorised sense or exposition of the Church exists ; the
Douay and other annotations being without proper authority. If the
Scriptures, therefore, are only to be understood according to a sense which
exists only in idea, and not in reality, they cannot be understood at all.
The rule virtually amounts to an absolute prohibition of Scripture. — Ed.]
§ De usu Patrum, lib. 2. c. iii. iv.
|| La Morale des Peres.

8 POPERY AN ENEMY
disagree amongst themselves, even about the most important
articles ; as the same Dallseus* has made it out.
But what I insist upon is, that this rule is absurd, because
impracticable. 1st, It is exceedingly difficult upon several
accounts, even for the most learned men, to know with any
certainty, which was the true opinion of the Fathers concerning
many points of doctrine; and much harder still, to assure one
self from their writings, which was the opinion of the universal
Church in their respective timea, as Dallseus has proved at
large.f 2ndly, I dare say, there never was a man, even amongst
those who sat in the Council of Trent, that, before he deter
mined about the meaning of a text of the Scripture, turned
over all the writings of the Fathers, to know whether they all
agreed in the sense which he put upon it himself; I am sure,
at least, that by keeping close to this method, the most
studious man, were he to live some hundreds of years, could
not clear and explain the tenth part of the New Testament, and
very often would trifle away a deal of time to very little
purpose. 3dly, But let us grant that the learned, at least of the Church
of Rome, might overcome all these difficulties ; can it be af
firmed with any colour of reason, that the illiterate, who are
by much the greatest part of Christians, are qualified to conquer
them ? Have they that stock of learning, and that sagacity,
which is necessary ? Can they spare so much of their time, as
is requisite for such an undertaking ? I shall make no scruple
to say, that, could they, by the means of their faculties, dive
certainly into the sense of the Fathers, they would much easier
by the means of the same, and without the help of these
ancient doctors, find out the true meaning of those places in the
Holy Writ, which they are concerned to understand.
4thly, With what face can the Church of Rome recommend
the Fathers, as the standard of the meaning of the Scriptures,
when it has been a constant practice with them, to adulterate
many ways the writings of those very Fathers ; to bend
their words by some aleration to their own particular doctrines ;
and when no force could wrest them to their sense, to scratch
them out entirely ? Unable to untie the knot, they cut it ;
whereof the reader will see many notorious instances, in that
book of Dalleeusf which I have already quoted, and in Thomas
* Ibid. u. 5. t Ibid. lib. 1. c. v-ix.
t Lib. 1. c. iv.

TO SCRIPTURE. 9
James concerning the Corruption* of the true Fathers ; but besides,
these are undeniable facts ; the inquisitors of Venice publishedf
a new edition of St. Augustine's works in the year 1570, " out
of which were removed all those things, that might infect with
heresy the minds of the faithful, and make them deviate from
the Catholic and orthodox faith ;" these were their own words
in the title page ; fairly acknowledged indeed, but whether
honestly done, let any man judge : no doubt, but, by heretical
doctrines, they understood chiefly those of the Protestants, that
do not square with theirs ; and if so, poor St. Augustine must
have been terribly maimed and curtailed : and yet, it was well
for him, that he was in his grave ; for the inquisitors claim
a right to the body of dissenters, as well as over their works, and
pretend that they may destroy the first, as well as mend the
last. The heads of the Inquisition of Rome, of Madrid, of
Flanders, and other places, have put out catalogues of books,
which they prohibited, in which they have truly acted the part
of that tyrant, who had but one bed for all his prisoners ; if
their legs were too long for it, they were chopped off; and if
too short, they were stretched by the most violent rack : in like
manner, that the ancient Fathers might make the same appear
ance with those of Trent, these inquisitors have lengthened or
abridged them, as suited their design, and forced them to
speak the same language. Any one, that has the least tincture
of Christianity, will think, that these men had none, when he
sees what propositions they have condemned in the writings of
learned men. Nay they carried the insolence further still ;
they laid their sacrilegious hands on the word itself of God ;
Cardinal Quiroga, Inquisitor General of Spain, ordered these
words to be erased out of the 16th Psalm in the Bible of
Robert Stephens, " Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither
wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption."! Besides,
and this comes nearer to our present purpose," I see by the Index
of Madrid, that it was the opinion of the Fathers, and particu
larly of St. Chrysostom, that " the doctrine of the Apostles is
so easy, that any body may understand it ;" § that " it is necessary
for every body to read the holy Scriptures ;" || that "nothing is
* Second part of the Treatise of the corruption of Scripture, Councils,
and Fathers, pag.113— 269.
t Le Clerc Biblioth. Univers. torn. v. Art. 12. pag. 272.
i Fol. 10 and 14. § Fol. 133.
|| Fol. 139. Edit. Salmurii, 1601, juxta Edit. Madriti, 1584.

10 POPERY AN ENEMY
to be ascertained without their authority ;" and yet, these
maxims are condemned as erroneous. What shall I do ? Shall
I believe concerning the obligation of reading the Scriptures ac
cording to the principles of that Greek Father ? But if I do,
I shall reject the current doctrine of the Church of Rome on
this subject; shall I believe contrary to these assertions?
But then, I shall disobey the positive orders of the Council of
Trent, that bids me to entertain the same faith with the
Fathers. From all this I infer: 1st, That the Fathers of Trent have
notoriously contradicted their own principles, and, consequently,
we Protestants may make free with them, without justly in
curring their displeasure. 2ndly, That the rule laid down by
them for the right understanding of the Scriptures, is so much
above the capacity of the generality of Christians, that a per
mission to read them upon that condition only, amounts to no
less than an absolute prohibition of meddling with them at all.
But, besides, it is natural to think, that the composers of the
Index Expurgatory, digested by the order of the Council of
Trent, were thoroughly apprised of the intentions of that
assembly. They were members of it, commissioned* to make
a catalogue of all the books, that countenanced or supported
any heretical doctrines, and in particular those of the Pro
testants, that began to prevail with the most thinking people ;
accordingly, they set about the work, and had finished it just
before their last session ; but the Fathers of the Synod, being of
opinion, " They could not conveniently pass a judgment about
so many and so various books, ordered that the whole should be
referred to the Pope, by whose judgment and authority it
should be determined and made public :"f in pursuance to this
resolution, the Index was laid before Pius IV., who approved of
it, and it was published with the rujes placed at the head of it,
as " by the orders of the Council itself ;" J but whether the
authors of the decrees concerning the reading of the Holy
Scriptures, behaved like Christians, let any man judge ; thus
they speak in the fourth rule, ".Whereas it is manifest by experi
ence, that if the Holy Bible, translated into vulgar language, be
allowed indifferently to any body, there will, on the account of
men's rashness, arise from hence a greater detriment than ad
vantage ; let every one in this matter depend on the judgment
* Sessio xviii.
t Continuato Sessionis xxv. Tit. de Indice Librorum, &c.
t Regular Indicis SS. Synodi Tridentinse jussu cditae.

TO SCRIPTURE. 11
of the bishop or the inquisitor, who, upon information received.
from the rector of the parish, or the confessor, may permit the
reading of the Bible translated by Catholic authors into a
vulgar tongue, to those whom they shall have reason to think
not likely to receive harm from such a reading, but rather an
increase of faith and piety ; and let such a license be granted
them in writing ; but if any without it, presume to read or keep
by him the Bible, he shall be disqualified to receive the absolu
tion of his sins, till he has delivered it up to the ordinary.
" As to the booksellers, who shall sell, or any other way
grant Bibles written in a vulgar language to any man who has
not the aforesaid licence, they shall forfeit the price of their
books, and be liable to be punished at the discretion of the
ordinary. " As to the regulars, (or monks) let them not pretend to
read, or buy them without a licence from their superiors."
But, as if all this variety of close shutters was not sufficient to
keep out the light, Clement VIII., in his annotations on this
rule of Pius IV., multiplies them still; and observes, that
" this law is not to be so understood, as if by it the bishops,
inquisitors, or heads of convents, were invested with a new
power to grant licences to read, buy, or keep the Bible trans
lated into vulgar language ; seeing hitherto, by the order and
practice of the Holy Roman and Universal Inquisition, the
power had been taken away from them, to grant licences to
read, or keep the whole Bible in the vulgar tongue, or any ether
part of the holy Scriptures of the Old or New Testament,
published in any vulgar language, even not so much as the
summaries or compendiums of the said Bibles or books of the
holy Scriptures, translated into any vulgar language ; all which
i? to be inviolably observed." According to this rule, they
prohibit in their Index, " *Ajl the Bibles penned in any vulgar
language whatsoever."t
The Apostles endeavoured all they .could to pull down the
strongholds, and every high thing that exalted itself against
the knowledge of God, to fill the earth with it, as the waters
cover the sea ; J but their pretended successors build up for
tresses, from whence they may batter it to dust ; they raise
* Biblia vulgari quocunque idiomate conscripta.
t [For full information on this subject of the 4th Rule, see the very
able letters of the Rev. John Venn, of Hereford, to the Rev. Mr. Water-
worth, in the post discussional correspondence. London, Seeley, 1845. —
Ed.] t 2 Cor. x. 4, 5.

12 POPERY AN ENEMY
the thickest banks, to prevent its course through the very
city of God.* St. Paul would have the Word of God dwell
richly in Christians ;f but the Fathers of Trent will not suffer
them to hear any the least syllable of it, without they give a
good security, no not to have the least summary or epitome of
the same : can one think that both these hold the same prin
ciples, aim at the same mark, or pursue the same method ? I
am sure, that, except a man has used himself to believe that
white is black, and that wine is blood, he cannot fancy they
do. But before I leave these rules of the Index, I cannot for
bear taking notice of the seventh. I own I am pleased to see
that it prohibits those books, " that professedly handle or teach
lascivious and obscene matters ;" but, at the same time, I am
highly offended at two things ; first, that the holy Scriptures
have met with the same treatment from a Christian assembly
as the most justly abhorred performances ; that the Sermon of
our Saviour on the Mount, and St. Paul's Epistles, had no
better fate allotted them, than Ovid's Epistles, or the Tales of
Boccacio ; that they are commanded to walk out hand in hand;
surely the Scripture, with such company, is not well matched.
Secondly, but what must put the most indolent Christian quite
out of temper, is, that it was thought fit to allow persons of
riper years to read obscene books written by heathen authors,
on the account of the elegance and propriety of the style ; and
yet the same favourable exception was not made in the behalf
of our divinely inspired writers ; how can it be, that those
holy Fathers should find so many graces and allurements in
Martial's or Petronius's style, as to give them sanctuary ; and
so few in Isaiah's Prophecies, David's Psalms, or St. Paul's
Speeches and Epistles, as to turn them all out of doors ? I
will not pretend to guess at the motives of so different a judg
ment ; but, I cannot help thinking, that, if they had kept thV
balance even, they would have granted their protection to our
holy penmen ; if not for the doctrines they teach, for that
they could not safely do, at least for the sublimity of style,
and the majesty of expression, in which they are delivered.
That the Council of Trent really intended to prohibit the
promiscuous reading of the holy Scriptures, appears further
from the most authentic vouchers. Alphonsus a Castro, who
had been one of the members of that renowned assembly, says
• Habak. iii. 14. t Colos. iii. 16.

TO SCRIPTURE. 13
expressly,* that "one of the parents and springs of heresies
was the translation of the holy Scriptures into the vulgar lan
guage, and therefore bestows great praises and encomiums on
the edict of the most illustrious and ' catholic Ferdinand and
Elizabeth, King and Queen of Spain, by which they had for
bidden under the severest penalties, either to translate the
holy Scriptures into the vulgar languages, or to keep any
translation made of them under any pretence whatsoever."
Sixtus Senensis,f says roundly, that, " to allow shoemakers,
fullers, &c, to read the Scriptures, is to give that which is
holy unto the dogs, and to cast pearls before swine ;" J and
Cardinal Bellarmine, the oracle of that communion, is as full
to the purpose as he can be : " We maintain,"§ says he, " that
the Scriptures ought not to be read publicly in the vulgar
tongue, nor allowed to be read indifferently by everybody."
But, though these authorities and arguments seem to carry
along with them the strongest evidence ; yet, it must be owned,
that many eminent French divines have declared against the
doctrine which these assert : they object, that the rules of the
Index, which are its main support, were never received in
France by public authority, as being not the work of the
Council itself of Trent, but only of a private committee ap
pointed by the Fathers ; that it never was maintained and
established by any General Council, and consequently, cannot
be looked upon as the doctrine of the universal Church ; that
the practice of their own Church is a direct confutation of it ;
there being many translations in French, chiefly of the New
Testament, made by Roman Catholic authors ; and many of
their learned men having pressed the indispensable obligation
which every Christian is under, to read the Holy Scriptures,
with as much earnestness and strength, as the most zealous
Protestants can do.
But how specious soever this objection may be, it has more
show than solidity, as, I hope, will be evident from the follow
ing considerations.
I. Though we should suppose, that the Rules of the Index
* Lib. i. cont. Hser. c. 13.
t Biblioth. lib. vi. annot. 152, both quoted by Pet. Dumoulin, Traite
du Juge des Controv. p. 55. t Matth. vii. 6.
§ Lib. ii. de Verbo Dei, c. 16. [His words are : Respondes, inprimis nos
non negare, posse scripturas verti in linguas vulgares : Sed quod conten-
dimus est, non debere publice legi lingua vulgari, nee passim omnibus
permitti legendas scripturas, lingua vulgari." p. 70, torn. i. Prag. 1721.
—Ed.]

14 POPERY AN ENEMY
were never positively, and in fact, received in France, yet it
does not follow, that by right they should not have been re
ceived ; for, as the French hold the Councils to be infallible,
if not in matters of discipline, at least in matters of faith : and
as this proposition, Whether all Christians are bound in duty
to read the Holy Scriptures, is, if any be so, a point of faith,
it follows, that, if they will be true to their principles, they
ought to stand up for the negative, if it can be proved that
the Council of Trent declared for that side of the question ;
but whosoever shall consider impartially what we have said in
the third, fourth, and fifth foregoing paragraphs, will, if I am
not mistaken, find himself necessarily inclined to look upon
the fourth rule of the Index, as an explanation more at large
of the Council's decree, and consequently think, that whoso
ever receives the one, must receive the other. *
II. The Gallican Church is not the whole Catholic body,
though a very considerable part of it ; and her professing a
doctrine is no proof, that it is generally received : for instance,
she denies the Pope's infallibility, and his superiority to the
Council. But do these opinions prevail in Italy, in Spain, in
Portugal ? Do not the French Jesuits themselves epitomise
the Church into the Pope ? By a parity of reason, though in
France they should be for allowing everybody to read the
Scriptures, it follows by no means, that the Universal Church
would do the same. Is it not a matter of fact, that, if in some
Catholic countries, one were so bold, as to have a Bible in the
vulgar language, he would be liable to be prosecuted by the
Inquisition ? That among the people it is no more read than
the Koran of Mahomet ; and even that there are many church
men who never perused it once ? Witness an Italian priest, -f-
who fancied Moses was one of the Christian Fathers ; and a
Spanish monk, who knew so little of Samson, that he was
* [Dens says, " Imo juxta Steyaert recepta est lex et hucusque servata
(cum varietate quadam pro genio regionum) in parte orbis Catholici nivdto
maxima, imo in orbe mere Catholico toto ; solum ubi inter hsereticos de-
gendum fuit, plus indultum est."
Yea, rather, according to Steyaeret, the law (4th rule) was received and
hitherto observed (with some variety, according to the peculiar genius of
nations) 'in by far the greatest portion of the Catholic world, nay, in the
whole of that part of the world which is completely Catholic. It was more
dispensed with only where Catholics lived among heretics, p. 102. torn ii
Dub.-ED.] t These two facts I heard from two worthy gentlemen, who were ear-
witnesses.

TO SCRIPTURE. 15
made to believe he had killed a thousand Philistines with the
jawbone of a Spanish friar. In short, concerning the opinion
of the Church on this point, I might appeal to tho Pope him
self, acknowledged by the French, to be the Head of the
Church, the Successor of St. Peter, the Centre of Unity ; I
might agree to stand or fall by his judgment, which is more,
I believe, than any Protestant ever did : if he gives sentence
in my behalf, well and good, I am right ; if he casts me, I
lose indeed my cause, but he himself will lose more than I :
from that minute, he must give up his infallibility ; for it will
follow, that, since many Popes have prohibited the promis
cuous reading of the holy Scriptures, they were not infallible ;
or that, if they were infallible in this respect, he himself is not,
because he reverseth their decrees.
III. Besides, if the divines of France entertain on this head
the same doctrine with the Protestants, why do not they recom
mend it earnestly "in season and out of season,"* in their
private and public discourses ? I never met with a sermon of
theirs, where the necessity of reading the Scriptures was in
sisted on ; whereas I have seenf some wherein people were
discouraged from it. " Out of the abundance of the heart
the mouth speaketh." J How comes it to pass, that the sa
cred books are never publicly read in the Church in a vulgar
language ? Why do not they make it a duty for monks and
nuns, who are peculiarly devoted to religion, to peruse them
carefully ; whereas, they do not allow them to read any more
than what is appointed by the Rubric ? And this puts me in
mind of the answer § of St. Teresa to a young lady, who had
said, she would bring a Bible into the nunnery : " We do not
care," replied she, " neither for you nor for your Bible ; we are
poor ignorant creatures, that know nothing but to spin and
obey." O happy and safe condition ! Could such good spinsters
miss of getting into heaven ?
IV. Though there have been, and are still, in the Gallican
Church learned men, friends to the holy Scriptures, yet
they never did, nor do now prevail, by their number or credit
above their opposers : very far from it. One of the chief
* 2 Tim. iv. 2.
t See l'Esprit de Mr. Arnaud, 2 Part, xv. Observation, p. 105.
t Matth. xii. 24.
§ It is related by l'Abbe de la Trape. See the Letter of Mr. A — t,
torn. iv. du Preservatif de Mr. Lenfant, p. 281.

16 POPERY AN ENEMY
arts made use of by the Jesuits,* about the latter end of the
last century, to sink the Jansenists' credit at the Court of
Rome, was, to represent them as permitting every body to
read the Scriptures ; which accusation had a wonderful
effect. But what highly deserves to be taken notice of, is,
that these very same Jansenists, who had shewed them
selves so valiant champions in the cause of God's Word,
both in the Preface to their version of the New Testament
printed at Mons, and in their writings against the charges of
the archbishops of Paris and of Ambrun, who would have
banished their translation out of common use ; these very Jan
senists, I say, some few years after, in order to forward their
reconciliation with the Court of Rome that was incensed
against them, made the most solemn, and, at the same time,
the most shameful recantation, that can be imagined. They
wrote a book, entitled, -j- " Lawful Prejudices against Calvi-
nists," in which they set at work all the engines, that wit,
learning, and a most virulent passion could invent, to de
molish the Scriptures, and bring them under an universal
contempt. From this single fact, if we had no other, it
appears, how little we may depend upon the endeavours of the
Gallican Church to ascertain the birth-right of all Christians
to read the Scriptures.
V. But, say they, no General Council ever made it a law,
that they should not be promiscuously read ; therefore such
cannot be thought the doctrine of the Church. What
then ? No General Council had commanded the worship of
images, before the second of Nice, held in the year 787 ; none
had asserted the doctrine of transubstantiation before the
fourth of Lateran, in the year 1215, therefore these tenets were
not generally received before these Councils : this argument is
the very same with theirs, and I am sure, they will not allow
it to be conclusive.
VI. But, in truth, a doctrine needs not to be supported
by any such authority, before it be looked upon as enter
tained by the Church : it is enough, if it is countenanced by
a practice that is universal and of a long standing : much
more, may a doctrine be thought the doctrine of a particular
Church, when it has been confirmed by many decrees of that
* See Le Gere Biblioth. Choisie. torn. ix. art. ix. § 3. p. 352.
t Pn'juges legitimes contre les Calvinistes.

TO SCRIPTURE. 1 7
same Church : but, that in France they have constantly dis
approved of the translating and reading of the holy Scriptures
in the vulgar language, is clear beyond exception from their
own writers. Father Simon observes, 1st, that,* "when
Cardinal de Richelieu, in order to make the conversion of
Protestants easier, strove all he could to have a new version
of the Bible made in French, he was stoutly opposed by the
divinity school of Paris." 2ndly, That whenf the doctors of
Louvain translated the Bible into French, " it was not lawful
for all sorts of people indifferently to read the holy books in
the vulgar tongue, and that the rule of the Index was then
observed." 3rdly, That J "the general assembly§ of the
clergy of France held in 1660 and 1661, condemned equally
the translation of the Bible into the vulgar tongue, and the
French version of the Roman Missal made by Voisin."
Besides, Mallet, Doctor of Sorbonne, in the last nine chapters
of his book "against the lawfulness of people's reading the
Scriptures," has made it out to a demonstration, that such
had been, for the six or seven centuries last past, the opinion,
not only of the Church of Rome in general, but of the Galli-
can Church in particular ; and this he|| shews from the ex
press declarations from many Popes, from censures of the
Sorbonne, especially from that famous one passed upon Eras
mus in the year 1527, from the canons of many provincial
Councils held in France, at Aix in 1585, atToulouse in 1590,
at Narbonne in 1 606, and from many acts of the Parliament
of Paris : and his arguments of this kind are so strong and
cogent, that Mr. Arnaud himself, who had demolished and
pulled to pieces all the others which he had brought, durst
not meddle with these, and left them entirely untouched ;
can any one think, that a man of his temper, who had
been highly provoked by another, to whom he was much
superior in wit, sagacity, and learning, would not have
undertaken to turn him out of this hold also, if he had had
any hopes of success ?
* Hist. Critiq. des Versions du N. Test. c. xliv. p. 538.
t Ibid. c. xxx. p. 340. t Ibid. c. i. pp. 3, 4.
§ Pope Alexander VII. published a Bull, the 8th of January, 1661,
wherein the translators of the holy Scriptures are called Sons of Perdition ;
and this very Bull was approved by the Archbishop of Paris in a Charge
to his Clergy, dated the iOth of April, 1688. -Hist, de I'Edit. de Nantes
par Mr. Benoit, torn. iii. part 1. liv. vi. an. 1661. p. 338. Imp. a Delft.
1695. || See l'Esprit de Mr. Arnaud, part. 2. Observat. xv. pp. 126, 127.
VOL. VIII. C

10 POPERY AN ENEMY
It were to no purpose, in order to lessen the weight of
all these declarations, to urge, that they were made upon
particular occasions, and for preventing the great abuses
that heretics made then of the Scriptures : for, if this reason
was good for those times, it will stand good for all times ;
and consequently, as there will always be heretics of one sort
or other, so the Scriptures should always be forbidden : but
the principle and the consequence are both absurb. For
why ? Because a man may get a surfeit by eating too much,
must he be sentenced to starve ? Because he may mistake his
way at noon, must he be condemned to grope all his days in
the dark ? If not, why should he be deprived of the holy
Scriptures, that bread of life, the best food of his soul, of that
heavenly light granted him to direct his steps into the paths
of truth and virtue, because he may now and then misunder
stand them ?
VII. Some French divines boast indeed very loud of the
many versions, chiefly of the New Tesmament, published
of late amongst them ; but, for God's sake, what sort of
things are some of them ? Mere traps laid in the way of
the ignorant, to catch them unawares ; no great wonder
if their reading was strongly recommended : well might
their authors have entitled them, the Newest Testament, for
surely no such had been seen before. But of this more
hereafter. Another consideration very apt to silence for ever the
Gallican Church on this head, and to add a new weight to
what we have said before, is taken from the Constitution of
Pope Clement XL, called Unigenitus. Everybody knows,
that Father Quesnel, having published a New Testament
with annotations that were chiefly practical, highly displeased
the Court of Rome, or, which is almost the same, the Jesuits :
one hundred and one propositions were extracted out of his
work : eight of them, from the 79th to the 86th asserted, not
only "the right, every Christian from the highest to the
1 lowest, had, but even, the indispensable necessity he was
under, to read at all times, and in all places, the Scrip
tures ; that none of them could pretend to be exempted
from that duty, on the account of their holy darkness ; that it
was not from the simplicity' of women, but from the proud
science of men, that the abuse of Scripture had proceeded,
and heresies had sprung up ; in short, that it was equally
cruel and absurd to deprive the people of the benefit and

TO SCRIPTURE. 19
comfort they might receive from them, and diametrically
opposite to the practice of the Apostles and the design of
God." Any unprejudiced Christian would be apt to think,
the doctrine herein contained, to be sound and wholesome,
perfectly agreeable to the genius and grand scope of the
Gospel ; but his Holiness was very far from being of that
opinion : by the means of his infallible spectacles, he spied in
it a venom, which nobody would have perceived with the
best pair of naked eyes ; it seems he was afraid, that, if the
Scriptures were generally read, Christianity would be lost and
undone ; to prevent such a misfortune, his over-timorous
Holiness published a Bull, dated the 8th of September, 1713,
in which he declared these propositions, as well as all the
others, to be " false, captious, ill-sounding, scandalous, per
nicious, injurious to the Church and its received practices,
seditious, impious, blasphemous, heretical, such as had been
often condemned," &c, and, consequently, forbids "any
of the faithful to teach or maintain, and even to mention
them, either in public or in private, with any other view than
to confute them, &c. which if any body dares to attempt, he is
assured, he will draw upon himself the indignation of God
Almighty, and of the blessed Apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul."
Can anything be more express and positive ? And who will not
admire the beauty and energy of the style of the Roman Court?
It is true, a rigid and nice critic might think it swelled with
redundancies; but prudent men choose rather to abound in
superfluities, than to be wanting in necessaries. This Bull,
such as it is, was received with great submission in most
Popish states and kingdoms : it met, indeed, at first, with great
opposition in France ; but, at last, it was admitted by the
majority of the superior and inferior clergy, confirmed by
royal authority : and those now-a-days, who persist in their
refusal to accept of it, are severely punished for their dis
obedience ; they being either* deprived of their temporalities,
or removed into placesf of banishment, or forced to turn J
themselves out of their religious houses, for fear of a worse
and harder usage. All this being undoubtedly true, can
any Roman Catholic, who has not shaken hands with shame
and modesty, deny, that his Church clearly and positively
condemns the promiscuous reading of the holy Scriptures ?
* The Bishop of Montpellier. t The Bishop of Senez.
t The Carthusians that run away into Holland. C 2

20 POPERY AN ENEMY
But could we hope, that the Gallican Church would abate
of the rigour of the canons on this subject, and allow the
generality of Christians to peruse our sacred books, not by
stealth, but publicly ; yet, we cannot expect the same favour
from the English Catholic divines : much better sons of the
Church, they keep more close to all her commands, and do not
presume to deviate an inch from them : of this we have a very
plain instance in those of Rheims ; they admit in its full ex
tent the fourth rule of the Index, quoted* before ; they speak
of it, as " containing an order which many a wise man wished
for before."f They complain, that " in their days, it could
not be so precisely observed, as in other times and places, where
there is more due respect of the Church's authority, rule, and
discipline ; and trust that, all wise, and godly persons will
behave in this matter as the holy Canons and Councils require."
Doctor W.,J professor of divinity at Douay, published an
English version of the New Testament in 1730, which was
reprinted in 1 733. He is so modest as to own, " He did not pre
tend to make a new translation," § as thinking himself far from
being perfect enough in the Greek to undertake such a work ;
from whence one would be inclined to infer, he has only cor
rected the old Rheimish one ; and yet, in some places, he has
made some alterations, that do not barely regard the language,
but the very sense of the sacred text. Nevertheless, whether
he calls his performance a new translation, or a new edition of
an old one, is what seems to concern the reader very little : I
shall consider it in itself, as offered to the public for such a one,
as the publisher approves of.
The missionaries of Rome have been of late very busy among
us : Doctor W.'s main design seems to have been to favour and
forward their attempts, and. to make them way, by the means
of the holy Scriptures, as being well assured, that they j would
be better received in a Protestant country, with such credentials,
than without. I think it therefore incumbent upon me, in
this circumstance of time, to take a particular notice of what
he may have said to support Popery ; at least, as far as it will
fall in with my present scheme. ' This author shews himself
very fair in telling us his own, and his Church's opinion, con-
* Page 10.
t In the preface to their English verson of the New Testament, p. 2. 3.
\ On the back of the copy I have, which was sent by the L. P. of Ir.
to the L. B. of L. his name is thus written at full length', Wetham.
§ Preface to the Reader, vol. 1. p. 10.

TO SCRIPTURE. 21
cerning the subject we are upon ; I question indeed very much
whether any of my readers will understand better than myself,
how toj reconcile his practice with his theory ; but if he has
contradicted himself, let him look to it.
In his preface to St. John's Gospel, he acquaints us, first,
that, " to prevent and remedy the abuse of the Bible, the best
of books, his Church had judged necessary to forbid the
ignorant to read the Scriptures in vulgar languages, without the
advice and permission of their pastors and spiritual guides —
and that, such had been the opinion of the University of Paris,
1525."* Secondly, he adds, " that whosoever considers the
present state of religion in England, will be fully convinced, that
the just motives of the said prohibition subsist to this very
day ;" he might have added, and will subsist as long as men are
men. Thirdly, agreeably to these principles, he declares, " he
has not published his translations and notes, that every one,
though never so ignorant, might read, and put his own con
struction on the sense of the sacred writings."-!"
; All these declarations are too solemn to pass unobserved ;
I shall therefore make bold to offer some few reflections upon
them. I. It seems very odd for any author, to write a book with the
design it should not be read by the generality of men, and yet,
to strive as much as possible, to make it level to the meanest
capacities : if this doctor did not design to instruct the ignorant,
but rather to set up for a master, and to deserve the applause
of the learned, why did he not choose the language in use
amongst them, which would have opened to him a large field, to
shew his deep knowledge, if not in the Hebrew tongue, which
he owns he knows nothing 6f,% at least in the other parts of
the sacred antiquity ; whereas his book, such as it is, will be
of very little service to those who have been conversant for
many years about these matters.
II. It is as unaccountable, that he will not suffer his ignorant
readers, and, I am afraid, but few of those who are more
knowing, to put their construction on the sense of the sacred
writings ; what does he mean by that ? Does he disallow,
that any arbitrary construction, which has no relation to the
main scope of the sacred writers, the series of the discourse,
the nature of the subject, should be put upon their words ?
So far he is right ; but if he has published any profane author,
* Page 301. t In his Preface to the Reader, page 10.
t In his Preface to the Reader, page 10.

22 POPERY AN ENEMY
he might have given the same caution : does he forbid the
ignorant to put upon the sacred texts the sense, which they
think suits them ; which, when they do, they may properly be
said to put their construction upon them 1 But he had as
good to forbid them to entertain right notions of things.
Does he mean they ought not to put any sense at all on the
expressions of the holy penmen ? If so, I could willingly ask
him a few questions ; first, have their words a certain deter
mined meaning or no ? If not, it is to no purpose to translate
them into any language whatever ; they can be of no manner
of service : and if they have a certain meaning, I ask, will a
due care enable the ignorant to find it out or no ? If it will,
it is worth their while to bestow it : if it will not, then it
is not in their power to know; whether the sense which
Doctor W., in his annotations puts upon the text, is agreeably
to it, and consequently true ; but in this case, shall they believe
the Doctor's assertion, for which they have no better security
than his bare word ? This is truly their last and only re
source ; and if one examineth thoroughly the principles of the
Church of Rome he will find, that every Papist's faith re
solves itself ultimately into the faith and authority of his
spiritual guide, whom he must trust no less than if he were in
fallible. Secondly, Will the Doctor allow the ignorant to put any
sense on his own annotations? Does he think, they can surely
find out their genuine meaning ? If he does not, he wrote then
to no purpose ; and if he does, he must grant, of course, either,
that they can find out the true sense of many clear passages in
the holy Scriptures, or maintain, that he is possessed of the
talent of expressing his thoughts so plainly, that nobody can
mistake him, whereas God is destitute of that prerogative.
III. Did he not know, that translations of the Bible had
been expressly forbidden by the most authentic decrees of his
Church ? He speaks indeed like a dutiful son of the same,
when he says, " he submits his work to the judgment of the
Church, and of the head of the Church, the successor of St.
Peter, &c."* But whether he has acted like one, is not al
together so Clear to me ; and except his superiors have had a
great regard for his humble and modest carriage, and his good
intentions, I do not see, how consistently with their principles,
they could forbear to reprimand him severely. For why ! Since
the Church had thought fit in her great wisdom, to forbid the
* In his Preface to the Reader, page 10.

TO SCRIPTURE. 23
ignorant to meddle with the holy Scriptures ; since he himself
approved of the said prohibition ; since, chiefly, he was con
vinced, that the just motives, on which it was grounded,
subsist to this very day, how could he prevail with himself,
against the plain dictates of his conscience, to tempt ignorant
children to disobey the best of mothers ? Why did he lay a
stumbling-block before them? Had he forgot that terrible
threatening of our Saviour, " Woe to that man, by whom the
offence cometh ?"*
IV. Dr. W. has a reasohingf which is entirely against him :
one may say, he runs himself through with his own sword.
He is arguing, though against the Apostle'sexpress words, for the
lawfulness of the public service in an unknown tongue ; and in
order to shew, how wrong the Protestants are, who would have
all the liturgies translated into the vulgar languages, he says,
"according to their method, the liturgy must be changed into
as many different tongues as there are countries and places,
and in almost every century, as we see by experience, languages
are liable and subject to considerable changes and alterations ;
from thence ariseth a danger of changes as to the doctrine and
belief of the faithful ; errors and heresies are the consequences
that follow from such frequent changes." But, is not the
danger of changes in the doctrine the greater and more evident,
by the different versions of the Bible, than by those of the
liturgies, inasmuch as the Bible is an ancienter book, and a
more sacred foundation of the faith, than any liturgy what
soever ? And if, in order to prevent alterations, Jliturgies are
* Matth. xviii. 7.
+ In his annotations on the xiv. chapter of the 1st to the Corinthians,
36—38, page 125.
t This reasoning of our Doctor, may be turned against him another
way. The motive that persuaded him to publish his translation, was, it
seems, that the version of the divines of Rheims was become " obscure and
scarce intelligible, on the account of the difference of the English tongue,
as it was in their time, and as it is now changed and refined ; so that many
words and expressions, both in the translations and annotations (by length
of time) were become obsolete and no longer in use. "§ But if this difference
in the language, was for him a good reason to favour the public with a new
edition of the Rheimish Testament, why should not the same difference be
a sufficient ground to print new translations of liturgies, when the lan
guages, in which they were at first delivered into the hands of Christians are
become obsolete and scarce intelligible ? Which shews more and more,
that this professor is quite unsettled and wavering in his principles, entirely
inconsistent with himself. § Preface to the Reader, p. 3.

24 POPERY AN ENEMY
not to be translated, surely, for the same reason the Scriptures
ought not ; and much less, when the old versons, made of them
are only become less intelligible by the changes crept into lan
guages ; but if so, why have so many learned men in France
made within a century so many versions of our holy books ?
Why did they not keep to that of Louvain ? It was enough,
and more than enough : why was not our author himself con
tented with the English translation made by the divines of
Rheims ? How is it he was not afraid of occasioning heresies
by his new version ? Or would he intimate that his ought to
be the last ?
V. Should he say, he has prevented by his annotations the
ill-effects which his version might have been attended with ;
the plain English of such a reply would be, that he provided
for the counter-poison, at the same time that he offered the
poison ; and consequently, that his explications are the anti
dote, and the text of the New Testament the poison. But if
so, why then does he call the Bible the best of books ? Or
does he take his notes to be better than the best of books ?
VI. In short, to speak my mind plainly about the transla
tions of any part of the Bible in vulgar languages, published
by Roman Catholics, I cannot but look upon them as down
right violations of the statutes and decrees of their commu
nion ; the only apology that I can think of for their authors,
is taken from a maxim supported by many* Romish casuists,
namely, that as many things in themselves unlawful, may be
come lawful, when the Church may receive some great benefit
from permitting of them ; so the reading of the Scriptures
may be allowed to serve a present turn, or when the insisting
upon its being forbidden, might be of some disadvantage to
the holy cause. Accordingly, Archbishop Codde,t Vicar Apos
tolic in Holland, being censured at Rome in the year 1 700,
for suffering the people committed to his charge, to read the
Scriptures, answered, "that, such a practice was no more than
tolerated and winked at in that country ;" and supported his
complaisance in this respect by these words of a Bishop of
Ypres, named Herinx, " that leave had been granted to some
honest laymen, to read the Bible in a vulgar tongue, J rather by
* See Catechisme des Jesuites, Liv. iii. t. xxvi. p. 545 — 555 Imp a
Ville Franche, 1677.
f Le Clerc Biblioth. Choisie, torn. ix. art. ix. §. 3, p. 352, 353.
t Dissimulatione potfus pia; tolerantite, quam facultate et licentia

TO SCRIPTURE. 25
the dissimulation of a pious toleration, than by an express
permission and licence :" such may have been the views and
motives of Dr. W. in publishing his translation ; but whether,
in case he should get many proselytes amongst us, (which God
forbid !) he would continue to be so indulgent, and patiently
bear, that all those, whom, by printing his version, he has
publicly invited to read the Scriptures, should go on to enjoy
that privilege, is what I question very much, for three reasons
chiefly. 1st, Because he has offered so great a violence to his
principles on this matter, that it cannot well be lasting. 2dly,
The divines of Rheims give us the plainest hint imaginable
what might be our fate, when they declare, that, if they did
translate the New Testament, it was not, because they thought
such a work to be of a general and absolute necessity, but say
they, " we go about it* upon special consideration of the pre
sent time, state, and condition of our country, unto which
divers things are either necessary or profitable and medicinable
now, that otherwise in the peace of the Church were neither
much requisite, nor perchance wholly tolerable ;" consequently,
a time might come, when the Romish doctrines, being deeply
rooted among us, the reading of the holy Scriptures* were not
perchance wholly tolerable. 3dly, It is certain by experience,
that in those countries, where Popery reigns uncontradicted,
and exerts a full sway, such permission is never granted ; and
for a man to presume to ask it, would be the best course he
could take, to be suspected of an inclination, at least, to heresy ;
upon what grounds then should English converts expect any
better usage ?
Likely enough, Dr. W. and his fellow-translators will object
here ; the Protestants are very ill-tempered and hard to be
pleased ; whether we condemn the promiscuous reading of the
Bible, or seem to allow it by printing translations of the same,
they find fault with us ; what can we possibly do to deserve
their good word 1 Our justification is ready :
Either those gentlemen are thoroughly persuaded, that the
Church's prohibitions on this subject, are lawful and just, or
they think not ; if the first, let them back their principles
with their practice, never tempt men to meddle with the
Sacred Books, by printing versions of the same, but to do their
best to conceal them from the people ; then, indeed, we shall
think them plunged in a gross and dangerous error, but free
* In the Preface of their Translation, p. 1. Edit, of John Cousturier,
An. 1633.

26 POPERY AN ENEMY
from any imputation of dishonesty or inconsistency ; if they
think those prohibitions unjust, let them speak out their mind,
unite their interest, and generously do what in them lies to
have them repealed and annulled ; let them upon all occasions,
not only maintain the mere lawfulness, but press upon men's
consciences the indispensable necessity of reading the Scrip
tures, thunder anathemas against those who are remiss in the
discharge of this duty : in a word, let their actions be the
genuine offspring of their inward sentiments ; upon these
terms, they may be sure, they will meet with kind and equal
behaviour from us. But as long as upon what pretence, or in
what manner soever, either the Pope or the Councils, general,
national, or provincial, shall forbid any order of Christians to
look into the Scriptures ; as long as the whole body of Ca
tholics, or any particular Church amongst them, shall forbear
to rise against, and publicly shew their dislike of such a pro
hibition ; as long as we shall see it supported any ways by
theory or practice, we shall think them answerable for a be
haviour that strikes at the very foundation of Christianity.
I do not design to enlarge here upon its contrariety to the
intrinsic excellency of the Scriptures themselves, the end of
their delivery, and to the right of every Christian ; nor upon
its opposition to the most pressing exhortations of holy pen
men, and of the first and best writers of Christianity, as well
as to the practice of the Primitive Church ; for here the
Romanists have not the least rag of antiquity to cover their
nakedness ; all the Fathers stare them full in the face : the
best thing I fancy I can do, is, to refer them on those heads to
some of their own authors, and in particular to Mr. Dupin,*
to the Prefaces that Father Veron and Messrs. de Port Royal
have placed at the head of their versions of the New Testa
ment. It may be, that the same reasons will have a greater
weight with them in these writings than in any discourse of
mine. I shall only add three reflections more, and so con
clude this first general head.
I. The prohibition mentioned hitherto is highly injurious
to the holy Scriptures. For why ? If these lay before men
the best method, the strongest inducements to their present
and eternal happiness, nothing can be more unjust than to
treat them as if they had a quite opposite tendency. I appeal
to experience. What are the rules most commonly followed
• Dissertation Preliminaire sur la Bible, liv i. c. ix. $. 2, 3.

TO SCRIPTURE. 27
by men in reference to other books ? Good ones are carefully
perused and commended ; those that are indifferent are laid
by. We advise our friends against those which we think bad ;
but if we meet with one that asserts principles highly perni
cious, then we endeavour to have it prohibited, condemned,
and destroyed, if possible, at least to have it removed out of
the way of the ignorant. In a word, nobody can give a
stronger proof of the little value which he sets upon a book,
than when he does all he can to hinder it from coming into
people's hands, and in case it does, to force it out of them.
Consequently, to prohibit the Scriptures, as the Church of
Rome does, is to put upon them the greatest affront ima
ginable. II. No method can be devised more effectual than this, to
prevent rational religion from taking root in men's minds, or
to extirpate it where it has. Christian religion is a science
delivered in the New Testament with its principles and conse
quences ; but no science can be learnt without study, and the
surest way to have it unmixed, is no doubt to fetch it from the
very books in which it was originally contained. Waters are
commonly purer at the spring than at a distance from it.
Besides, as we all agree that Christianity comes from God,
shall we not be more deeply affected if we immediately hear
his voice teaching us, than if we hear it only by a proxy, who
himself may have God's instructions, but at the second or
third hand ? But who will apply himself to the study, even
of the best religion, if he be frightened from it with the
dread of such a double torture as " Inquisition" and " Hell ?"
Then the more ignorant a man is, the safer he will think
himself. Dr. W., indeed, maintains,* that though the Romish laity
be not allowed to fetch their knowledge of religion immediately
from the holy books, yet they are carefully " instructed" in
all the things they ought " to believe or practise," either by
catechisms or catechistical instructions, by public sermons
and exhortations. He complains that " some of their adver
saries have been persuaded that they preached in Latin to the
people," and desireth they would but " come and hear them :
it is the worst (says he) I wish them."
I. As justice is the first thing we owe to every body, I
acknowledge, that if any Protestant has thought that the
* Annotations on 1 Cor. xiv. 36 — 38. p. 124.

28 POPF.RY AN ENEMY
learned Papists preach now-a-days in Latin, he was misin
formed. II. But though they preach in a known tongue, yet they
do it so seldom tbat the common people have full time to
forget what they have been taught. That the divine truths
may make their way and fix themselves in the minds of the
ignorant, it is not enough they should be offered at some
solemn time, in Lent, or Advent, or some peculiar holiday ;
they must be inculcated, repeated over and over again ; to
explain them ought to be the work of all seasons, of the whole
year. III. Were public instructions never so frequent amongst
them, yet we could not but find fault that the people are de
prived of another excellent means of knowledge, namely, the
reading of the Scriptures, as if science could be conveyed to
them by too many channels. It is plain St. Paul pursued a
quite different method. He was as industrious, I hope, as any
Romish teacher, in propagating the Gospel ; he preached as
constantly, exhorted as powerfully as any of them, and yet he
commends the Bereans as men of a " noble spirit, for search
ing the Scriptures daily, whether the things were such"* as
he had taught them. Though infallible, he would not have
them rely upon his bare word. He was so far from thinking
that Christians could know too much, that he wisheth they
might "be filled with the knowledge of God's will, in all
wisdom and spiritual understanding.'^
IV. If our doctor says true, how is it that the Romish
laity is the most ignorant of any in the Christian world ; and
nowhere more absurdly so, than where there are most priests
and friars ? I grant that in France, and here in England, they
have somewhat better notions of things ; but for these they
are indebted either to the intercourse they have with the
Protestants that surround them, or to the greater care taken
here for their instruction than would be if they lived abroad.
V. And after all, the benefit is very little which an illiterate
layman can receive from the sermons he hears in that commu
nion. I do not deny but in some places there are now and
then pretty good ones preached, though the best by much in
my opinion are those that are designed to recommend the
duties of morality ; the others, wherein the great truths of
religion are explained, falling very short of them : but even
* Acts xvii. 11. t Coloss. i. 9.

TO SCRIPTURE. 29
the best of -the first kind seem to me, generally speaking, to
carry notorious defects along with them ; many cannot be said
to contain an exposition of any part of Scripture, the texts
read at the head of them being rather ornamental quotations
than foundations of doctrine. They are pompous declama
tions, adorned with elaborated characters ; ingenious and lively
descriptions of the manners of the age, rather than clear and
methodical explications of the nature of virtues and vices.
They seem calculated rather to stir up the passions than to
enlighten the understanding ; to please than to instruct ; to
set off the parts of the author than to amend the hearts of the
hearers. One sees in them a worldly orator, rather than a
Christian teacher ; a man that minds his periods and expres
sions fully as much, if not more, than the things themselves ;
a deal of a florid rhetoric, very little of an apostolical simpli
city ; a plenty of words, a scarcity of thoughts ; too many
warrants quoted out of fallible writers, too few out of the
Scriptures, and even those few often applied with so little
regard to their original meaning, that I do not question but
those fine speakers would scruple to cite a passage out of
Virgil or Horace in the same manner. If such, for the gene
rality, are their very best sermons, what can be the worst ?
Henry Stephens, in his "Apology for Herodote," will instruct
and divert any curious man on this subject. I have myself
heard some discourses in Italy, and even in France, which were
crammed either with nonsense, or with flat impieties, or with
a perfect ridicule. I have seen a whole audience set a laugh
ing ; and truly, except one had been in a very morose and
melancholy mood, he must have joined with them. Dr. W.
may judge from thence that he ventured too far when he gave
full hopes to the Protestants, they would be well pleased with
the preachers of his communion. Very likely the reason which
he went upon was, that he himself could give them a much
greater satisfaction : and I make no doubt of it ; but then I
would have him answer for himself alone.
As I am upon this head, I shall take advantage of the
present opportunity to tell him, that I have not only heard
many of their sermons, but seen the chief devotions that are
in vogue in Italy, and all the ceremonies of the holy week ;
that I have been present when the Pope has officiated upon
some very solemn occasions ; and that I met there with a pro
per employment only for my senses and fancy, but with none
for my understanding : that I found myself agreeably amused

30 POPERY AN ENEMY
for some moments, tired at last, except with music ; sometimes
shocked, but never edified : that I could not help thinking,
that if a heathen had been an eye-witness of all the homages
paid to the Pope in the Church itself, he would have been
necessarily induced to take him for the being that was wor
shipped in the place. As, therefore, I have been credibly in
formed that Popery, such as it is taught in England by mis
sionaries, is freer from pageantry and more rational than as it
is practised at Rome, the very centre of it ; and as one good
turn deserves another, so I hope Dr. W. will take it in good
part if, for his fair and kind wishes, I give him this wholesome
advice, namely, to hinder by all possible means his English
converts from ever going into Italy or Spain, for fear lest they,
finding that things have been strangely misrepresented to them, .
should be tempted to think again for themselves ; in which
case it is ten to one but they would turn as hearty Protestants
as they had been imprudent Papists.
III. My last reflection on this head shall be this : Any man
that seriously considers how the Church of Rome now stands
affected towards the holy Scriptures, must unavoidably be sur
prised at the great revolutions that happen, at the long run,
in men's opinions and behaviour. He must wonder how a
thing, formerly recommended as an invaluable treasure, could
fall under the utmost discredit and neglect. When Chris
tianity was still in its cradle, its nursing-fathers looked upon
the holy Scriptures as the wholesomest food for it ; they made
it their chief business to minister it daily to their babes, who,
by a constant use of the same, grew up to men in so little
while, and spread so vastly, that the world was surprised to
find itself Christian. Now-a-days, those that set up for the
best friends of that profession, being afraid that the same food
should throw its members into a kind of consumption, will not
suffer them to bring it near their mouth but with all the cau
tion imaginable. The heathens, the warmest adversaries of
Christians, did all they could to extort it from them, as think
ing the destroying of it would be the ruin of them. Now it is
thought that the more sparingly they taste of it the healthier
they will be. Formerly, those who being overcome by the
violence of persecutions, delivered up their holy books, were
despised as apostates and called traitors ;* but now, those who
tamely submit never to look into them but when they have
* Traditores.

TO SCRIPTURE 31
leave given them, are adopted by the traditionary Church as
her most hopeful children. Tertullian mentions some heretics,
whom he calls " a people that fly away from the light of the
Scriptures ;"* but now, those that keep at a distance from it
are commended as the only true orthodox. So that the face
of the Christian world is quite changed ; its present patrons
behave very much like its ancient destroyers. Those who, in
the primitive ages, were so tenacious of their holy books, as to
choose rather to part with their lives than with them, were ac
counted heroes ; those that endeavour to imitate them, are
branded for heretics. But if it is so now, " it was not so from
the beginning."-)-
.II. Three Principles of the Romanists* which are entirely
destructive of the Authority of the holy Scriptures.
The Romanists, not contented with this first outrage done to
the Word of God, make bold to offer it another more cutting,
if possible. One might have thought that their prohibiting it
to be read indifferently by every body, proceeded from a kind
of respect for it ; in the same manner, as it was unlawful
under the Mosaical dispensation, for any man, but the High-
Priest to enter into the holy of holies ; but they are so kind,
as to prevent our entertaining so gross a mistake ; and no
doubt, but in this case, though it is not always so with them,
their theory and their practice are very inconsistent : many
principles they; hold, which are entirely destructive of the
authority of our divine Scriptures.
The first is this, " That they have no authority of their
own, or, if they have any, that it is derived to them entirely
from the Church," without which, they should be of no man
ner of weight. And upon this article they have expressed
their mind in the harshest and most offensive terms. One
Wolfgangus Hermannus said, J "that the Scriptures being des
titute of the testimony of the Church, have no more authority
than iEsop's Fables :" which words Cardinal Hosius, writing
against Brentius, avers as containing a true and sound doc
trine; Bayle,§ the Jesuit, speaks very much to the same
purpose : Stapleton, professor of divinity at Douay, said over
* Lucifuga; Scripturarum. Lib. de Resurr. Carnis, c. 47. p. 338. sub
linem, Edit. Franekerae, An. 1697.
t Matth. xix. 8.
t Jurieu, Prejuges legitimes contre le Papisme, Part ii. c. vii. p. 104.
§ Catechisme de Controverse, Qustion 12. de l'Ecriture.

32 POPERY AN ENEMY
and over again,* "that, the Scripture considered in itself, is
not so much the rule of faith, as the faith of the Church is
the rule of the Scriptures themselves." In the Council held at
Rome by Gregory VII. it was determined, " thatf no Chapter
and no Book should be received as Canonical, without the
Pope's authority ;" so that, if his Holiness was ever pleased to
declare, that there is no Word of God, we should believe it ;
and if he does it not, God surely stands highly obliged to him
for his complaisance. If any of my readers has the curiosity
to consult Peter du Moulin.J from whom I have borrowed
these testimonies, he will be surprised to see, how warm and
industrious the most celebrated Romish writers have shewed
themselves in pulling down the credit of the Scriptures, and in
raising upon their ruins the authority of the Church ; in which'
they followed the example, given them by the Fathers§ of
Trent, who willingly suffered the credit of the Scriptures to
be brought into question, and tossed to and fro between liti
gious men, provided their Church's infallibility, that most
unwarrantable prerogative, was allowed, and not at all inquired
into. Two vouchers more I may quote of a later date : every
body knows, that the Jansenists have signalised themselves in
extolling the excellency of the holy Scriptures ; and yet, one
of their chief champions, Mr. Arnaud himself, has advanced
in his Apology || for the Catholics, that " it were a mere folly,
a folly clearer than broad day-light, to undertake to prove from
the Scripture itself, that the Gospels of St. Matthew and of St.
Mark, the Books of Kings and Chronicles were written by in
spired men." The author of the book entitled, " Sure Foot
ing in Christianity," affirms, " that^f it cannot be made evi
dent to the vulgar, that Scripture was written by men divinely
inspired," so that we have only the warrant of the Church,
that it was so. Egregious disciples of Christ ! They profess
to reverence him as a master sent from God, and yet they
pretend that his authority over them depends ultimately upon
* De Author. Script, lib. ii. u. ii.
t Baron. Annal. Anno 1076.
t Traite du Juge des Controver. p. 19 — 32.
§ See the Debate occasioned by the Motion of Vincent Lunelle, in the
History of the Council of Trent, by Fra Paolo, translated by Amelot,
p. 138, ad annum 1546.
|| Apologie pour les Catholiques, citee dans l'Esprit de Mr. Arnaud,
part i. Observat. v. p. 162.
IF Appendix 4, p. 13, qnoted by Tillotson, Rule of Faith, part ii.
sect. iii.

TO SCRIPTURE. 33
their good-will, and has no better ground than that of a
writer of fables : they build all their hopes on his doctrine
contained in our sacred volumes, and they maintain, that those
volumes cannot be proved to be divine! But (God be thanked!)
they have a better right to men's obedience, than any which
they could receive from the patronage of Rome ; should that
communion sink into nothing, the Scriptures would maintain
their ground ; and the lower it is brought, with greater sway
will they rule.
It is affirmed, that they cannot be proved to come from
God: What? Do they bear no character of divinity? Is
there none in the excellent doctrine which they deliver ; no, not
in Christ's sermon upon the Mount ? None in those effica
cious motives they offer to a holy life ; none in the glorious
promises and the dreadful threatenings of the Gospel ; none
in the very miracles and prophecies of our Saviour and his
Apostles ; none in the rapid conversion of the whole world,
which they brought about ; none in the lasting effects of their
preaching ; is there no character of divinity in all this ? The
reverend leaders of the Church of Rome cannot discern a
single one ; but, surely, they are either very dim-sighted, or
hard to be persuaded. What grounds, therefore, do they go
upon, to receive the Scriptures as divine ? Do they do it out
of courtesy, and because they please ? What strange medley of
incredulity and credulity in the same head ?
II. If the holy Scriptures have no stamp of divinity im
printed upon them, I would fain know, whether, when the
Church of Rome declareth them to come from God, she con
veys into them some characters of divinity they had not before ;
if she does, what are they ? If she does not, they must remain
such as they were, destitute of all authority ; except that
Church can make a thing more excellent than it was, without
procuring any the least alteration in its nature and properties ;
which is more, we may presume, than God himself can do.
III. If the Scriptures have no authority of their own, un
doubtedly they can confer none at all ; from whence, therefore,
have the Romanists fetched their titles to infallibility ? Hath
heaven favoured them with some peculiar diploma secretly
conveyed to them ? For our conversion's sake, let them shew
it. Shall we admit of the miracles which they boast of, as
sufficient credentials ? But, were they as genuine as they are
fictious, why should we grant their infallibility to be well es
tablished by them, since they will not allow the Scripture

34 POPERY AN ENEMY
miracles to be a proof of the divinity of our sacred books ?
Shall they take advantage of any declaration contained in them,
as made in their behalf? But then, if they will have those
letters of nobility to serve their turn, let them not tear them
to pieces, or bring them under discredit beforehand ; otherwise,
they will be reduced to this unaccountable extremity (which is
truly their case) to prove their authority from the Scripture,
and the authority of the Scripture from their own, than which
nothing can be more absurd ; from whence it follows, that, if
infallibility was promised in the Scripture to any particular
Church, it could not be ascertained by the principles of the
Romanists ; whereas it could, by those of the Protestants ;
and consequently, that, to turn Papist with any colour of
reason, one must begin by being in good measure a Pro
testant. IV. But it were a trifle, if their pretensions only were sunk
by their very principles ; the worst of all is, that Christianity
itself is undone by them ; for, if it cannot be made out, that
the monuments, on which it relies entirely, are of a divine
original ; it can by no means be demonstrated, that Christianity
is a divine revelation ; at least, no man that does not ac
knowledge the pretended authority of the Church of Rome,
can be made sensible it is so ; consequently, no heathen, no
Jew, can with any shadow of reason be persuaded to embrace it
as such ; for, why should they surrender to proofs taken out
of a book, destitute itself of all authority, which its abettors
trample under foot ? Such are the monstrous inconsistencies
and absurdities arising from this principle of the Romanists,
that " the holy Scriptures are indebted, not to themselves,
but to the Church, for the authority they are clothed with;"
it implies no less than the utter ruin and total overthrow of
the Christian religion.
But were the holy Scriptures allowed to have some authority
essentially belonging to them, they would in good measure
lose it by another principle of the Romanists, namely, that
" they are an imperfect rule of faith, and do not teach every
thing, that is to be believed and practised in order to salvation."
This article stands expressly determined in the decrees of
the Council of Trent, and in the Catechism composed by
the orders of that assembly; it is declared there, that the
unwritten traditions joined with the Scriptures, contain the
complete body of the Christian doctrine, and " ought to be
received and honoured with equal pious affection and reve-

TO SCRIPTURE. 35
rence."* Bellarmine says positively, "that the Scriptures are
not an entire, but only a partial rule of faith,"f and that,
" without the traditions, they are neither simply necessary nor
sufficient." J Gregory de Valence makes it the title of a
chapter, that " the Scripture is not a sufficient rule of faith,
because it does not contain every thing." § Well may the
Romanists charge the holy Scriptures with imperfection, if all
the particular doctrines and practices, which they have tacked
to religion, necessarily belong to it ; seeing they can never
support them by any declaration from thence. But here
lies the grand point between them and us ; we think they
are no part of Christianity, because not mentioned in our
sacred books ; and they think they are, though not taught
in them : which of the two opinions does more honour
to God and his laws, any unprejudiced man will easily de
termine. I. Is it not far more agreeable to the wisdom and goodness
of God, since he was pleased to reveal to his creatures the true
way to happiness, that he should grant them a perfect dis
covery of it, rather than a partial and scanty one ; and should
convey it to them by one sure channel, than pitch it upon two
different ways ; a safe one, that of writing ; the other, exceed
ingly uncertain and fallacious, that of oral tradition ; and that
this last is such, the incomparable Tillotson|| has proved
beyond demonstration.
II. It would be more surprising still, if God, having re
vealed to us but a part of his will, had not expressly told us,
where and from whom we could securely learn the rest ; if he
had not advised us, for instance, to apply ourselves to the
Church, and even to the Church of Rome, as the only deposi
tory of perfect knowledge ; his silence about a point of such
an importance, would be indeed an unaccountable omission in
the holy Scriptures.
III. But why should we surmise that our gracious God has
* Council of Trent, Sess. iv.
t Lib. iv. de verbo non scripto, cap. 12. — [Regula partialis sed non
totalis, p. 128. torn. 1. Prag. 1721.— Ed.]
X Ibid. cap. 4. — [" Primum, Scripturas sine traditionibus nee fuisse
simpliciter necessarias, nee sufficientes," p. 108. torn. 1. Prag.1721. — Ed.]
§ Analys. Fid. lib. iv. u. 3. quoted by du Moulin, Trait, du Juge des
Controverses, p. 28.
|| In his Treatise concerning the Rule of Faith.
D 2

36 POPERY AN ENEMY
been short in furnishing us with all the necessary means of sal
vation, seeing the holy men, whom he commissioned for that very
purpose, assure the Christians, that " they have not shunned
to declare unto them all the counsel of God;"* that "all
Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righte
ousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly
furnished unto all good works. "t Is this the description of
an imperfect revelation ? And if all this is to be found in
the holy Scripture, what can we possibly desire more ?
IV. St. Paul declareth in the most pregnant terms, that
" if any man, if he himself, if an angel from heaven should
preach unto us any other Gospel, than that which he had
preached, he should be accursed. "J But this command can
not be reconciled with these words of Salmeron,§ "The doc
trine of faith admits of additions in things esssential ;" nor
with the behaviour of Leo X., who, in his Bull, called Exurge,
pronounceth anathema against Luther, because he had said,
amongst other things, that " certainly it was not in the power
of the Church, or of the Pope, to make articles of faith."
Some other such passages the reader will meet with in Peter
du Moulin's|| works, out of which these have been taken.
And now, who can forbear being scandalised at the unex
ampled rashness of these men, who assume to themselves to
be " God's counsellors."^ As if salvation was their own,
they pretend in a manner to offer it upon their own terms ;
or, as if it was too easy to come at, they make the way to it
more rugged and difficult, by multiplying the conditions, that
were expressly appointed for its attainment ; whereas, if it had
been promised upon the performance of one single article,
surely, no more should be accounted necessary.
But further, were the Scriptures as full as possible in
setting before us the great lines of all our duties, that would
be but of very little service, because " their instructions are
surrounded with so thick a mist, that no layman's eves can
see through it ;" whenever the Romish doctors set about this
topic, they dwell so long upon it, they swell their exaggera
tions to that degree, that one would be apt to think, that
» Acts xx. 27. t 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17. J Gal. i. 8, 9.
§ Tom. xiii. Disput. vi. part. iii.
|| His Treat, du Juge des Controver. p. 19—32, and Treat, des Tradi
tions, c. v. p. 32—43. f Rom. xi. 34.

TO SCRIPTURE. 37
our sacred oracles are as obscure as those of Delphos ; that
under every word there lies a snake ; and that an illiterate
man cannot presume to put any sense upon them, without
exposing himself to an imminent danger of falling into some
gross error or damnable heresy, except, according to the
order of the Council of Trent, he takes along with him the
Fathers and tradition for his faithful guides.
We readily grant, that our holy books are not clear every
where, nor for every sort of persons, howsoever qualified or
disposed they be. We grant, there are in them many places,
which not only the ignorant laity, but even the acutest cri
tics will perhaps never thoroughly understand ; but withal we
affirm —
I. That most of those places, if not all, that are dark to
us, might be very clear to those, who lived in the times of the
holy penmen ; and that the difficulty which we meet with
now-a-days, to find out their true meaning, ariseth from
causes which are no ways prejudicial to their native clearness ;
as it is agreed among the most judicious commentators of all
communions. II. That the fundamental truths, and the essential duties
of religion are so clearly taught in our sacred writings, so often
repeated and inculcated, that any man of common sense, if he
be of a teachable and pious disposition, will infallibly come to
as full and certain knowledge of them, as is required of him in
Order to his salvation. The lines in which they are drawn
shine with so much brightness that they seem to be written
with the rays of the sun.
III. We make bold to say, there is no capital doctrine,
but is delivered in the holy writ, with greater plainness, and in
words more levelled to the meanest capacities, than they are in
the decrees and canons of the Church of Rome.
IV. To maintain the contrary, is to reflect upon God
himself the author of the holy Scriptures ; for, either he
could not make us a full and clear revelation of our duties,
or he wonld not ; the Romanists cannot say the first, without
imputing to the most perfect being an imperfection, which
they think themselves free from, seeing they set up for the
clearest heads and the best teachers in matters of religion ; to
say, that, though he could, yet he would not, were to repre
sent the most amiable of beings, like that wicked Roman em
peror, who, when he published any new laws, took care they
should be written in so minute characters, and the brass tables
on which they were engraven, hung so high, that nobody

38 POPERY AN ENEMY
could read them, in order that he might have an opportunity
to punish the infringers.
V. The Romanists cannot profess such a doctrine, without
giving the lie to the holy writers, who affirm, that " the tes
timony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple, that it
enlightens the eyes ;"* that, " God's Word is a lamp unto
our feet, and a light unto our path ;"t and, it is much to be
feared, that the Gospel is " so much hid to them, only, be
cause the God of this world has blinded their mind ;" %
because mammon has persuaded them, that the spreading of
such an opinion, would be to them an inexhaustible fund
of worldly grandeur and riches.
VI I could shew it contradicted by numberless passages
out of the Fathers of the best and purest ages of Christianity,
did not I choose to omit them, either because they are well
known, or to be met with every where in writers on this
subject, as well as for brevity sake.
But how much soever I aim at brevity, yet I cannot help
placing here an observation, which at first sight, may appear
very odd, and which nevertheless I take to be well grounded.
The Church of Rome cannot be said to be lavish of the praises,
which she bestows on the holy Scriptures ; and yet, it seems,
that, in some circumstances, she pays them greater compli
ments than her principles allow her to do : the Council of
Trent declareth, that the traditions and the Scriptures being
the two parts that constitute and complete the Word of God,
" ought to be received^ and honoured with an equal pious
affection and reverence." But why so ? For tradition, having,
as they at other times contend, the advantage of the Scrip
tures in point of clearness, fulness, and certainty, is upon these
accounts entitled to a larger share of respect than they are.
This inconsistency of theirs will be the more palpable, if we
consider, first, how greatly they magnify tradition, how
much they revile the Scriptures : Salmeron declareth, that,
" Scripture|| rather commends tradition, than tradition does
the Scripture, and, consequently, that tradition is much more
necessary ; that this is needful to clear many doubts which
are not explained in the holy writ." Cardinal Baronius,^[
* Psalm xix. 7, 8. t Psalm cxix. 105. t 2 Cor. iv. 3 4.
§ Sessio iv. [" paripietatisafTectuacreverenrja.'' p. 17. Paris 1832 
Ed.] || Tom. xiii. part iii. disput. 8.
IF Annal. torn. i. quoted by Jurieu, Prejuges legitimes contre le Papisme,
part ii. u. vii. p. 101.

TO SCRIPTURE. 39
says, that " Traditions are more excellent than the Scriptures,
because the Scriptures cannot subsist if they are not con
firmed by tradition, whereas traditions stand firm and un
shaken without the holy Scriptures." Peter du Moulin*
quotes a world of passages to this same purpose. Secondly,
The Romish doctors are so constant in commending tradition,
that they never say any thing that may derogate from it ;
whereas, for one good word, which they give now and then to
the holy Scriptures (rather, it seems, out of formality, than
out of a deep and sincere respect) they utter thousands, and
those very harsh ones, to their disparagement ; as I shall have
further occasion to shew under the following head.
III. The Romanists speak of the holy Scriptures with the
utmost contempt.
And here indeed the Romish doctors are copious beyond
imagination, industrious in finding out new expressions of con
tumely and spite ; they fall upon the Scriptures tooth and
nail, as beasts of prey upon an harmless lamb, and with the
utmost rage and fury tear it to pieces ; let us but take a short
survey of their unmerciful temper.
I. In all well regulated societies there is so much respect
paid to the laws on which their constitution and preservation
depends, as to have all the public and private controversies
determined by them ; but though it is agreed on all hands,
that the Christian commonwealth is founded on the Scriptures,
yet, the divines of Rome avoid as much as they can to have
the matters in debate tried by them. In the Council of Trent,
the Italian doctors opposed with all their might that way of
proceeding, as " one-r that had been found to be of little
efficacy and service ; and which would give all the advantage
to the Lutherans in their present debates." Richard du Mans
declared in that Synod,J that, " the schoolmen had so well
cleared the matters of faith, that they were no more to be
learnt from the holy Scriptures ;" Mr. Rushworth is of opinion
that,§ "the Catholic should never undertake to convince his
adversary out of the Scripture, because this were to strengthen
* Treatise concerning Traditions, c. vii. p. 55 — 79.
t Fra Paolo, Hist, du Cone, de Trente, Sess. xii. Liv. iv. p. 304, de la
Version d'Amelot, Edit, d' Amsterdam, 1686.
J Id. Ibid. Sess. v. Liv. ii. p. 145.
^ 2 Dialog. Sect. 14, quoted by Tillotson, Rule of Faith, part iv. sect. i.

40 POPERY AN ENEMX
his opponent in his own ground and principle, viz. that all is
to be proved out of Scripture," which he tells us immediately
after is no more fit to convince "than a beetle is to cut withal."
The Jansenists affirm, that, "to* pretend to instruct men in
the faith from the Scripture, is a way notoriously ridiculous
and impossible,f exceedingly long and tedious, attended with
insuperable}: obstacles and difficulties ; so that God cannot
possibly have pitched upon it as a means of -salvation."
II. This is bad enough, but very moderate in comparison
of what follows ; the author of " The sure footing in Chris
tianity," says, that "Scriptures are no more,§ but ink va
riously figured in a book ;" he calls them " unsensed characters,
waxen-natured words, ||not yet sensed, nor having any certain
interpreter, but fit to be played upon diversly by quirks of wit,
that is apt to blunder and confound, but to clear little or no
thing : that, every silly and upstart^] heresy fathers itself upon
them." Costerus, the Jesuit, calls them " a dead letter,**
that suffers itself to be wrested and bent to all manner of
wrong meanings ; a scabbard, that admits of all sorts of
swords, though they be made of steel, lead or wood:" some
others have honoured them with the glorious epithets of "a
killing letter, a mute rule, a dumb judge, a stumbling-block
by a secretff judgment of God laid in the way of fools, that
those, who would rest upon it alone, might stumble at it and
fall into error :" a waxen thing, that has a waxen nose ; in
which last expressions PaaieliusJ J finds " an agreeable and
elegant metaphor, because the Scriptures will yield and bend
all manners of ways ; it being as easy (and even easier) to
wrest them and prove from them profane and impious things,
as out of feet, half-feet, or half verses in Virgil, to compose
wedding-songs, or anything else."
III. The Scriptures, according to the Romanists, are not
only a despicable book, but one of the worst and most dan-
* Prejuges legitimes contreles Calvinistes, c. xiv. p. 251. Edit, de Brux
elles, 1683. t Page 232. $ Page 262.
§ Appendix iv. p. 319.
|| Ibid. p. 68, quoted by Tillot. Rule of Faith, parti, sect. 2.
1F Page 40.
** In his Enchiridium, u. i. quoted by Du Moulin, Trait, de Juge des
Controverses, p. 25.
tt Gregory de Valencia, Anal. Fid. Liv. iv. c. 4, quoted by Du Moulin,
Ibid. p. 29.
Jt In his Annotations on the 39th chap, of Tertullian's Prescriptions,
quoted by Du Moulin, Ibid. p. 31, 32.

TO SCRIPTURE. 41
gerous : " They are* more apt to raise debates, than to' com
pose them, a field open for contentious people ; a two-handed
sword ; some for having meddled with them, having turned
atheists." The Bishops met at Bononia, represented' to
Julius III. that, " in short the Biblef was the book, which,
above all others, had raised those tempests and whirlwinds
which they were almost carried away with."
IV. The natural inference from all this (if true) is un
doubtedly, that the best service one could do to the Christian
world, would be, to destroy such a dangerous weapon as the
Bible, or at least^to have it put out of the way. And this
was publicly agreed to in the very Council of Trent by Anthony
Mariner, who said that, J " the Church had been very perfect
before any of the Apostles had written, and that it would have
wanted for nothing, if nothing had been written ;" Bayle, the
Jesuit, in the Controversial Catechism, § he composed and
published by the order of the Archbishop of Bourdeaux, says,
that, " even now-a-days the Church might Well subsist and be
preserved without the Scripture ;" William Lindanus, that,
" provided|| tradition remains whole and entire, though the
Scriptures were lost, burnt or annihilated, the doctrine would
suffer no detriment ;" John le Febre, Vicar of the Bishop of
Constance, that^[ " we could do very well without the Old
and New Testament, and live very peaceably without the
Gospel:" and another** went so far, as to say, that, "If St.
Paul's Epistles were in no body else's hands but his own, he
would burn them, because they were good for nothing else but
to raise disputes." If so, surely God is much to blame, that
he sent his own Son into the world, to preach a doctrine that
was so little worth hearing ; he intended to save mankind, and
he has undone it , for a wise being he pitched upon very
wrong measures : why, therefore, do the Romanists themselves
" compass sea and land to make proselytes to the Gospel ?"tt
With what face can they pretend to impose upon whole na
tions, dark, imperfect laws, destitute of all intrinsic authority,
such as a petty court of Judicature would be ashamed to
* Pieree Charron, 3 erne Verite, quoted by Du Moul. Ibid. p. 26, 27.
t Quoted by Tillot. vol. i. sermon xxx.
t Fra Paolo Hist, du Cone, de Trente, sess. iii. liv. ii. p. 139.
§ Catechisme des Controverses, quoted by Jurieu, Prejuges legitimes
contre le Papisme, part ii. c. vii. p. 97.
|| Lib. de Optimo genere interpretand. in Prsef. quoted by Jurieu, Ibid.
IF Quoted by the same, Ibid, p 98. ** Quoted by the same, Ibid.
tt Matth. xxiii. 15.

42 POPERY AN ENEMY
govern itself by ? How can they answer for their behaviour to
God whom they blaspheme, to men whom they wrong, to
their consciences which they oppose? "O! tell it not in
Gath, publish it not in tbe streets of Askelon,"* there is
among Christians a sect, that shews the utmost contempt for
those very books, which are the only ground of their faith and
hopes ; that call the " living oracles of God a dead, a killing
letter ;" that forbids the reading of them, as being highly
dangerous; tell it not, publish it not ; lest the Turks rejoice,
lest the uncircumcised, lest the heathens triumph ; or if you
cannot entirely conceal it, say they are Papists, Romanists.
And let them not complain, that we charge their whole Church
with the extravagant impieties of some of their members ; did
they abhor them, as they should, they would never have suf
fered them to be spoken in such au assembly as that of Trent,
to be publicly printed ; they would have censured their authors,
branded their books with infamy. Their inactivity in this re
spect, cannot but be taken for a tacit approbation, or an horri
ble connivance ; besides, as these shocking assertions follow
naturally from principles generally acknowledged and main
tained amongst them, they are justly accountable for them.
IV. The Romanists do not scruple to make Decrees diametri
cally opposite to the acknowledged decisions of the Holy
Scriptures.
Suppose that in the Church of Rome they entertained the
highest value for, and spoke with the most profound respect of
the holy Scripture, would Christianity be much the better, if,
notwithstanding all that outward formal regard, they thought
themselves at liberty to lay aside the clearest and most express
decisions of Scriptures, and to make quite contrary ones ? No,
certainly. I. But that they arrogate to themselves this enormous
prerogative, appears from the declaration of Innocent III. :
" According to the fulness of our power we may dispense with
what is right and above what is right ;"f which the Glossa con
firms in these terms, " he (the Pope) dispenseth against the
Apostle. Item, against the Old Testament. Item, in matter
of vows and oaths ;" the same is affirmed in the Glossa} on
* 2 Samuel i. 20.
t Decret. de Concess. Prsebend. Ti. 8. C. Proposit, quoted by Du
Moulin. Trait, des Traditions, c. vi. p. 46, 47.
t Distinction 34. of the Roman Decree, quoted by Du Moulin, Trait.
du Juge des Controv. p. 38.

TO SCRIP'fURE. 43
the canon, Lector. And Cardinal Bellarmine* writing against
Barcklay has these words ; " the Pope dispenseth with the
vows and oaths, which, according to God's commands, ought
to be performed, and the accomplishing of which is of a divine
right ;" yet, to soften the harshness of so crude an assertion,
he adds, " he dispenseth not, that he is himself above the
law of God, hut because he interprets, or declareth, that it is
God's will that, in such or such a case the oath or vow should be
loosed," i. e. that such or such a man be not bound to perform
either of them ; which sets the Pope at full liberty to prohibit
or command what he pleaseth, against the plain injunctions of
God, as if he had a peculiar revelation from heaven, that the
supreme Lawgiver, in a particular supposed case, had altered
his general mind ; and, consequently, empowers him to turn
upside down all religion, and to make virtue vice, and vice virtue.
II. But how absurd and boundless soever this theory be,
their practice is perfectly agreeable to it ; I shall bring some few
instances out of many.
I. The sacredness of an oath hath been at all times acknow
ledged ; the heathen themselves looked upon it as the strongest
tie that a man could bind himself with ; hence it is, that God
has expressed the greatest abhorrence against, and poured
the severest judgments upon those, that make bold to break
it ; perjury being a sin, that is equally against both tables of
the law : to be convinced of it, let any man cast his eyes upon
those thundering words of God himself, that are contained in
Ezekiel's prophecy : " Shall he break the covenant, and be
delivered ? As I live, saith the Lord God, surely in the place
where the king dwelleth that made him king, whose oath he
despised, and whose covenant he brake, even with him, in the
midst of Babylon he shall die. Neither shall Pharoah with his
mighty army.... make for him in the war. ...seeing he despised
the oath by breaking the covenant (when, lo, he had given his
hand), and hath done all these things, he shall not escape.
Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, As I live, surely mine oath
that he has despised, and my covenant that he has broken,
even it will I recompense upon his own head. And I will
spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare,
and I will bring him to Babylon, and will plead with him there
for his trespass that he hath trespassed against me."+ And
yet, the Popes have many times absolved their subjects from
* Quoted by the same Ibid. p. 47, 48. + Ezek. xvii. 15—20.

44 POPERY AN ENEMY
the oath of allegiance, which they had to their lawful sovereign.
The insulting manner in which Pandulphe and Durand, sent*
into these kingdoms by Innocent III. excommunicated King
John, in the year 1212, and exhorted all his subjects to re
volt, and to take up arms against him, is such an instance of
the Court of Rome's unparalleled boldness, as no true English
man ought ever to forget.
II. Marriage is a contract, which the Scripture has declared
indissoluble : " What God has joined together, let no man put
asunder,"f says our Saviour ; and it is much more so in the
principles of the Romanists, because, though against reason,
they have made it a sacrament ; and yet, the Popes do not scruple
to annul the most lawful ones : Boniface IX. (I borrow the
very words of Gobelin Person, Dean of Bilveld, in his Universal
Chronicle,) "dispensed not only against the Apostle, but even
against the Gospel itself; for he granted leave to Ladislas,
King of Sicily or Naples,- to put away his lawful wife, with
whom he had lived many years, and to marry another."}
III. Another express law of God to the Jews was this, and
it is founded on the purest notions of equity and justice :
" If a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay
him with guile, thou shalt take him from my altar, that he may
die ;" § but it is well known, that at Rome itself, under the very
eyes of his Holiness, if a man, that has been guilty of the
most treacherous murder, or of any crime of the deepest dye,
can but make his escape into a church, there he will find the
safest sanctuary ; ecclesiastical immunities will not suffer him
to be dragged from thence to justice.
IV. Nothing can be clearer, than that Christ instituted the
sacrament of the holy supper under both kinds of bread and
wine ; that the primitive Church and the Christians in after
ages, kept close to the words of the institution ; all this is freely
owned and acknowledged by the Councils of Constance || and
of Trent ;^[ and yet they could find in their hearts, to assert,
they had good reasons to cut off the laity, and even, the
priest not officiating, from the privilege of receiving the cup;
thereby accusing our Saviourof thehighest imprudence and want
of foresight ; they had the assurance to declare all those to be
obstinate who should presume to claim a right to the par-
* Le Clerc. Biblioth. Univers. torn. xi. art. ix. p. 419 — 423.
f Matth. xix. 6.
j Le Clerc, Biblioth. Univers. torn. xi. art. i. p. 20.
§ Exod. xxi. 14.
|| Sess. xiv. Carranza, Surnma Conciliorum, p. 833, 834. fl Sess. xxi.

TO SCRIPTURE. 45
taking of a perfect sacrament ; and to thunder an anathema
and severe punishment against them, if they persisted to
think themselves indispensably bound to obey their master's
express commands.
And now, can any greater and more public contempt be ex
pressed for any statute-book^ than to pronounce against its
express words, against its plain, iterated and known decisions ;
than to think, that they want to be limited, extended, or
altered, according to the exigencies of circumstances ; and that
sometimes they ought not to be minded at all ? Would any
worldly king be pleased, if magistrates appointed by him, had
no more regard for his constitutions ? Would he take them to
be faithful to their trust ? And what opinion can the monarch
of heaven and earth entertain of the heads of the Roman
Church who take those liberties with his oracles which they
would scruple to take with the rescripts and commands of their
prince, though he were a petty one?
V. The Romanists shamefully corrupt and falsify the holy
Scriptures to serve their private views.
And yet, notwithstanding > all these steps taken to lock up
the holy Scriptures from the vulgar, and to divest them of all
possible authority, the governors in the Church of Rome might
well be afraid that some generous Bereans, some stout asserters
of Christian privileges, would not suffer patiently their hea
venly Father's will to be snatched out of their hands, or en
tirely discredited. They might be apprehensive that many
would choose to be informed with their own eyes of its con
tents ; which if ever they did, farewell Popery. Therefore, as
profitable and cheating errors are near akin, and never dwell
far asunder, it was resolved to corrupt the great standard of
the Christian faith ; to slip into the holy Scriptures (and that
in express words) such doctrines as were entirely foreign to
them, but strongly contended for in the Romish Church :
hoping that many of the common people, if not all, might
be prevailed upon by this unfair method to admit of them.
And as for those who should remain stubborn, Inquisition
and Gallies, those cogent and irresistible arguments, were
thought of as the properest way " to compel them to come
in."* How these have been managed it is not my business at
present to shew, I am only concerned to lay before my reader's
* Luke xiv. 23.

46 POPERY AN ENEMY
eyes some pregnant instances of enormous insertions and
cheats, of late made use of to seduce Protestants into the be
lief of the Romish tenets. Numberless, indeed, they have
been, " which, if they should be written every one, I suppose
that even the world itself could not contain the books that
should be written."* But to bring the matter within a nar
row compass, I shall confine myself to some French and Eng
lish versions of the New Testament, that were published
within the last and this century ; more particularly to two
French ones, as the most notoriously and most shamefully
interpolated of any that, for ought I know, ever appeared since
the beginning of Christianity.
The French translation of the New Testament, which in
point of corruption richly deserves to be preferred to all the
others which 1 have met with, was printed at Bordeaux, in the
year 1 686, with the approbation of two divines, f and the per
mission of Lewis d'Anglure de Bourlemont, then archbishop of
that see. Who were the authors of it is not well known;}
but it is plain their grand aim was to draw, at any rate, into
the communion of Rome the ignorant and unwary readers :
nay, it cannot be doubted but it was chiefly designed to per
vert from their faith the French Protestants, against whom
the fiercest persecution had broken out the year before, by the
repeal of the famous, and in itself irrevocable, edict of Nantes.§
Many refugees in this kingdom can aver, that after their own
Bibles, and other books of devotion had been violently taken
from them, they had this version delivered to them in their
stead, and were ordered to peruse it carefully. This I mention
the more willingly, because some Roman Catholics have taken
pains to persuade the world it had never been extant. Two
Jesuits || had the assurance to tell his Excellency, the Baron
Hop, then ambassador from the States-General at Paris, it
was a mere forgery, contrived by the Protestants, to make the

* John xxi. 25.
t Lopez, prebend of the Cathedral Church, and Germain, a Carmelitan
monk. t I have heard that many people had a hand in it. Though I know
nothing of it with certainty, yet I thought this was a sufficient ground for
me to speak of the authors of this version in the plural number and that
the rather because I named nobody.
^ It happened October the 11th, 1685.
|| This anecdote I have from the Rev. Mr. Guitton, who was then Chap
lain to his Excellency.

TO SCRIPTURE. 47
Catholics odious : but that wise minister,* who, while he was
in power, shewed himself upon all occasions a zealous patron of
the oppressed Reformed, was not a man to be shaken in his
opinion by a Jesuitical assertion ; he inquired more strictly
into the matter, got a copy of the said version, and the next
time the same gentlemen came to visit him, he convinced them
of their falsehood by an unexceptionable argument, and shewed
them the book itself. I did not hear they pleaded that the
testimony of the senses was not to be depended upon. Very
likely they did not think of that systematical evasion, or they
durst not resort to it.
Another version, pretty near as bad, was published at
Rouen, first in 1702, and "then in 1703, by M. A. Girodon, a
royal missionary, with many approbations. In the latter edi
tion, which I have, there is also the king's permission for the
printing of it.
Besides these two translations, I shall take into considera
tion those that were published by the divines of Louvain ;f by
Messrs. de Port Royal at Mons ;} by Amelotte,§ one of the
Fathers of the Oratory ; by Father Simon, || and some others ;
and particularly two English ones, the first published by the
Divines of Rheims,^" and the last by Dr. W., Professor of
Divinity at Douay, in 1 733. And as I go along, I shall take
care to inform my reader how far these translations agree with
that of Bordeaux, in adulterating the texts of Scripture, which
relate to the matters controverted between us and the Church
of Rome.
Two reflections I shall place here concerning the English
translators. I. Their versions, generally speaking, are much fairer than
some of the French ones I have mentioned ; and I do not see
why we should scruple to have our controversies decided by
them. They themselves seem to have been sensible that re
maining naked they would not serve their turn, therefore they
have tacked to them annotations that would ; but in them they
commonly beg the question, — endeavour to prove their parti
cular tenets rather from what the Scripture does not say, than
* And yet, sometime after, another Jesuit endeavoured to get out of my
hands the copy I had of this version ; at the same time assuring me that
it was one of the best that had been made of the New Testament.
t Edit, of Rouen, 1608. J Edit, of 1673.
§ Edit, of 1688, Paris. || Edit, of Trevoux, 1702.
1F Edit, of 1633.

48 POPERY AN ENEMY
from what it says expressly ; and suppose that to have been
the constant doctrine of the Church from the Apostles' time
down to our own, which is not only unwarrantable from the
primitive Fathers, but clearly contradicted by them. Besides,
whether they disprove the opinions of the Protestants, or
assert their own, they do it with expressions most virulent, and
entirely unbecoming the performance they appear in. Dr. W.
indeed shews a greater moderation than the Divines of Rheims ;
which may be owing, not to the religion he strives to propa
gate, but either to his milder temper, or to his prudeuce, or to
the politer age he lives in.
II. But there is an unfairness of his, which I cannot well
suffer to pass unobserved. In the very title of his translation,
he promiseth " to give an account of the chief differences
betwixt the text of the ancient Latin version (from which he
translates) and the Greek in the printed editions and manu
scripts :" but he is not as good as his word, and one sees
clearly why ; for whenever the Latin version seemingly favours
some peculiar opinion of his Church, though in those very pas
sages it differs from the common Greek, and from the MSS.,
yet very often he says nothing of that difference, and gives the
readings of his Vulgate as if they were not contradicted at all.
For instance, he translates according to this version, " Jacob
worshipped the top of his rod."* He could not be ignorant
that the Greek of the New Testament, and even the LXX.
read " worshipped on the top of his rod." But had he hinted
at this difference, the most stupid Catholic would have evi
dently perceived that the worship paid to images, relics, or
any other such trinkets, could not be countenanced from this
place. He renders, " Glorify then, and bear God in your body."t
A reader more imprudent than Father Amelotte, might infer
from thence that the real body of our Saviour is truly received
by the communicants in the Lord's supper ; therefore Dr. W.
would not tell him that he had no sure title to this prerogative
of being a " God-bearer," seeing the printed Greek differs
quite from the Vulgate, having these words, " Glorify God in
your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."
He translates, " This sacrament is great,"} as it is in the
Vulgate. He has indeed in his note, " This sacrament, or mys
tery :" but why does he not say that the Greek reads " mys-
* Heb. xi. 21. t 1 Cor. vi. 20. J Eph. v. 32.

TO SCRIPTURE. 49
tery," and not " sacrament ? " Why, because the proof fetched
from this passage to shew that " marriage is a sacrament,"
would have appeared entirely frivolous. He has been guilty
of the same omission on Luke xii. 35 ; xxii. 20 ; John vi.
41 ; 1 Tim. iii. 16 ; 2 Tim. iii. 16; 1 John v. 17. Which
shews that he is not so fair a dealer as might be wished.
This is not the only reason he has given us to find fault
with him ; I shall now and then meet him again in my way ;
at present I take my leave of him, to return to the translators
of Bourdeaux, who will furnish me with the most flagrant
falsifications that can be imagined ; but before I lay them open
I think it proper to premise some few considerations.
I. The first will regard the very title of their version ; it
runs thus : " The New Testament of our Lord Jesus Christ,
translated from the Latin into French, by the Divines of
Louvain ;" the version of Louvain was very well known, and
so far valued among Protestants, that the learned Mr.
Drelincourt, in a little book, he entitled " Epitome of Contro
versies,"* confuted every one of the Romish doctrines, by
quoting the texts of Scripture, such as they stand translated in
it ; therefore, these gentlemen thinking a new edition of the
same would not be mistrusted by Protestants, they endeavoured
to impose upon them their new version for that old one ;
which was a mere bait, to catch them unawares : such good
effects were expected from this base trick, that Mr. Girodon
did not scruple to make use of it, to get credit to his own
translation ; but how these authors could have confidence
enough, and conscience little enough, as to use it, is hard to
conceive ; for they put it in the power of any ploughman, if
he could but read, to convince them of the grossest cheat ; he
had nothing else to do, but to compare their versions with that
of Louvain, and would have found a wide difference between
them, that, if theirs be relied ou, that of Louvain must be en
tirely discarded ; seeing in this, a great many passages are so
rendered, as to support the Protestant doctrines, and to over
throw the Romish ones ; which, in theirs, are as plain as can
be for the Romish hypothesis, and against those of their op
posers ; so that, a double cheat runs through the whole body
of the translations of Bourdeaux and Rouen ; first, they are
not agreeable to the Greek nor even to the Latin version de
clared authentic by the Council of Trent ; secondly, they
* L'Abrege des Controverses, imp a, Geneve l'an 1676.
VOL. VIII. E

50 POPERY AN ENEMY
differ essentially from those of Louvain, which they pretend to
have exactly transcribed.
II. Those conspicuous differences are not to be met with in
the very first books of the New Testament ; the translators of
Bourdeaux chiefly appear from the beginning of their work
arrayed with all the apparel of honesty, they keep close enough
to their original ; but by little and little, they divest themselves
of their sincerity, pull off that useless and cumbersome disguise ;
such men as they could not bear to remain long incognito ;
they soon unmask, and shew themselves in their true colours ;
" Having begun in the spirit, they finish in the flesh :"* some
passages which they had faithfully rendered in St. Matthew,
they falsify in St. Luke and in St. Paul, and the further they
go in their work, the bolder they grow. Had they grossly
corrupted the meaning of the holy penmen from the very first
pages or chapters, there had been no man, but he would
have thrown away their version, as soon as he had taken it
into his hands ; their ill designs had entirely miscarried ; but
they knew better things: being convinced, that the mere
appearance of honesty wins of course reputation to a man,
and gains credit to any thing he may say, they endeavour by
that way to make sure of their reader's trust and benevolence,
well resolved, when they think they can well depend upon it,
to cheat them the best they can, to " give them a stone instead
of bread, a serpent instead of fish."-f Such is the perfect
obedience they pay to this precept of our Saviour, " Be ye
wise as serpents, but harmless as doves."}
III. If the monstrous changes and additions, that occur here,
had been offered as the meaning, which the translators put upon
the text, and had been distinguished from it by a variety in
the character, some apology might have been made for them;
but to exhibit them, as if they were the very expressions of
the Apostles, and by that means to impose, as the declarations
of God, the wild fancies of men, which is the method the
translators of Bourdeaux and Rouen have constantly pursued, is
what any impartial man will think unpardonable.
IV. Were I to pass a general sentence upon these two ver
sions, I could say no less of them, than that they are so
exceedingly bad in every respect, that it were hard to make a
worse ; nothing would be easier than to evince it ; hut my
design is not so much to mark and expose the ignorance, blun-
" Gal. iii. 3. t Matth. vii. 9. 10. * Matth. x. 16.

TO SCRIPTURE. 51
ders and injudiciousness of their authors, as their wilful
mistakes and dishonesty, chiefly in matters that relate to our
controversies ; I am rather to act the part of a witness, than
of a critic ; or, if ever I happen throw in some critical re
marks, the nature of the things will extort them from me.
There is no need of any learning or sagacity to be sensible of
the corruptions I shall produce : if a man has but eyes and
common sensenie must be struck with them.
V. In order to avoid tedious repetitions, I shall put together
the different passages, relating to the same subjects, that lie
scattered up and down in the books of the New Testament,
and connect them the best I can, that my reader may see at
once, how ingenious our authors have been in finding proofs
to support their cause, where there was none ; in fetching oil
out of a dry stone.
VI. And because their falsifications are not all equally gross
and shocking, I shall observe as much as the subjects will bear
it, a kind of gradation in exposing them to view ; beginning
with those that are lighter, in order to proceed to those that
are of the deepest dye,
I. Falsifications that are less considerable.
Let us consider those of the first kind. It is a matter 01
surprise to see how ridiculonsly solicitous the translators of
Bourdeaux and Rouen were to give their versions a Romish air
and appearance ; this indeed is not peculiar to them, but none
other, that I know of, has shewed so universal an affectation ;
they have extended it to the minutest particulars ; one would
think that the holy penmen had lived since the Conncil of
Trent, and were thoroughly acquainted with the niceties of
the Roman Missals, so well do they speak the language of
the Rubric in these translations.
And truly, this conduct was likely to be of great service ;
illiterate readers, seeing the sacred writers constantly employing
expressions, consecrated by Romish liturgies, might be induced
to believe, that they had the very same notions of things that
obtained after them ; which is far from being true. All
languages are liable to unaccountable variations ; the same
words, in process of time,* have more or less extensive, some-
* Ut sylvse foliis pronos mutantur in annos,
Prima cadunt ; ita verborum vetus interit usus,
Et juvenum ritu florent modb nata, vigentque.
E 2

52 ' POPERY AN ENEMY
times quite different ideas annexed to them ; there occurs still
greater variety now and then, between the full meaning of
some expressions in one language, especially if it be a dead one,
and the sense of those, that answer them in a living tongue ;
so that, an interpreter may render word for word, and not re
present the true sense of his original : Why ? Because the
author he translates, did not annex the very same notions to his
words, as he tacks to those he substitutes forT;hem : for in
stance, among the ancients, the word tyrant signified a lawful
sovereign, that governed his subjects with justice and mildness.
The word king, in the Roman commonwealth was odious,* and
intimated an usurper, an illegal prince ; now-a-days they have
exchanged their primitive signification ; and one, who should
take Miltiadesf to have been a bad prince, because he is named
a tyrant, would be highly mistaken ; and so will be any man
who should take the words, adopted by the Church of Rome,
as representing exactly the sense of those, which stand in the
Apostles' writings : there is a partial, but not a total likeness
between them ; and some of them exhibit things so different,
that to impose them upon inattentive readers, as implying the
same ideas, is quite unfair, and does not fall much short of a
perfect cheat ; in short, expressions stamped with a Romish or
an Apostolical coin, have not the same value, either extrinsic
or intrinsic. These remarks will receive a new light from the
examples, we are going to illustrate them by.
I. With a view to recommend, as ordained by Christ and his
Apostles, the different ways of doing penance, so often enjoined
and so strongly inculcated in the Church of Rome, all the
versions I have consulted, made by people of that communion,
let them be English or French, render the word of the original,
that strictly signifies to repent, by doing penance ; a weak
foundation indeed, to support the huge building raised upon it !
To do penance, in the Romish sense, imports the doing of some
outward actions, the exercising upon one's self certain severities,
for a token of the sorrow felt for past misbehaviour ; whereas in
the style of the New Testament, to repent, (/j.e-avoCiv) implies,
not only a sorrow for what has been done amiss, let it be ex-
Multa renascuntur qua- jam cecidere, cadentque
Qua; nunc sunt in honore vocabula, si volet usus,
Quern penes arbitrium est et jus et norma loquendi.
Hor. de Arte Poet. 60, 61, 62, 70, 71, 72.
* Floras lib. 1. c. 9. Suet, in Jul. Cses. v. 79, and in Aug. c. 94.
t See his life in Cornelius Nepos. u. 8.

TO SCRIPTURE. 53
pressed how it will ; but chiefly, what is consequent upon it,
a thorough change of the inward disposition of the mind ; but
can this sense be any tolerable ground for all those Romish
superstitious ways of shewing one's grief for past sins? Will
it follow, that because a man whips himself unmercifully, till
the blood gushes out as if he were a priest of Baal ; because
he tells his beads till he is weary ; says many Pater's, Credo's,
or Ave's, or fasts till his body is a skeleton, that his spiritual
inclinations are no more the same ? One may do all this to
Doom's-day, and be not a whit the better man. And can any one
in his senses fancy, that if the rich man's brethren had done
penance (Luke xvi. 30), no otherwise it would have availed
them a jot to prevent their going into the place of torments 1
And let not the Romanists say, that their Vulgate, which
they are bound to stick to, renders the word of the original
by two others, pcenitentiam agere, that signify exactly, to
do penance ; for those very words in the Latin language do
not import the same notions which they fix upon their eccle
siastical expressions ; I appeal to any man, that is somewhat
conversant in these matters. From all this I infer, 1st, that
the Romish translation of these words, though apparently
literal, is not at all exact, but illusory, and designed to support
some frivolous practices, '^ndly, That true repentance im
plies, not only, what they call attrition, or a bare sorrow for
one's sins ; but a thorough contrition, that proceeds from the
grief of having offended an infinite goodness, and is attended
with an entire change of behaviour and principles of action,
whatever the Jesuits in their loose morals may blasphemously
say to the contrary.
II. Pilgrimages have a place amongst those different ways
of doing penance ; they are often either enjoined by confes
sors, or wilfully undergone by devotees, though so grossly
absurd, that an ingenious man has called them " a penance
for a goose."* Being the genuine offspring of superstition,
they have often proved the parents of idleness and de
bauchery ; by them many constitutions have been impaired,
many families ruined, and they are of course the bane of civil
society : but, as Popery gets daily immense riches by them, it
could not but seem proper, that a foundation should be found
for them in the holy Scriptures ; this is the main pillar on
which they have been supported : the Greek words, and the
* Dr. South.

54 POPERY AN ENEMY
Latin one in the Vulgate, which have been rendered by that of
pilgrim, signify strictly a stranger, a foreigner, a traveller, and
were very fit to express the condition of all true Christians,
who are usually represented in the holy Writ, as being
strangers here upon earth, where " they are absent from the
Lord," (2 Cor. v. 6.) as travelling, as " pressing" (Phil. iii. 14.)
towards heaven their true home. This metaphorical and general
expression has been WTested by the Romanists to a literal and
particular meaning, and consecrated to denote those of their
communion, who, upon some religious account, undertake fa
tiguing journeys a-foot, to visit some holy places, and pay their
devotion to the saints, that have distinguished them by great
pretended miracles ; as if they were slow to hear, their wor
shippers must draw near the habitations they have chosen,
to have their petitions granted.
This practice, though it be a child of darkness, born in
those latter days, when ignorance and superstition had over
spread the whole Christian world, is yet obtruded, as if it drew
its pedigree from Christ and his Apostles ; nay, as if it were
as ancient as the ancientest patriarchs ; it is wonderful to see,
how well all the Romish translators agree in removing its
birth at the greatest distance ; and one who considers the ab
surdity of their proofs, is sometimes at a loss, whether he
ought to be angry or merry with them.
The holy men, that lived before the Mosaical dispensation,
are represented as acknowledging themselves " pilgrims and
strangers;" (Hebrews xi. 13.) which holy places they visited,
where they made their stations, is no where mentioned, but
no matter ; they had, no doubt, many followers, seeing that
we are taught, that, before our Saviour's birth, " Joseph and
Mary used to go in pilgrimage to Jerusalem every year;"*
(Luke ii. 41.) so the version of Bourdeaux renders tins place ;
the text indeed says no more, than that " they went to Jeru
salem ;" but our translators, as if they had some particular
records, thought fit to acquaint us, in what quality they went,
namely, as pilgrims : but then, why did they not render,
" His (Jesus) face was, as though he would go in pilgrimage
to Jerusalem," (Luke ix. 53.) there being the very same
word, Tropeverai, in both these places? It had been a great com
fort to many pilgrims to have the Author of their faith for a
pattern of their devotions; but let them not be impatient, they
* Ses Pere et Mere alloient tous les Ans en Pelerinage en Jerusalem.

TO SCRIPTURE. 55
will soon have this satisfaction ; for, no question, but Christ
had put on a pilgrim's dress, taken a long staff and a hat
adorned with shells, when, after his resurrection, he met the
two disciples, that were going to Emmaus ; since these are in
troduced addressing him thus, " Art thou the only* pilgrim
in Jerusalem, that has not known the things which are come
to pass there in these days ?" (Luke xxiv. 18.) So run the ver
sions of Bourdeaux and of Rouen; and in this last, he is repre
sented at the great day of judgment as setting such a value
upon this his former condition, that he sentenceth to eternal
punishment those who had misused him, when he appeared in
it ; and rewards with the heavenly happiness those, who had
shewed him a due regard ; " I was a pilgrim,f and ye took
me in," will he say to those on his right hand, who will an
swer him, " When saw we thee a pilgrim, and took thee in ?"
In the contrary manner will he speak to those on his left, " I
was a pilgrim, and ye took me not in," who will reply, " When
saw we thee a pilgrim, and did not minister unto thee?"
(Matth. xxv. 35, 38, 43, 44.) In the index of the matters,
placed at the end of this translation, the eunuch of the
Queen of Candace is recommended as a pilgrim, (Actsviii. 27.)
There was commonly such a plenty of these holy travellers at
Jerusalem, that " the field" mentioned in St. Matthew, was
bought to be a burying place " for pilgrims," (Matth. xxvii. 7.)
as the word is rendered in Bourdeaux's. In short, whatever
may be the inconveniences arising from it, such ought to be
every Christian, seeing St. Peter " beseeches us as strangers
and pilgrims to abstain from fleshly lusts;" (1 Pet. ii. 11.)
and St. Paul declareth, that, " while we are at home in the
body, we are} as pilgrims absent from the Lord," (2 Cor. v. 6.)
the word pilgrim being dexterously inserted into the text of
Bourdeaux. Such a painful profession being a sure title to
the favour of God, must certainly be a good one to the bene
volence of men ; who can doubt, but these religious knight-
errants do as much honour to Christianity, as those, whom
they imitate, did to chivalry ? They strip, indeed, their fa
milies and countries of their earthly riches, but they bring
them back in return heavenly blessings, relics that work mira
cles, indulgences that will prove a sure pass into Paradise ;
*Etes vous le seul Pelerin de Jerusalem, qui, &c.
t J'etois Pelerin, et vous m'avez loge, and so on.
t Nous sommes comme Pelerins eloignts du Seigneur.

56 POPERY AN ENEMY
They therefore highly deserve to be encouraged all possible
ways, to be made much of by all sincere Christians : accord
ingly, St. Paul, among the qualifications of a widow, who may
be taken into the service of the Church, requires, that, "she
have lodged pilgrims :" (1 Tim. v. 10.) and St. John bestows
great praises on Gaius, because he behaves well and " faith
fully towards pilgrims," (3 Epist. ver. 5.) as these places are
rendered in the version of Bourdeaux. In all which, we can
not but be shocked with the poor pitiful abuse of a word,
which they thrust into the text, right or wrong, and which
they would fain force upon us with all the tackling they have
adorned it with ; but, before we admit of it, they must, if they
please, either look for authorities to support the modern no
tions they have added to it ; or make use of it in its primitive
simplicity. In vain would it be for them to object, that we blame them
for what we do ourselves ; seeing the Protestant versions, either
English or French, have now and then rendered the word of
the text by that of pilgrim ; for, 1 st, well might the Protes
tants do it, because the notions they annex to this word, are
exactly the same with those the holy writers joined to that
they made use of. 2ndly, They never brought it into their
versions, when it was not in the text. 3rdly, This word, of
late years, both in English and French, is grown obsolete,
when it imports the bare meaning of a stranger, or traveller ;
and is no more used but to signify a pilgrim in the Bomish
sense ; hence it is, that in the best French versions, that have
been made of late, it is never employed : Father Bouhours
himself has banished it out of his own ; and no doubt, but if
the divines of the Church of England should ever revise ours,
they would do the very same.
III. Unwritten traditions are the grand basis of Popery ; it
was therefore thought fit to intimate, as often as possible, that
the faith of primitive Christians had the same foundation.
The word of the original, rendered by that of tradition, sig
nifies sometimes " instruction" in general ; and sometimes a
doctrine delivered either by " word of mouth," or " in writ
ing," or both ways at the same time. But as the word tradi
tion is commonly understood by the Church of an " unwritten
doctrine," so, if it is forced into the discourses of the Apos
tles, people will be apt to think they meant it in the same
sense, and great credit will redound to Roman traditions.
How cunningly, this affair has been managed let us see in some

TO SCRIPTURE. 57
few passages out of many. St. Paul saith to the Corinthians,
"I praise you that you keep the ordinances, as I delivered
them to you."* The versions of Bourdeaux and Rouen have,
" as I left them with," or, " as I gave them to you by tradi
tion, "f St. Peter speaks of people who " turned from the
holy commandment delivered to them."} The same transla
tors add, by way of explication, " delivered by tradition." So
they behave as to many other texts.
IV. Some Romish doctrines are clearly insinuated in these
versions, which nobody would have seen in the text who had
not designedly looked for them. Who can doubt but the
translation of relics may very well be supported from the cau
tion Joseph took before his death, when " he ordered the
translation of his bones ?"§ So the version of Bourdeaux
renders the text, which says only, " He gave commandment
concerning his bones." ||
The antiquity and great efficacy of Romish processions is
plainly made out from that solemn "procession of seven days,"^[
which Joshua ordered to be made about the walls of Jericho,
and was attended with the downfal of them . So the version
of Bourdeaux expresseth the original, which runs thus : " By
faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed
about seven days."**
Who would not be convinced that the primitive Christians
had their churches and houses filled with crucifixes, that hears
St. Paul telling the Galatiansjtt " Have you not got Jesus
Christ pictured before your eyes, as crucified among you? "}}
But likely his faith will begin to be wavering, when he is in
formed that the precise meaning of the text is this : " Before
whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth, as crucified
among you ;" that is, before whose eyes Christ's death has been
set in so strong a light, that had he been crucified among you,
you could not have a livelier idea of his sufferings.
V. There is hardly any ecclesiastical order or dignity, though
never so modern, but is mentioned in the ancientest records
of Christianity, according to these versions. One sees in them
the Romish Legates. So St. Paul calls himself, as well as the
* 1 Cor. xi. 2. t Comme je vous les ai laisse par tradition.
i 2 Peter ii. 21. § II ordonna la translation de ses os.
|| Heb. xi. 22. If Apres une procession de sept jours tout autour.
** Heb. xi. 30.
tt N'aves vous par J. Christ portrait devant les yeux comme crucifie
entre vous. — Version of Bourdeaux. tt Gal. iii. 1.

58 POPERY AN ENEMY
other Apostles: " We are the legates of Christ ;"* "lama le
gate in bonds."f If so, they could be no less than legates
a latere : why had they not their full title given them ? That
Apostle had many " coadjutors,"} though not such as pre
tended to " succeed" him in the apostleship.§ And it is to
be hoped they were of another kind than many that now bear
that title ; || and that they did more service to the Church
than Cardinal de Retz, for instance, when he was in that sta
tion.^" Prelates** are mentioned by the author of the Epistle
to the Hebrews with great distinction : he gives strict com
mands to the faithful " to remember, to obey, and to salute
them."ff But whether he meant only bishops, abbots, mon-
signori, and such as were dignified, and not the priests or
deacons, may be doubted, either because these pretended pre
lates are called by the general word of rulers, or because these
rulers are drawn with such lines as, I am afraid, will not suit
well with many Romish prelates. They are said " to watch
for the souls, as they that must give an account ;}} to have
spoke the Word of God, whose faith every Christian ought to
follow, considering the end of their conversation." §§ The priest
who met the poor man that had fallen among thieves, is called
in the version of Bourdeux, || || a " sacrificer priest,"^[^[ to inti
mate that there were then sacrificers who were no priests, as
there are now cardinals who are but deacons. The very title
and dignity of " princes of the Church," conferred upon these
last ministers, is -exceedingly well supported by the hke titles
given to the high-priests among the Jews. The version of
Bourdeaux often calls them the " princes of the priests,"***
the " princes of the sacrificers ;"ttt and the head of them,
who surely was a type of the Pope, " Pontife."
In short, the authors of these versions give such a ridi
culous preference to the language of the Rubric, that they
choose it before the common one, even in the most indifferent
things. So, they name Albes the "white garments," with which
the twenty-four elders were clothed,}}} as if fantastical earthly
* 2 Cor. v. 20. t Eph. vi. 20.
X Versions of Bourdeaux and Rouen. % Rom. xvi. 9, 21.
|| Colos. iv. 11. f Philem. ver. 24.
** Version of Rouen, and the English translation of Dr. W.
tt Heb. xiii. 7, 17, 24. XX Ibid. 17. §§ Ibid. 7.
|||| Un sacriflcateur pretre. ^ Luke x. 31.
*** Les princes des pretres, des sacrificateurs. Pontife.
ttt Matth. xxvi. 3, 14, &c. }ii Rev. iv. 4.

TO SCRIPTURE. 59
dresses were to have place in heaven and last for ever. They
call the evening, Vesper, and the different hours of the day,
the third, the sixth, the ninth,* by the Latin words which have
been preserved in the Missals of the Church.
I might observe some other pitiful tricks, which they had
recourse to in matters of the smallest importance ; but I shall
wave the speaking to them, as hastening to some more sub
stantial considerations. And, indeed, the faults we have
hitherto reproached our translators with, are but peccadilloes,
compared to those which we are going to take notice of.
II. Falsifications that are most substantial, and of the
deepest dye.
One of the most material controversies between us and the
Church of Rome is about the lawful object of divine worship.
We are convinced, from the nature of the thing, and from the
most express declarations of the holy Writ, that only the
Creator and Governor of the world is to be adored ; and that,
to pay any religious homage to any other being, is a down
right idolatry. The Romanists distinguish three different de
grees of adoration, which they call Latria, Hyperdulia, and
Bulia. The first they affirm to be due to God alone ; the
second, to the blessed Virgin ; the third, to the angels, the
saints, the images, &c. Which refined hypothesis is none of
their own, they have borrowed it from the heathens ; and one
may see it explained in " Hierocles's Commentaries on the
Golden Verses of Pythagoras," f with as much plainness and
perspicuity as in any of the schoolmen. So that Mr. Dacier,
in his remarks on this place, admires the exactness of that
philosopher's ideas on so nice a subject. It were well for them
if it could be supported by as clear warrants from the Scrip
tures ; but who knows what dint of wit can do ?
The Protestants fancied their system immoveable, as it had
for one of its main pillars these words of God, and the ap
plication of them made by our Saviour himself : " Thou shalt
worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve."}
But the translators of Bourdeaux have not only stripped us of
this mischievous weapon, but have turned it against us ; thus

* Vepre. l'heure de tierce, de sexte, de none.
t See the translation Mr. Dacier has published of these Commentaries,
pp. 28, 29, 35.
t Deut. vi. 13 ; Luke iv. 8.

60 POPERY AN ENEMY
they expressed this text, " Thou shalt worship the Lord thy
God, and him only shalt thou serve with latria."* This lucky
artifice they had not thought of when they were about St.
Matthew's Gospel ; but time and necessity are good masters.
It is true, they were not the first broachers of this explication ;
it had been found out by Anastasius, applauded by the Fathers
of the second Council of Nice, followed afterwards by Romish
Commentators. But nobody had had the face to deliver it,
as the very text of the Evangelist. Hitherto they had been
contented to infer from these words, that God alone was in
deed to be served, because it was said, " Him only shalt thou
serve," whereas other beings might be worshipped, our Sa
viour having not said, " thou shalt only worship the Lord,"
but " thou shalt worship him ;" than which nothing can be
more irrational, there being no material difference between the
meaning of those terms, to worship God, and to serve him ;
and the exclusive particle only referring equally to both of
them. But something more may be urged to overthrow the
Romish explication of this passage, chiefly as applied by our
Saviour to his present case. The devil was endeavouring to
persuade him to worship him, and not to serve him, as appears
from the foregoing verse. He did not insist upon the Latria,
as an honour he required of him ; he had been well pleased,
if the Son of God had condescended to allow him the Dulia,
or a little portion of the Hyperdulia. But how pitifully does
our Saviour come off according to these translators ? To shew
the devil that he could not grant him his demand, he quotes a
passage which proves only he could not grant what the other
did not request, and, under that pretence, denies him what he
truly desired ; in which, O horror ! he had acted the part of
an errant sophist. Had the devil learnt his dialectic under the
same masters with these interpreters, .or had he thought their
logic would hold, he might very well have replied to our Sa
viour, " I do not desire you should serve me with the Latria,
but that you would barely worship me : and that you may do
consistently with the passage you have quoted, seeing it pro
hibits only the Latria should be paid to any other being, but
God alone." Such is the natural consequence of this Romish
fraud ; but cheats are often short-sighted ; people that " lack
godliness are blind, aud cannot see afar off," says St. Peter.f
* "Tu adoreras le Seigneur ton Dieu, et serviras de latrie & lui seul."
— Bourdeaux. t 2 Peter i. 9.

TO SCRIPTURE. .61
The Blessed Virgin having, according to the Papists' divinity,
next to God, a claim to our veneration, it is somewhat sur
prising, that they could not meet in the whole New Testament
with one single passage, which they might conveniently falsify,
or wrest to their own purpose : but there being so little men
tion made of her, or in terms so contrary to their system, the
thing was quite impossible.
These translators have proved more lucky in contriving
some weak foundation for the worship of angels, and in pulling
down those places, that seemed intended to demolish it. In
vain would angels be addressed or prayed to, if they did not
know what passeth on this side heaven ; but, that they do,
these honest interpreters assure us ; and who would not take
their word? Thus they render 1 Cor. xi. 10. "The woman*
because of the angels, that see her, ought to have on her head
a sign, that she is under the power of another." These words,
"that see her," are not indeed in the text, but they are thought
to be included in it so necessarily, that, to express them, would
be accounted no addition ; or, if it be one, it was easier for
them to make it, than to extricate themselves from those per
plexing words of St. Paul, "Let no man beguile you of your
reward, in a voluntary humility, and worship of angels."t
And indeed, they bear so hard on this part of the Romish
service, that one would have thought it next to an impossi
bility, to take off their burdensome weight : but the narrower
straits these gentlemen are brought into, the more vigorous
efforts they make to get ont of them ; and, if plain dealing
cannot save them, craftiness and fraud will. Many ways have
been attempted to remove this difficulty ; which of them is the
unfairest, is not easy to determine : Messrs. de Port Royal,
Father Amelotte,} Father Simon, agree in translating, "Do
not suffer yourselves to be beguiled of your reward by people,
who affect to humble themselves before angels, and to render
them a superstitious worship." So that, according to them,
* " La femme, a cause des Anges qui la voyent, doit avoir sur la tete
une enseigne quelle est sous puissance." — Version de Bourdeaux,
t Colos. ii. 18.
t " Que nul ne vous ravisse le prix de votre course, en affectant de
paroitre humble par un culte superstitieux des Anges." — Messrs. de Port-
Royal. ' ' Ne vous laisses pas ravir le prix de vfitre victoire par ceux qui
affectent de s'humilier devant les Anges, et de leur rendre un culte super
stitieux." — Amelotte. " Ne vous laisses point seduire a ceux qui se plaisent
a s'humilier devant lesAnges, leur rendant un culte superstitieux." — Simon.

62 FOPEUY AN ENEMY
the Apostle is censuring here, not those, who paid the angels
the homage that was due to them ; but those, who rendered
them such honours, as were due only to the Creator of the
world ; and consequently, whose worship was superstitious, as
being derogatory of the glory of God : this sense Dr. W. has
expressed in his Annotations on this place ; whereas it is
plain, that St. Paul designs to beat down all manner of reli
gious worship paid to those intelligences, and that, according
to him, any homage done to them, is superstitious. His words
are general, as extensive as can be ; and if interpreters are
once allowed to distinguish where the law does not, to set
bounds to unlimited expressions, they will prove any thing
from any thing, and, upon occasion, make affirmative such
propositions as are negative, turn prohibitions into commands.
The translators of Bourdeaux did not like this exposition, as
judging it was unnatural, or, at least, insufficient to baffle the
argument of the Protestants : the shortest way to disarm them,
and make this text a brutum fulmen in their hands, was cer
tainly to explain it so, as if St. Paul had not said a word of
any worship paid to angels ; and this they have done by trans
lating,* " Let no one seduce you, according to his pleasure,
under a pretence of humility, and of a religion given to Moses
by angels ;" here is wit indeed, a lucky thought, that deserves
the thanks of all the Romish divines, but the just abhorrence
of all those who have any regard for the Word of God : how
these mis-translators could resolve to make so free with it,
few will understand, any more than how they could under
take to impose upon the world with so much impudence ; they
promise their readers, to lay before them the plain version of
Louvain, and yet this version renders thus the original, " Let
no man seducef you according to his pleasure, by humility, and
religion, or worship of angels ;" how could Messrs. de Port-
Royal, Amelotte, Simon, when they forced the word supersti
tions after that of worship, profess sincerely, they kept close to
the Vulgate,} in which it is not to be found, seeing it agrees
exactly with the Greek, which it renders word for word.
Mr. Girodon, the translator, of Rouen, in his Index of the
* " Que personne ne vous seduise a, son plaisir, sous pretexte d'humilite,
et de religion donnee a Moyse par les Anges." — Bourdeaux.
t " Que mil ne vous seduise ft son plaisir, par humilite et religion des
Anges." — Louvain.
t " Nemo vos seducat volens in humilitate et religione Angelorum." 
Vulgate.

TO SCRIPTURE. 63
matters, confidently builds the lawfulness of the worship of
angels on the example of St. John, who being dazzled with
the pomp and splendour surrounding the angel that spoke to
him, "fell down to worship before his feet;" (Revel, xix.
10. and xxii. 8, 9.) but that this argument might have the in
tended success, he carefully avoids mentioning the words of
the angel himself ; " See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow-
servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, &c. Worship God."
Can this royal missionary be said to be a fair dealer ?
The worship of saints, making so large a part of the Papists'
devotions, that they address them ten times, for once they do
God himself, it might have been expected, to see it sup
ported by some express command, example, promise, or some
other such encouragement, taken from the holy Scriptures ;
God alone having a right to prescribe how he will be honoured:
but as no direct proofs can be had in this case, mere pretences
are thought a sufficient ground ; it is not so much minded,
whether the thing ought to be done, as whether it may be done.
A man that were not over-scrupulous, might well doubt, 1st,
Whether those people, whom he supposeth to have been ad
mitted into the mansions of bliss, do not inhabit the place of
torments ; 2ndly, Whether, in case they be really possessed of
the heavenly happiness, they know our wants, meddle with our
concerns, and are able and willing to help us : seeing the Scrip
ture declareth, that, " The dead know not any thing, neither
have any more a portion for ever, in any thing that is done
under the sun." (Ecclesiast. ix. 5, 6 ; see 2 Kings xxii. 20.
and Job xiv. 21.) Therefore, the chief business of the
Romanists is to remove those jealousies, and to give the best
assurances they can concerning these two points ; at least, I
did not observe, that these translators troubled their heads
any farther.
I. It is well known, that no saint is entitled to any public
religious honours in the Church of Rome, before he has been
beatified and canonized, that is, before the Pope from his full
science and knowledge has declared, that such a one has been
admitted to the beatifical vision of God ; to ascertain this extra
ordinary prerogative to St. Peter's successor, the translators of
Bourdeaux and Rouen render thus a passage of St. James's
Epistle, " We beatify* those that have endured, or that have
* "Voici que nous beatifions ceux qui ont soufert." — Bourdeaux.
" Vous,voyes que nous beatifions ceux qui ont ete constans dans la sou-
france. "— Rouen.

64 POPERY AN ENEMY
been constant in their sufferings;" (Ch. v. 11.) Which if it
were rightly expounded, one might still question, 1st, Whether
this power of beatifying dead saints, lodged in the Apostles,
descended down to the Pope and the Court of Rome. 2dly, It
could not but appear very strange, that the Apostles beatified
people immediately after their death, when the memory of
their actions was fresh still ; and that the Pope should put it
off to a hundred or some hundreds of years, till their name is
almost worn out of men's minds, and so should open a wide
door to forgeries of a thousand kinds. 3rdly, It is to be hoped
that, when the Apostles declared any one a Beat, it did not
cost Christians many thousands of pounds sterling as it does
now-a-days, before all the ceremony is over ; so that, in a
manner, the living buy heaven for the dead. But all these
Romish superstitions are entirely frivolous, being built upon a
clear misrepresentation of St. James's meaning ; for he says
no more than this, " We count them happy which endure," or,
as it is in some MSS. " which have endured ;"* the proper, the
only sense of the word he makes use of, being, " we esteem,
we account blessed, or happy," and not, we beatify; as evi
dently appears from the translation, these very gentlemen give
of the Virgin Mary's words, which they render, " from hence
forth all generations shall call me blessed," and not, " shall
beatify me." (Luke i. 48.)
II. No better satisfaction do they afford concerning the
ability or willingness of dead saints to help the living ; they
build it on the most absurd cheat imaginable. St. Peter says,
" I will endeavour, that you may be able after my decease to
have these things always in remembrance ;"f who could have
imagined, that any inference, which could serve the Romish
cause, might be drawn from hence ? But a little transposi
tion will do the business ; Father Amelotte, the translators of
Bourdeaux and Rouen agree in this version, " I shall take a
particular care of you after my decease, that you may remem
ber these things ;"} which sense is plainly contrary to the
order the words stand in, either in the Greek or in the Vulgate,
and to another like assertion of the Apostle two verses before,
" I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir
* /j,aKapij3oiitv. + 2 Pet. i. 15.
t " J'aurai soin de vous en particulier apres mon trepas, afin que vous
ayez memoire de ces choses." — Bourdeaux. " J'aurai aussi souvent soin
de vous apres mon trepas, afin que vous vous souvenirs de ces choses." —
Rouen. " J'aurai soin souvent meme apres ma mort, que vous puissies
vous souvenir de ces choses."— Amelotte.

TO SCRIPTURE. 65
you up, by putting you in remembrance."* Why did he
think so? Surely because he could not have done it after he
was dead and gone. I have observed, that these gentlemen
do often prefer the readings that occur in the manuscripts
which the Marquis of Velez found in Spain ; but here they
pay no regard to them, as being destructive of their designs ;
for they have "I endeavour," and not " I shall endeavour,"
as we read in the 13th verse, " I think it meet," &c.
IV. After so many shameful attempts to serve their cause
in these different respects, it was not likely that these trans
lators would not strive to find some passage or other to prop
their image- worship. The Catechism of Trent had done a
great deal towards the maintaining of it, by stealing from the
people's sight the second commandment,-)- and that in the face
of the eighth, which says, " Thou shait not steal ;" for no
explication of it is to be met with there, no more than in
some other catechistical instructions} designed for the igno
rant laity. But surely it was not enough that such a general
practice should merely appear uncondemned by the holy pen
men ; it could not but be wished to have it supported, if pos
sible, by some positive declaration extant in their writings.
The Epistle to the Hebrews furnisheth them with one, which,
being understood in their way, may justify, not only the wor
ship of images, but even that of relics, and of a broomstick, if
they please. Their proof relies entirely upon a false and
absurd reading of the original, adopted by the Vulgate ; it is
said in the Greek, " By faith, Jacob, when he was a dying,
blessed both the sons of Joseph, and worshipped upon the top
of his staff." § The bulk of Romish interpreters, not at all
solicitous whether that venerable patriarch was introduced
acting the part of a mere sot, render these last words, " and
worshipped the top of his staff, or rod ;" some leaving it
doubtful whether he worshipped his own staff, or the staff of
his son Joseph ; so do the translators of Louvain, of Bour
deaux and of Rouen. Messrs. de Port Royal, determining that
sublime question, express the text thus, " He bowed deeply
before the staff of command, which his son carried ;"|| it is
* 2 Pet. i. 13. t Tillots. vol. 1. Serm. xxx.
X It occurs not in the Tesoro della dottrina di Christo, printed in Tre-
viso, 1649.
§ Heb. xi. 21.
|| II s'inclina profondement devant le baton de commandement que por-
toit son fils. These last words being printed in italic characters.
VOL. VIII. F

66 POPERY AN ENEMY
true, they say in the margin, that the version of the Protes
tants may be admitted. Father Bouhours, in his polite and
courtly style, translates, " He kissed respectfully the extremity
of his staff of command ;"* which staff Father Amelotte is
pleased to call a " sceptre." Thus these words are explained
by the divines of Rheims, and the Professor of Douay;
" Jacob," says this last in his Annotations, " by bowing to
Joseph and his sceptre, acknowledged and reverenced the power
of Joseph, whom Pharaoh called the saviour of the world ; and
it is probable, that Jacob, by the spirit of prophecy, knew
Joseph to be a figure of Christ, and his power to be a figure
of the spiritual power of the Messias." These gentlemen take
many things for granted that are quite uncertain ; as, 1st,
that " staffs of command " were in use in those ancient times.
2ndly. That prime-ministers were honoured with them, as well
as generals of armies. 3rdly. That Joseph was so foolishly
fond of his own, as never to part with it, no, not when he
went to receive the blessing of a dying father. 4thly. That
Jacob knew his staff to be a figure of the power of the Mes
sias ; which, if it were true, he had no more reason to worship
it, than the Israelites had to worship "the rock that followed
them," which St. Paul tells us "was Christ." (I Cor. x. 4.)
I cannot understand, neither, why Dr. W. refers us to the
version of the Seventy, as if it supported his interpretation :
for it subverts it entirely : these interpreters reading, " He
worshipped on the top of his staff," on which Jacob, being
an old and a weak man, is supposed " to have leaned." If the
Doctor understood the original of Moses, I would desire him
to look into it ; to his great surprise he would read there, " He
leaned," or, " He worshipped on the top of his bed :"f but
the Hebrew words, which signify "a staff" and "abed,"}
being made up of the same consonants, and differing only in
the vowels suffixed under them, the Seventy happened to read
the word with the vowels that give it the signification of a
staff, instead of supposing those points that make it signify a
bed, which sense seems to be much the properest in this place.
This has occasioned the difference there is now between the
Hebrew of Moses and the Greek of the Seventy. Dr. W. had
* II baisa respectueusement l'extremiti de son baton de commandement.
t.nton a staff, it top a Bed.

TO SCRIPTURE. 67
done much better to prefer their reading to that of his dear
Vulgate, which is contradicted by the Syriac, by all the printed
Greek editions and manuscripts, and by the very nature of
this quotation ; it being very likely that the sacred author,
writing in Greek, followed the Greek version then extant of
the Old Testament. In the doing of this, he had agreed with
some other great men of his communion, Father Simon, Go-
deau, bishop of Venice, Marolles, abbot of Villeloin, who here
forsook the Vulgate to keep to the Greek.
V. The doctrine of transubstantiation is as much unknown
to the holy Scriptures, as that hard name, by which it was first
expressed. in the Council of Lateran under Innocentius III.
Hence it is, that many* of the acutest divines of the Church
of Rome, such as John Scot, Occham, the Cardinals Peter
d'Ailly, Cajetan, Contarine, Bishop Canus, Bassolis, Becan,
Ambrosius Catharine, Gabriel Biel, have fairly acknowledged
that it could not necessarily be inferred from any sacred text
whatsoever, and that it was entirely grounded on the decisions
of the Church : but, had there been extant in their time any
New Testament, like the versions that have been since pub
lished of it, they could not have helped to see it evidently
taught in some places, and in some others clearly supposed or
alluded to ; which is a plain proof, either, that they did not
consider objects through the same medium, and with the same
cheating, glasses, or, that their sight was very dim, compared
to that of these interpreters; who, on this, no less than on
many other points, have made the most unexpected, though
not the most edifying discoveries ; they well deserve to be laid
open, that any curious man may admire how far penetrating
wits, that never lose sight of their grand view, can dive into
the nature of things.
Let us begin with the institution of the Holy Supper,
chiefly, such as it is related by St. Paul.
I. The Apostle says, that " Jesus took bread, and that,
when he had given thanks, he brake it" (1 Cor. xi. 23, 24) :
the article, it, does not occur indeed in the text; but was it
out of a scrupulous regard, that the translators of Bourdeauxf
have not expressed it ? If so, why then have they inserted it
in their version of Matth. xxvi. 26, Mark xiv. 22, Luke xxii.
* See Reflexions Anciennes et Nouvelles sur l'Euchariste, ch. x. p.
183—197. Imp. a Geneve, 1718.
t They render, Et rendant graces, rompit. F 2

68 POPERY AN ENEMY
19, for it is not mentioned in these places. But likely they
have omitted it here, in order to make it doubtful, which it
was that Jesus brake, whether the bread he had taken, or his
body. II. What sort of bread Jesus took, none of the Evangelists
had observed : but these interpreters were pleased to teach us,
Luke xxii. 1 9, that it was * unleavened bread ; nobody ques
tions it, seeing none other could be had at that time ; why
therefore do they make this addition ? Surely, to support the
better the practice of their Church that makes use of unlea
vened hosts.
III. "This is my body which is broken for you " (ver. 24) :
all the Romish translators, f" This is my body which shall be
delivered for you :" as this reading is countenanced by some
Greek MSS. and by the Latin version, I will not insist on the
particular motives, they might have to prefer it ; though it
does not square with the expression of St. Luke, who employs
the present and not the future tense, " This is my body which
is given for you" (Luke xxii. 19) ; nor with the printed Greek
of St. Paul in this place.
IV. " This cup is the New Testament in my blood " (I Cor.
xi. 25); one might have concluded from hence, that the bread
was the body of Christ, in the same figurative sense, that the
cup was the new testament or covenant; the versions of
Bourdeaux } and Rouen, to strip the Protestants of this argu
ment, render the text, " this chalice," or, " this cup the new
testament is in my blood ;" which is flat nonsense, from
which they can receive no manner of benefit ; there being as
many figures at least included in this version, as in that of the
Protestants ; for, 1 st, literally speaking, the cup was not in
the blood, but the blood, even according to the Romish hypo
thesis, was in the cup. 2ndly, a cup cannot be a testament,
no more than a testament a cup ; and 3rdly, who ever heard of
a testament being in any blood ? Consequently, it is more
rational by much, it being agreeable to the nature of the thing,
and not at all repugnant to the order, in which the words stand
placed in the original, to take the words, new testament, as
* Ayant pris le pain sans levain.
t Ceci est mon corps qui sera livre pour vous. The Marquis of Velez
read in his MSS. TrapaSoBijaoptvov, and accordingly the Vulgate, tra-
detur. X Le Chalice le Nouveau Testament est en mon Sang.

TO SCRIPTURE. 69
the attribute, than as the subject of the proposition, and to
translate as we do, "This cup is the new testament in my
blood ;" and I cannot understand, why the divines of Rheims,
and Dr. W., who render these words in St. Paul as we do, yet
render them in St. Luke to this purpose, " This is the chalice
the new testament in my blood ;" for though the verb, is, does
not occur in the Evangelist, yet St. Paul having expressed it,
this was their direction where to place it in St. Luke's pas
sage ; and, consequently, they should have translated these
two places in the same manner ; otherwise they are not con
sistent with themselves.
V. St. Paul mentions three times the word " bread" (1 Cor.
xi. 26, 27, 28), without any epithet denoting any new quality
which it had acquired by the consecration ; this is a plain
proof that he looked still upon it as being then nothing more
than mere bread, as the wine, after being consecrated, remained
" fruit of the vine" (Luke xxii. 18) ; from whence it unavoid
ably followed, that the substance of the bread was not annihi
lated and transubstantiated into our Saviour's real body : but
the translators of Bourdeaux, who know so well how to turn
everything into a weapon against their enemies, thrust into the
text some short words, but of such a powerful efficacy, that,
at the same time, when they overthrow the Protestant's hypo
thesis, they set up, and wonderfully strengthen that of the
Romanists ; thus they introduce the Apostle speaking, ver. 26,*
, "As often as ye eat this living bread; 27, Whosoever shall eat
this bread of life ; 28, Let a man examine himself, and so let
him eat of that oread alive." Would not one be tempted to
think these men had said, " With our tongue and pens will we
prevail, our lips and hands are ourown, who is lord over us ?"
(Ps. xii. 4.) Well might they apply to themselves, though
in a quite different sense, these words of St. Paul, " We are
ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter .... for
the letter killeth." (2 Cor. iii. 6.)
VI. In the same manner they call the bread, which our
Saviour speaks of, John vi. 41, " Alive, f I am the bread alive,
which comes down from heaven ?" I will not quarrel with
them for inserting here the word, alive, which is not in our
printed Greek copies ; because it occurs in the MSS. of the
* " 26 Toutes les fois que vous mangeres ce pain vivant, 27 ce pain de
vie, 28 ce pain vif." — Bourdeaux.
t " Je suis le pain Vif qui decend du Ciel."— Bourdeaux.

70 POPERY AN ENEMY
Marquis of Velez, in the Vulgate, and is employed ver. 51. But
what I cannot help finding fault with is, 1st, their rendering
it by alive, the sense of the Greek word (£ S>v) in this place
being certainly this, " I am the enlivening bread," or " the
bread that gives life," as appears from verses 49, 50, 51, and
from the whole scope of our Saviour's discourse. 2ndly, Their
translating " which comes down," is undoubtedly wrong, the
Greek having, " which came down," and this sense is confirmed
by ver. 42. It seems, they would intimate the doctrine of their
Church, which implies, that Christ, not only came down once
from heaven, but that he comes every day upon their altars
whenever their priests say mass ; whereas many of the most
eminent * men amongst them were convinced, that, whatever
is said in this sixth chapter of St. John, had no manner of
relation to the Holy Supper ; and the Fathers of Trent f
themselves, thought the matter so intricate and uncertain, that
they durst not determine anything about it.
VII. This bread alive they seem to call flesh, Acts ii.
46. Where they translate, " breaking bread from house to
house,} they did eat this flesh or meat with gladness :" and
indeed, in their opinion, supposing this passage be understood
of the Holy Supper, the bread is " bread and flesh all at once:"
only it looks very monstrous that Christians should swallow
the whole body and blood, and even the very godhead of their
Saviour, without shivering with dread and horror.
The doctrine of the sacrifice of the mass, so necessarily
supposeth and implies that of transubstantiation, that one
cannot evince the first without considerably strengthening the
last. But this sacrifice, though never so absurd in itself;
though never so injurious to the dignity of our Saviour's per
son, to the perfection Of his sacrifice upon the cross ; though
never so contrary to the most express declarations of, and the
plainest deductions from, the Holy Scriptures, is nevertheless
forced upon them with so little shame and reserve, that one is
at a loss what to think of the authors of such corruptions.
I. The chief passage on which they build this most stu
pendous and irrational sacrifice, is contained Acts xiii. 2. The

* See Reflexions Anciennes et Nouvelles (du Marquis du Quesne) sur
1'Eucharistic, ch. ii. p. 29 — 41.
t Sess. xxi. cap. i.
X " Rompant le pain par les maisons, ils prenoient cette Viande avec
joye. ' ' — Bourdeaux.

TO SCRIPTURE. 71
text runs thus, " As they (certain prophets and teachers)
ministered to the Lord and fasted ;" well, what inference can
be drawn from hence ? An unquestionable one, if you mind
many Romish translators. Corbin,* who published in 1641 a
version of the Bible, which was approved by the divinity-
school of Poictiers, translated it, " They celebrating the holy
sacrifice of the mass ;" Father Veron, f a Jesuit, in his ver
sion of the New Testament, published in 1647, rendered it,
"The Apostles celebrated the mass to the Lord;"} Mess.
de Port Royal, " While they sacrificed unto the Lord ;" in the
like manner they expressed the same word, Heb. x. 1 1 . Fa
ther Amelotte, " While they offered the sacrifice unto the
Lord " the translators of Bourdeaux and Rouen, " As they
offered unto the Lord the sacrifice of the mass ;" the word
mass being printed in capital letters, which makes the knavery
the more conspicuous : and that it might escape no man's
eyes, these expressions are offered in the contents of the chap
ter^ " The sacrifice of the mass." It is surprising to see so
many learned men concurring in supporting so notorious a
cheat ; it being certain, that the word of the text signifies any
public function (Keirovpyew) relating to God's service, as Mess.
de Port Royal themselves have acknowledged in a book, enti
tled, " The Greek Roots ;" H hence it is, that St. Chrysostom
renders it here by preaching, and the Arab and Syriac interpre
ters, by praying. Doctor W. thinks with the divines of Rheims,
there are good grounds to translate it, " Offering up sacrifice,"
I would fain desire him to consult Mr. Leigh's " Critica Sa
cra," which book he quotes now and then ; I doubt, whether,
with all his learning, he will be able to solve the arguments
brought there against this interpretation : besides, what good
* Simon, Versions du New Testament, c. xxxi. p. 357.
t "Euxcelebransle saint sacrifice de la Messe." — Corbin. "LesApotres
celebroient la Messe au Seigneur." — Veron. "Pendant qu'ils sacrificient au
Seigneur." — Mess, de Port Royal. " Pendant qu'ils offroient le sacrifice au
Seigneur." — Amelotte. " Comme ils offroient au Seigneur le sacrifice de la
Messe." — Bourdeaux and Rouen.
X Father Veron being asked, why he had turned thus this place,
replied, " Because he had been often demanded by the Calvinists, what
Scripture mentioned that the Apostles said mass." Simon. Ibid. A
substantial reason truly !
§ In the contents of Matth. xxvi. Mark xiv. Luke xxii. they have
prefixed these words, " Christ instituteth the mass;" or "The institution
of the mass."
|| Les Racines Grecques.

72 POPERY AN ENEMY
reason can there be for inserting into an ancient Greek author
the word mass, which everybody knows to be a modern Latin
one? Would they persuade the people, that the Apostles
performed the Divine worship with all the pageantry with
which the mass is celebrated now-a-days ? But this they will
find to be a hard piece of work.
The translators of Bourdeaux, to support their version of the
verb " to minister," by " to offer the sacrifice," and to
strengthen the more their doctrine on this point, affect most
ridiculously to render the noun " a minister," by "a sacri
ficer;" and sometimes they insert this last word, where neither
of them occurs in the text. Thus Heb. i. 7, " He maketh
his ministers a flame of fire ;" they render, " He maketh the
flame of fire his sacrificers."* This is truly a new order of
priests never thought of before. What St. Paul says, " That
I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles,"
(Rom. xv. 16), they express it thus, "That I should be ley-
tourge,f that is, sacrificer of Jesus Christ among the Gentiles."
It is said, that, our High-priest " is a minister of the sanc
tuary " (Heb. viii. 2) ; they make him " a litourge sacrificer
of the sanctuary."} And a little lower, where we read in our
version what follows, " Now has he (Christ) obtained a more
excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a
better covenant " (ver. 6) ; they were pleased to foist in their
systematical epithet, " Now," say they, '" our Prince of the
sacrificers has obtained a much more excellent sacrificing
liturgy, or ministry ; for he is the mediator of a more excel
lent testament. "§ Which version tallies neither with the Vul
gate, nor with the old translation of Louvain.
II. These translators go on, not "from faith to faith," but
from infidelity to infidelity. There is another passage in St.
Paul's first Epistle to the Corinthians, which they have falsified
with as much immodesty as the preceding ones. The Apostle
says, " Ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the
table of devils," (x. 21.) Here is not the least intima
tion made of any sacrifice ; but, why should not a zealous
* Qui fait de la flamme de feu ses Sacrificateurs.
t D'etre Leytourge, c'est a dire, Sacrificateur de Jesus Christ entre les
Gentils. X Litourge Sacrificateur du Sanctuaire.
§ Maintenant notre Prince des Sacrificateurs a obtenu une tant plus
excellente Liturgie Sacrificature ; car il est Mediateur d'un plus excellent
Testament.

TO SCRIPTURE. 73
Catholic venture a small addition, by way of fuller explanation
of the Apostle's meaning? In short, thus they suppose him
to have spoke : " Ye cannot be partakers of what is sacrificed
on the Lord's table, and what is sacrificed on the table of de
vils."* Shewing themselves as learned critics, as faithful inter
preters, they would make people believe, that sacrifices were
performed upon tables; whereas, children know they were
offered upon altars ; where, when a part of the victim had
been consumed in honour of the god, another part was brought
upon a table to those who had offered the sacrifice, and was
eaten by them and their' friends, whom they had invited: the
altar was for the God, the table for men ; the first was used
to sacrifice upon, the second to feast about.
Such are the positive and truly unexpected authorities to be
met with in these new scriptures for that unaccountable sacri
fice ; had they the least foundation, they were unanswerable ;
but they being the grossest forgeries imaginable, they deerves
the utmost contempt and indignation.
III. With the same arts have these true sons of " the fa
ther of hes" (John viii. 44) eluded the force of some texts
that galled them sadly. The Protestants had hitherto looked
upon the Epistle to the Hebrews, as being destructive of this
or any perpetual and iterated sacrifice under the evangelical
dispensation ; they had thought, that some passages in it were
decisive in their behalf: but here they are shewed how little
the strongest evidence is to be depended upon, the author of
that epistle says, that, " without shedding of blood there is no
remission," (Heb. ix. 22), from whence it followed, that there
being no blood shed in the celebration of the holy supper,
there was no atonement made in it for sins : but this inference
vanisheth away in Bourdeaux's version, which renders, " With
out shedding of the blood of beasts, the legal uncleanness is
not removed."f Secondly, somewhat further, the text has
these words, " Where there is remission of sins and iniquities,
there is no more offering for sin" (x. 18); which demon
strate the inutility of any present sacrifice. The same interpre
ters found out a sure way to make the argument void, by ren
dering, " Where there is remission of sins, there is now no
* Vous ne pouves etre participans de ce qui est sacrifie sur la table du
Seigneur, et de ce qui est sacrifie sur la table des diables.
t Sans effusion du sang des betes la souillure legale n'est point etee.

74 POPERY AN ENEMY
more any legal offering for sins;"* but how illegal is their
proceeding in the double addition of the term legal ? Thirdly,
these are palpable alterations, but we have another almost im
perceptible in the same chapter, and which, for all that, is
very material. It is said, " By the which will we are sancti
fied, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for
all," (ver. 10) ; the translators of Bourdeaux and Rouen, express
thus this latter part, " through the offering of the body of
Jesus Christ once made,"f referring the word made to the
body, and not to the offering, as if it were the body, and not
the offering of the body, that had been once made ; to com
pass their end, they had very httle to do ; the rescinding of
the small letter e, did the business ; instead of saying faite,
they said fait, which causeth necessarily the great change in
the sense I complain of ; and yet, this very change is as ab
surd in itself as it is unfair and odious. To what purpose
should the sacred author say, " the body of Christ was once
made ?" Is it not so with all sorts of bodies ; and when they
are once made, are they made again ? Secondly, it is not true
in the Romish principles, that the body of Christ has been
made but once ; seeing they make it over and over again every
day, and in a million of places.
VII. This pretended sacrifice is supposed to have a very extra
ordinary efficacy, which reaches, not only to the living, but even
to the dead ; which is not confined within the narrow bounds
of the known parts of our earth, but extends itself to an un
known country, called Purgatory. It is affirmed, that the
souls of men, conveyed, after their separation from their
bodies, into that place of torment, to suffer the temporal
punishments due to their sins, experience a great relief when
ever that sacrifice is offered for them ; and at last, by its virtue,
are released out of that burning prison, and introduced into
the heavenly mansions. Surprising efficacy indeed ! but wliich
comes to nothing if there is no such place as purgatory. The
Protestants deny it, chiefly, because they see not the least
shadow of its existence in the holy Scriptures : the Romish
controversists had set their wits at work to infer it from them ;
but, hitherto, they had produced no better warrant than some
* Oil il y a remission des peches, il n'y a plus maintenant d'oblation
legale pour le peche.
t Nous sommes Sanctifies par l'oblation du corps de Jesus Christ une
fois fait, and not faite, as they should have said.

TO SCRIPTURE. 75
wire-drawn remote consequences. Their modern translators
teach them better things, and furnish them with an irresistible
argument that will baffle all objections, and extort the assent of
the most stubborn adversaries. St. Paul in his first Epistle to the
Corinthians hath this remarkable passage, " If any man's work
shall be burnt, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved,
yet so, as by fire" (iii. 1 5) ; the meaning of these last words,
according to us, implies no more than that such a man shall
be saved with the same difficulty and danger, as he would
meet with in making his escape through fire ; which seems
natural enough, and fully answers the design of the Apostle.
Mess, de Port Royal, and Father Amelotte, in order to counte
nance the further views of their communion, and make the fire
of purgatory blaze out of this passage, cut off the little particle
as, which imports a comparison of one thing with another, and
translate it, "He shall be saved, but, or though, going through
fire,"* and what else could that fire be, but that of purgatory ?
So great hue and cryf was raised against Mess, de Port Royal
on the account of this notorious piece of roguery, that they
found no other way to quiet the public, and to retrieve their
reputation, than by restoring this passage to its primitive in
tegrity ; accordingly, in the seventh edition of their version,
published in 4to. in 1677, they rendered, " He shall be saved,
but as going through fire." The translators of Bourdeaux, being
provided by nature with such heads, as no noise can stun, un
dauntedly exposed themselves to louder clamours; they
thought it was to no purpose to be knaves by halves ; to
silence the Protestants for ever, they shewed them a new
phenomenon, the very word of purgatory in this place of the
Scriptures ; so they expressed it, " He himself shall be saved,
yet so, as by the fire of purgatory."} After such an ocular
demonstration, who could desire anything more.
VIII. The doctrine of purgatory imports necessarily, that,
the souls of the best men, but very few excepted, immediately
after they are departed, find themselves in the most wretched
condition ; since they are supposed to undergo the sharpest
* " Ilnelaissera pas neanmoins d'etre sauve, quoiqu'en passant par
le feu." — Mess., de Port Royal. " Toutefois il se sauvera, mais en passant
par le feu." — Amelotte.
t This fact is reported in Le Clerc's Bibliotheq. Univers. torn. xi. p.
327. X II sera sauve quant a lui, aiusi toutefois comme par le feu du Purga-
toire.

76 POPERY AN ENEMY
pains, that a fire burning seven times hotter than any we
know, can convey into a sensible being; this despairing opinion,
one would have thought, was diametrically opposed to this ex
press promise our Saviour made to the penitent thief upon the
cross, " Verily, I say unto thee, to-day shalt thou be with me
in paradise ;" (Luke xxiii. 43.) But if he believes the transla
tors of Bourdeaux, it is not near so comfortable as it appears ;
the great and satisfactory piece of news our Saviour acquaints
that humble petitioner with, is exactly this, " I say to-day unto
thee," not yesterday or to-morrow, " thou shalt be with me in
paradise ;"* but when? It maybe in fifty, or one or two hun
dred years time, but not till thou hast made a full atonement
to the divine justice, and paid the last farthing.
This dreadful doctrine is, for a further proof, clearly hinted
at in these words of St. Paul, "If we believe, that Jesus died and
rose again, even so them also, which sleep in Jesus the sleep of
peace, will God bring withhim," t (IThess.iv. 14. ) (so they stand
in the version of Bourdeaux) where the Apostle, mentioning
those that sleep the sleep of peace, is supposed to intimate, that
there are some who have a restless sleep, who are racked and
tortured, by devouring flames, that prey upon their vitals with
out consuming them ; whether this consequence will hold, ac
cording to the principles of sound and strict logic, I will not
now examine ; my chief objection is, that, the premises, upon
which it depends, are entirely false ; the Apostle intimating
there no manner of distinction between these that sleep in
Jesus, and saying no more (even according to all the other
Romish interpreters whom I have consulted) than that " those
which sleep in Jesus, God will bring them with him."
IX. Purgatory is a dreadful prison ; to have contrived how
to build it in subterraneous and inaccessible quarters, would
have shewed an unexampled industry, though at the same
time, an inexhaustible fund of cruelty in the architects : but
to open its gates, to acquaint people with sure methods how to
get out of it, and to be set at liberty, argues a return of good
nature, which deserves the thanks of all mankind ; this is ex
actly the case of the Church of Rome ; they have been at vast
expenses, to rear up this gaol ; many hundreds of years
* Je te dis aujourdui, que tu seras avec moi en Paradis.
t Si nous crayons que Jesus est mort, et qu'il est ressuscit.6, pareille-
ment aussi ceux quidorment du sommeil de paix en Jesus, Dieu les ramen-
era avec lui.

TO SCRIPTURE. 77
passed before they had set the finishing hand to it : but after
they had filled it with millions of inhabitants, they have in
compassion taught them how to get rid of the unheard of
torments inflicted there. The first means was, that they
should bequeath great legacies to the priests, to have as many
masses said for their souls as possible ; not regarding whether
their families and children should suffer by such donations ;
a second, somewhat more gracious, is implied in the doctrine of
the merit of works. The leaders of that communion have
been so solicitous, that no man should appear before God with
more virtue than strictly he wanted, that when they sus
pected one had a grain too much they took it away from him,
kept it in reserve, and by little and little have heaped up an
immense treasure of merits, which they impart to those that
stand in need of them ; and consequently, to the poor souls
miserably tortured in those hidden regions. Many judicious
men indeed have surmised, that a creature, strictly speaking,
could not well merit at the hands of its Creator ; that it was
not in his power to requite him for all his favours, much less
to express a thankfulness that exceeded their value, and to do
more for his service than it was bound to do ; that the very
best and the most illustrious actions, being performed by his
grace, and having no proportion with the reward of an endless
bliss, could not properly be said to be meritorious of that re
ward , they thought, that the holy Scriptures clearly supported
this hypothesis of theirs. But though the sacred writers
should contradict themselves, and subvert the nature of things,
yet, out of condescension for the Church of Rome, they must,
at least in some few places, be made to preach up the merit of
works. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, had ex •
horted the Christians, " to do good and to communicate,
seeing with such sacrifices God was well pleased," (Heb. xiii.
16.) The divines of Rheims and Doctor W. offering violence
both to the Greek and to the English, translate, " With such
hosts, or with such sacrifices, God is promerited ;" the trans
lators of Bourdeaux* and of Rouen, render to the same
purpose ; Father Amelotte agrees with them as to the sense,
" by such sacrifices," saidhe, " God holds himself obliged ;"f
whereas it is plain to any man, that considers the very origin
of the Greek term, that the precise notion included in it, is
* " On merite envers Dieu par de tels sacrifices." — Bourd. and Rouen.
t C'est par cettesorte de Victimes que Dieu se tient oblige.

78 POPERY AN ENEMY
that, which our version has expressed, vis. that God " is well
pleased," ehapeareiTai, that he is delighted with works of bene
ficence ; and not that, by virtue of their intrinsic excellency,
they deserve at his hands an infinite recompence.
St. Paul, in his Epistle to Philemon says, " I trust, that
through your prayers I shall be given you," (Heb. xiii. 22.)
Mess, de Port Royal translate, " through the merit of your
prayers ;" these words of St. Paul, " That ye may be counted
worthy of the kingdom of God," have been rendered by the
translators of Bourdeaux, "That ye may merit the kingdom of
God."* But as long as I have no better warrants than these
for the merit of works, I shall scruple very much to depend
upon my own ; much less would I trust the merits of any other
man, applied and transferred to me ; I should be much afraid,
either, that God's piercing eyes would spy in them many defects,
which the most rigid confessor could not have seen ; or, that
he would not accept of the conveyance made to me ; and con
sequently, that having done good actions only by proxy, I
should be saved also by proxy only.
X. The distinction between mortal and venial sins is very
much applauded in the Church of Rome : and indeed it may
be of great service to increase their stock of supererogatory
works, and enrich their bank of merits ; for the fewer mortal
sins a man has been guilty of, the fewer good works he wants
to make amends for them ; and the more good actions he has
done, the more he can leave of his own behind him for the benefit
of others ; whereas, "if death was the wages of sin" (Rom. vi. 23.)
considered in itself, hardly any man would have any thing to
spare. This distinction, entirely foreign to the Christian, but
necessary to the Romish system, was notwithstanding expressly
ascribed to St. John by the translators of Bourdeaux ; " all
unrighteousness is sin, (so our translation is) and there is a sin not
unto death :" (1 John v. 17.) but thus they render his words ;
" All iniquity is sin, but there is some sin, which is not mortal,
but venial."f Can any declaration be plainer ? In the fore
going verse, they had rendered the words of the original by a
sin unto death ; their reason for not doing the same here, was,
it seems, because the opposition had not been so palpable, as
they have made it ; though, if I am not mistaken, a mortal sin,
* Afinque vous merities le Royaume de Dieu.
t Toute iniquite est pech<5, mais il y a quelque peche qui n'est point
mortel, mais veniel.

TO SCRIPTURE. 79
in the common acceptation of the word, and the sin unto death,
here mentioned by the Apostle, are quite different things.
Secondly, These words, " but venial," are so bold an addition,
that I am apt to think, that nobody but these gentlemen
could be capable of it ; I would fain ask of them, whether
they think it a mortal or a venial sin, to add to God's laws?
Cardinal Quiroga, great inquisitor of Spain, seems to have
been of opinion it was not, seeing in more than one place of
his Index Expurgatory,* he ordered such propositions to be
cancelled out of the Fathers' writings, which severely con
demned such an attempt ; and yet, it cannot be denied that
God has forbidden under terrible penalties " to add unto his
word, or to take away from it ;" (Deut. iv. 2. v. 32, xii. 32 ;
Prov. xxx. 6; Rev. xxii. 18, 19.) but, if notwithstanding,
they had any doubt concerning this matter, I would know,
what they think of adding to the commands of the Church ;
and if they make this a mortal sin, I should be glad to be in
formed of the reason of this odd difference.
XI. In the Church of Rome, they are peculiarly tender and
jealous of the honour and prerogatives of their clergy ; hence,
as if these were very much above any lay-members of the civil
society, they strive all they can, to exempt them from the
jurisdiction of the civil magistrate, and pretend that they are
answerable for their behaviour, only to those of the same
order, that are constituted over them, and punishable by them
only : though this doctrine has a natural tendency to disturb
the public tranquillity, as it introduces an empire within an
empire, and makes one part of the commonwealth indepen
dent of the other, yet they would fain have it accounted a
Christian one ; should it be necessary, that the sacred text be
adulterated in order to it, they would not scruple it much.
St. Peter " exhorts the elders to feed the flock of God, not as
being lords over God's heritage :" (1 Epist. v. 1, 2, 3.)
The word of the original icKrjpoi signifies properly shares, parts,
heritage, and so is very proper to denote the generality of
Christians, which are called " the heritage of God" in the same
sense as the Israelites were formerly, (Deut. iv. 20 ; ix. 29) ;
but it is never employed, at least by our holy penmen, to de
note especially the governors of the Church. Doctor W. is,
as to the essentials, of the same opinion ; and yet, with the
divines ofRheims and Mr. Girodon, he renders, "not domineer-
* As folio 138 and 139.

80 POPERY AN ENEMY
ing over the clergy ;" the translators of Bourdeaux, " over the.
clergy or the heritage of theLord ; "Mess.de Port Royal," over
the heritage of theLord," or, say they in the margin, " over the
clergy ;" so that were the Roman clergy ever to get ground in
our island, and succeed in the design, which they pursue so
eagerly, to bring us over to their belief, we see plainly what
they then would be at ; they would not be domineered over,
nor, sincerely at least, acknowledge our Kings for their so
vereigns, in all causes civil and ecclesiastical ; their allegiance
and submission would centre in the Pope ; in which case, fare
well our constitution both in Church and State ; I need not
say any more upon this topic ; before I conclude this para
graph, I would ask them, whether the Popes never did, and
do not even now, break through the express prohibition, which
they suppose to be contained in this text ? Let Mr. Cressy
answer for them, who says, that* " for about six ages before
Luther the Popes enjoyed, an unlimited power over secular
Princes themselves, and much more over the clergy."
Three very strange notions concerning marriage have pre
vailed in the Church of Rome ; which were all declared by the
Council of Trentf to be of such an indispensable necessity,
that anathemas were thundered against the humblest dissen
ters. They import, first, that marriage,} is to be referred among
the sacraments of the Christian Church ; secondly, that, ne
vertheless, it is unlawful^ for persons in holyorders to partake
of it. Thirdly, that the state|| of virginity or cehbacy is
much to be preferred to the condition of an honest wedlock.
That a mere civil contract (considered abstractedly from all
forms) which has obtained in all ages and among all nations of
different religions ; which would have place, even in a com
monwealth of atheists, tolerably well regulated, should, ne
vertheless, be accounted a distinguishing badge of Christians,
and looked upon as appointed to be a channel of extraordinary^
favours from heaven, must seem to any unprejudiced man the
oddest thing in the world.
But his surprise will cease, when reflecting on the eagerness
of the Court of Rome to heap up immense treasures, he con
siders, that such an opinion is entirely calculated to promote
this grand design of theirs ; for, marriage being once reputed
* In his Exomologesis, c. 68. Quoted by Tillots. Rule of Faith, part iii.
sect. 7. t Sessio xxiv. 1 Canon i. § Canon ix.
|| Canon x. f Ibid. Can. i. and Sess. vii. Can. vi. vii viii.

TO SCRIPTURE. 81
a religious ceremony, the cognizance of all matrimonial* causes
belongs of course to the Church and its officers ; hence it is,
that they arrogate to themselves the right to declare, in what
degree of affinity, such a contract ought to be thought lawful,
in what not ; hence, they have extended the prohibition of
marrying much beyond its due bounds ; that, having frequent
opportunities to dispense with their arbitrary laws, they might,
with an appearance of justice, raise greater sums of money ;
and in this they have succeeded to a miracle : but, as the
public edification required that this real motive should be con
cealed, they have endeavoured to support this opinion by the
holy Scriptures.
The chief passage they had hitherto built it upon, is taken
from St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians, where, after some
precepts relating to the state of matrimony, he subjoins, ac
cording to the Vulgate, "this sacramentis great," (Eph.v. 32,)
which version has been constantly followed by the bulk of
Romish interpreters ; but, that nothing at all can be gathered
from this place, is evident ; first, the Latin version here is
certainly wrong, there being in all the Greek MSS. or printed
copies, " this is a great mystery," and not sacrament : secondly,
the word mystery rather excludes, than it includes, the notion
of a sacrament, which is a public visible rite. Thirdly, it is
usual with the Vulgate, to render the word mystery by that of
sacrament, even in such places, where this last term is so im
proper, that the Romish translators, though bound to adhere
to it, judged it necessary to deviate from it ; Doctor W. him
self has rendered " great is the mystery of piety ; and the
mystery of the seven stars," (ITim. iii. 16 ; Rev. i. 20.) though
in these two passages the Vulgate has the word sacrament.
Fourthly, Father Simon, in this place of the Ephesians, has
forsaken the Latin version to follow the Greek ; but, his
fellow-translators, more unfair than he, being sensible this
tenet of theirs would lose its main pillar, if they had done the
same, chose rather to be inconsistent with themselves, than to
give up the weakest argument.
But, were it the best in the world, and consequently suffi
cient, the interpreters of Bourdeaux were not contented with
it, they looked out for more ; and, in order to find them, of
their own authority, inserted in many passages the epithet of
sacrament, as if it were joined in the text to the word of mar-
* Ibid. Sess. xxiv. Can. xii.
VOL. VIII. G

82 POPERY AN ENEMY
riage : St. Paul says, " to the married men I command,"
(1 Cor. vii. 10.) they translated,* " to those, that are joined
together by the sacrament of marriage, I command." (2 Cor.
vi. 14.) In another place theApostle has these words, "Be ye
not unequally yoked together with unbelievers ;" They ren
dered them, " Do not. join yourselvesf by the sacrament of
marriage with infidels :'' in a third, he speaks of some heretics
that were "to forbid to marry;" (1 Tim. iv; 3.) — but,
according to our gentlemen, they were " to condemn J the
sacrament of marriage." Stout defenders of the faith of the
Church, who know so well how to create arguments for its
support ! But could they say with a safe conscience, "We have
renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in
craftiness, nor handling the Word of God deceitfully, but, by
manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every
man's conscience, in the sight of God?" (2 Cor. iv. 2.)
XIII. Marriage being a sacrament, containing in itself some
peculiar excellency, not to be met with in any of the others, no
not in those of baptism, and of the holy supper, as it follows
evidently from one of the canons of the Council of Trent, §
one would have thought, that, the ministers of the altars had
the fullest title to it ; and that, to debar them from it, had
been to strip them of their best grounded privilege: they are
allowed, when they officiate, to receive the eucharist in both
kinds, while the rest of Christians have it administered but in
one ; why should they not enjoy in this respect the same ad^
vantage with the laymen ? Was the design of the Church to
make some amends to these for the wrong they had done them ?
Let it be what it will, no doubt, but this prohibition of
marrying made to the clergy, is most shocking and irrational';
as if, because a man puts on another habit, he could be sup
posed to have divested himself of one of the strongest appetites
that nature has implanted in him. It has occasioned so many
disorders, || so general a scandal, that Pope Pius II. acknow-
* A ceux qui sont conjoints par le sacrament du mariage, je leuf
commande. t Ne vous joignes point par sacrament de mariage avec les infidelles.'
X Condamnant le sacrament de mariage.
% Sessio vii. Can. iii. Si quis dixerit, haec septem Sacramenta ita esse
inter se paria, ut nullfi, ratione aliud sit alio dignius ; Anathema sit.
|| The same might be made evident from a thousand passages out of
the historians, and other writers that lived within the eight or nine
centuries last past, and from numberless undeniable facts. The Factum

TO SCRIPTURE. 83
ledged, that " if there had been good reasons to forbid the
clergy to marry, there were better ones, for which they should
be permitted to do it ;" and I do not doubt in the least, but
the heads of that communion will be answerable in a great
measure to God for all the mischiefs which they have by that
means brought into the world. But by such an unchristian
and unnatural law, they secured to themselves so many
worldly advantages, that they thought they could safely over
look the iniquity of it. It highly concerned the Court of
Rorrie, to have the numerous body of the clergy entirely at its
beck, to make sure as much as possible of their persons, their
estates, and their interest ; the best way to compass this end,
was no doubt to cut off all the ties that nature and blood had
formed between them and their relations, and to put a full
stop to their acquiring new and stronger ones, such as are
those that bind a husband and his wife, parents and their
children ; that, standing in a manner disengaged from their
families, intimately united with the Church by fresh and
sacred bonds, they might be solely wedded to its interests,
and promote and advance them before any other; these were
the real, though unconfessed motives, that made the Fathers
of Trent so obstinate in opposing the pressing demands of
the princes of. Germany, for having the ' liberty of marrying
restored to their clergy ; in this they were biassed by pitiful
private views, but not supported by any command of God ;
very far from it : the holy Scriptures contain the strongest
arguments against such a prohibition : to make them void,
they did their utmost ; in the management of which affair, no
interpreters have-put on a bolder face than those of Bourdeaux,
whether to the advantage of their cause, or to their own ever
lasting confusion, I leave it to any man to determine. St.
Paul says, "To avoid fornication, let every man have his own
wife, and let every woman have her own husband," (1 Cor.
vii. 2.) thus they have rendered; "let every husband have his
of the Nuns of Provins in Champain against the Grey Friars (Cordeliers)
is an authentic monument on this subject. The history of Father Girard
is recent and known to everybody : but though he shewed himself a most
profligate fellow, one may say, he was nobody, in point of lewdness and
debauchery, to Father Felice Lunetti, a Friar of Camerino, in the state of
Ravenna : it is about eleven years ago, that he was condemned at Rome,
to serve as a slave on the Pope's galleys at Civita-Vecchia ; I have by me
an abstract of his trial, which I would have communicated to the public,
had I not been afraid to disgrace humanity itself ; that infamous wretch
having behaved as no brute ever did.
G 2

84 POPERY AN ENEMY
own wife."* In what manner soever this passage be under
stood, this translation is certainly wrong ; for it amounts to
this, " Let every man, who has a wife, have his wife," which
is an absurd tautology.
In the epistle to the Hebrews we read, " Marriage is
honourable in all, and the bed undefiled, but whoremongers
and adulterers God will judge." (Heb. xiii. 4.) Two different
methods have been used to invalidate the argument arising from
this passage ; some (as Father Simon and Mess, de Port
Royalf) have translated it to this purpose, " Let all honour
marriage ;" as if all men were to think well of it, though a
peculiar order amongst them could not contract it, without
deserving the highest censure ; which is not altogether so
coherent : besides, this version cuts off all connection between
the two parts of this verse, at least, according as it stands in
our Greek copies, it being absurd to say, " Let all honour
marriage, but God will judge adulterers." Some others (as
Father Amelotte and the translators of Bourdeaux) have
rendered the words (iv trdcsi), in all, by, in all things ;J "Let
marriage be," or, " Marriage is honourable in all things ¦." I
grant that, these two words considered absolutely and in them
selves, may be understood of things, as well as of men ; but
they seem to be restrained here to this last signification by
the following opposition. " God will judge whoremongers ;
marriage is honourable in all men," but God will judge those
men who are whoremongers : but to leave off criticising about
words, I shall content myself to quote a passage out of
Clemens Alexandrinus, which overthrows any quibbling and
shifting of our adversaries on this subject; "The Apostle (says
he§) entirely approves any man, who has but one wife. Let
him be priest, deacon, or layman, no matter, provided he
behaves in the state of marriage in an irreproachable manner."
But, which is more, the Apostles not only approved of
marriage in all men, but, it seems, they were married them
selves. The history of the Gospel mentions St. Peter's
mother-in-law. The same Clemens || and Eusebius^f relate,
* Que chaque Mary ait sa femme.
+ " Que tous honorent le mariage." — Simon. " Que le mariage soit
traite de tous avec honnetete." — Port Royal.
X " Que le mariage soit honorable en toutes choses." — Amelotte. *' Le
mariage est honorable en toutes choses." — Bourdeaux.
§ Stromat. Lib. iii. p. 464. quoted by de Beausobre and Lenfant on
this text. Stromat. lib. iii. p. 448.
f Hist. Eccles. lib. iii. p. 30. quoted by the same.

TO SCRIPTURE. 85
that St. Paul had been in the state of wedlock ; at least, that
the hought himself at liberty to marry is plain from what he
says ; " Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as
well as other Apostles, and the brethren of the Lord and
Cephas?" (1 Cor. ix. 5.) Mess, de Beausobre and Lenfant
observe on this place, that the original word ought to be
rendered a wife, and not a woman, as denoting here the
quality rather than the sex, which is sufficiently implied in
that of a sister ; besides, if it was translated by the term
woman, and understood of those women that are supposed to
have followed the Apostles, in order to supply their wants out
of their own estates, the reasoning of St. Paul would be quite
inconsistent with his main scope ; which was to shew the
Corinthians he had a right to claim a maintenance from them,
not only for himself, but for a sister also ; whereas he would
have had no occasion to ask anything for these fellow-travellers
who were so far from being in want themselves, that they pro
vided for him, and consequently could not be chargeable to
the churches. The translators of Bourdeaux, to convince
their readers, that there was nothing in this text, from which
the Protestants could take any advantage, thrust into it their
own commentary at full length, and expressed it thus ; " Have
we not power to lead about a sister, a woman, to minister
unto us in the Gospel, and to assist us with her goods."*
Doctor W. supports this interpretation with some passages out
of the Fathers ; but authorities will not avail, at least with us,
against reason.
The very same gentlemen have falsified two other places,
relating to the state of a married life, in a manner no less
ludicrous than it is absurd. St. Paul speaking of deacons,
says, " Even so must their wives be grave :" our translators
render, "Even so must their wives be public."f What!
Common women ! New and strange morality indeed ! But
either there is here a very odd mistake of the press, or they
aim at something very much out of the way, and which I will
not venture to guess at.
What shall we say to the following passage ? St. Paul says,
* " N'avons nous pas puissance de mener fa etla une soeur, femme pour
nous servir en l'Evangile, et nous souvenir de ses biens." I suppose, they
would say, nous suivenir , to assist us, instead of nous souvenir, to re
member us, which is downright nonsense. — Bourdeaux.
t " II faut que leurs femmes soient publiques." — Bourdeaux.

86 POPERY AN ENEMY
" Defraud you not one the other, except it be with consent
for a time :" (1 Cor. viii. 5.) Our translators have these words,
" Render not one another the duty, except it be with a mutual
consent for a time ;"* is there any man, the least acquainted
with St. Paul's gravity and seriousness, that would have' ex
pected such a singular advice from him? He descends ,to
particulars indeed ! Could Sanches have gone, much farther,?
Some people are inclined to surmise, there Hes here a snake in
the grass ; and that this version was ventured on with a design
to lay a seeming foundation for the, superstitious perfection-)-
which some in the Church of Rome imagine to be in living in
a married state, as persons that are not married ; in which
case St. Paul would recommend that, if either a husband or a
wife should be ambitious to arrive at it, he should not be
hjndered, but left at full liberty ; whether there be many that
entertain so wild an opinion, I cannot tell. Doctor W. is
pleased to inform us, that in the primitive ages of Christianity,
"If a man had been chosen a bishop or a priest, whose wife
was living, he was from that time to live with her, as with a
sister,"J and assureth us on Jerome's authority, that this was
the discipline of the Latin Church. I will not at present
inquire into the truth and grounds of this assertion; I shall
be contented to say, First, That ,jsuch a ridiculous practice
did not obtain in the Eastern Churches ;§ 2ndly, That this
* Ne vous donnes pas le devoir l'un a l'autre, si ce n'est par un con-
sentement mutuel pour un temps.
f This odd opinion has put some great men, even some canonized
saints of the Church of Rome, upon the most perilous and the most un
necessary trials of their virtue, that can be imagined, and such as shewed
them- to be entirely ignorant of the nature of true chastity. Robert of
Arbrissel, founder of the Order of Fontevraud, has been accused to have,
more than once, chosen some of the prettiest women of his nunnery, and
to have lain in the same bed with them, but only with a view to report a
more signal victory over himself. Pretty near tie same has been related
of St. Aldhelm, an English bishop, about the latter end of the seventh
century, who, to withstand the temptation the more easily, sung Psalms
all the while ; which put the devil quite out of temper ; and yet, a chastity
kept between two sheets is very suspicious. See Bayle's Dictionary, Art.
Fontevraud, and Art. St. Francois d' Assise, Remark C. Such ridiculous
pranks are a plain proof, that many saints of that communion behaved so,
as to deserve a place in Bedlam, rather than in heaven, as has been fully
demonstrated by the Author of the Enthusiasm of the Church of Rome.
X In his Annotations on 1 Timothy iii. 2.
§ See Mr. de Beausobre, Hist, du Manicheisme, liv. 2. t. 4. p. 212.

TO SCRIPTURE. 87
passage of St* Paul rather overthrows than countenanceth it;
its meaning being undoubtedly this: fir) aTroorspeTrE aXXriXove.,
u defraud not," or " deprive not one another ;" accordingly the
other Romish translators render it. "let not one defraud the
other of his right."* 3rdly, The latter part, of the verse
subverts entirely the sense, which the version of Bourdeaux
puts on the first, as is plain from the bare reading of the whole;
" Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a
tjme, thatiye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and
come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incon-
tinency." There are some other texts, which must have been adul
terated with some particular, design ; otherwise it cannot be
understood, why they should have been misrepresented.
As they could not conveniently be placed under any Of the
foregoing heads, I shall put them all here together, though
^elating to different subjects, and shall make bold to offer my
conjectures about them.
L St. Paul says, "There is none righteous, no not one,"
(Rom. iii. 10), the interpreters of Bourdeaux, add "before
the faith ;"f which words occur in no MS. or version whatso
ever ; it may be that they thought them proper to describe
the sad condition of heretics, and of all those, who are out of
the pale of the Roman Catholic Church, who cannot be' ac
counted righteous, and as being in a state of salvation, before
they believe whatever that despotic mother will have them
believe. II. That Apostle exhorts Titus, "To put the Christians in
mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey ma
gistrates ;" (Titus iii. 1.) the same translators render, J "To
obey the edicts ;" as their version was chiefly intended to
pervert the French Protestants,, against whom the Court
issued every day new edicts, ¦¦ it seems likely enough, they
would give them to understand, that they were bound in
conscience to obey the, edicts enjoining them to turn Ca
tholics, though they were by so doing, " to obey men rather
than God." (Acts v. 29 ; iv. 19.)
* " Ne vous refuses point l'un a l'autre ce devoir." — Mess, de Port Royal.
"Quel'unneprivepas l'autre de son droit. " — Amelotte. " Ne vous refuses
point ce que vous deve'sl'iin a l'autre. "-'-Simon.
f II n'y a mil juste, non pas meme un, devant la foi.
X Qu'ils obe'i'ssent aux Edicts.

88 POPERY AN ENEMY
III. In another place St. Paul says, " We know that there
is no other God but one," (1 Cor. viii. 4) ; this version has,*
" We know that there is no God ;" surely this place is mis
printed. IV. In the picture that Apostle draws of the Son of Per
dition, there occurs this lineament, that "He exalteth him
self above all that is called God," (2 Thess. ii. 4), our inter
preters render, f " he exalteth himself against all that is called
of or by God ;" and a little lower, instead of, " The mystery
doth already work," (2 Thess. ii. 7,) they have, J " The de
cree of iniquity is a making ;" what they can get by these
alterations, I own I cannot see.
V. St. Paul has these words, "We have renounced the
hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor
handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of
the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience,"
(2 Cor. iv. 2) : a man must be strangely inclined to deceit,
that can ueliberately resolve to falsify such a passage as this,
which sets before his eyes so noble a pattern,so powerful an
incentive against it ; but the translators of Bourdeaux stick
at nothing ; thus they have misrepresented the Apostle's
meaning ;§ " We cut off what is solid, which one is obliged to
hide, not walking in craftiness, nor falsifying the word of
God, but we approving every conscience of men before God,
by manifestation of the truth." For God's sake, what do
they aim at by such a version as this, which is not counte
nanced in the least, either by that of Louvain, or by the
Vulgate ? Do they mean, that when they cut off the laity
from the privilege of reading the holy Scriptures, which are
the most solid food of the soul, they are so far from wronging
or acting dishonestly towards them, that they do them a good
office, by concealing from them a thing, which one is obliged
to hide ? Would they intimate, that in this they are autho
rized by the practice of the Apostles themselves ? But, how
is it possible to put such a construction on St. Paul's words,
* Nous savons qu'il n'y a aucun Dieu.
t Qui s'eleve contre tout ce qui est nomine de Dieu.
} Deja le decret d'iniquite se fait.
§ Nous uetrenchons ce qui est solide qu'on est oblige de cacher ; ne
cheminans point par artifice, et ne falsifians point la parole de Dieu, mais
nous approuvans toute conscience des hommes devant Dieu, par la mani
festation de la Verite.

TO SCRIPTURE. 89
without trampling under foot the example he sets here before
the Christians, " without walking in craftiness, and falsifying
the word of God ?"
St. Paul goes on : " But if our Gorpel be hid, it is hid to
them that are lost," (2 Cor. iv. 3); these translators render,*
" but if our Gospel be still, it is hid to them that are lost."
If there is not here an omission or error of the printer, I do
not know how to account for such a version.
VI. Mr. Girodon, the translator of Rouen, hath wrested
another passage of St. Paul to the most absurd and contradic
tory sense ; that Apostle says : "As a wise master-builder I
have laid the foundation," (1 Cor. iii. 10) ; this man, shewing
himself as strict a reasoner as a good divine, introduceth him
saying,t " I have been the foundation as a wise master-
builder." What ! that a man should be at once an architect
and the foundation of the building he rears up, this is truly a
new phenomenon, but which is destroyed, either by the
nature of the thing, or by the words that follow: "other
foundation can no man lay, than that is laid, which is Jesus
Christ," (1 Cor. ver. 11); if our missionary has no better
grounds for the immense privileges ascribed in his commu
nion to the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, the two pretended
"founders of the Church of Rome, he may be sure the whole
building will fall to ruin.
XVI. We are now come to the boldest stroke for Popery,
that could be thought of ; which, if it could reach the Pro
testants, would beat down all their batteries, snap asunder
their best tempered weapons, and demolish them all at once ;
did the passage stand in St. Paul's writings, as it does in the
version of Bourdeaux, it would be an uncontrollable proof, that
our doctrine is erroneous, and our Reformation schismatical :
but God be thanked ! the first is free from falsehood, and the
second from rashness ; and as long as our adversaries level no
other arrows at our heads, we are shot-free, we shall remain
immoveable, " The gates of hell will never prevail against us."
(Matth. xvi. 18.) These are the words of the Apostle : " The
Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times, some shall
depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and
doctrines of devils ; speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their
* Que si n6tre Evangile est encore, il est cache a ceux qui perissent.
t J'ai ete le fondement comme un sage Architecte.

90 POPERY AN -ENEMY
conscience seared with hot iron ; forbidding to marry, and
commanding to abstain from meats, which God has created]
to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and
know the truth." (1 Tim. iv. -1, 2, 3.) Many of our most
eminent divines have thought, that a parallel exact enough
might be made between all these doctrines here mentioned
and those that are maintained in the Church of Rome ; and
that, there was a great resemblance between those, whose
picture is here, drawn, and the heads of that communion ; the
only thing in debate is, whether this prophesy was directly
and primarily levelled at the Popish doctors, or at some other
heretics, that lived nearer the Apostles' times, such as the
Gnostics and the Manichees : but let us suppose for a moment
that our present adversaries are not the persons, St. Paul had
immediately in view ; yet I cannot see, how they will be much
the better for it; seeing it cannot be well denied, but they have
the misfortune, to be so like the first original, that any one
would take them, at least, for an imperfect copy of it, the very
same features occurring in both, though stronger it may be in
one than in the other : and indeed, as long as they teach pTetty
near the same doctrines with those first seducers ; as long as
their tenets and proceedings, may conveniently and without
any violence offered to the text, be expressed by the words of
St. Paul, they must lie under the same censure and condem*
nation ; but the interpreters of Bourdeaux, always watchful
against any danger that might threaten their Church, have
not only warded off the blow, but made it fall with its full
weight on the Protestants ; thus they have tendered this fa
mous passage :* " The Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the
latter times, some shall depart from the Roman faith, giving
heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines taught by devils;
speaketh lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared
with a hot iron ; condemning the sacrament of marriage, the
abstinence from meats, which God has created to be received
with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the
* L'Esprit dit clairement, qu'es derniers temps quelques uns se se-
pareront de la foi Romaine, s'adonnans aux esprits d'erreur, et aux doc
trines enseignees par des Diables. 2. Disans des choses fausses par
hypocrisle, ayans aussi la conscience cauterisee. 3. Condamnans le
Sacrement de Marriage, l'abstinence des alimens que Dieu a crees pour les
fidelles, et pour ceux qui ont connu la verite, pour les recevoir avec action
de graces.

TO SCRIPTURE. 91
,truth." Who can forbear (may a Romanist now say) seeing
Luther and the first Reformers described here in the most
glaring colours ? Their picture is drawn to the life ; for,
surely, they departed from the Roman faith ; seduced the
people from it ; pretended that marriage is not a sacrament ;
and, against the most positive decrees of the Church, main
tained, that there is no Divine command for abstaining
from any sort , of meat whatsoever ; all the accusations,
which they raised' against it, were mere lies,- contrived
,by people who had a conscience seared with a hot iron.
This is indeed making the business short, at once ending all
controversies, and stopping all gaps with one bush ! Good
iGod ! What age do we live in ? Could any man ever think of
supporting religion by such irreligious artifices ? Is this that
Roman faith from which our ancestors departed ? And why
should they be blamed for it, seeing it is no better than the
Punic* or Carthaginian faith ? and well may it now-a-days
¦pass into a proverb, as this did formerly, and be employed to
signify, " the quintessence of infidelity, a thorough dishonesty;''
and that it may, there needs no other proof, but the very ad
dition of the word , Roman, made in this place, not in italic,
jbut in textuary characters ; besides,, all the other falsifica
tions we have taken notice of hitherto, are a further demon
stration of it ; and especially this other corruption, that makes
so great a figure in1 this very passage, by which they have con
verted, " forbidding to marry," into " condemning the sacra
ment of marriage." T dare say, that this metamorphosis is folly
as ; stirange as any in Ovid. 3rdly. I cannot but observe, to the
reader a; monstrous inconsistency in this translation, which, I
¦do not know how, has escaped the attention of the learned;
according to our egregious falsifiers, or rather blunderers, the
¦heretics here described, were " to condemn the abstinence of
the meats which God had created for the use of the faithful :"
but, this is so far from being an heretical behaviour, that the
opposite one is rather such ; for, " if God has created meats
for the use of the faithful," then the faithful have a right to
them ; and if they have, no man can debar them, or, com
mand them to abstain from them ; therefore to disapprove of
such command, in case it be given, to condemn such an absti-
* See Catechisme des Jesuites. Liv. 3, c. 26, p. 550. Imp. a Ville
Franche, 1677.

92 POPERY AN ENEMY
nence, is to act according to God's design in creating those
meats ; and consequently, such a conduct cannot be heretical,
except it be an heresy, to take God's known will for the
standard of one's belief and practice. This reasoning is so
clear, so easy, that it is an amazing thing, how these inter
preters were not aware of it : but cunning falls very short of
true prudence ; it stops one gap and opens a wider.
And now I have gone through the chief and essential cor
ruptions, which the interpreters of Bourdeaux, of Rouen, and
some others of the same communion, have thought fit to
distinguish their translations of the New Testament by: I
waved the laying my finger upon those that might be in the
least countenanced by some faulty MSS. or versions, or that
had no relation to the controversies that are on foot between
them and us : but I hope those which I have instanced in,
are sufficient to convince any man, who dares trust his own
eyes and judgment, that these people have notoriously, not
for want of learning, but out of a deliberate will and design,
falsified the holy Scriptures, and endeavoured to impose on
their readers their mistaken notions, as if they had been
authorised by the express declarations of God ; than which
nothing, in my humble opinion, can be more assuming and
impious. Corollaries, or Inferences arising from the foregoing
Romish principles.
Some of the fundamental doctrines of the Church of Rome
I have examined in this discourse ; I have shewed that the
Romanists destroy the certainty of the senses, banish the use
of reason out of religion, subvert the authority of the holy
Scriptures, make them useless to the generality of Christians,
and lastly, adulterate them without any regard for then-
author ; these principles, though necessary for the support of
Popery, are plainly destructive of every thing else ; I have
hitherto examined them in themselves : I cannot but think it
very proper to dive further into their nature, and to lay open
the consequences naturally arising from them ; by that means,
they will be better understood and more detested.
And, I. They are entirely subversive of Christianity itself.
The doctors of Rome debase human reason to that degree, that,
were the doctrine of our Saviour delivered in the New Tes
tament, the most proper and effectual means to convey and

TO SCRIPTURE. 93
propagate religious knowledge, yet, it would miss of its in
tended effect, it being impossible for the generality of men to
understand it right : though the light shines never so bright,
a stark-blind man cannot be affected with it : and they cry
down so much the holy Scriptures, that, were reason more
excellent and clear-sighted still than Protestants think it is, it
would receive no benefit from them ; the best eyes cannot see
in the dark.
II. They import, that, man remaining such as he is, his
condition could not be mended by any new revelation. And
truly, should God himself speak to him, he might doubt,
whether he enjoys the privilege of hearing his Maker's voice,
seeing his senses, being apt to be deceived, are not to be
trusted : the deeper insight into holy things he should be
allowed, the more puzzled and perplexed his shallow reason
would be. To become capable of such a favour, he must of
necessity be made another creature ; which is highly absurd.
III. How unlike itself would a Christian's picture be, ac
cording as it were drawn by an Apostolical pencil, or painted
with Romish colours ? With these lineaments Christ's dis
ciples are represented in our sacred writings ; they are styled
" Spiritual, wise men, light in the Lord," and are exhorted to
" walk as children of light ;" they are said to " have an unction
from the Holy One, to know all things, to be all taught of
God;" (1 Cor. ii. 15 ; 1 Cor. x 15 ; Eph. v. 8 ; 1 John ii. 20;
John vi. 45 ; 1 Pet. ii. 9.) No less than the ministers them
selves, they are honoured with the glorious titles of a " chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation,a peculiar people."
No less than these, they have a right " to shew forth the
praises of God," because no less than these, they " were called
by him out of darkness into his marvellous light." But, what
are Christians, according to the notions of the doctors of
Rome ? Men ? hardly so much, as being debarred of the use
of reason, that noble and distinguishing prerogative: but
rather, mere shapes, and appearances of men ; or, if you will,
they may pass for bare stocks, for moving plants, that are
destitute of a right sensitive faculty, which the brutes them
selves are endowed with : surely, considering the deep and
gross ignorance, they are kept in, they are none of those,
whom Christ addressed in these words ; " Henceforth I call
you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord
doth ; but I have called you friends, for all things, that I have

94 POPERY AN ENEMY
heard of my Father, I have made known unto you." (John xv.
15.) In short, since the time I could think for myself, I could
never reconcile the notion of a Christian with that of a Roman
Catholic ; a man, that can be both at once, seems to me a con
tradictory being, made up of jarring elements ; an odd medley
of light and darkness, of science and ignorance, of evidence and
uncertainty; as a Christian, he "has eyes to see, and ears to
hear ;" as a Papist, he must shut close the first, and stop the'
last ; as a Christian, he may, he ought " to prove all things,
and hold fast that which is good;" (1 Thess. v. 21.) As a;
Papist, he must be contented to think at second-hand and by
proxy ; so that, being considered under these two joint no
tions of a Christian and of a Papist, he may very well be
likened unto those idols mentioned by the Psalmist ; like
them, " he has a mouth, but he dares not speak ; eyes hath
he, but he is not allowed to see." (Psalm cxv. 5, 6.) He has
ears, but he ought not to trust them. O ! how long since
are God's elect, his beloved children, fallen into that degene
rate forlorn condition, and become entire strangers in their
heavenly Father's house? Is it since the Church of Rome
has taken upon her the care of their souls ? No doubt, but
that is the true, the only epocha of their misfortune ; for, " it
was not so with them from the beginning." (Matth. xix. 8.)
We thank God, the laity is upon a much better footing amongst
us: "Having the word of God dwelling in them richly,"
(Coloss. iii. 16) ; enjoying the liberty to read it daily at home,
to hear it publicly explained in their mother-tongue, they are
furnished with all possible means, " to grow in grace and in
the knowledge of our Lord ;" (2 Pet. iii. 18.) " To be fruitful
in every good work ;" (Coloss. i. 10.) They are so far from
being abridged by their ministers of any of their natural or
evangelical privileges, that, the greater they grow in God's-
eyes, the more do their ministers value themselves ; and es
teeming them as " their joy and their crown," (Phil. iv. 1.)-
— they would willingly be the " helpers of their joy" (2 Cor.
i. 24), and of their glory. Now, I ask any man, which of
these two pictures he would choose to resemble, that of the
Christian, or that of the Papist ? If he prefers the last, I
have nothing more to say to him.
IV. From hence one may see what great charges he must
be at that turns Roman Catholic ; he must forfeit his senses,
his reason, his liberty, deliver up the holy Scriptures, those

TO SCRIPTURE. 95
letters patent of his heavenly citizenship, and he satisfied to be
drove and dragged about, as a silly slave, at his leader's plea
sure, and to groan under the most absolute tyranny for life.
V. It appears likewise from the premises* that the Christian
and the Romish worship differ essentially from one another.
The first is a "reasonable service," (Romt xii. 1); but such
cannot be the second ; for where there is no use of reason,
there can be nothing rationally done. The first is spiritual;
"God being a Spirit, will be worshipped in spirit and in
truth," (John iv. 23, 24) ; the second is encumbered with so
many external rites, that one would think the Being it is paid
to wants to be complimented with a costly pomp, and that
grimace and pageantry are the best means to get into his
favour. VI. Whosoever considers the great care that is taken'by the
Romanists, to conceal from the people as much, and to let him
know as 'little, of the holy Scriptures as possible, finds himself
strongly induced to surmise, that they are apprehensive of
some unavoidable danger in case they were promiscuously
searched by all Christians ; that " if they love darkness rather
than light, it is because their deeds are evil.'' (John iii. 19.)
And truly were they afraid, that many of their, peculiar tenets
would fall into discredit, if it were known, not only how little
they are countenanced, but how directly thwarted and run
down by the plainest declarations of Our sacred writers ; were
they, I say, prepossessed with such a fear, I could not hut
think it well grounded, and applaud the measures they take,
as being, if not the honestest, at least, the safest, that worldly
prudence can suggest ;: and no doubt but this Suspicion was,
and is still, generally entertained by Protestants. Nobody
indeed would have expected, that the Romanists themselves
had improved this conjecture of theirs into a certainty : but,
such is the power of truth, it forces its passage through the
thickest confinement. In short, the heads of that communion
plead guilty in the clearest terms ; such vouchers cannot well
be excepted against. These are their depositions : Pighius
does not scruple to say, " Had we remembered, that heretics
are not to be instructed or convinced from the Scriptures, our
affairs would be in a much better situation ; but while, being
ambitious to make a show of our wit and learning, we have
carried on the controversy with Luther by the Scriptures, we
have, O unspeakable misfortune, raised the present sad confla-

96 POPERY AN ENEMY
gration."* Do not these words import, intelligibly enough;
that the cause of the Church was much the worse for having
been tried by the word of God ? Is there any possible way
to reconcile them with that solemn declaration of the prophet
Isaiah, " To the law and to the testimony ; if they speak not
according to this word, it is because there is no light in them ?'*
(Isa. viii. 20.) But, do we want an authority more express
and of a greater weight ? Let us hear the bishops met at
Bononia to consult about the establishment of the Roman see.
This is the last advice they gave to Juhus III. as the best he
could follow : that " as little of the Gospel as might be, espe
cially in the vulgar tongne, should be read to the people ; for so
long," say they, " as men were contented with that little which
is in the mass, all things went well with them ; but quite
otherwise since more was commonly read. And in truth," so
they go on, "if one diligently considers that book (the Bible),
and compares it with what is done in our Church, he will find
them very contrary to each other, and our doctrine not only to
be very different from it, but repugnant to it."-f A full con
fession indeed, such as the Protestants could have desired!
But such as should have covered the faces of those prelates
with confusion, had they been in any degree susceptible of
shame. What cruelty ! wilfully to poison the souls of men,
and keep secret from them the only sure antidote ; to feed them
with errors when truth is at hand ! But perhaps it may be
said, that we are too hard with these Catholics ; we should
interpret their locking up the Word of God as a piece of great
charity, at least towards the unlearned ; for, as they are fully
resolved to oblige them, by fair or foul means, by gentle per
suasion, or violent persecution, to profess the most monstrous
falsehoods ; so far it is a kindness, not to suffer them to be
acquainted with the holy Scriptures ; as long as they are igno
rant of them, they cannot break through the known will of
God, sin against the plain dictates of their consciences.
VII. Were the Romish opinions as certainly true, as they
are notoriously false, yet it would still be very wrong, not to
permit those who are to profess them to resort to the fountain-
head of the Christian faith, to assure themselves with their own
* De Eccles. Hierarch. lib. 1. quoted by Chemnitius, Exam. Cone.
Trid. de Sac. Scrip. Pars 1. p. 11. Edit. Franc, ad Moenum. 1599.
t Quoted by Tillots. 1 vol. fol. Serm. XXX.

TO SCRIPTURE. 97
eyes that they are truly derived from it ; and were the Pro
testants mistaken in opposing them, yet it must be acknow
ledged they behave much more fairly, inasmuch as they are so
far from screening their errors, that they put everybody in the
way to discover and to confute them ; nay, they strenuously
exhort all Christians whatsoever to read carefully the holy
Scriptures, and to fetch from them alone the articles of their
Creed. Such a conduct cannot but be a strong prejudice, with
any impartial man, in their behalf; as a quite contrary beha
viour in the Romanists, is at least as strong an one against
them. VIII. Consequently, the Protestant clergy cannot, with any
shadow of reason, be charged with priestcraft ; seeing they
put it entirely out of their power to make use of any secret
and indirect methods to support their doctrines. And any
man that should cast such an aspersion upon them, would
betray as much weakness as injustice ; own himself for one
that can be imposed upon even by those that have no such
design, whose pretended craft he could easily defeat, if he was
not wilfully ignorant. Most true it is, that the clergy of the
Romish Church can by no means clear themselves from such
an imputation ; for many centuries they have been labouring
to deserve it ; let it therefore stick to them, and not the same
sentence be passed upon the innocent and upon the guilty.
IX. We have seen the doctors of Rome very eager in abusing
the holy Scriptures, and in crying down their authority ; so
that, did they deserve half the contempt they have been striv
ing to bring upon them, they should not only be locked up, but
laid by as a proper food for worms. Will not any man be
inclined to infer from such a proceeding, that there is no good
understanding between them and the sacred writers ? For
surely, these are no friendly manners. But it must be owned,
that the first have great occasion to complain. They may say,
The Apostles seem to have undertaken to overthrow before
hand, either expressly or tacitly, the opinions which we are
most fond of, as bringing to us a vast profit. They make use
of such stiff expressions, as can hardly be bent and accommo
dated to our present designs ; in short, their writings have
given us more work and trouble than we could well bear.
Indued with the gift of knowing things to come, they might
have foreseen what doctrines we would have relished, and
accordingly have taught them ; but they did quite the reverse ;
VOL. VIII. h

98 POPERY AN ENEMY
therefore, it is no wonder, that we account them our most
inveterate enemies, and use them as such ; let them impute it
to themselves. But, though I grant these pleas are not desti
tute of foundation, yet, I dare say, the Apostles bore no malice
to the Romish divines; and if they happen to cross then-
views, it is only by accident ; they faithfully acquainted men
with the terms of salvation, such as God had appointed them;
it is not their fault if they are not approved of ; consequently,
our doctors have less reason to quarrel with them on that
account, than some Indians have to call the sun names when
he scorches them ; because it is in their power to agree in
opinion with these holy men, whereas it does not depend on
those poor barbarians to remove that celestial body at a greater
distance. X. That the doctors of Rome made bold, most shamefully to
corrupt that book, which all Christians reverence as the great
standard of their faith, is to me the most unanswerable proof
that their cause is at the lowest ebb, since it wants such en
gines to be hoisted up and kept from sinking ; had they
thought that their substantial and favourite doctrines were
plainly contained in it, they would have been contented to
quote the passages from which they might be deduced, and to
call to their assistance all the helps that sound learning and
judicious critics could afford, in order to clear and evince the
matter ; but they would never have ran into such an excess of
madness as to force them into the text, when there was no occa
sion for it ; when the plain truth would have gained, and when
cheat would have irrecoverably lost their cause. It is not
usual with men who have but common sense, needlessly to lay
their honour at stake ; they never expose it, but in order to
preserve it.
XI. Had there been amongst them but one man of such an
audacious character, it had been a just matter of scandal ; but
here we see a cloud of false witnesses, who lived at different
times in different places, joining in the same conspiracy ;
some indeed, carrying the cheat further than others, but all
resolved to improve the stock of knavery which they were
possessed of, for the support of the grossest errors. Had
their falsifications been but few, or of such a nature as some
specious plea might have been made for them ; could they be
ascribed to ignorance, carelessness, inattention, it were some
thing: but such an apology cannot here have place, they

TO SCRIPTURE. 99
proceed manifestly1 from a full and premeditated design to
impose upon unlearned and unwary readers, to cheat them into
the Romish faith. In this indeed they betrayed one another :
some corrupted one passage, which others rendered faithfully ;,
or they misinterpreted it different ways ; and, by that means, .
they ran one another through : but error has no sure rule to,
go by. At leasts if their learned men, who could not but see
into the fraud, as well as the Protestants themselves, had ex
pressed . publicly their abhorrence - for such abominable me^
thods,.a kind of satisfaction had been made to truth and to
the Christian world ; but certainly \ it cannot but turn to the
indelible and eternal shame of the whole Catholic body, that
they did not rise up to a man, to have some of those versions
which we have exposed ignominiously burnt, and their authors;
branded and animadverted on as most scandalous felons and
corrupters of the public registers of Christianity ; they will
be looked upon as people who have little or no regard to
strict honesty, seeing they can connive at .the most perfidious
dealings, when their interests may be advanced thereby,
XII. These falsifiers of the holy Scriptures were wont to
look npon. us as dangerous heretics, though they seem to have
thought it impossible to convince us of any formal opposition
between our doctrine and the fundamental truths of Christi
anity, without adulterating the very standard of Christianity.
itself: but, with their leave, no man hath ever better deserved
that odious appellation than they themselves have; seeing the
chief criterion by which a heretic may be known, according to
St. Paul,* suits them fully, they being most evidently con
demned themselves : for, could they say, they, were not tho-,
roughly persuaded that the sacred penmen had never made
use of those words and expressions which they have exhibited
as occurring in their writings ? But if they cannot possibly;
vindicate their honesty in this respect, they were therefore:
conscious that they imposed upon their readers, as, delivered by,
the Apostles, such doctrines as had never been taught by them,
at least in such words and in such particular places, that they
sinned being condemned of themselves. In which they shewed
themselves arrant heretics.
XIII. Could they so far prevail with their consciences as
sacrilegiously to adulterate a book, which was writ by the im-
* Titus iii. 10, 11.
ii 2

100 POPERY AN ENEMY
mediate assistance of God himself; could they attempt to
deface and deprave it; will any consideration hinder them
from altering and corrupting the writings of mere men ? Could
they resolve to falsify a book that is in everybody's hands ;
that was translated into all sorts of languages, which is con
stantly perused by people of all ages, ranks, and professions,
sects and nations ; in the preservation of which, all from the
highest to the lowest think themselves concerned ; what liber
ties, for goodness sake, will they not take with such books as
are written in dead languages; which very few men, even
among the learned, have time, opportunity, or capacity to
read ? But on this subject we have no need to rack our brains
for conjectures, so many undoubted facts lying before us. It
has been demonstrated a thousand times by our best authors,
and ingenuously owned by the most candid of theirs, that
some of their own people had interpolated a million of ways
the genuine works of the Fathers, and ascribed unto them
many fictitious ones. It has been proved,* that the worship
they pay to the consecrated host, to the blessed Virgin, to the
angels, the saints, the images, the relics ; that purgatory, and
every one of their distinguishing tenets, were grounded upon
suppositious authorities, false miracles, idle stories, contrived
and broached by people who had a brazen face, and who
could aver the most unlikely forgery, with as much confidence
as the plainest truth ; and I do not question in the least, but,
if many honest Roman Catholics amongst the laity were ac
quainted with half of the legends on which the greatest stress
has been laid, they would be ashamed to be members of a
communion wherein the least regard is expressed for such non
sense and absurdities.
XIV. To convince them more fully still, that their leaders
impose upon them, even in the most important matters, I will
instance in an example no less certain than considerable. The
decrees of some Councils, the decisions of the most celebrated
doctors of their communion, and their daily practice, esta
blish, as plainly as can be, not only the lawfulness, but even
the necessity of the worship of images, and in particular, of
the cross. This part of their religion is indeed so grossly
superstitious, hath so much of the heathenish idolatry in it,
gives so great offence to people of sound judgment, that the
* See Jurieu's Prtjuges ; Legitimes contre le Papisme, Part II.
chap. xiii. — xx. p. 170 — 261.

TO SCRIPTURE. 101
most thinking amongst them are ashamed of it ; and would
fain persuade the world that the honour paid to those things
does not terminate upon them, but upon the objects they re
present. The famous Bossuet, bishop of Meaux, in order to
quiet scrupulous consciences, assureth confidently in his " Ex
position,"* that, according to the doctrine of the Church,
" by bowing in the presence of the cross, no more is meant
than to adore him, who bare our sins on the tree." The
French king f made all the interest possible at the Court of
Rome to have his book, and consequently, this declaration ap
proved. The PopeJ could hardly be brought to it ; but, con
sidering that such an approbation, when it had served the
present design of his majesty (which was, to bring over his
Protestant subjects within the pale of the Church), might be
easily repealed or overlooked, complied at last with his request.
Capisucchi, master of the Sacred Palace (who, some few years
before, had approved the most superstitious performance of
Father Crasset, the Jesuit, concerning the devotion due to the
blessed Virgin) bestowed great praises upon this of the bishop,
though it went upon quite contrary principles ; so did some
cardinals, bishops, and other considerable prelates. Who would
not have taken the word of such people, of the Pope himself?
And yet, an honest clergyman, worthy of a better religion,
paid very dear for having acted upon these grounds. The fact
is related, with its several circumstances by his Grace, the pre
sent Archbishop of Canterbury, in " The Defence of his Expo
sition of the Doctrine of the Church of England," § and stands
abidged in "The Universal Library "|| of Mr. Le Clerc.
Mr. Imbert, prior in Guienne and.D.D., in the year 1683,
seeing the people draw near to worship the «ross on Good
Friday, thought fit to warn them, that "the Catholics adored
Jesus Christ crucified in the presence of the cross, and that
they did not adore any thing of what they saw." The cure
replied upon the place aloud, " Nay, but they adore the wood,
the wood." " No," added Dr. Imbert, " they adore Jesus
Christ, and not the wood." This piece of sincerity brought
him under very great troubles ; he was summoned before the
• Page 37, the xii Edition of Paris, J 686.
t Lewis XIV. X Innocentius XL
§ Appendix Numb. IV. pag. 121—127.
|| Bibliotheque Universelle, torn. xi. p. 459.

102 POPERY AN ENEMY
Archbishop of Bourdeaux : when, in order to clear himself and
support his behaviour, he quoted the express words of the
Bishop of Meaux, " he was told that many objections had been
started against bis book ; that indeed, that prelate did mollify
•the matters, but that the doctrine of the Church was quite
¦ the contrary." Being suspended of his ecclesiastical func-
tionSj he transferred his cause by appeal, as of abuse, to the
Parliament' of Guienne ; wrote to the Bishop of Meaux him
self, "to beg of him the favour, that, if the archbishop, who
was threatening him with perpetual. imprisonment and chains,
should make use of his authority to oppress him, he would be
pleased to interpose his own so far as to procure him only the
'liberty to defend himself." But the bishop, though formerly
his friend,' left him in the lurch. Dr. Imbert published for
his defence1" A Factum," of 42 pages in 4to. What was the
end of this affair I never heard. I wish all Catholics would
consult the Exposition of his Grace and its Defence; there
they will see plainly how little the honesty of the Bishop of
Meaux, and his Exposition are to be valued and depended
upon. ' XV. From all which it appears that Popery, though a
stately building, and of a long standing, is founded upon ig
norance, that it was reared up and carried on by cheat, and
that it is supported and maintained by violence and persecu
tion.
- And now I beg leave to address two sorts of persons : and
XVI. 1, The Roman Catholics of this our nation. I have
made it evident from unquestionable facts, that it has been a
constant method with their teachers, either to misrepresent
¦the doctrines of their Church, or grossly to falsify the holy
Scriptures, in order to support them. It highly therefore
concerns them, as they tender their eternal salvation, seriously
to look about them, and to examine whether they have not
.been imposed upon in either of these two ways. Were they
engaged in a course of business with people, who (as they had
reason to'think) had counterfeited notes, altered the articles of
a bond,' or the clauses of a contract, no doubt but they would
look sharp into every one of their proceedings, and never trust
them but when they were very sure of being safe. Prudence
is no less requisite in religious, than in civil affairs. An eternal
happiness very well deserves our most solicitous attention,
delusion and error being much more dangerous, and of a much

TO SCRIPTURE. 103
greater importance in this case than in any other. What we
desire of our deluded brethren, is not that they should take
our bare assertion concerning the fraudulent practices of their
clergy, but that, if upon due inquiry they find, as I am sure
they will, that hitherto they have trusted the care of their
souls to such men, whose capacity and honesty they would not
rely upon in the smallest concernments, they would make use
of their eyes, and dare to have sense of their own. Would to
God they would once more look thoroughly into the grounds
of their faith : like the noble Bereans, " search the Scriptures
daily, whether those things,"* which they were taught, are
contained in them ! And why should they not think God to
be as good a master as the ablest director, as the best of
Popes ? Would they betake themselves to this method, pur
sue it for a while, inquire after truth alone, ready to let in its
divine rays, from what quarter soever they should shine upon
them, I make no doubt but they would in a short time see
things in a quite different light ; and whatever might be the
result of their earnest study, they would at least feel in their
breasts a more solid satisfaction than they can possibly enjoy
at present. They would be able to say with the Samaritans, f
Now we believe, not barely because of the saying of the
Church; for we have heard Christ speaking to us in his Scrip
tures : we know that the doctrine we profess is the very same
which he brought into the world.
2. I turn myself next to those among our countrymen, who
being born and bred up Protestants, may be most earnestly
applied to and solicited to forsake their former faith. For
some time past the emissaries of Rome, choosing to make pro
selytes in England rather than in Sweden (for those good
'Fathers dare not run into any great danger), have flocked and
swarmed amongst us, disguised under all kinds of dresses and
professions. Here they appear with sheep's clothing; there
they begin to shew their ravenous temper. Some they entice
by promises ; others they buy with ready money, as making
them a sort of amends for the balance of goodness which lies
on the side of their native religion. Those whom they chiefly
endeavour to seduce, are people that are either very ignorant,
or sunk with debts, or loaded with numerous families ; and if
they cannot entirely, prevail with the parents, they offer to
* Acts xvii. 11. t John iv. 42.

104 POPERY AN ENEMY
maintain their children, and tempt them that way to consent
that they should be brought up Catholics. No,* "we are not
altogether ignorant of their devices," and we heartily wish it
were in our power to baffle and defeat them all at once. In
the mean while I will offer some considerations to prevent then-
taking effect.
Let every Englishman seriously reflect that Popery clashetb
with his genius and temper, interfereth with his dearest in
terests, both civil and religious ; so that, were it calculated
for any other nation, it is not certainly for this : our most
distinguishing prerogative is to be a reasoning, thinking people ;
but we must resolve to give that up the moment we turn Ro
man Catholics. Rome cannot bear such presuming disciples,
that will think for themselves, that dare walk with their eyes
open ; a blind submission to all her decrees is what she insists
upon above all things. Could we find in our hearts to pay her
such an unbounded obedience ? Those fine discoveries we have
made in all the parts of natural philosophy, shall we acknow
ledge that they are nothing but uncertainty, as being grounded
on organs that can deceive, and a reason apt to blunder and
mislead ?
We profess ourselves Christians. Shall we deliver up our
holy books, the only genuine monuments of our faith ? consent
never to look into them again but when a peevish bishop or a
designing inquisitor shall give us leave ? Would not this be in
a manner to renounce Christianity itself, and open a wide door
to the introduction of any thing but solid religion ? Were we
debarred from the insight into the charters, patents, acts of
parliament, on which our Constitution stands ; did our civil
governors endeavour to monopolize the knowledge of all the
statutes, and pretend that their private explications of the laws
should have over us the same influence as the laws them
selves ; we should certainly take it for a notorious encroach
ment upon our rights, and never tamely suffer ourselves to be
drove at that rate. Why should we not express the same
tenderness for our religious as for our civil privileges ? Why
should we allow a foreign tyrant, an ItaUan bishop, who knows
a great deal less of the holy Scriptures than we do ourselves,
to shorten or lengthen our Creed, as he shall think fit ?
We are a free nation, but Popery and slavery are twisted
* 2 Cor. ii. 11.

TO SCRIPTURE. 105
together. " We are the Lord's freemen, why should we be
come the servants of men ? "* We with reason delight in
enjoying the fruits of our industry, every one " under his vine
and under his fig-tree ;" but if ever Popery takes to our soil,
like ill weeds it will grow apace, and choke all our hopes of
any tolerable harvest, and then farewell our plenty and trea
sures. Let the time past make us wise. More than once be
fore the Reformation, the Commons complained to our kings
of the immense sums of money that were yearly sent to Rome,
and which never returning again to circulate amongst us, " must
have kept us beggars, had even the mines of the Indies been
our properties." In the year 1532,-|- it was computed in Par
liament that, in a few years' time, the Annats, or first-fruits of
bishoprics, amounted to an hundred and sixty thousand pounds
sterling. And I shall never forget that, when I was at Rome,
about ten years ago, a gentleman well versed in historical mat
ters, assured me that he could make it as evident as that two
and two make four, that before Henry VIIL, England paid
more into the bull-office than all the Roman Catholic countries
put together. , Well might the Popes style it an " inexhaust
ible pit ;" J and no doubt, should they ever come near it again,
they would do their best to make amends for the time they
have been absent, and work it so as to leave nothing behind
but sand and stones.
Whether therefore we consider ourselves as men, as English
men, as Christians, as members of a flourishing nation ; whether
we weigh in themselves the numerous advantages we enjoy at
present, and which will stand inviolably secured to us as long
as the crown continues in the Protestant line ; or whether we
compare them with the dreadful dangers and various misfor
tunes that would threaten, and at last fall heavy upon our
heads, under a Roman Catholic government, either in Church
or State : whichever of these topics we make the subject of
our most serious thoughts, I am thoroughly convinced that,
upon all accounts, the Protestant religion will appear the most
rational, the best and safest ; whereas we shall find that Popery
is a worldly, political institution, the sponge of genuine and
primitive Christianity, a scheme wonderfully calculated to
* 1 Cor. vii. 22, 23.
t Herb. Hist. King Henry VIII. p. 155. Edit, of London, 1706.
X Matt. Paris, An. 1246.

106 POPERY AN ENEMY TO SCRIPTURE.
aggrandize and enrich the clergy, but to enslave and impoverish
the laity ; and consequently that it is the fittest object of our
utmost and best-grounded aversion.
Therefore, to conclude, I shall address my Protestant coun
trymen in the words of St. Paul, " Watch ye, stand fast in the
faith, and in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free,
and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Quit
you like men ; be strong, stedfast, unmoveable, always abound
ing in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your
labour is not in vain in the Lord.*"
,, * 1 Cor. xvi. 13 ; Galat. v. 1 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 13 ; xv. 58.

WuswucL/ . \ >

KOMA ANTIQUA ET EECENS,
OR
THE CONFORMITY OF
ANCIENT AND MODERN CEREMONIES,
SHEWING FROM INDISPUTABLE TESTIMONIES,
THAT THE
CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH OF ROME
ARE BORROWED FROM THE PAGANS.
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH.
BY
JAMES DU PRE.

" What agreement hath the temple of God with idols ? For ye are the
temple of the living God ; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and
walk in them ; and I will be their God and they shall be my people.
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord,
and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you ; and will be a
Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and my daughters, saith the
Lord Almighty."— 2 Cor. vi. 16,17,18.

ROMA VETUS ET RECENS.

CHAPTER I.

The occasion of this treatise. The confession of adversaries
aud their vain pretences.
A treatise concerning the original of Ceremonies was pub
lished some years since, and dedicated to the King of Great
Britain, wherein the author shews their rise and admittance
into the Church, and by what degrees they passed to superstition.
As this tract, which is pretty curious, hath been so well re
ceived by the public as to pass through many editions in a few
years, I am of opinion, that in order to satisfy the curious
more fully on this subject, it will not be amiss to make a
thorough inquiry from whence the greatest part of those cere
monies have been taken. For the Popes were not the inventors
but the introducers of them, they only adding some new
pageantries in order to disguise them : and one may say, that
as Moses made the tabernacle acccording to the model which
God had shewed him on the mount ; so the Bishops of Rome,
in the alterations they have brought into religion, have copied
after the models of Numa Pompilius, and other institutors of
Paganism. This is owned by all ; and many authors, as well
Popish as Protestants, have occasionally produced proofs of
it. But as this point is very important (to shew, that it is
not without good grounds, that the Protestants have lopped
off all those vain ceremonies from the Christian worship,*
which is the serving God in spirit and in truth, conformable
to the commands of him who is the author of it), it will not be
amiss to insist thereon, as we proceed, by producing undeniable
testimonies of the full agreement there is between the cere
monies, which at this day make up the whole devotion of the
Church of Rome, and those of the ancient heathens. This
many serve to undeceive people, and give them a just aversion
to all superstitious worship. At least it will serve to confirm
true Christians in the purity of their religious service, and in
their contempt of human inventions.
I hope those of the Romish communion will take this
* John iv. 24.

110 RELIGIOUS RITES OP
writing in good part ; since many of their most celebrated
doctors are so far from denying the charge, that they own and
glory in it. " It is allowable for the Church (says Cardinal
Baronius) to transfer to pious uses those ceremonies which the
Pagans employed impiously, to superstitious worship, after
they had been purified by consecration : for the devil is the more
mortified to see those things returned to the service of Jesus
Christ, which was instituted for his own."*
Polidore Virgil, whomf Archbishop Genebrard calls a cele
brated historian, and whom Baronius compares to a well
learned scribe,J who takes out of his treasure things old and;
new, says, " That the Church has borrowed several customs
from the rehgion of the Romans and other heathens; but
that they have much improved them, and put them to a better
use."§ The President Fauchet in his Gallic Antiquities, dedi^
cated to Henry IV., owns,|| that the "bishops of that.
kingdom (employing all their powers to gain over the people tp
Christ) made use of some of the heathen ceremonies, as well
as of the stones of their temples to build churches with."
And the Abbot Marolles, in his Memoirs, employs several
pages on that subject:^ "One day (saith he) as I was with
Mr. La Feuillade, the archbishop of Ambrun, an occasion
offered to tell him, that many of the heathen ceremonies had
been sanctified by the piety of our rehgion. I perceived him
much surprised thereat. Whereupon I asked audience ; wliich
being granted, I gave him so many convincing proofs of h*
that he could no longer doubt it." Guillaume de Choul, one
of the king's council, and bailiff of the mountains of DauphiDe,
wrote a book of the religion of the ancient Romans, in the last cen
tury, wherein he shews a perfect conformity between Old and
New Rome, with regard to the ceremonies of religion, and con
cludes in these words, as we read in his book, printed by
authority at Lyons, by Guillaume Rouille, in the year 1556.
"If we examine narrowly (says he)** we shall discover, that
several institutions in our rehgion have been transferred from
the Egyptian and other Gentile ceremonies : such are the
tunics and surplices ; the crowns, or tonsures, of our priests ;
* Ann. 36. t Geneb. Chron. Lib. iv. p. 707.
X Baron, torn. ix. anu. 740. § Pol. Virgil. Lib. iii. c. 1.
|| Fauchet Lib. it. c. 19.
11 -Mem. de Marolles 2 part au commencement-
** Monsieur Drelincourt en a recuilli divers passages en son faux Visage
de l'Antiquite.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. HI
bowing round the altar ; the sacrificial pomps ; church music,
adorations ; prayers ; supplications ; processions ; litanies and
several other things which our priests use in our mysteries,
offering up to an only God Jesus Christ, what the ignorance
of the Gentiles, with their false religion and foolish pre
sumption, offered up to their false deities, and to mortal men,
of their own deifying." I will not deny, that this evil is very
ancient in the Church ; since Eusebius, in the life of Con
stantine, shews, that that great prince, otherwise incomparable
for his piety and heroic qualities, began to introduce them.
" This emperor (saith he) to make the Christian religion more
plausible to the Gentiles, adopted into it the exterior ornaments
which they use in their religion." Pope. Gregory I., surnanied
the Great, whom Platina* calls the inventor of the whole ec
clesiastical service, followed this method, as may be seen by
his instructions (given to a priest called Augustine, whom he
sent over to England) to convert those who professed paganism.
' ' You must not,' '¦)• saith he (in a letter he wrote to him) ¦ ' destroy
the idol temples, but the idols. Let holy water be made.
Let the temples be sprinkled; let altars be built, and relics de
posited in them. If their temples are well built, let them be
turned from the service of the devil to that of the true God,
to the intent that these heathen people may more readily come
to worship in the accustomed places. To those who used
to sacrifice oxen to the devil, you must in lieu thereof, order
some other solemnity, viz. that on the day of the dedication
or death of the holy martyrs, whose relics are there deposited,
they, make themselves tabernacles with boughs, round the
churches, into which their temples have been converted ; and
there celebrate the solemnity by religious banquets ; and let
them no more slaughter beasts to the devil : but let them kill
some for eating, and give thanks to God, thus some exterior
rejoicing must be left them that they may the readier come
into the interior." '
The conduct which this bishop enjoins his minister, is very
different from that which God commands his people ; expressly
forbidding to consecrate to his service any one of the things
which infidels had used in their idolatrous worship, and com
manding to destroy them. "But ye, saith the Lord, shall
destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their
groves."J " Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein
* Plat, in Vita Gregorii. t Greg, in Regist. Lib. ix. Ep. 71.
X Exod. xxxiv. 13.

112 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
the nations which ye shall possess serve their gods upon the
high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green
tree. And ye shall overthrow all their altars, and break their
pillars, and burn their groves with fire, and ye shall hew down
the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of
them out of that place."* It is for having zealously obeyed
that heavenly command, that the piety of Hezekiah and Josiah,
two kings of Judah, is so much extolled in holy Writ. For
their breaking images ( even the brazen serpent, which Moses
had made by the express command of God), they were not
reproached, as profane and impious, as the Church of
Rome hath stigmatized Constantine V., whom she injuriously
calls Iconoclast, i. e. the image breaker. On the contrary,
the Scripture commends them for it, saying : " They have
therein done that which was just before God, and sought after
the God of David."f The blessed Apostles who laboured
with so much pains and success for the conversion of the
Gentiles, never once thought of the expedient of conniving at
their superstitions, to gain them to Christianity ; very well
knowing, as themselves have taught, " that they were not to do
evil that good might come of it ;"J that the devil should not
be set on the same altar with God ; nor Dagon be introduced
into his temple. St Paul calls aloud to the new converts to
'• fly from idolatory,"§ and St. John says, "My httle children,
keep yourselves from idols." || For the same reason it was,
that St. Ambrose praised the zeal of Theodosius^f who de
stroyed the temples of infidels.
But allowing, that the admitting some of the heathen cere
monies into the Christian worship, in order to draw the
heathens to embrace Christianity, might have been expedient
in past ages, it is not so now, since Paganism has been long
utterly abolished. To this purpose the learned Rheuanius,
says, in his notes on Tertullian : " There was formerly a ne
cessity of granting some things to the Christians, who being
mostly converted from Paganism, in their old age, were loth to
quit those things they had been used to all their lifetime ;
but it is not so now."** When a house is building and arches
raising, centres and props are made use of ; but they are re-

* Deut. xii. 2, 3. t Chron. xxxi. 3, 4. J Rom. iii. 8.
§ 1 Cor. x. 14. || 1 John v. 21.
f Theoderet Hist. Eccles. Lib. v. cap. 20.
** In Lib. de Corona mil.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 113
moved as soon as the building is finished. Let us now put the
case, that it was then deemed prudence to make use of Pagan in
ventions, to forward the work of true religion; why. must
they still remain when there are no more infidels to convert ?
Let the Jesuits (who, if their own accounts may be depended
on, make so great progress in the conversion of the Indians
and Japanese) use what artifices they think fit ; let them con
nive at their ceremonies, as much as they please ; let them put
three ropes round their necks in honour of an idol they call
Parabranne ; let them worship apes, elephants, cows, and
oxen ; but let not Christians, who have been converted several
ages, be constrained to observe Pagan superstitions. It is
not to accommodate one's self to the weakness of the ignorant
to retain them still; it is establishing them as a necessary part of
the service of God. Surely experience might by this time have
made us wise. Experience ought to have taught us the danger
of foisting into the service of God the inventions of his enemy.
It has often been observed among the learned, that scruples in
matters of ceremonies have made the greatest things miscarry ;
and that those who are the most obstinately tenacious of these
shadows, have lost the substance. The same hath happened in
the Christian religion. Empty and senseless observations have
been preferred to the solid parts of Christianity : the tares
have choked the good grain. Instead of Christians being
formed to true piety, they have (like children) been amused
with puppets. But this is saying too little, for I might have
added (as by the sequel of this discourse it will plainly appear)
that instead of sound meat they have been fed with poison.
For the evil would be supportable, were the question only about
things indifferent ; as were the scruples of the new converted
Jews, on account of which St. Paul bids, "those that are strong,
to bear with the weak."* But the case, being about super
stitions invented by the devil, this saying of the same Apostle
ought to have been remembered, "That there is no concord
of Christ with Belial, nor any agreement of the temple of
God with idols,"f The piety of the primitive Christians de
serve our imitation.f who rather than offer a grain of incense,
on the altar of idols, or wear a crown of bays on their heads,
because the heathen wore them for devotion, chose death
itself. And though the taking off one's cloak before stones,
or sitting after prayer, be things seemingly indifferent, yet
* Rom. xv. 1. t2 Cor. vi. 15, 16. X Tert. de Corona mil.
VOL. VIII. 1

114 RELIGIOUS RITES OF

TertuUian would not allow the Christians to do them: "these
things (saith he) ought to be forbidden amongst us, for that
very reason because they are performed before idols."* Prop-
terea in nobis reprehendimeretur, quod apudidolas celebratur.
But it is time to hasten to my design.

CHAPTER. II.

Of the Pontifem Maximus, or Sovereign Pontiff.
I shall begin these parallels with him who is styled the
" Head of the Church." He is at this time most commonly
called Pope, which, according to Herodotus, t is the name the
Scythians gave to Jupiter, their principal idol, named Sove
reign Pontiff, as the heathens did the chief priest of their
religion .% His authority is the same, as well as his appella
tion. See, the description which Dionysius of Hahcarnassus
gives of the Sovereign Pontiff of the ancient Romans, in his life
of Numa.§ " They have," saith he, " a sovereign authority in
most weighty affairs ; for they judge all causes relating to
sacred things, as well between private persons as magistrates
and the ministers of the gods. They enact new laws, by then-
own authority, in cases for which the laws in being do not
provide. They examine and have the inspection of all the
sacrificers, and in general control all who have the first charge
* Tert. Lib. de Orat.
t B. iv. p. 275. ex Edit. Henr. Steph.
X [Dr. Middleton, in his excellent letter on " the Conformity of
Popery to Paganism," in reference to the " Pontifex Maximus," says : —
" In their very priesthood they have contrived, one would think, to
keep up as near a resemblance as they could to that of Pagan Rome: and
the Sovereign Pontiff, instead of deriving his succession from St. Peter,
(who, if he ever was at Rome, did not reside there, at least in any worldly
pomp or splendour) may with more reason, and a much better plea, style
himself the successor of the Pontifex Maximus, or chief priest of old
Rome ; whose authority and dignity was the greatest in the Republic ; and
who was looked upon as the arbiter or judge of all things, civil as well as
sacred, human as well as divine ; whose power, established almost with the
foundation of the city, ' was an omen,' says Polydore Virgil, ' and sure
presage of that priestly majesty, by which Rome was once again to reign
as universally, as it had done before by the force of its arms." — Ed.]
§ Dion. Italic. Ant. Rom. L. towards the end.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 115
of the ceremonies and sacrifices of the gods ; they also see,
that those who are in the lowest employments perform their
duty, to the end that they may do nothing against the sacred
institutions. They are moreover the interpreters and prophets,
whom the ignorant people consult about the service of God
and the saints. And if they perceive any so hardy as to dis
obey their commands, on such they inflict a discretionary
punishment, according to the heinousness of the crime. On
their parts, they are subject to nobody.* They are indepen
dent, and not accountable either to the senate or people.
When one dies, another is chosen in his place, not by the
people, but by the sacred college." If one did not know,
that this Greek author (who was contemporary with the Em
peror Augustus) speaks here of the sovereign Pontiff of the
heathens, one would be apt to think he is describing the Pope,
the picture is so like him ? Alex, ab Alexandre adds to it
some features, taken out of Livy and Plutarch.f " This so
vereign Pontiff," saith he, "was exalted above all the rest.
His dignity was as much respected as that of kings. He had
his lictors or guards about bim ; and likewise his ivory chair
and litter, as the consuls. He alone had the privilege of
ascending the Capitol in a chariot. He presided and ruled in
the college of the other pontiffs. The augurs, the priests, the
vestals obeyed him. He had power to chastise and fine them.
He governed all sacred things at pleasure. He decreed the
kind of sacrifices, and on what altars, to what gods, on what
days, in what temples, they were to be offered. He appointed
the working and festival days." Compare this with the
authority the Pope assumes, and you cannot miss of finding a
complete conformity. "The canonists maintain,! that the
Pope is subject to no human laws ; that he cannot be judged
by the Emperor, nor by all the clergy, nor by kings, nor by-
the people. That it is absolutely necessary to salvation to
believe, that all creatures are subject to the Pope ; and that as
the sun is said to be the prince of all the planets, so the Pope
is the father of all dignities." Platina, in the Life of Paul II.
acquaints us, that he and some others being accused before
that Pope, they besought him to refer the hearing of their
cause to their judges ; whereupon, saith he, he looked on me
with furious eyes, and said, " How dare you talk to me of
* See also Titus Liv. in the Life of Numa.
t Genial, lib. 2.
X Extrav. de Concess. III. prab. C. sed Apost. in Glossa Dist. 19 C.
I 2

116 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
judges ! know you not that I have all right in my own breast ?
I have spoke the word. All of you quit the place, and go
where you will I value nobody. I am Pope, and have power
to enact or approve the acts of others, as I please." Cardinal
Baronius, in his remonstrance to the commonwealth of Venice,
puts this grave interrogatory to them : " Whence derive you
authority to judge the judge of all,* whom not any Councils
legally assembled have dared to judge, since it is from him
universal Councils have derived their authority ? so that, with
out his decrees, they can neither be oecumenical nor universal ;
they can neither assemble together, nor can the canons therein
ordained have any force. Therefore it hath been often said,
The head is judged by nobody ."f Nothing can be asserted
more peremptorily than what Boniface says in the Decretal :
" If it be observed," says he, " that the Pope neglects his
salvation, and that of his brethren ; that he is inactive and
remiss in his doings, &c. ; that he leads multitudes of people
into the greatest slavery, to be with him eternally buffeted with
many torments ; let no mortal presume to reprove, or tax him
with a crime ; for he who is to judge all others can be judged
by none." Finally, Cardinal BaroniusJ sheweth this conr
formity, by assigning to the Pope all the privileges of the
sovereign Pontiffs (whom he styles kings of sacred things,
augurs) and all other parts of the heathen idolatry ; as to be
carried in a coach through the city ; not to uncover his head,
or salute any body ; to be exempted from oaths ; to be clothed
in purple, and to wear a golden crown on his head.
It was, as we have already shewn, one of the privileges of
the Pagan sovereign Pontiff, to appoint the festivals, to make
the intercalations, and to regulate the calendars. The Pope
assumes the same power. It is by virtue of his authority
that the Breviaries are printed, which set out the year, the
four Ember weeks, times for weddings, the Epacts, New
Moons, Indictions, Fixed and Moveable Feasts, Leap Years.
And as Juhus Csesar, as sovereign Pontiff, reformed the Ca
lendar, Pope Gregory XIII. did the like in the year 1582,
fearing lest the Emperor should assume the honour of it.
For many ages the Pagan sovereign Pontiff did not meddle
with secular affairs, but confined his authority to religion only.
But Julius Csesar, and after him Lepidus, having usurped that
* Indicem universorium. t Dist 40. Can. Si Papa.
X Anno to 3 Year, 324. 79.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 117
office, and annexed it to the imperial dignity, Augustus and all
his successors continued to hold it, and governed the affairs of
religion as well as those of the state in an arbitrary manner.
This still appears by old coins, ancient monuments, and in
their authentic letters, wherein they style themselves Great
Pontiffs and Sovereign Priests. "Jul. Cses. Pont. Max."
" Tiberius Nero, Pont. Max." " Trajan Imp. Pont. Max."
" Heliogabalus Summus Sacerdos." So likewise the Bishops
of Rome, for the first centuries, applied themselves only to the
duties of their episcopal office, preaching the Word of God,
teaching the Gospel by word and writing ; administering the
sacraments, visiting the sick, comforting the afflicted, succour
ing the poor, submitting themselves to the magistrates, and
acknowledging the emperors for their sovereign lords. But
their successors have shaken off the yoke ; and, upon a pre
tended donation of Constantine, assumed a sovereignty over tem
porals, as well as spirituals. They have forsaken the shepherd's
crook to take up an imperial crown, called regnum, glittering
with gold and precious stones. As sovereign pontiffs they
wear a mitre, and as kings a triple crown. Innocent III.*
said, in his sermon on the coronation of the Pope, " The
Church, who is the spouse," said he, " was not married to me
without bringing me something. She hath given me an inva
luable dowry ; that is, a full power in spirituals and a large
one in temporals. For a sign of the spiritual, she hath
bestowed on me the mitre ; and the crown as a sign of the
temporal. The mitre for the priesthood, and the crown for
empire ; making me vicar of Him who hath it written on his
thigh and vestments, ' The King of kings, and Lord of lords.' "
As the original words in this passage, which were Latin, may
be a further satisfaction to the reader, I shall here cite them :
" Ecclesia sponsa non nupsit vacua, sed dotem mihi tribuit
absque precio preciosam, spiritualium plenitudinem, et latitu-
dinem temporalium. In signum spiritualium contulit mihi
mitram ; in signum temporalium dedit mihi coronam pro
regno ; illius me constituens vicarium qui habet in vestimentum
et fcemore suo scriptum, Rex regum et Dominus dominantium."
It was with an intent to shew this double power, that Boniface
VIII. f at the grand Jubilee (which he instituted in imitation
of the heathens, as will be shewn hereafter) , appeared on the
* Inn. III. de Coron. Pont. Serm. 3
t In Anno 1511. Extrav. Unam Sanctam de Major, et Obed.

118 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
first day in his pontifical robes, and on the second in his im
perial vestments, causing these words to be proclaimed before
him, " Here are two swords ;" to intimate that he had a double
empire, one over temporals and another over spirituals.
This they have exerted to the utmost when they excom
municated kings, and at the same time interdicted their king
doms, and absolved their subjects from their oaths of alle
giance. From the time of Gregory VII.'s pontificate, nothing
is more common than to see kings deposed by the authority of
the Pontiffs ; for, to pass by foreign instances, when Juhus II.
deprived John II. king of Navarre, great-grandfather of Henry
the Great, and gave his kingdom to Ferdinand, king of Spain,
he spoke thus to his cardinals, in full Consistory, as a Spanish
historian assures us,* " We must help the King of Spain, and
use both swords against the French and Navarian, the common
enemies of all good men ; and whilst we sharpen the secular
knife, we must make the necks of schismatics feel the spiri
tual." For this reason, with common consent of the cardinals,
the King of Navarre was declared a schismatic and heretic,
because, though he had been frequently admonished, he yet
shewed himself obdurate, and sided with France. And for
these reasons he was deprived of his kingdom and his whole
estate ; not only himself, but his wife and children, and whole
posterity ; and their right transferred to Spain. Sixtus V.
who came to be Pope from a swineherd, expresses himself in
no less pompous terms, in the bull of excommunication he
thundered out, in the year 1585, against Henry king of Na
varre and the Prince of Conde. For he alleges, f that " the
authority given to St. Peter and his successors, by the infinite
power of the Lord, is superior to that of the kings of the
earth ; that it was his duty to make the laws to be obeyed,
and to punish all transgressors, overthrowing them from
their seats, however mighty they be, and crushing them,
as the ministers of Satan." He adds further, that "by the
duty of his office he was obliged to draw the sword of ven
geance against Henry, heretofore King of Navarre, and against
Henry, Prince of Conde, the bastard and detestable generation
of the illustrious House of Bourbon. Wherefore, being placed
in that high seat, and in the full power which the King of
kings and Lord of all monarchs had given him, he declares them
* Anton. Nebrissene. Lib. i. cap. 1. 2. 3.
t Mezeray makes mention of this bull in his Life of Henry III. p. 367.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 119
heretics, apostates, heads, promoters, and public protectors of
heresy ; and, as such, divests them and their successors of all
their lordships, lands, dignities and offices, and pronounces
them incapable of succeeding to any principality or kingdom
whatever," &c. Never did the Pagan pontiffs, when emperors,
speak in so high a strain, or assume so ample an authority,
although all the other princes of the earth were subjected to
them. The highest point of their power was this, that they
disposed of kingdoms, and made and deposed kings. How
ever, herein may be found the conformity betwixt them and
the Popes, and the fulfilling what is said in the Revelation,*
that " the second beast would exercise the full power of the
first." But this will more plainly appear by the following
parallels. The Pagan emperors and pontiffs drew subsidies
and tribute from all the provinces of the world. The Popes, in
Uke manner, have the money called St. Peter's pence, and all
Europe pays them tribute. Those determined the right of
fiefs due to the feudal lord, in case of a change of lord : these
have, in like manner, ordered annates, which make all eccle
siastical lands fiefs of the Papal see, and draw the first year's
revenue of all benefices newly conferred. Those laid imposi
tions on lewd women, as appears from Suetonius' s Life of Ca
ligula and the Apology of St. Justin. It is well known these
do the same at Rome." Those, having conquered a country,
obliged the inhabitants to learn the Latin tongue, as a token
of their subjection ; these have, in the same manner, com
pelled all the churches depending on them to perform their
service in Latin, as a sign of their dependence. The empe
rors, by their own authority, allowed any one to kill all those
whose bodies were devoted to the infernal deities.f The Pope,
in the same manner, gives dispensation, to those who are
moved with a true zeal for the Catholic religion, to kill all
excommunicated persons. The emperors and Pagan pontiffs
wore clothing and shoes of purple ; their senators were also
habited in the same manner. The Pope wears the like vest
ments, and his shoes are the same, as may be seen in the
Sacred Ceremonies.^ The cardinals, who compose his senate,
(whom Pope Pius II. called senators of the city of Rome) are
also clad in purple. If the reader has a mind to see this
* Apoc. xiii. 12.
t Rosin. Antiq. Rom. Lib. i. ch. xvi. causa 23. qu. 5. cap. Excomm.
% Lib. i. vi. 1.

120 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
conformity more at large, he may read what J. Lipsius* hath
observed in his tract of the Roman Grandeur.
Whoever has been at Rome on the day of the coronation of
a Pope, when he is carried in triumph, from the palace of the
Vatican to the church of St. John de Lateran, and has seen
the magnificence of what they call the Cavalcata, may imagine,
they have seen the grand triumphs of the Roman Emperors.
All is then done with at least as much show and ostentation :
and as these threw silver and gold by handfuls to the populace,
the Popes use the like liberality, strewing the streets they pass
along with pieces of a new coin ; on one side of which is the
Pope's name and coat of arms, and on the other the images of
St. Peter and St. Paul.
The Emperorsf and Heathen Pontiffs sent to their allies
(as acknowledgments of good offices by them done to the
Roman empire) an ivory staff, a painted gown, or some such
small presents. The Pope intimates them herein, sending to
kings and princes, affectionate to his see, sometimes a rose,
sometimes gloves, or a consecrated sword, or Agnus Dei.
But the most odious conformity is the homage both have
required. To those was given the appellation of God. Virgil
styles Augustus thus in his first Eclogue. And Suetonius, in
the Life of Domitian,{ assures us, that emperor arrived to
such an excess of arrogance, as to require his lieutenants,
when they issued out an edict by his command, to use therein
the words, " The Lord our God commands it." It cannot be
denied, that the Pope is so treated, you may read it in
Froissard.§ " As there is but one God in heaven," says he,
" there cannot, and of right there ought not to be, more than
one God on earth." Pope Nicholas gives himself that appel
lation in the first part of the Decretal. " It is clearly enough
demonstrated, that the Pope can neither be tied nor loosened
by the secular power, as it is evident, that the pious Prince
Constantine called him God, it is thence manifest, that God
cannot be judged by men." Augustine Steuchus, bishop of
Chisaune and tbe Pope's library keeper, " a man (saith Pos-
sevine in Aparat.) worthy of eternal remembrance, and the
true ornament of Italy" — after having cited that canon, insults
his adversary Laurens Valle, and tells him, " Thou || hearest,
* Lips. 1. iv. i. de admir. seu de Magni. Rom.
t Tac. Ann. Lib. iv. X Cap. xiii.
^ Tom. iv. x. Decr. i. Part dist. xcvi. cap. Satis evidenter.
|| Aug. Steuchus de Donat. Const.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 121
that the Sovereign Pontiff hath been called God, and held as
a God, by Constantine. That, say I, was done when he
honoured him with that fine edict, and worshipped him as a
God, conferring on him, as much as in him lay, divine
honours." I omit many more passages, which have been men
tioned by others, and shall only add that of Du Perron ; who,
in his letter of thanks to Clement VIII. for his promotion
to the dignity of cardinal, flatters him with these words, " I
have ever reverenced your holiness as a God on earth." In a
word, as the Emperor Julian,* surnamed the Apostate, on the
medals and coins he had stamped, would always be repre
sented, either under the figure of the God Serapis, or jointly
with Serapis ; in like manner the Pope would always appear
either as a God, or as his vicar.
The Emperors and Pagan Pontiffs were worshipped, as
Aurelius Victor assures us of Dioclesian. The same honour is
paid to the Popes, not only in the conclave immediately after
their election, but on many occasions besides, as among others,
at the beginning of the Papal masses, where the cardinals and
ambassadors go to pay their obedience, which is styled, going
to the adoration. Cardinal du Perron, in the letter above
cited, addresses himself to Clement VIII. in these words,
" There are none of those, your Holiness hath exalted to the
sacred dignity of cardinal, who embraces, reveres and adores
your Holiness with more affection than myself."
The last excess of the ancient emperors' pride, was, that
some of them have required their feet to be kissed, as Caligula,
and Heliogabalus ;f which others of them refused, as an
honour which ought not to be rendered to a mortal man.
The Popes are not so modest, for they have sometimes seen
* Baron, torn. iv. 88.
t [In reference to the kissing of the foot, Dr. Middleton says : " But of
all the sovereign Pontiffs of Pagan Rome, it is very remarkable that Ca
ligula was the first who ever offered his foot to be kissed by any who
approached him ; which raised a general indignation through the city, to
see themselves reduced to suffer so great an indignity. Those who endea
voured to excuse it, said, that it was not done out of insolence, but vanity ;
and for the sake of shewing his golden slipper, set with jewels. Seneca
declaims upon it, in his usual manner, as the last effort to liberty ; and
the introduction of a Persian slavery in the manners of Rome. Yet this
servile act, unworthy either to be imposed or complied with by man, is
now the standing ceremonial of Christian Rome, and a necessary condi
tion of access to the reigning Pope ; though derived from no better
origin, than the frantic pride of a brutal Pagan tyrant." — Ed.]

122 RELIGIOUS KITES OF
even emperors at their feet.* " When Caesar (saith the Book
of Sacred Ceremonies) comes near the steps of the see, he
bends his knee ; and when he is come to the feet of the Pontiff,
he kisses them devoutly, in honour of the Saviour." And in
another place of the same book, " The cardinals invest the
new elected Pope, with the precious scarlet, the cope, and the
mitre, adorned with gold and jewels, and make him sit on the
altar (which is the most sublime place of adoration) and all
come by turns to pay their obedience, kissing his feet, his
hands and mouth."
Before I close this chapter, I will take notice of a conformity
which is somewhat diverting. It is, that as the Pagans, the
true descendants of Shem, who exposed his father's nakedness
filled their histories or fables with the crimes of the gods
stigmatizing Saturn as a devourer of his children ; Jupiter as
a tyrant and ambitious usurper, who had dethroned his father
for the sake of empire ; an adulterer, incestuous and a sodo
mite. Mercury, in the records of the poets, passes for an
arrant thief ; and Venus for a prostitute. In like manner, the
greatest devotees of the Popes, who speak of them as so many
gods on earth, cannot forbear branding them with the blackest
and most horrid vices. Genebrard, archbishop of Aix, one of
the most obsequious devotees of the Court of Rome, is forced
to own, in the one-thousandth year of his Chronicles, that all
the Popes of that century were monsters. Cardinal Baronius, +
whose devotion to that Court was not inferior, could not for
bear writing, " that in the see of St. Peter, on the throne of
Christ, monsters had intruded, the vilest of men in their
lives, entirely lost to all morality, and in all respects abomin
able." Cardinal Bellarmine, speaking of John XII. who was
deposed by the Emperor Otho, calls him " the worstj of all
the Popes ;" he could not better express his excessive wicked
ness. It is much the same as if he had called him with
Platina, " The most profligate of all men, or rather a monster."
Luitprand gives us the particular crimes of which he was con
victed in a full Council, viz.§ — that he conferred orders on
deacons in a stable ; that he sold bishoprics to the highest
bidders ; that he converted the holy palace into a brothel •
* Cer. Sacr. V. c. iii. Lib. i. fol. 8. Venet. Edit. 1516, cum Priv Leon
t Baron, in Ann. 897. 4.
X Bell. deRom. Pont. Lib. ii. c. xxix. [p. 383. torn, i Prae 1721 1
« Luitp. 2. Lib. vi. ^' J

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 123
that he ravished the women who came in devotion to Rome,
in the very churches of the holy Apostles, widows, married
women, or maidens ; that he drank the devil's health ; that
at cards, he invoked Jupiter, Venus, and daemons ; and that,
in short, he was slain in the very act of adultery. Matthew
Paris acquaints us, that Hildebrand or Gregory VII. on his
death-bed called the cardinals about him and owned that, at
the instigation of the devil, he had provoked the wrath of God
against mankind.* All the ancient historians assert, that
Sylvester II. was a magician, and that he had sold himself to
the devil, on condition he would grant him all his desires ;
which having for some time obtained, the devil at last tore
him to pieces. Mezeray.f a modern historian, and very in
veterate against those whom he calls Huguenots, writes thus
of the manners of Alexander VI. " Never was the sacred
tiara so much dishonoured by any man as by this. He trod
rehgion under foot : prostituted honours, and sold all rights
whether divine or human to the highest bidder. Whilst he
was a Cardinal, he had, among other mistresses, one named
Vannossa, by whom he had four sons. He called his bastards,
not nephews, as others did, but sons. He had, besides, a bastard
daughter, called Lucretia, to whom he was father,J father-in-
law, and husband." Charles VIII. King of France, " being
come to Rome, all but two cardinals came about him, telling
him, that God had brought him there, as by the hand, to un
dertake the defence of the Church against the violences of
Alexander Borgia ; who, having obtained it by dint of money,
perpetrated daily in the Apostles' see the same villanies by
means of which he had ascended it ; worthy successor, not of
St. Peter, or St. Paul, but of the traitor Judas, ,or sacrile
gious Simon ; rather allied to the Alcoran than the Gospel ;
who, with his train of bastards, like a tiger with his whelps,
was spotted with all kinds of infamy." " This monster, the
vilest wretch of that age (saith the same author, p. 306) died
of poison, which he intended for Cardinal Adrian, whom he
entertained at supper ; the butler, through mistake, filling to
the Pope, out of the bottle in which was the deadly mixture
for the cardinal."
All historians represent that Pope in the same execrable
* Sigebert Hermanus Krantzius fasciculus Temporum.
t Mezeray in the Life of Charles VIII.
X Thais Alexandri, filia sponsa nurus.

124 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
light ; as they do likewise Julius II. his successor ; for Pius
III. is not reckoned ; his reign lasting but twenty-seven days.
The good King Lewis XII. took Juhus II. for Antichrist;
causing both gold and silver money to be coined, with this
motto on the reverse, " Perdam Babylonis Nomen." i. e. I
will destroy the name of Babylon. In a word, as Jupiter de
throned his father, so have Popes persecuted and deposed one
another. Thus* the rage of Stephen VI. against Formosus,
his predecessor, was so wild and unbounded, that he sought
and obtained a decree in Council, that the body of Formosus
should be dug up and despoiled of its pontifical robes, and be
interred amongst the laity ; and that the two fingers, with
which he had performed the acts of consecration, should be
cut off. Servius, who came next, had that poor carcase taken
up anew, and thrown into the Tiber, after cutting off the
head. Twenty- two schisms are reckoned to the year 1378,
of which the greatest (which lasted fifty years) began, when
one of the Popes settled at Rome ; the other at Avignon.
They thundered out anathemas against each other; and
calling one another heretic and Antichrist, took up arms and
filled all Europe with blood and confusion.

CHAPTER III.
Of the sundry Orders of Ecclesiastics, and their Revenues.
Of the Monks, Hermits, fyc. Of their Vows, Clothing,
and Austerities.
The high-priest of the Pagans had under him a great
number of people consecrated to the service of religion.f He
* Platina.
t [Dr. Middleton, in reference to this subject, says : " The great variety
of their religious orders and societies of priests, seems to have been formed
upon the plan of the old colleges or fraternities of the Augurs, Pontinces,
Salii, Fratres Arvales, &c. The vestal virgins might furnish the hint for
the foundation of nunneries : and I have observed something very like to
the rules and austerities of the monastic life, in the character and manner
of several priests of the heathens, who used to live by themselves, retired
from the world, near to the Temple or Oracle of the Deity to whose par
ticular service they were devoted ; as the Selli, the priests of Dodonaean
Jove, a self-mortifying race.
* Whose groves the Selli, race austere, surround ;
Their feet unwashed, their slumbers on the ground.' — Pope.
" But above all, in the old descriptions of the lazy mendicant priests

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 125
had, in the first place, his grand Sacerdotal College,* of which
his Council consisted, and with whom he deliberated on the
most important affairs of his office. Upon this model the
Pope hath his College of Cardinals. Blondus observes this
conformity. " The College (saith he) of the Roman Pontiff
was composed of five grave priests ;"f in imitation of which,
it appears the College of Cardinals of the Church of Rome is
composed of three great priesthoods. There were, besides the
members of this grand Sacerdotal College, others under the
sovereign Pontiffs, some of which were called great, as are
now the primates, archbishops and bishops. There were
others inferior, called Curios, who had each an inspection over
a certain district or parish ; as are now our curates, whose
name is derived from Curiones. There were besides these,
a vast number of Flamins, that is, priests who attended the
sacrifices, and such there are, in greater numbers, at this time.
The Abbot Marolles acknowledges this conformity. "To
begin with the priestly dignities ; is it not true (saith he,
directing his discourse to the Archbishop of Ambrun) that
the ancient Romans have had their great Pontiffs and their
inferior priests, such as the Flamins, the Arch-flamins, Salii,
Luperci, the Augurs, and many others, not to omit the Vestals,
who vowing a perpetual chastity, had a very great resemblance
with our nuns. And even the name Pontiff, is it not derived
from the necessity they were under of passing over the bridge
Sublicius?"J The vestments of the present ecclesiastics have been formed
from the pattern of those of the ancient Pagans. The crosier,
or bishop's staff, is borrowed from the Lituus, which their
among the heathens, who used to travel from house to house, with sacks
on their backs, and, from an opinion of their sanctity, raise large contri
butions of money, bread, wine, and all kind of victuals, for the support of
their fraternity, we see the very picture of the begging Friars ; who are
always about tbe street in the same habit, and on the same errand, and
never fail to carry home with them a good sack full of provisions for the
use of their convent.
" Cicero, in his Book of Laws, restrains this practice of begging, or
gathering alms, to one particular order of priests, and that only on certain
days ; because, as he says, it propagates superstition and impoverishes
families : which, by the way, may let us see tie policy of the Church of
Rome, in the great care that they have taken to multiply their begging
orders." — Ed.]
* Livy. lib. 1.
t Blondus Rom. Triumph, lib. ii. p. 31. J Mem. de Mar.

126 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
Pontiff made use of when they performed their sacrifices ; and
Augurs,* when they consulted the flying of birds. The shape
of the lituus, exactly like the bishop's crosier, is to be seen
on the antique marbles, or medals. The amict or dominos
of the bishops, also came from thence ; for the Pagan Pontiff
never made any sacrifice without his head being covered with
an amict, which they called in Latin Orarium or Superhume-
rale.f They wore also an albe,J as the priests do when they
go to say mass ; and the Flamins wore a gown " made like the
cope our priests wear in the churches," saith Du Verdier in
his Lessons. Stola is in imitation of that which was put on
the back of those victims wliich were led to the altar. The
pelt, which the canons wear with the fur outward, came from
the custom of the Pagan Victimarii, that is, of those who
killed the beasts in sacrifice, who took their skins and put
them over their heads, with the fur outward. We have for
this conformity of vestments, the authority of a cardinal and
an abbot. ' ' Cardinal Baronius (saith Marolles in his Memoirs)
hath observed on the 44th year of our Lord, that the ancient
Pagans wore the surplice and the pastoral staff, called lituus,
that they used the ring and mitre ; that the flamins or priests
who sacrificed, were clothed with a vest of fine linen, called
by the Latins alba vestis." And Juvenal in his sixth Satire
asserts, " that tbe great priest of Anubis, surrounded with a
crowd of other priests, clothed in fine linen, with a bald head,
deserves the first rank and supreme honour above others." §
|| The revenues of the clergy arise from the same spring
with those of the Pagan sacrificers. For these had in the
first place the offertory, that is, the offering which the
devotees offered to the gods, which they carried away for then-
own use ; but whereas these offerings were only casual, that
there might therefore be a settled fund, Numa Pompilius made
a foundation of a public revenue for the maintenance of the
Pontiffs, augurs, salii, feciales, curiones, or curates, vestals,
and generally for all those who attended on religion. In
imitation of him many private persons consecrated their
estates to the same use ; so that there were rich benefices by
foundation. And these benefices were, as now they are, some
at the presentation and collation of the prince, or of the senate ;
* Livy, Lib. i. t Plutarch, in Ant.
X Fenestella, c. 5. § Lib. ii. c. 4. p. 89.
|| Blondus Rom. trium. lib. ii. imit.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 12"
or of the College of Pontiffs ;* others at the presentation of
private men, who had the right of patronage ; whether they
themselves or their predecessors founded them. There were
then, as there are now, abuses committed; the sovereign
Pontiff granting license for one person to enjoy two benefices,
for Livyt assures us, that Fabius Maximus had that privilege.
The third spring of the Pagan clergy's revenues, and particu
larly those of the sovereign Pontiffs, was the Annates ; that is
to say, the first-fruits of the vacant benefices, which they either
gave, sold, or bestowed. The fourth arose from Obits, anni
versaries, legacies and donations, made by the wills of those
who desired that sacrifices and prayers should be offered to
the gods, for the repose of their souls ; which is verified in
our days by the monuments and the sepulchres of the ancient
idolaters.}: In a word, they had the fines, condemnations and
confiscations which the high-priest caused to be decreed to
them, as may be found by what happened to Cicero ; whose
house and other estates, after his banishment, were confiscated,
and given to the College of Priests, and the revenues thereof
consecrated to the maintenance of sacrifices in the temple of
the goddess Liberty. All the world sees, that the clergy of
our days have heaped up vast riches, and daily increased them
by the same means. The liberality of our kings, and more
particularly, that of Charlemagne, and of Pepin, hath laid the
foundation of their treasure. "The kings and emperors (saith
du Choul, towards the latter part of his book) made gifts, like
those we now call royal foundations ; and of which the priests
received the rents by the hands of collectors ; as now our
priests do from the receivers of the domain." Besides this
spring, which never dries up, there daily fall masses, obits,
anniversaries, dispensations, plurality of benefices, vacancies,
deposits, offerings, fines, confiscations, and such like revenues;
which, as so many rivulets, serve to maintain the grand stream
of treasure.
The heathens, besides their high-priests, their priests, their
curates, and others, which were invested with the care of
religion, had sundry convents or societies of religious men and
women, who took upon them the name of the god or saint to
* Tit. Liv. i. 9. Cic. de Leg. 1. 1.
t Tit. Liv. lib. xxx. Suet, in Claudio.
X See the inscriptions collected from the old marble monuments in
Blondus Rom. Trium. lib. ii. p. 33.

128 RELIGIOUS RITES OF L .
whom they devoted themselves ; and whose rule they observed.
One was called Quirinals, from Quirinus or Romulus; the
others, Diales from Jupiter ; Martiales from Mars ; Vulcanales
from Vulcan ; Vultumales Florales, Pomonales. There were
religious men of the society of Augustus, Brothers of Hadrian's
society, of Antoninus's, of Aurelius's. " They called one
another brother (saith Alex, of Alexandria),* because they
were united together by a reciprocal charity and covenant.
They called one another companions, by reason they were all
equals, and joined in one fellowship." Is not the same thing
seen in our days, in the many orders of religious, of both sexes ?
Some take the name of Jesus ; as the Jesuits. Some take
the name of men, whose rule they follow ; as the Augustines,
so called from Augustine ; Benedictines, from Bennet ; Fran
ciscans, from Francis ; Dominicans from Dominic ; and
Celestins, from Celestin. This cannot have been done in
imitation of the Primitive Christians, for they never called
themselves Johnians, Paulins, nor Barnabites, from John,
Paul or Barnabas : neither by the order of the Apostles ; for
when it happened at Corinth, that one said, " I am of Paul ;"
another, " I am of Apollos ;" St. Paul censured them for it.
" Who is Paul ? and who is Apollos ?" saying further, " One
planteth, another watereth, but God gives the increase," &c.
But herein the Christians have followed the footsteps of the
heathens, as is owned by Polidore Virgil.f After mentioning
the sundry religious societies of the Pagans, he saith, " From
hence I dare affirm, without hesitation, that our Popes, who
have always studied to draw men, especially the Romans, from
those vain societies, to a manner of living more pure and more
certain, by an establishment more holy ; have induced men to
form societies, which are not only very numerous throughout
the earth, but daily increasing."
Of the Friars among the Romans, some had revenues, as
those called the Brethren of the Country, who were instituted
by Romulus. The Quirinals and Vestals, of whom Livy saith,
" That Numa PompiliusJ having founded them, he settled for
them a revenue on the public." The others were mendicants,
as the Friars of the great mother of the gods, " who going
through the roads and streets (as St. Augustine§ saith)
• Alex, ab Alexd. Genial, lib. i. c. 26.
t Pol. Virgil de Invent. Rerum. lib. vii. c. 6.
X Tit. Liv. lib. i. § Aug. de Civit. Dei, lib. vii. c. 6.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 129
exacted from the people that whereupon they lived shame
fully." Apuleius* makes a pleasant description of them
under the name of his Golden Ass, and exposes their cheats
rogueries and hypocrisies, by assuring us how under the
pretence of devotion, " they laid up money, casks of wine,
milk, cheese, wheat, barley, roots, &c. with the utmost avarice,
putting all that was given them in bags, which they carried
with them for that purpose, and thus strolling about, they
plundered the country." Lucian, in his Treatise of the
Goddess of Syria, makes also mention of them. " None else
were permitted to beg, the Roman laws prohibiting it all
others ; because (saith Cicero) it fills the mind with super
stition and exhausts families." In the Romish Church there
are, as all the world knows, two sorts of monks, some are rich
and have jgreat revenues ; such are at Paris, the Friars of
St. Victor, those of St. Germain, of St. Genevieve, and the
Celestines ; the others, professors of beggary, as the four
mendicant orders. Polydore Virgil, f as good a Roman Catholic
as he was, could not forbear comparing them to the priests of
the great mother of the gods. " Posterity (saith he) rather
retains the bad institution than the good. This appears in
many things, and especially in the artifice of the ambulant
mendicants. There were, among the ancients, a sect of
people, who, under the pretext of religion, strolled from
province to province, getting money or other things. These
carried with them images of their gods, giving the people to
understand that the gods would be propitious to those who,
gave or would give them something. There is at this time a
sect of cheats, enemies to labour, the more inwardly dissolute
as they endeavour to shew outward sanctity, perfect imitators
of the goddess's priests, who, with a fraudulent piety, calling
themselves the servants of all the saints, fully trained up to
all kinds of imposture, go rambling round the towns and
villages, begging of the easy countrymen, some, for the
building of a church, others, for buying clothes, others, for
food for the poor, others, for the redemption of captives ;
some again, for the bringing up of foundling children. By
these means they get from one, a sheep, from another, wool ;
a lamb, from others ; a hen and eggs from others ; from one,
a hog, or gammon, and from another cheese or flax, &c. And
* Metamorph. lib. viii. t Pol. Virg. lib. vii. c, 7.
VOL. VIII. K

130 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
the better to deceive, they draw out of a box, the relics of
saints, or apostolic letters, or signatures, worn out with age
and often handling ; and offer them with great veneration to
kiss, to those who give them something ; promising, as a
recompense of their gifts, eternal life." Ludovicus Vives,*
in his commentaries on St. Augustine's Treatise of the City of
God, where that Doctor speaks of the begging priests of the
mother of the gods, exclaims thus, "What would St. Augustine
now say, should he see, in our days, rich and opulent societies
begging alms of those to whom they ought rather to give, of
that which they abound in, and are gorged with. The giver
nibbles dry and brown bread, and finds nothing but herbage
on his table, and water in bis earthen vessels : he is surrounded
with many children, for whom he labours day and night with
continual anxiety. But the rich beggar, who receives, fills
himself with white bread, with partridges and capons, and
drinks the best of wines."
The clothing of the monks, being different from that of the
common people, is a similar affectation with the ancient Greek
philosophers, who endeavoured to be distinguished by their
long beards and long cloaks. " Had they not different habits
(saith Bellarmine),-! they could not be known from others."
Socrates, J in his Ecclesiastical History, tells us that Eustatius
the heretic was the introducer of these superstitious habits
amongst the Christians, in imitation of the heathen philoso
phers. " He wore the habit of a philosopher (saith he), and
obliged his followers to wear clothes of an uncommon fashion."
Would you know the make of those clothes and their confor
mity with those of our monks, read the description St. Jerome
makes of them.§ You have the verbal translation of it in his
Epistle to Eustatius. " Let not your clothes (says he) be too
much affected, or too sordid. Let them not be remarkable
by any variety, that people may not stand to gaze and point at
you," &c. And a httle lower: "Some there are who affect
a dejected countenance, that the world may take notice that
they fast ; who when they are looked on, sigh, cast down their
eyes, cover their faces, and scarce leave room for one eye
* Lib. vii. c. 6.
t Bellar. de Mon. lib. ii. c. 40.
X Socrates, lib. ii. c. 33. Hierom. ad Bellar. p. 49, 50. torn. i.
§ [Jerome himself carried the ascetic system to the utmost extent. He
inveighed, however, against the monks, because their practice did not ac
cord with their profession. — Ed.]

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 131
to see. They wear black vestments, with a girdle of sack
cloth : they affect to have dirty hands and feet,— their belly
alone, because that cannot be seen, is at full ease, &c. Some
there are who clothe themselves with hair shirts ; with cowls
artfully made, to affect childish innocence. Thus accoutred,
you would take them for owls or buzzards." Is not this a
pleasant description of the monkish clothes ? You cannot but
observe, that those people clothe themselves with those monks'
clothes, to shew they are returning to childhood. This is the
very mystery our modern monks contemplate in their cowl.
v The cowl (saith Bellarmine)* sheweth the childish simpli
city to which the monks desire to return ; for sucking chil
dren have their heads covered with some vails as with a cowl."
After St. Jerome hath thus described the dress of the super
stitious women of his time, he passes to that of the men.
" That it may not be imagined (says he) that I dispute with
women alone, I in like manner shun those men whom you
find girt round with chains ; who have goat's beards, black
cloaks, and bare feet ; enduring the cold. All these are argu
ments of the devil. Such was once Anthony ; such was Sem-
pronius at Rome, whom he made to suffer. These people,
making their ways into noblemen's houses, abuse the women ;
and being loaded with sins, make shew of a dejected counte
nance, and feign a long fast, whilst they secretly fill them
selves with meat and drink in the night time." You have
here a true picture of our modern monks ; who, as well as
those of St. Jerome's time, have formed themselves after the
model of the Pagan philosophers. Had the painters read this
passage, they would not, as usual, represent St. Jerome with
a cowl, a goat's beard, and bare feet ; for there is not the
least appearance that he would reprove in others things he
found in himself. I will add to what I have now said, what
Minucius Felix relates of some devotees amongst the heathens.
"They go barefoot in winter (saith he), and wear extravagant
head coverings." Is not this the true equipage of our Capu
chins ? All the rules of their convents, their vows, and their
austerities, are but, as the rest, an imitation of Paganism.
Such is the silence so much recommended by all the founders
of religious orders, and which is most strictly observed by the
Carthusians, who pass almost all their lifetime without speak-
* Bell. Ibid. [p. 288. torn. ii. Bellarmine defends the monkish habits.
—Ed.]
K 2

132 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
ing. When they go forth from their cells, and eat all toge
ther at the same table, they dare not speak with those they sit
next, nor even look on them. One would be apt to think
that they became mute from the fish they commonly feed
upon. All this comes from the school of Pythagoras,* who
taught that silence was something divine, and who enjoined
his disciples religiously to observe it for five years. Perhaps
the Pope has taken out of that school the putting his hand on
the mouths of the cardinals, newly promoted, at then- first
meeting, to teach them to keep silence.
The vow of poverty flows from the same source ; for there
is no appearance of it, either from the example of the first
saints in holy Writ, or in the conduct of the faithful in the
first ages of Christianity, but in that of the heathen philoso
phers, " who (as Lactantius affirms)f threw up their estates
and renounced all pleasures, that so being naked and dis
burdened, they might follow naked virtue." Thus did
Antisthenes.J who selling all he had, distributed it publicly,
reserving to himself nothing but a cloak. Diogenes, § his dis
ciple, did the same ; for, that he might attend his meditations
without any impediment, he forsook all he had, except a wal
let, a cup, and a staff. Thus Crates, || as St. Jerome relates,
going to Athens, to attend the study of philosophy, threw into
the sea a great sum of gold, thinking it impossible to possess
riches and virtue at the same time. All the world knows the
excessive praises the Stoics gave to poverty, and the advan
tages that resulted from it. " Would you (saith Seneca to his
dear Lucilius)^[ fill your mind with fine conceptions ? be poor,
or live as if you were so. Let your bed be of straw, your
clothes of hair cloth, and your food brown bread." Bating
the brown bread, one would take this to be an old Capuchin
tutoring a novice. He adds : " Let us make ourselves familiar
betimes with poverty. When we shall have found how sup
portable a thing it is to be poor, we shall be rich with the less
anxiety. He alone is worthy of God who can despise riches."
There is this further conformity betwixt this philosopher and
the monks, that as Seneca spoke in favour of poverty in the
midst of affluence ; in like manner do these make vow of a

* Diogen. Laert. in vita Pythag. Lib. Cerem.
t Lacta. lib. i. c. 1. J Hieron. adm. Jovin. lib. ii.
% Diogenes Laert. || Hieron. Ep. 13. ad Paulin.
f Seneca Epist. xvii. 2. et 18. 2. et passim.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 133
feigned poverty, which doth not deprive them of the neces
saries of life. They may very well say, with the parasite in
Terence,* " Omnia habeo, neque quicquam habeo. Cum nihil
est, nihil desit tamen. I possess all things, though I have
nothing. I have nothing, and yet do not want." The first
imitators of the Stoics were the Essenes, among the Jews,
whom Plinyf calls "a solitary society, without women or
money ;" then the Manichees, among the Christians (if they
may be reckoned such), for they boasted, as St. Augustine
assures us, J "to have cast off from them gold and silver;
not to carry money in their girdles ; to content themselves
with living from one day to another ; not to take care for to
morrow ; and never to torment themselves about what their
bellies should be filled with, or their backs be clothed." These
were, as every one may discover, the patriarchs of the mendi
cant monks, who, by their vows, engage themselves in the
curse which David wished to his enemy. " Let his children
be continually vagabonds, and beg ; let them seek their bread
also out of their desolate places." §
Celibacy is of no better extraction. Every one knows in
what esteem it was among the heathen philosophers. St.
Jerome relates, || that in his time the first ministers of religion
among the Athenians, called Hierophantes, used to drink the
infusion of hemlock to make themselves impotent : and that
as soon as they were raised to the Pontificate, they ceased to
be men. The same St. Jerome introduces a Stoic, giving an
account of the Egyptian priests, who saith, " that they never
mix with women from the time they had embraced the service
of the divinity ; and that in order to extinguish the flame of
lust, they entirely abstained from flesh and from wine."^[ The
priests of the great mother of the gods drank of the river of
Phrygia ; which put them into such a frenzy, that they cas
trated themselves, from whence they were called " semi-viri,
half men." The devil, who delights in pollution, banished
chaste marriage from his profane altars, because it is the only
remedy God hath appointed against incontinency. This evil
has, from thence, crept first into the Jewish Church, where
the Essenes abstained from wedlock, as Josephus and Pliny

* Ter. in Eunucho. t Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. v. c. 17.
X Aust. Cont. Faust, lib. v. c. 1. § Psalm cix. 10.
|| Hier. Lib. ii. adv. Jovin.
IT Du Chouls of the Religion of the Ancient Romans, p. 269.

134 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
testify.* They said, that in their society " none were born ;
notwithstanding which (a thing incredible), it had subsisted
many ages" And the same has happened in the Christian
Church, in order to fulfil the prediction of St. Paul, in his
first to Timothy .f We see, at this present time, that which
Minucius Felix reproached the heathens his contemporaries
with, " some temples locked up from women ; and others the
entrance whereof is forbidden to men."
The abstaining from meats is also a pure imitation of the
Pagans. " The Brachmans in India (saith Du Choul) admitted
none into their order, but such as would forbear eating flesh or
drinking wine." Seneca assures us that Epicurus fasted on
certain days. " Epicurus (saith he), who was so thorough a
proficient in voluptuousness, that he read lectures on it, passed
certain days without breaking his fast, or laying out one penny
for his repast." The Egyptians were no sooner initiated than
they abstained ever after from flesh and wine. They eat neither
eggs nor milk — calling eggs a liquid flesh, and milk blood of
another colour. They slept on the ground, having palm-leaves
for their beds, and a bench for their pillow ; and they were
two or three days together without taking the least sustenance.
The Gymnosophists of India lived altogether pn apples, rice,
and flour of wheat. The priests of Jupiter, in the island of
Crete, now called Candia, abstained from flesh and all cooked
meats. The priests of Eleusina observed strictly three things
commanded them by Triptolemus : The first, to honour their
father and mother ; the second, to worship and revere the
gods ; and the third, not to eat flesh. You may read this in
St. Jerome.J To which I will add what De Marolles saith in
his memoirs : " The heathens fasted to appease the anger of
the gods." Witness this line of Horace : " Mane, die quo tu
indicis jejunia." We read of Numa, that " when he came to
pray for the corn, he abstained from eating flesh, and was
advised by the Senate, as Livy in his 35th book says, that it
was necessary to appoint a fast in honour of the goddess
Ceres." One may observe from these passages, that the ab
staining from certain meats (wherein the Church of Rome
makes the holiness and merit of fasting to consist) is a super
stition taken from the heathens.
From thence also are derived the scourgings and austerities
* 1 Cor. vii. Joseph. Antiq. lib. xviii. u. 2. Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. v. c. 17.
t 1 Tim. iv. 3. X Hierom adv. Jovin. lib. ii

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME, 135
of the Capuchins, of the penitents, and the flagellating bro
therhood. He who- was a murderer from the beginning, hath
taken delight in anticipating the torments of mankind. What
ever superstition may now do, it exercises on its slaves no other
cruelty than in ages past. The hair cloth and the stripes,
which are in our days valued at so high a rate, are no other
than the customs of the priests of Bellona ; who drew blood,
which they received in their hands to sprinkle, it on that idol,
as TertuUian relates.* That author also acquaints us, that in
his time there was a festival at Lacedsemon, called Flagella
tion-day, on which they used to scourge in a most cruel man
lier before the altar, five young men, chosen from among the
nobility, and in the presence of their fathers, who exhorted
them to suffer with constancy. A monk, who scourges him
self till he is all over bloody, before an image or an altar, gains
by so doing the reputation of a saint.f But did not the priests
of" BaalJ with more reason deserve canonization who made
incisions in their flesh with knives or lancets, before the altar
of their idol until the blood gushed out. Even those who beat
their breasts with stones, do no more than the poor man
•possessed, of whom St. Mark§ acquaints ns, " that the evil
spirit tormented him so much, that he beat himself with
stones." So that one may very well call these voluntary
penances diabolical. "How! (saith Minucius Felix to the
Pagans) you make effusion of your own blood before the
gods ! You invoke them with the orifices of your wounds !
It were much better for you to be profane than devout in this
manner ! Who sees not that they who commit these follies
are disturbed in their senses." And in another place : " These
are not mysteries, but butcheries."
As to the origin of Penitents, such as are seen in Spain and
Italy (especially in the week they call holy) to walk the streets,
scourging their shoulders, some with chains, and others with
hooks. Polydore Virgil || derives it from the Romans and
Egyptians. " Those (saith he) whom you see in the public
processions walk in order, with their faces covered, and their
shoulders torn, which they scourge with whips, as becomes
true penitents, have copied after the Romans, who, when they
celebrated the feast called Lupercale, marched thus naked and
masked through the streets with whips. And if we must go
* Tert. Apol. ix. . t Ibid, ad Mart. X 1 Kings xviii.
$ Chap. v. || Pol. Vir. lib. vii. c. 6.

.136 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
farther to look for the origin of this verberation, I will affirm
il to be derived from the Egyptians, who* as Herodotus* tells
us, used to sacrifice, with much solemnity, a cow to the great
devil ; and, whilst the sacrifice was burning, whipped them
selves with rods."
The austere and wild life of the hermits is in the same man
ner an imitation of the Pagans. I know very well, that some
Christians, having been forced to fly to the deserts to avoid
persecution, have insensibly accustomed themselves to that
kind of life ; as Paul the hermit, of whom Jerome f writes,
" that whilst the tempest of persecution raged, he retired to
mountains and desert places ; and, as he there waited to see
an end of persecution, he turned the necessity into choice."
But the Christians did not commonly do so. They hved in
society ; and as to the things of social life, they conformed to
the customs of the places they hved in. From the hypochron-
driacal humour of the philosophers is derived the love of
solitude and deserts. " We live among you (saith TertuUian
to the Pagans) we eat the same meats, and use the same
clothing ; we have been brought up in the same manner, and
have the necessaries of life in common: for we are not like
the Brachmans or Gymnosophists of India ; we do not retire
into woods, nor abstain from the necessaries of life ; we do
not cast away any of the good things which the providence of
God hath produced for our use ; we live with you in the world,
and do not separate from the common intercourse of society ."{
These Gymnosophists, of whom he speaks, were a sect of
bigots or hermits, who lived in the most retired parts of the
woods and mountains, in a wonderful austerity, according to
St. Augustine's description of them : — " They abstained from
women (saith he), and philosophised stark naked in the soli
tudes of India ; from the rising to the setting of the sun.
They fixed their eyes on the sun, without moving them. They
stood a whole day on the one, or the other foot, on sands
heated by the sun. They endured, without shewing any sign
of pain, the coldness of the snow."§ One may with truth call
the philosopher Diogenes, || the Dog, as he was surnamed;
whose manner of life was very severe; for a house, he had a tub ;
for his covering, by day and by night, nothing more than his
* Herod. Euterpe. See Mr. Du Moulin's Capuchin, p. 31 and 32.
t Hierom vita Pauli Eremita;. X Apol. cap. 42.
§ Aust. lib. xv. de Civ. Dei. Plin. lib. vi. Hist. Nat. cap. ii.
|| Diogenes Laert.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 137
.cloak. His wallet was his granary and cupboard; and the
palm of his hand his bottle and cup : he lived upon alms.
During the most scorching heat of summer, he would lay him
self down on the hot gravel or beach of the sea ; and in the
greatest frost of winter, he would, with his naked body, em
brace stone statues covered with snow. In this he was imi
tated by St. Francis, of whom the legend saith, " that when
he was tempted with carnality, he would take off his clothes,
and cast himself naked on the snow, making balls which he
applied to his body, and calling them his wife and his maid."
Those who know the economy of convents, and the secret
punishments imposed there on the brothers, who have com
mitted some great fault, may perceive, if they have read Plu
tarch's life of Numa, that the vestals who had wronged their
honour were used in the same manner ; that is, they were let
down into dungeons, the mouths of which being stopped up,
they were there left to starve to death.
' It is on the model of those ancient vestals, that the con
vents of virgins, whom they call nuns, and who make a vow
of celibacy, have been instituted, as Du Choul * owns : " To
enter into the vestals temple (says he) was interdicted to the
men, as it is to enter into the convents of our nuns, which are
reformed. The chief of the vestals was called Maxima ; as
among our nuns, the Abbess. Their duty was to keep the
sacred fire always lighted ; and if it went out by accident,
they were punished by the High Pontiff; although it was
yearly lighted up anew, by the vestals ; as, to this day, is done
on the consecration of the Easter taper."
In fine, the tonsure of the priests and monks of our days,
is in imitation of the ancient priests of Isis ; whose heads were
shaved, as you read in Apuleius t St. Epiphanius J also testi
fies, that the priests of Serapis, at Athens, were shaved. This
ceremony is very ancient among the Pagans, since God made
an ordinance, Levit. xxi. which is repeated Ezek. xliv. 20,
where the priests and Levites are forbid " to shave their heads
in a round ;" for such is properly the signification of the He
brew word, as Rabbi Solomon, according to Buxtorf, hath
remarked. But the imitation of the Gentiles hath been pre
ferred to the command of God. The Abbot Marolles § owns
the source of that custom, when he saith, "we learn from
* P. 216. t Apul. in Asino Aureo. X Epiph. Her. 64.
$ In his Mem. p. 210.

138 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
Herodotus and Pliny, " that the priests had their heads shaved
after the manner of the Egyptians." And the Emperor Com-
modus, if Lampridius speak truth ; " had his hair cut off, to
offer it up to the image of Anubis."

CHAPTER IV.
Of the Mass, and the Ceremonies depending thereon.
As of old, among the Greeks, when the ceremonies of worship
to Isis were concluded, the people were dismissed by two
Greek words, signifying their discharge ; so the Romans, in
imitation of them, when the devotions were over, discharged
the people with the words " Ite, Missio est," or, " Licet," as
may be seen in Apuleius.* From Missio, by corruption, is
come Missa, Mass. " From thence," says Polydore Virgil,
(i.e. from the sacrifices to Isis and from those of the Romans,)
" is derived the custom of our people, after the celebration of
the sacred things, to make the deacon say, Ite, missa est ;
i.e. Every one is now at liberty to depart."
It is believed in the Romish Church, that the host,f (which
is made of wheat flour) is a propitiatory sacrifice for the
sins of men ; and that by the offering which is made of it,
God is appeased, and rendered propitious. This belief is the
heart and soul of the Romish Church. Whoever holds it is
a good Catholic ; and whoever doubts it, is not a good
Christian. " It is the centre of all spiritual exercises," J saith
the author of the Introduction to Civil Devotion, " the sum of
a devout life, the sacrament, to which all others pay homage ;
the unbloody sacrifice, the completion of aU others, the sea,
from which all graces flow, the end of all devotion, the most
* Apul. lib. ii. De Asino Aureo.
t Cath. of the Counc. of Trent, de Mi6sa Sacra.
X Acheminement a la Devotion Civile, lib. iii. c. 1.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 139
excellent homage the earth can pay to heaven, or the creature
to his Creator ; the greatest of all imaginable actions,* the
most sublime oblation which can be offered to the Eternal
Father."f Yet this sacrifice, so holy, and so wonderful, is
altogether of Pagan invention. J Let none be offended at this,
for I may very safely assert it, after an abbot, § who is still of
the Romish Church, and whose book hath been printed at
Paris, with licence : he not only says it, but maintains it with
formal proofs very clear and positive. He mentions Tibullus,||
where he says, that the deity is appeased with the sacred bread,
Farre pio, and Plautus, in his Amphitryo, where Sosia tells
his mistress that she ought to have paid her devotion to Ju
piter, with offering the salted cake, with incense, Jovi, aut
mold salsa hodie aut Thure eomprecatum oportuit. Virgil,
in his fifth iEneid, says, that reverence was paid to Vesta
with sacred wheat : Vesta farre pio et plena supplex venera-
tur acerra. He adds farther, that these words of Horace
amount to the same thing : Farre pio et saliente mica ; and
that Tibullus, in his panegyric to Messala, writes, that a small
cake or morsel of bread, appeases the gods : Parvaque cceles-
tes pacavit mica. About two hundred years ago a learned Nea
politan made that remark. It was Alexander^]' of Alexandria,
who writes, " that Numa Pompilius was the first who insti
tuted the unbloody sacrifices, ordering that no sacrifice should
be made without new meal : and that Pythagoras was of opi
nion, that nothing which had life should be offered up to the

* Acheminement a la Devotion Civile, lib. iii. c. 2. t Id. c. 3.
X [Even Paganism falls short of Romanism in this respect, for Dr. Mid
dleton says :— " As to the celebrated act of Popish idolatry, the adoration
of the host, I must confess, that I cannot find the least resemblance of it
in any part of the Pagan worship ; and as oft as I have been standing by
at mass, and seen the whole congregation prostrate on the ground, in
the humblest posture of adoring, at the elevation of this consecrated
piece of bread; I could not help reflecting on a passage of Tully, where
speaking of the absurdity of the heathens in the choice of their gods,
'but was any man,' says he, 'ever so mad as to take that which
he feeds upon for a god?' This was an extravagance reserved for Popery
alone ; and what an old Roman could not but think too gross, even for
Egyptian idolatry to swallow, is now become the principal part of wor
ship, and the distinguishing article of faith, in the creed of modern Rome."
—Ed.] § Marolles, Mem. part I. p. 215.
|| Lib. iii. Eleg. 4.
11 Alex, ab Alexandri Genial dierum, lib. ii. c. 22, at the beginning.

140 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
gods; and only meal should be used ; and that this was an
imitation of the custom of the Egyptians, who appeased their
god Serapis, not with the slaughter of beasts, but with hosties
of bread, paneficiis" You are desired to take notice, that
the term immolare, which signifies to sacrifice, is drawn from
the word mola, the name the Pagans gave to those little round
loaves, which they offered up to their gods. I say smaU
round loaves, for from them also the form of the hosties is
derived, as Du Choul * himself owns. " I have observed
(saith he) the Romans used to eat, standing in the temples,
little round pieces of bread, which they did in honour of the
gods, as is done at the Lord's supper on Holy Thursday, in
the great church at Lyons."
The priests before they celebrate mass, ought to wash their
hands. This is the express order of the Ritual, which saith,
" Sacerdos, sanctum Eucharistum administraturus, procedat
ad altare, lotis prius manibus ; i. e. The priest, who is to
administer the eucharist, must wash his hands before he ap:
proaches the altar." The Pagan sacrificers were obliged to
observe the same thing, before they performed the service.
"The ancients," saith Eustathius on Homer, "wash their
hands before they sacrifice." Hesiod f forbids offering up
wine to Jupiter before the hands were washed. And Virgil J
acquaints us, that iEneas durst not touch the gods, which he
intended to save from the sacking of Troy, before he had
washed himself: Donee mefiumine vivo, abluero.
It was the custom of the priests of old Rome to confess
themselves, before they approached to offer sacrifices ; and to
ask pardon of the gods and goddesses, and of the saints, " re
quiring of them things just and reasonable;" as Pythagoras
declares in his Golden Verses, and Orpheus in his Hymns.
This Numa Pompilius ordered should be observed among the
Romans ; holding, that the sacrifice could not be duly cele
brated, unless the priest had purged his conscience by confes
sion. This is practised in our days by the priests before they
say mass. Du Choul § hath remarked this conformity, " It
was the custom among the Romans," says he, " that whoever
was to celebrate divine things, in order to purge his conscience,
confessed he had sinned ; which were the first words used at
their sacrifices ; as in our religion, confession goes before the
* Page 302. t Hesiod lib. opera et Dierem.
} ^Eneid lib. ii. circa finein. % P. 270.

ANCIENT AND MOnERN ROME. 141
divine acts. For the custom of the sacrificers, before they
sacrificed, was to confess themselves."
Numa Pompilius ordered, that the sacrificing priests should
be clothed in white.* This vestment was called Alba, and in
our days Albe, worn by the priest, who saith mass. Over the
albe he ordered, that the sacrificers should wear a painted
tunic with a copper pectoral ; which hath been since turned
into gold and silver. This is what was called a Cope. They
used also a veil, wherewith they covered their head when they
sacrificed, called Amict. All the ornaments, used in our days,
are of Numa Pompilius's invention. True it is, that they
have been mixed with some Jewish, as the Stole, the Ephod,
the Girdle, and some few others.
The same Numa, as Plutarch observes in his Life, ordered
that the sacrificers, should turn themselves round, several
times, in the adoration and salutation of the gods. Whether
this was to represent the turnings of the heavens, or because
as their temples faced the rising sun, the worshipper entered
therein with his back to the east, and turned first to that side,
and then towards the gods ; making by this means a full
round, and completing his prayer by this double adoration :
or whether, by these turns or changes of posture, they de
signed, what the Egyptians intended by wheels, that sublunary
things never remain in the same state ; and to teach us to be
resigned to the will of the gods, in the ordering of our des
tiny : but not to search farther into the mysteries which the
heathens had in their turnings, it is plain, that the priests of
our days imitate them, when they say mass ; when they turn
themselves, now towards the people, and then towards the
altar ; as may be seen in the Ritual ; acting very much like
the priests of Baal, of whom it is written,-)- " that they went
skipping round the altar." Du Choul owns,J that this custom
passed from the Pagans to them. " When the priest was
come to the point of sacrificing (says he) he conveyed his
hand to his mouth and turned himself, as priests do in our reli
gion." Polydore Virgil, § also acknowledges it saying ; "The
Pagan priests turned themselves in performing their sacrifices,
especially when they delivered oracles, and when they were
filled (as they imagined) and agitated with the divine Spirit.
* Alex, ab Alexandri, lib. iv. cap. 17. t 1 Kings xviii.
X Page 1 75. $ Lib. v. c. ii.

142 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
From thence, without the least doubt, is descended to us
the custom of turning round at the altar."
The sacrifice pretended to be performed in the mass, ought
to be done only in the morning, because saith St. Thomas,*
" You must work whilst it is light," John ix. ; and Azorf saith,
"that to celebrate it in the afternoon is a deadly sin." This
is the common opinion of doctors. J But St. Thomas and his
followers had spoken more ingenuously, had they acknow
ledged, that herein the Church of Rome conformed itself to
the Pagans. Du Choul owns it.§ "It was a ceremony, (says
he) used by the Egyptians, to salute their gods in the morn
ing, those of the Christian religion have followed it by saying
the office of Matins, and retain what the Egyptians called
the Hours, first, second, and third ; which we have called
prime, tierce, and sexte." And in another place, " The priests,
with solemn prayers, invoked the gods with profound devo
tion ; for which prayers they chose the morning : the Egyp
tians holding that the most proper time for sacrifices. And
their opinion was, that their gods then were more particularly
attentive in the temples to hear their prayers."
It was the custom of the Egyptians to make use of organs,
flutes and other musical instruments, then in use, during the
celebration of their sacrifices to the gods. "No sacrifices are
performed without music," saith Galen. || And Strabo^f as
sures us, that the priests of Cybele, during the sacrifices, made
use of the sounds of cymbals and drums. These things Arno-
bius** ridiculed. "Do your gods (saith he, to the Pagans)
take pleasure in music ? do they delight in the sound of
cymbals and drums. Do they imagine, honour is paid them
with the sound of a saraband ? And is that capable of appeas
ing them, when they are very angry ?" It is very improbable,
that this ancient doctor would have thus rallied the Pagans, if
in his days organs had been used in the churches of the
Christians; Antiphons, Collects, Graduals, Tracts, Secances,
and so many other musical performances, invented by the
* Thomas iii. part qu. 83, Art 2, ad 4.
f Lib. xx. c. xxv. qu. 6.
X See Francol. de Temp, hore Canon i. part c. xli.
% Page 309.
|j Gal. Lib. xvii. de off. part. hum. Scaliger li. Poet. c. xliv.
1 Strabo, lib. a.
** Arnob. Lib. vii. in the middle of the book.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 143
Popes, to serve as ornaments in the sacrifice of the mass, had
been so much as thought of by the followers of Christ.*
The Roman Ritual expressly enjoins, that there be, night
and day, one or more lamps, always burning before the altar ;
and this is religiously observed in all churches. This cannot
be said to be done in obedience to the commands of Jesus
Christ, or in imitation of the Apostles and primitive Christians.
True it is, they lighted up torches when [they met, but it was
not by day, nor before altars, or images, "which have eyes
and see not ;" but to light them in dark nights, as they durst
not meet in the day-time, by reason of the persecution ; as
appears from Pliny the Younger's Letter to the Emperor
Trajan. This custom took its rise from the Pagan supersti
tion. " The Egyptians (saith Clement Alexandr.f) were the
inventors of lamps in the temples." And to this, it is, that
BlondusJ alludes, when he saith, " that the Egyptians main
tained in their temples, a perpetual fire, as being siimlar to the
nature of the gods." From them the custom passed to the
Romans ; the principal office of the vestals being to keep the
fire, which was called sacred, Ughted in their temples ; and
they performed no religious ceremonies without the use of
lamps and torches, made of a sort of wood called Tssda. Per
haps they observed thereby the maxims of Pythagoras, who
directs, in one of his Symbols, "not to speak of divine things
without torches." This custom of keeping lamps burning day
and night in the temples, was so much in use among the
Pagans, § that the Fathers of the first centuries often made
* [It is almost needless to say that the Editor disagrees with the
Author's statement as to organs.]
t Clem. Alex, in the middle of the book.
J Blondus Rom. Triumph. Lib. p. 4.
§ [Dr. Middleton says : — '' No sooner is a man advanced a little for
ward into their churches, and begins to look about him, but he will find
his eyes and attention attracted by a number of lamps and wax-candles,
which are constantly burning before the shrines and images of their
saints." " In all the great churches of Italy (says Mabillon), they
hang up lamps at every altar : a sight, which will not only surprise a
stranger by the novelty of it, but will furnish him with another proof and
example of the conformity of the Romish with the Pagan worship ; by
recalling to his memory many passages of the heathen writers, where their
perpetual lamps and candles are described as continually burning before
the altars and statues of their deities."
" Herodotus tells us of the Egyptians (who first introduced the use of
lights or lamps into their temples), that they had a famous yearly festival,
called, from the principal ceremony of it, the lighting up of candles : but

144 , : RELIGIOUS RITES OF
themselves merry with it, as a ridiculous superstition. " If
(saith Lactantius)* they would but deign to look up to that
light we call the sun, they would know, that God, who
had given mankind so bright a luminary, needed not. their
lamps. If that circle, which, by reason of its great dis
tance, appears no bigger than a man's head, hath so glaring
a light, that our eyes cannot bear it ; and if the looking
steadfastly on it for a small time, occasions the loss of sight ;
what light and splendour must we imagine there is in God : is
it possible to suppose those in their right senses, who offer to
the Author and Giver of light, the weak light of tapers and
torches." The custom of offering up tapers to God, was un
doubtedly not then known amongst Christians. For which
reason it was, that St. Jerome so angrily answers Vigilantius,
who complained, that in his time, that superstitious ceremony
began to get footing in the churches. " We see (said Vigilantius)
that under pretence of religion, the custom of the Pagans to
light up a quantity of flambeaux, whilst the sun shines, has been
introduced into churches. Is it to do honour to the martyrs,
and the Lamb of God (who, sitting on the throne, surrounds
them with the brightness of his majesty), that you light up to
them your vile tapers?" To thisf St. Jerome repUes, "We do not
light up candles, whilst it is day, as you falsely aUege ; but we,
by this means, banish from us the darkness of the night. If
there is scarce a single festival at Rome, which might not for the same
reason be called by the same name."
" The primitive writers frequently expose the folly and absurdity of
this heathenish custom ; they light up candles to God, says Lactantius,
as if he lived in the dark ; and do not they deserve to pass for madmen,
who offer lamps to the Author and Giver of light I"
" In the collections of old inscriptions, we find many instances of pre
sents and donations from private persons, of lamps and candlesticks to the
temples and altars of their gods : a piece of zeal, which continues still
the same in modern Rome ; where each church abounds with lamps of
massy silver, and sometimes even of gold, the gifts of princes, and other
persons of distinction : and it is surprising to see, how great a number of
this kind are perpetually burning before the altars of their principal saints,
or miraculous images ; as St. Anthony of Padua, or the Lady of Loretto ;
as well as the vast profusion of wax-candles, with which their churches
are illuminated on every great festival ; when the high altar, covered with
gold and silver plate, brought out of their treasuries, and stuck full of
wax-lights, disposed in beautiful figures, looks more like the rich side
board of some great prince, dressed out for a feast, than an altar to pay
divine worship at." — Ed.]
* Lact. lib. vi. c. ii.
t Hier. adv. Vigil, cereos non clara luce, ut tu criminaris, &c.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 145
any one acts otherwise, it is in honour to martyrs, to ac
commodate themselves to the simplicity of the men of the age,
or some bigoted women, of whom it may be truly said, that
they are zealous for God, but not according to reason." The
Council of Eliberius, held under Constantine the Great, at the
same time with that of Nice, had already made an ordinance
to forbid the indiscreet zeal of those bigots, prohibiting, upon
pain of excommunication, the lighting up tapers in the day
time, as the Pagans did. " It hath been ordered, that no
tapers be lighted in the day-time in burying places. Whoever
fails of observing this order, shall be cut off from the com
munion of the Church."*
There is no solemn mass celebrated without incense, which
is blessed by the priest on the altar of incense, wherewith he
himself is first perfumed by the deacon ; then the book which
he holds in his hand, and the altar itself, on which the sacrifice
is to be performed. This was also borrowed from the Pagans,
who never sacrificed without incense.f And it was from it
* Can. xxxiv.
t [Dr. Middleton in reference to this subject says: — "The very first
thing that a stranger must necessarily take notice of, as soon as he enters their
churches, is the use of incense or perfumes in their religious offices : the
first step which he takes within the door, will be sure to make him sen
sible of it, by the offence that he will immediately receive from the smell,
as well as smoke of this incense, with which the whole church continues
filled for some time, after every solemn service : a custom received directly
from Paganism ; and which presently called to my mind the old descriptions
of the heathen temples and altars, which are seldom or never mentioned
by the ancients, without the epithet of perfumed or incensed.
" In some of their principal churches, where you have before you, in one
view, a great number of altars, and all of them smoking at once with
streams of incense, how natural is it to imagine one's self transported into
the temple of some heathen deity, or that of the Paphian Venus described
by Virgil ? — ' Her hundred altars therewith garlands crown'd,
And richest incense smoking, breathe around
Sweet odours,' &c.
"Under the Pagan Emperors, the use of incense for any purpose of
religion was thought so contrary to the obligations of Christianity, that
in their persecutions, the very method of trying and convicting a Chris
tian, was by requiring him only to throw the least grain of it into the
censer, or on the altar.
" Under the Christian Emperors on the other hand, it was looked upon
as a rite so peculiarly heathenish, that the very places or houses where it
could be proved to have been done, were by a law of Theodosius con
fiscated to the government.
"In the old bas-reliefs, or pieces of sculpture, where any heathen
VOL. VIII. L

146 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
use in sacrifices, the Romans gave it its name ; the Latin word,
thus, which signifies incense, being derived from a Greek verb,
signifying to sacrifice. And. lest it should be said, with Bel
larmine,* " that the Christians have not taken the ceremony
of incense from the heathens, but from the Jews," it is very
easy to shew, that they follow not the Jews alone ; but they
imitate the Pagans also, the latter using it in all their cere
monies, as a means proper to appease their gods ; witness
this distich of Ovid :f
' ( Saepe Jovem vidi cum jam sua mittere vellet
Fulmina, Thure dato, sustinuisse manum."
That is to say, " I have often seen, that when Jupiter was
ready to cast his thunder, he stops his hand when incense was
offered up to him." Alex, of Alexandr.J assures us, " that
the Egyptians appeased their gods, not with victims, but with
prayers and incense." And Arnobius puts this interrogatory
to the Pagans of his time :§ " We ask you from whence, and
how long, you have had that knowledge of incense, so as to
believe that it must be offered up to the gods, and that it will
be acceptable to them ?" Ecclesiastical history acquaints us,
that in order to try the Christians, they ordered those who
fell under suspicion, to throw some grains of incense into the
fire, in honour of the idols, which if they refused to do they
were put to death. We read in sundry epistles of St. Cyprian,
that those who had committed the fault, caUed thurificatus,
were not admitted to the peace of the Church till after a long
and severe penance. The crime of Pope Marcelhne is suf
ficiently known and owned by all. He being bribed with
money, as himself confessed, had the baseness to offer incense
to idols, by reason of which he was condemned by the Council
sacrifice is represented, we neverfail to observe a boy in sacred habit, which
was always white, attending on the priest, with a Uttle chest or box in his
hand, in which this incense was kept for the use of the altar. And in the
same manner still in the Church of Rome, there is always a boy in sur
plice, waiting on the priest at the altar with the sacred utensils, and among
the rest, the thuribulum or vessel of incense, which the priest, with many
ridiculous motions and crossings, waves several times, as it is smoking,
around and over the altar in different parts of the service." — Ed.]
* Bell, de Missa, Lib. ii. cap. xv. t Ovid Fast. Lib. v.
J Alex, ab Alexandro Genial dierum, Lib. ii. cap. xxii.
§ Arnob. Lib. vii.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 14/
of Sinuessa (now called Rochademonte Dracone). This pre
tended head of the Church, who is said to be infallible, proved
less so on this occasion, than those brave Christian soldiers, of
whom Theodoret relates, that it so happening that they had
thrown incense in the fire, when they received from the Em
peror Julian, surnamed the Apostate, the present made to the
soldiers according to custom ; some of the Pagans having told
them of that, as of a ceremony and sign of their religion, they
straightway run through the streets of the city, crying out,
they were Christians ; that the Emperor had most wickedly
deceived them ; and that they were ready to blot out their
fault with their own blood. They went on to the very palace
of the Emperor, complaining of the imposition, and requiring
to be burnt, to the end the fire which had defiled might purge
them ; which so irritated the Emperor, that he condemned
them to die ; but he soon recovered from his passion, and
sent them his pardon when they were on the scaffold.
On Sunday,* before the solemn mass, the priest is used to
bless the water ; which for that reason is called holy ; after
which, he first sprinkles himself, and afterwards those who
serve at the office ; then the altar and the people ; " and this
sprinkling," saith Bellarmine, "is a certain expiation, and a
preparation for the future sacrifice'' This water is made use
of on many occasions, from the opinion, that it sanctifies all
things whereon it falls For this reason they sprinkle there
with the flesh at the end of Lent, the blessed bread, new fruit,
new houses, and beds ; in a word, every thing that is to be
blessed. People sprinkle it on themselves, as Durandf assures
us in his Rationale. The virtue of this water is not better
accounted for than from the prayer the priest makes use of
in the consecration of it, which may be seen in the Roman
Ritual, and is as follows : " O God, who for the salvation of
mankind hast founded the highest sacrament in the substance
of water, be propitious to our prayers ; and pour forth the
virtue of thy benedictions on this element, prepared with
many purifications, that thy creature, serving in this mystery,
may have the virtue and divine grace to expel the devil, and
repulse distempers ; and all that shall be sprinkled with this
water, whether it be the houses or other places of the faithful,
may be cleansed from all impurity, and freed from all guilt ;
* Bellarmin de Missa, lib. ii. cap. xv.
t Rat. div. Off. lib. iv. ch. iv.
L 2

148 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
that there be no pestilent spirit, or any corrupting air, but that
it may remove all the hidden snares of the enemy ; and if any
thing annoys the health or quiet of the inhabitants, let all fly
away at the sprinkling of this water."* This is done in imi-
* [Dr. Middleton on this subject says :— " The next thing that will
of course strike one's imagination, is their use of holy water ; for
nobody ever goes in or out of a church, but is either sprinkled by
the priest, who attends for that purpose on solemn days, or else
serves himself with it from a vessel, usually of marble, placed just at
the door, not unlike to one of our baptismal fonts. Now this ceremony
is so notoriously and directly transmitted to them from Paganism, that
their own writers make not the least scruple to own it. The Jesuit La
Cerda, in his notes on a passage of Virgil, where this practice is men
tioned, says, ' Hence was derived the custom of holy Church, to provide
purifying, or holy water, at the entrance of their churches.' ' Aquami-
narium, or Amula,' says the learned Montfaucon, 'was a vase of holy
water, placed by the heathens at the entrance of their temples, to sprinkle
themselves with.' The same vessel was by the Greeks called irepippav-
rripiov ; two of which, the one of gold, the other of silver, were given by
Croesus to the temple of Apollo at Delphi ; and the custom of sprinkling
themselves was so necessary a part of all their religious offices, that the
method of excommunication seems to have been by prohibiting to offenders
the approach and use of the holy water pot. The very composition of
this holy water was the same also among the heathens, as it is now among
the Papists, being nothing more than a mixture of salt with common
water : and the form of the sprinkling brush, called by the ancients
aspersorium or aspergillum (which is much the same with what the priests
now make use of), may be seen in bas-relief or ancient coins, whereon the
insignia, or emblems of the Pagan priesthood are described, of which it is
generally one.
" Platina, in bis Lives of the Popes, and other authors, ascribe the insti
tution of this holy water to Pope Alexander I., who is said to have hved
about the year of Christ 113 ; but it could not be introduced so early,
since, for some ages after, we find the primitive Fathers speaking of it as a
custom purely heathenish, and condemning it as impious and detestable.
Justin Martyr says, ' it was invented by daemons, in imitation of the true
baptism signified by the prophets, that their votaries might also have their
pretended purifications by/water :' and the Emperor Julian, out of spite
to the Christians, used to order the victuals in the market to be sprinkled
with holy water, on purpose either to starve, or force them to eat what by
their own principles they esteemed polluted.
" Thus we see what contrary notions the Primitive and Romish Church
have of this ceremony. The first condemns it as superstitious, abominable,
and irreconcileable with Christianity ; the latter adopts it as highly edify
ing and applicable to the improvement of Christian piety : the one looks
upon it as the contrivance of the devil to delude mankind ; the other, as
the security of mankind against the delusions of the devil. But what is
still more ridiculous than even the ceremony itself, is to see their learned
writers gravely reckoning up the several virtues and benefits derived from

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 149
tation of the Gentiles ; who had the same opinion of their
holy water, which they called lustralis, or expiatoria, be
cause of the virtue they attributed to it, of cleansing or expiat
ing every thing on which it was sprinkled. " Sea water or
salt water (as is that which is used by the Church of Rome)
washes off the sins of men," saith the poet Euripides.* Blon-
dusf acquaints us, that there was anciently at Rome, near the
Porta Capena, a consecrated stream, called Mercury's Well ;
whither the people went to sprinkle themselves with a bay-
bough, holding that the water had the virtue of expiating sins
the use of it, both to the soul and body ; and to crown all, producing a
long roll of miracles to attest the certainty of each virtue which they
ascribe to it. Why may we not, then, justly apply to the present people
of Rome, what was said by the poet of its old inhabitants, for the use of
this very ceremony ?
' Ah ! easy fools, to think that a whole flood
Of water e'er can purge the stain of blood !'
" I do not at present recollect whether the ancients went so far as to apply
the use of this holy water to the purifying their horses, asses, and other cattle;
or whether this be an improvement of modern Rome, which has dedicated a
yearly festival peculiarly to this service, called in their vulgar language,
the Benediction of Horses ; which is always celebrated with much solem
nity in the month of January ; when all the inhabitants of the city and
neighbourhood send up their horses, asses, &c. to the convent of St.
Anthony, near St. Mary the Great, where a priest in surplice at the
church door sprinkles with his brush all the animals singly, as they are
presented to him, and receives from each owner a gratuity proportionable
to his zeal and ability. Amongst the rest, I had my own horses blest
at the expense of about eighteen pence of our money ; as well as to satisfy
my own curiosity, as to humour the coachman, who was persuaded, as the
common people generally are, that some mischance would befall them
within the year, if they wanted the benefit of this benediction. Mabillon,
in giving an account of this function, of which he also happened to be an
eye-witness, makes no other reflection upon it, than that it was new and
unusual to him.
" I have met, indeed, with some hints of a practice, not foreign to this,
among the ancients, of sprinkling their horses with water in the Circensian
Games ; but whether this was done out of a superstitious view of inspir
ing any virtue, or purifying them for those races, which were esteemed
sacred, or merely to refresh them under the violence of such an exercise,
is not easy to determine. But allowing the Romish priests to have taken
the hint from some old custom of Paganism, yet this, however, must be
granted them, that they alone were capable of cultivating so coarse and
barren a piece of superstition, into a revenue sufficient for the maintenance
of forty or fifty idle monks." — Ed.]
* See p. 79. lin. 2. t Blondus Rom. Trium. I. ii. p. 35.

150 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
especially perjury and lying. Ovid, as much a Pagan as he
was, laughed at this, when speaking of Peleus, who thought
himself absolved of the murder of his brother Phocus, because
he had been sprinkled with lustral water by Acastus, he thus
cries out :
" Ah ! nimium faciles, qui tristia Crimina csedis
Fluminea tolli posse putatis aqua."
" Ah ! too credulous minds," says he, " who imagine, that
the heinous crime of murder is to be expiated with river water."
The Pagans also used the same sprinkling of water in their
service of preparation for their sacrifices, as Bellarmine saith is
done in the Church of Rome. This may be seen in the second
Apology of St. Justin the Martyr : " The Gentiles, at their
entering into their temples, sprinkle themselves with water,
and then presented to the gods their perfumes and offerings."
And according to the Roman Missal,* sprinkling of holy
water is made on bread and flesh. The same thing was prac
tised by the Pagans. "Julian the Apostate," saith Theo-
doret,+ " sprinkled lustral water on the bread and flesh, and
on every thing that was sold at market." Churches, houses,
towns, and villages are now sprinkled with it. TertuUian
records, that the Pagans of his time did the same. " They
expiate,"J saith he, " the viUages, the houses, the churches,
and towns with tbe sprinkling of water. Villas, domos,
templa, tutasque urbes aspergine circumlata aqua expiant

Theodoric of Niem observes, that about the year 1408,
Pope Benedict XIII. had the host carried before him, as a
safeguard against several princes his enemies. And since that
time, when the Pope goes in the country, the host is carried
before him, to serve him as a guard. Cardinal du Perron§
would persuade us this is done in imitation of the Israelites ;
and says : " If it was allowed to carry the ark of God in the
midst of their army, against their visible enemies, the Chris
tians can have no better guard against their invisible enemies,
than that of which the ark was a type." But methinks the
example of the Israelites is not to the purpose ; for we cannot
find, that the high-priest had the ark of the covenant carried
* Rom. Miss, towards the end.
t Theod. Hist. Eccl. 1. iii. cap. xiv.
t Tertul. de Baptismo. § Trait, p. 918.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. .151
before him in his journeys ; for this had been too high a
presumption. This subtle cardinal might with more reason
have alleged the example of the same Jews, who, when they
had fallen into idolatry, carried with them the tabernacle of
Moloch, wherewith St. Stephen* reproaches them. On ac
count of which the Jesuit Sanctius's Commentary on that
text is very remarkable. " The tabernacle (saith he) was a
certain shrine ; wherein, with solemn pomp, was carried
Moloch ; which the Jews, in imitation of the Pagans, carried
with them out of devotion and for their protection and guid
ance whithersoever they went. That it was a custom
among the heathens to bear their tutelar gods as companions
of their voyages, Servius sheweth on this verse of the sixth
-ZEneid : Errantesque Deos, agitataque numina Trojm. And
I do not think it was for any other reason, that Rachel stole
away the gods of her father, and that Jacob, when his ser
vants went forth from Mesopotamia, took away their idols
and buried them,t and on the same account I presume it
was, that Laban so soon missed his gods, because he was
going forth, and designed to take them with him, as he used
to do, but could not find them. Now Jacob seems then to have
shewn a reason why the idols were not carried away by his
servants, when he saith, that God had accompanied him on his
journey ; as if he had said, that such gods ought not to be
carried, as are rather a scandal and stumbling block than
guides; and that there is one true and faithful Guide ; whom
he had had in his long and dangerous journey."
The Pagans believed, that the gods had their common
habitation in heaven ; for which reason they called them
Coelicolse, i. e. " inhabitants of heaven ;" but they imagined
also, that they frequently came down on earth, mixed with
men, and even that they might be wounded, as is evident
from many passages in Homer ; who for example alleges,
that VenusJ having joined in the battle betwixt the Greeks
and Trojans, was wounded in the hand by Diomedes, from
which gushed out blood, such as that of the immortal gods.
Mars§ had as unlucky an adventure, being wounded in the
belly ; of which he made great complaints to Jupiter, shewing
him the blood which flowed from his wound. The Romanists
* Acts vii. 43. t Gen. xxxv. 4.
X Iliad, E. § Ibid.

152 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
hold, that Jesus Christ is in heaven, at the right hand of God;
but they also believe, that he comes down daily to the earth,
at the consecration of the eucharist ; that he may be wounded;
and that blood, in such case, issues from his immortal body.
Witness the celebrated host, which Pope Eugeuius presented
to Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy; wherein, as his
torians relate,* " one may see the stab which a Jew gave it
with a knife, with the drops of blood which issued from the
wound." It is, to this day, preserved at Dijon, with great
devotion ; and to it people go far and near in pilgrimage.
The good King Lewis XII. being recovered of a great sick
ness, attributed his cure to the vow he had made, of visit
ing that miraculous host ; which vow he performed ; for he
went in person to pay thereto the homage of his life and
crown. The ancient doctors of the Church commonly reproached
the Pagans with worshipping the works of their hands ; and
that they themselves made their gods. "They fear and
worship a piece of earth, which they have figured with their
own hands," says Lactantius. t " Thou makest with thine
own hands a god whom thou worshippest," said St. Jerome.J
They ridiculed their consecration, by which the heathens
imagined, that the gods came to unite with their images.
" They force their gods (saith Amobius),§ to enter into them,
and to unite with them, by virtue of dedication." I leave
the reader to make the appUcation of this to the eucharist of
the Roman Church, which the Romanists adore for the true
God. Let them judge, if they do not at the same time, fear
and worship a thing which the hands of men have formed ;
that they compel Jesus Christ by consecration to come and
unite with the species of bread and wine : for, be a priest
never so vile or wicked, at what time soever he hath an inten
tion to consecrate, Jesus Christ must come to unite with the
sacrament ; " after consecration of the bread and wine (saith
the Council of Trent), || our Lord Jesus Christ, truly God and
man, is truly, really, and substantially contained under the
species of these sensible things."
The same doctors of the first centuries ridiculed the custom
of the Papans to keep their gods under lock and key for fear
* Mezeray, in the Life of Louis XII. t Lib. v. c. 15.
X Hierom in Ps. cxiii. § Am. lib. vi. 1| Sess.xiii. c. 1.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 153
of thieves. "Why keep you them locked up (saith Arno-
bius)?* Is it for fear thieves should take them away by
night ? If you are assured they are gods, leave to them the
care of keeping themselves ; leave their temples always open."
May not the same thing be asked of those of the Roman
Church, who by the express command of Innocent III. lock
up the sacrament ; which they call God. " We command
(saith that Pope), that in all churches, the eucharist be kept
under lock and key, that it may not be touched by sacrilegious
hands." True it is, that this precaution is advisable ; for as
the gods of the Pagans might be stolen, as happened to those
of Laban ; the same accident may befal that which the
Romanists pay adoration to ; as happened at Paris, on the
'night between the 14th and 15th of October, 1665 ; when
thieves broke into the church of St. Sulpice, and carried
away several pixes with consecrated hosts; of which the
Gazette gave all Europe an account.
The heathens concealed their mysteries ; and it was forbid to
speak concerning them, before persons who were not initiated
in them. "They conceal their shame," says Tertullian.f
And Gregory Nazianzen,J speaking of the mysteries of Eleu-
sius, says : " Those were things to be kept secret, and not to
be spoken of." The same is practised in the Roman Church.
The Catechism of the Council of Trent, mentioning consecra
tion, § saith, " That they do not treat of so high matters, to
the end the curates may not instruct the faithful concerning
such high mysteries, unless necessity obliges them thereto ;
because it is not fitting for those who are not initiated in sa
cred things, to be instructed in them ; lest the priests commit
some fault in the performance of that sacrament."
* Amo. lib. vi. t Tert. contra Valent.
X Greg. Naz. Orat. 39. p. 85.
§ Cath. Cone. Trid. de Euch. qu. 19.

154 RELIGIOUS RITES OF

CHAPTER V.

Of Processions.
The procession of the sacrament, which is one of the most
solemn ceremonies of the Roman Church, is performed yearly
with extraordinary pomp. It cannot however be said to have
been instituted by Jesus Christ ; who ordered the sacra
ment of the Lord's supper to be taken and eaten by the
Christians, in commemoration of his death, " for a spiritual
worship and adoration, and not for pomp and show ;" as
Queen Catherine de Medicis* represented to the Pope, in a
letter she wrote to him, upwards of one hundred years ago.
This was introduced amongst the Christians, in imitation of
the Pagans, as Du Choul acknowledges, when he says, " That
when the sacrificers to the mother of the gods made their
supplications through the streets, they carried the statue of
Jupiter ; and that resting-places were erected whereon to
place the statue. The like to which we now observe in France,
(saith he), on the solemnity of Corpus-Christi day."\ Let
* Hist. Thuan. u. 28.
t [Dr. Middleton says — "The descriptions of the religious pomps and
processions of the heathens come so near to what we see on every festival
of the Virgin or other Romish saint, that one can hardly help thinking
these Popish ones to be still regulated by the old ceremonial of Pagan
Rome. At those solemnities the chief magistrates used frequently to
assist in robes of ceremony ; attended by the priests in surplices, with wax
candles in their hands, carrying upon a pageant or thensa the images of
their gods, dressed out in their best clothes : these were usually followed
by the principal youth of the place, in white linen vestments or surplices,
singing hymns in honour of the gods whose festival they were celebrating s
accompanied by crowds of all sorts that were initiated in the same rehgion,
all with flambeaux or wax candles in their hands. This is the account
which Apuleius, and other authors, give us of a Pagan procession, and I
may appeal to all who have been abroad, whether it might not pass quite
as well for the description of a Popish one. Monsieur Tournefort in his
travels through Greece, reflects upon the Greek Church, for having re
tained and taken into their present worship many of the old rites of hea
thenism, and particularly that of carrying, and dancing about the images of
the saints in their processions, to singing and music ; the reflection is full
as applicable to his own, as it is to the Greek Church, and the practice
itself so far from giving scandal in Italy, that the learned publisher of the

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 155
those who yearly see the ceremonies of that procession com
pare what is then done, with the description, given by Pagan
authors, of the processions in honour of Ceres, Isis, and
Diana ; and they will find them perfectly agree. Virgil, in
the first book of his Georgics, charges the farmers not to fail
in their yearly celebration of the feast of Ceres, but always to
accompany the happy hostia, when carried in procession thee
times round the fields.
Annua magnae, sacra refer Cereri, &c.
Terque novas circum felix eat Hostia fruges.
Ovid adds, that those who followed it, carried lighted tapers,
and were clothed in white.
Illic accendit geminas pro Lampade Pinas.
Et alibi vestes Cerealibus albas,

Sumite, nunc pulli velleris usus abest.
Thus, in the procession of the sacrament, the Ritual directs,
" That the priest, who carries it, be covered with a white
cope, and that all who accompany him, have lighted tapers in
their hands, and devoutly sing." The description Apuleius*
gives in the eleventh book of his Metamorphosis, of the mag
nificence wherewith the procession of the feast of Diana was
performed, comes still nearer what is acted in our days. He
shews, in the first place, those who made the prelude to the
ceremony. " One was girt with a belt, and marched with tbe
air of a soldier ; another, with a cap and a spear, represented
a hunter ; another, dressed like a lady, in gilt pattens, in silk,
Florentine Inscriptions takes occasion to shew the conformity between
them and the heathens, from this very instance of carrying about the
pictures of their saints, as the Pagans did those of their gods in their sa
cred processions.
"In one of these processions, made lately to St. Peter's in the time of
Lent, I saw that ridiculous penance of the flagellants, or self-whippers,
who march with whips in their hands, and lash themselves as they go along,
on their bare back till it is all covered with blood; in the same manner as
the fanatical priests of Bellona or the Syrian goddess, as well as the vo
taries of Isis, used to slash and cut themselves of old, in order to please
the goddess, by the sacrifice of their own blood : which mad piece
of discipline we find frequently mentioned, and as oft ridiculed by the
ancient writers." — Ed.]
* Apul. Lib. ii. Metam. p. 200. edit. Plantin. 1587.

156 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
with borrowed locks, mimicked, as much as he could, the
gait and all the airs of a woman. Another carried the boots,
the buckler, and sword, as if he came from a fencing school.
One personated a magistrate with the fasces and purple i.
another, with his cloak, his staff, his sandals, and his goat's
beard, acted the philosopher. I saw there a tame she-bear,
dressed like a lady, and carried on a chair ; and a monkey
with a hat and a yellow gown, &c. Likewise an ass, to which
they had fastened fins, walking by a feeble old man, so that
you would have taken one for Pegasus, and the other for
Bellerophon ; both very ridiculous." I own, that in France,
excepting at Aix, in Provence, one sees no such extravagance,
on Corpus Christi day ; but in Spain and Italy, it is worse
than at Aix. They disguise themselves, if possible, in more
ridiculous forms. There, are maskers go dancing to the sound
of vioUns, and use the most lascivious gestures. And I
have heard people of reputation and veracity assert that
they carry dogs and cats about in swaddling cloths, which
creatures mixing their cries with the sound of the instruments,
make the strangest music in the world. Polydore Virgil,* who
wrote what he had seen in his own country, and who had the
approbation of the Church of Rome, deserves particular credit
here : " The Romans (saith he) and other nations, made
superstitious processions. From hence it is, doubtless, that
the custom is derived among us. For, in the pomp of our
processions, it is usual to have some pleasantry go before ;
as files of soldiers, foot and horse ; some figures of ingenious
contrivance for ridicule ; such particularly, as open a wide,
frightful mouth, and make a clattering noise with their teeth.
These are mixed with other diversions. The Prophets are
personated : one acts David, another Solomon. Others are
habited as queens. Artificial wings are tied to certain chUdren ;
and the children are made to sing." See vou not here a
perfect conformity with the account Apuleius gives us of the
procession in honour of Diana. It is stiU more evident from
what the same author adds farther : " A train of women walked
before dressed in white, strewing the way with flowers, which
they took out of their bosoms. Then followed the pomp of
the goddess. After this, a great number of people carrying
flambeaux, tapers and torches. Then a band of music, in
which the flute and trumpet melodiously joined. This was
' Pol. Virg. ch.xi. p. 414.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 157
followed by a gay troop of singing boys, clothed in white, re
peating entertaining verses. The superiors or superintendents
of the religion (who are like unto stars upon earth, with their
shaven crowns, and covered with a white veil) carried the
sacred relics of the omnipotent gods. Those who held the
next rank, were clothed in the same manner, and carried the
altars. After these, appeared* the gods, who vouchsafed to
walk on the feet of men. Then a person bearing the box,
wherein the mysteries were enclosed, and which wholly covers
the arcana of the magnificent religion. Next followed a person,
carrying in his happy bosom the venerable effigy of the so
vereign divinity." I hope the reader will carefully consider the
words of this Pagan author ; and apply them to the mysteries
Of our days. I will moreover affirm this, that, as in the pro
cession of the sacrament, the streets, through which that is to
pass, are hung with tapestry, pursuant to an order of the
Roman ritual ; so did the Pagans also. " All the places
through which the pomp was to pass were hung, as is practised
by us," (says Blondusf and Polydore Virgil. J) This last ac
quaints us, that in Italy, boys and girls are forbidden to see the
procession from windows, that is from on high, downwards.
The Pagans forbade the same ; for which Verrius Flaccus
assigns this reason, that when the plague was at Rome, the
oracles answered, that it was, because the gods were gazed at
from on high downwards The Latin word despicere, made
use of in the oracle, having a double meaning, and signifying,
to look down, as well as to condemn or despise ; the whole city
was uneasy to know the true meaning of the oracle ; where
upon it happened, that on the day of the procession of Diana,
a lad who had seen the show from the highest story of the
house, told his mother, that he had seen in what order the
mysteries, which were carried in a chariot, were disposed ; the
senate being informed of this, it was ordered, that all places
hereafter, through which the procession was to pass, should be
blinded with tapestry. This lad having cleared up the am
biguity of the oracle, the plague presently ceased. And thus
it was discovered, that the gods complained they were gazed
at from on high ; which was a matter it seems that polluted
the sacred ceremonies. " From thence (saith Polydore Virgil)
* Dei dignati incedere pedibus humanis.
t Blond. Rom. Trium. p. 52.
X Pol. Virg. Lib. vi. <;. xi.

158 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
it is, that boys and girls are forbid to look upon the procession
from windows."
All other processions of the Roman Church, whether ordi
nary, which are done regularly on certain days of the year, as
that on the day of the purification, that on Palm Sunday, on
the feast of St. Mark, and of the three Kings ; or extraordinary,
which are performed for the obtaining of rain in a great
drought ; or for fair weather in great rains ; and for putting a
stop to a tempest. The processions in time of a plague, of
war, of famine, and other calamities, are also an imitation of
the Pagans ; amongst whom nothing was more common than
these processions, which they caUed supplications. On these
occasions they carried the images of their gods, and relics in
great pomp, as Macrobius saith : " Vehuntur in Pompa Cir-
censium simulacra Deorum. Our priests do the Uke in their
processions," saith Polydore Virgil ;* to which he subjoins these
words, very well worthy of attention. " We retain all these
ceremonies ; but I know not whether what is done be so good as
it is entertaining. I fear, I fear (saith he), that herein we do more
honour to the gods of the Pagans, than to Jesus Christ. For
those will have their votaries to be magnificent in their pro
cessions, as Sallust hath it ; but Christ abhors nothing more ;
saying, When thou prayest,go to thy closet, where having locked
thy door, say thy prayer. What then will become of us, if
we run counter to his commandment ? Truly whatever befalls
us, we most certainly act contrary to it."
As to the marching Order observed in their processions, the
conformity betwixt that practised in our days, and that
practised by the Pagans, may be gathered from Du Choul,f in
the description he gives of an antique medal. " I remember
(says he) to have seen a medal of Domitian, on the reverse of
which was represented a procession of the ancient Romans ;
the singing boys marching before ; after them the priests in
surplices, all of them crowned, and with a branch of bays in
their hands ; and the Emperor following it in his purple robe."
The reasons for which the Roman Church orders extraordi
nary processions, are, as we have said, to obtain health, rain,
or fair weather ; and on these occasions, for show of greater
devotion, they go barefoot. The heathens did the same.
" This is a manifest proof of your blindness," saith Tertul-
lian, in his Apology for the Christians, J " that during the great
* Lib. vi. c. xi. t Page 250. J C. xl.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 159
droughts of the summer, when an excessive heat shuts up the
rains, and hinders its falling on the earth ; at the time when
all were wishing for water, to bring the fruits to maturity, &c,
you implore Jupiter, by sundry sorts of sacrifices and supersti
tions, to send the succours you stand in need of. You bid
the people make procession on their baTe feet.* You look
for, from the Capitol, that which is found in heaven alone.
You expect the ceilings of your temples should be converted
into clouds to give rain."
In the Roman Church, f processions are made round the
fields, to fetch down blessings on the fruits of the earth ; and
prevent tempests, or bad weather, which might spoil them.
This is the very thing Pagans called " lustrating the fields,"
and which they practised yearly ; as appears by these lines of
Tibullus.J Fruges lustramus et agros.

Ritus ut a prisco traditus extat ;evo.
That is to say, " We go in procession round the corn and
the fields, according to an ancient custom established among
us." Virgil in his fifth Eglogue.

 Cum solemnia vota
Reddemus Nymphis, et cum lustrabimus agros, i.e.
" When we shall offer up solemn vows to the nymphs, and
make processions round the fields." There was a day dedi
cated amongst the ancient Romans for the performance of these
processions, vie. the 25th of April, which they called § Rubi-
galia, or the mildew-feast, because they then offered sacrifices
and prayers to the gods, for preserving the corn from the
mildew. The same ceremony is now performed in the Roman
Church, on the feast of St. Mark.
The banner, carried in our days at processions (as if proces
sions were mUitary marches), owes its rise also to a custom of
the ancient Romans, who, out of devotion, set up a banner in
their armies ; which, in TertuUian' s time, was called Laba-
rum ; and it was worshipped both by commanders and private
men. On it was painted an eagle, the ensign and the tutelary
bird of the empire. From hence it is, that ensigns are called
sacred in processions ; and that they are saluted ; and the
* Nudi pedalia populo denunciatis.
t Rom. Ritual of Bened. § Tibul. lib. ii. Eleg. 2.
§ Ovid. Fast. lib. iv.

160 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
effigies of saints of both sexes are painted thereon, because
they are the patrons of parishes.
We have already mentioned what Apuleius relates of the
procession which the Pagans performed in honour of Diana,
viz. that her devotees went armed, putting on the air and
habit of soldiers. The priests, who were called Salii, were so
accoutred on the day they performed the solemn proces
sion, which was in the month of March. The author of the
romance entitled "Clelia," gives this description thereof; which
he hath taken from Dionysius of Halicarnassus,* Livy,f and
Plutarch. J " All one sees in this ceremony (saith he), car
ries a face of war. In effect, the Salii have on, that day,
coats of mail, embroidered, besides broad belts. They have
on their heads, a sort of helmet, rising to a point, &c. They
also have a short dagger hanging at their side. They hold in
their right hand a javelin, and each, one of the twelve buck
lers, called anciles. Thus accoutred they pass along, dancing
and skipping through the city, and singing songs in honour of
the god Mars, whose festivals they celebrate. But, that this
dance may have a warlike resemblance, they sometimes draw
their swords, and strike in cadence on the buckler of the near
est to them. Meanwhile, those who thus dance and strike,
give in their march the idea of their fight ; for now they are
all in order; then seemingly fight one against another ; mix
ing so as not to be distinguished. Some attack whilst others
retreat ; then the latter advance and make the others retreat
in their turn." Do but compare this description with the
celebrated procession, which the zealous ecclesiastics and monks
performed at Paris in the year 1590, and you wiU find a per
fect resemblance. This procession hath been elegantly repre
sented in that ingenious piece, entitled the " Spanish Catnoli-
con," composed by Mr. Pithou, Mr. Rapin, and a priest called
Le Roy ; which were by far the best pens of that age. After
them Mezeray§ hath thus described it : —
" The monks and bishops (saith he) performed a memorable
procession, &c. Rose, the Bishop of Senlis, and the Prior of
the Carthusians were at the head, as captains, holding each
in his left hand a cross, and a halbert in his right ; person
ating thereby, as they pretended, the Maccabees leading forth
the people of God. After them followed all the monks of the
* Dion. Hal. lib. ii. t Livy, lib. i. X Plut. in the Life of Numa.
^ Mezeray's Life of Henry IV.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 161
Mendicant Orders, four and four, viz. Capuchins, Ber-
nardins, Minims, Jacobins, and CarmeUtes, &c. They had
their gowns trussed up to their waists ; their cowls on their
shoulders ; helmets on their heads, on their backs a coat of
mail. Some of them were also accoutred with bucklers and
daggers ; others with partisans ; some with petronels, and
others with rusty arms, fit for no other use but to provoke
laughter. The old men marched in the first ranks, apeing as
much as they could the gait and air of captains ; then fol
lowed the younger, firing with their muskets, to shew their
expertness in military discipline. Hamilton, curate of St.
Cosmo, acting as Serjeant, made them keep their ranks. The
most ridiculous creature was the little Bernardin, a monk,
who, by reason of his halting, could not keep any rank ; but,
running about, was sometimes at the head and sometimes at
the tafl, brandishing a two-handed sword, and twirling about
to conceal the fault in his gait. This whole band, marching
through the street with an affected gravity, rested at times ;
and mixed, by intervals, anthems and canticles, with the firing
of their muskets, a spectacle, which had the face of the
Church miUtant." This could not be called a sudden start of
particular men, since it was authorised by the presence of the
Pope's legate, one of whose almoners happened to be killed
by one of those inexpert musketeers at the boot of his coach.
But he was quickly comforted upon this fatal accident ; for
the almoner dying in so good a cause, it was said that his soul
was gone directly to heaven.
At those processions which the Romans called Lupercales,*
young noblemen were seen walking through the streets naked.
The Church of Rome hath often imitated them, or rather out
done them herein, as Mezeray assures us, when he describes
the superstitions, which those of the League practised, whilst
Paris was besieged by Henry III. " Lewdness and effeminacy
(says he) appeared with insupportable impudence. The most
beautiful women went sometimes in a light transparent linen
dress, through which their nudities appeared, giving an itch
to the most chaste hands, and raising impure desires in the
most modest breast." History observes, that the like lasci-
viousness was practised formerly by the Parisians in the fac
tious times of Charles VI.
Livy often makes mention of the Lectisternica. This cere-
* Plut. in the Life of Romulus and that of Csesar.
VOL. VIII. M

162 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
mony was appointed for appeasing the gods. There were
tables set up in the temples to their honour ; where, during
eight days, the meat of the sacrificed beasts was eaten. The
whole time passed in processions, and good cheer. It was
a jubilee. The doors of the houses in the city were kept
open. The use of all things was common. Strangers
without any distinction, whether friends or foes, were ad
mitted ; enemies were reconciled ; and a familiar correspon
dence passed betwixt them. All quarrels, or lawsuits, were
suspended or accommodated. Prisoners, and even those who
were in fetters, were set at liberty ; and it was not allowed
to bind, or confine again those whom the gods had thus set
free." Thus, Livy* describes the cer:mony, as it was per
formed in the time of the great plague at Rome, 497 years
before tbe birth of Jesus Christ. " I have seen one like it
(saith Blondusf ) in the year 1 500, after Christ, when the
people of all the cities, towns, and villages of Italy, being
visited by a severe plague, clothed themselves in white, and
marched in troops to the neighbouring towns ; where being
entertained in both private and public houses, they implored
the mercies of God, with verses composed for that purpose.
There was no lawsuits, or particular quarrels, but what gave
way to tbe public concern."

CHAPTER VI.
Of Festivals, or Holy Days.

The President Fauchet, in his life of Clovis,J ingenuously
confesses, that the introduction of holy days in the Christian
religion was made from Paganism. " To obviate the re
proaches the Pagans cast upon the Christians, saying that
since their appearance and the contempt of the ancient
religion, all calamities had come into the world, &c. Our
* Livy, lib. v. Decad. 1. + Blond. Rom. Trium. p. 46.
X Fauchet, in the Life of Clovis, p. 124.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME.

163

Christians, desirous to shew them that they had the public
good at heart, instead of the Pervigilia and Lectisternica, re
joiced on the eves of the anniversaries of their martyrs. In
lieu of the Februa, Vinalia, Robigalia, Ambarvalia, &c, they
feasted or observed the Purification, made processions, roga
tions, and litanies, in which Jesus Christ and the saints were
called upon, instead of Jupiter, and other false gods of the
heathens." Polydore Virgil,* owns the same thing ; when,
complaining of the multitude of holy days, and the debauches
committed at those times, he saith, " The greatest part of the
world neither employs those holy days in prayers, nor in hear
ing the Word of God, but rather cause them to tend to the
corruption of manners, passing them in diversions, as if the
sentiment of Plato had universally prevailed ; who says, that
for that very reason holy days were instituted. Thus do
we in this, as in many other things, foUow closely the
Pagans ; which conduct is very different from that of our
predecessors, who blamed tbe Pagans for it : witness Tertul-
lian, who when he speaks of the feasts consecrated to the
Csesars, saith, must then the Christians be enemies to the
public, because the honours they pay the emperors, are neither
vain, rash, nor flattering? Do you think it to be a great
mark of affection to light fires and to dance in the streets, to
set up tables, to banquet in public places, to change the face
of the whole city into that of a large tavern; to dilute the
dirt with wine, and run about in troops committing insolencies,
and seeking everywhere to gorge their unruly appetites ?"
The reflection of Polydore Virgil on these words of TertuUian
is remarkable. " When TertuUian (saith he) wrote these things,
he did not think the time would ever come when these very
things might be applied to the Christians, for which he there
ridicules the Pagans. But, the time is come, when we rather
solemnize the feasts of the Csesars than those of the Chris
tians." From the confession of these two Roman Catholic authors,
one may conclude, that the institution of feasts, which in our
days takes up a great part of the year, is an imitation of the
Pagans. True it is, that this praise may be given the Pagans
as well as to those of the Romish Church, that they are less
superstitious than the Jews, who think it a heinous crime to
do any sort of work on the Sabbath, not daring to light fires,
•Pol. Virgil, lib. vi. c. 8.
M 2

164 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
or dress meat for their food, nor to kill a flea, nor even to help
themselves out if fallen into a ditch. Stapleton* gives us a
story of a rabbi, named Solomon, who having fallen into a
bog-house on the Sabbath-day, refused to be helped out, saying,
Sabbatha sancta colo, de stercore surgere nolo.
For which reason he was forced to remain there aU Sunday,
the Christians retorting,
Sabatha nostra quidem Salomon celebrebis ibidem.
The Pagans were more reasonable. They abstained during their
feasts from their common occupations, but never scrupled to
set their hands to such things as were necessary ; as, for in
stance, to repair the fences about their corn and vines ; to set
fire to the heaths; or to drive their cattle to wash ; as Virgil,
in the first book of his Georgics, sheweth us :
Quippe etiam festus quedam exercere diebus
Fas et Jura Sinunt Rivos deducera nulla
Religio vetuit ; Segeti pratendere Sepem ;
Insidias avibus Moliri ; incendere Vepres ;
Balantumque greges fluvio mersare salubri.
The casuists of the Church of Romef are not more scrupu
lous. They allow the poor to work privately on holy days for
their subsistence. They allow surgeons and apothecaries to
minister to the sick ; public notaries to make wiUs; butchers
to slaughter beasts and to sell meat. Farmers to reap or sow,
when the delay shall evidently be prejudicial. But setting
aside these cases of necessity, the one as well as the other have
believed it to be a mortal sin to work on holy days, and that
the gods, and the saints concerned, have taken their utmost
vengeance on those who have profaned the days dedicated to
them. The Pagans, on those days, without any manner of
employment, even restrained their women from spinning :
 Non audeat ulla
Lanificam pensis imposuisse manum, i. e.
" Let no woman presume to put her hand to wool," saith
Tibullus.J And if one may give credit to Ovid's fables§ it
went hard with Alcithoe and her sisters, for having spun on
* Stapl. in Propo. mor. t Tolet. inst. Sacerd. lib. iv. c. xxv.
X Tib. Lib, ii. Eleg. 2. ^ Ovid Meta. lib. iii.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 165
the feast of Bacchus ; for he it seems was so ehraged at it
that to be revenged on them, he transformed them into bats.
Poor Pentheus* was for the like crime torn to pieces. The
histories of the Roman Church are full of the like tales of
miraculous punishments, which the saints of either sex have
inflicted on the profaners of their festivals :f the history of
the holy Virgin, published by Father Melchior, rector of the
college of Prague, furnishes us with a story of a lady of the
city of Quamosa, who having ordered her horses to be put to
the coach, to go to her farm, with an intention to set her
servants to work on the Day of Annunciation ; when she got
half way, her horses stopped short, as if they were become im
moveable. The lady, without much minding it, alighted, and
went into a secret place to ease nature ; when a sudden whirl
wind arising threw her to the ground with her face in her
ordure, wherewith she was all over bedaubed. It is relatedj
in the annals of Flanders, that a man, who had got a shirt
made on the Assumption of Our Lady, found it, as he was going
to put it on, sprinkled all over with blood ; for which reason it
was deposited among the holy relics : St. Francis, as Bonaven
ture (who wrote his life) tells us, was one of the severest against
those who neglected the observation of this festival. " A
wood-feller being gone out one day (says he) to cut wood, as
he raised up his axe to give the stroke, he heard a voice crying
three times, ' It is my feast, it is not permitted to work.' But
continuing his work, notwithstanding the admonition, both his
hands stuck fast to the handle of the axe. He not being
able to remove them." True it is, that the good saint's anger
was not durable ; for this poor man having begged his pardon,
and made a solemn promise to be more respectful towards him for
the future, peace was obtained, and he recovered the use of his
hands. The Golden Legend, in the life of St. Hippolitus, tells
us of an ox-driver, named Peter, who merely for greasing his
waggon on the day of St. Mary Magdalen, saw his waggon
and oxen consumed by fire from heaven, and his own thigh
scorched in a miserable manner.
Tantae ne Animis ccelestibus ira; ? §
You may find many such accounts in Surius's lives of the
Saints. * Id. lib. iv. fab. 1.
t Hist. Virginis, lib. v. ch. ii. anno 1600.
X Jac. Meyer, lib. ii. Ann. Fland. § Virg. JSneid 1 .

166 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
It was a custom established by Numa Pompiliuk* that the
Flamins should cause each festival day to be proclaimed by the
public criers ; who by order of the sovereign Pontiff, warned
every one to observe them, and abstain from his usual labour.
The same thing is practised in the Roman Church ; where on
the eve of the holy days, at the corner of every street, the
crier gathers together the people by the sound of a bell, and
acquaints them, that such a day will be the feast of such a
saint ; and that indulgences will be delivered out, in such a
church, to all that desire them.
The most solemn feast of the ancient Romans, was that of
their secular games, which were celebrated only at the end of
each century :f at that time, the heralds went over all Italy to
invite people to come to the games, which they had never
seen before, and which they should never see again : people
flocked to Rome from all parts of the world, not only to see
the extraordinary diversions exhibited in the amphitheatres,
but for devotion, J they went day and night in procession to
the temples ; they offered to the gods an infinite number of
victims, in the field of Mars. They there presented their first
fruits. Public supplications were made ; and hymns sung to
recommend states and families to the divinity. To this hath
succeeded in the Roman Church the grand jubilee, instituted
by Boniface VIII. of whom history saith, that he came to the
papal dignity as a. fox, behaved like a lion, and went off like
a dog. All Christians were invited to come to Rome ; and in
order to allure them, those who should come within the year,
to visit the Church of the Apostles, an entire remission of
their sins was promised, and that not only of the guilt, but
likewise of the punishment.
The ambition of the Roman emperors, often cau'sed a change
in the order and times of these secular games. Those who
saw the secular games at too great a distance, and could not
expect to live to the expiration of the appointed time, for
warded the celebration of them. Augustus was the first who
would not wait till the end of the hundred years. Claudius,
after him, celebrated them at the end of sixty-three years.
Which was the cause, saith Suetonius, that the crier was
laughed at, when he pronounced the usual words viz. " that
they should come to the games, which they never had, nor
never would see again ;" because many, who had seen those of
* Macrob. Saturn. Lib. i. cap. xvi. + Herodi. lib. iii. in vita Severi.
X Adg. Pol. Miscell. Cent. I. c. xxxviii.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 167
Augustus were still alive. The Popes have laboured under
the same impatience for the time of the jubilee ; for Clement
VI. observing the profits which accrued on these good oc
casions, ordered they should be celebrated every fifty years ;
in imitation (saith he in his Bull) of the Jews' jubilee. Urban
VI. would not be tied to that, but appointed them every thirty-
third year. Boniface IX. was the most impatient of all, for
he celebrated them nine years after Urban ; so much he
feared, lest they should not happen in his pontificate. In fine,
Sixtus IV.'s bull, in order to fix them after so many variations,
ordered they should be observed every twenty-fifth year.
This Romish jubilee is pretended to be instituted in imi
tation of that of the Jews ; but they bear no resemblance to
each other. Boniface VIII. when he instituted it, did not
think of that, since he pretended, it should not be celebrated
by his successors till the end of one hundred years, in imi
tation of the secular games. In short, in what are they like ?
For in the jubUees now-a-days, is there any thing done, like
what was practised among the Jews ? Are slaves set at liberty ?
Are prison gates thrown open ? Are debtors discharged from
their debts ? Do alienated lands return to their first possessors ?
Are lands left untitled ? A nd are their spontaneous products
given to the public ? If not, they owe their rise to the
Pagans. This is owned by Polydore Virgil.* " It is very pro
bable (saith he), that Boniface VIII. instituted the jubilee in
order to take the people off, especially those of Rome, from
the vain celebration of the secular games, and to convert that
Pagan institution into one of a better tendency."
The Roman Church, on the second day of February, cele
brates the Feast of the Purification, also called Candlemas, in
honour of the blessed Virgin ; when the people go in pro
cession round the churches, each holding a wax candle in his
hand, that hath been consecrated by the priest at mass : and it
is believed, that these candles have a marvellous power in
driving away devils, and repelling all other illusions. A feast
of this kind was celebrated by the old Romans, in the month
of February, in honour of Proserpine ; when the Roman ladies
went in the night time round the temples with lighted flam
beaux in their hands.
" It is not to be denied (saith Rhenanusf on TertuUian)
* Pol. Virg. lib. viii. c. 1. t Annot. in lib. v. contra Marcio.

168 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
that the custom now in use among the Christians, on the day
dedicated to the Virgin Mary, to carry lighted tapers in pro
cession, hath taken its rise from the ancient Romans. This
change hath wrought a cure upon the obstinacy of the Pagans,
whom an attempt to abolish the institution entirely, would
rather have irritated." The Legend owns it, and explains it
more at large. And I will quote this concession in the very
words of the old French copy in Gothic characters : " Why
hath the Church commanded, that lighted candles should on
that day be carried in the hand ? To remove the custom of
error. For formerly, on the kalends of February, the whole
city of Rome was surrounded with people, who went about with
lighted tapers and torches, in honour of Februa, the mother
of Mars the god of war. The ancient Romans used to offer
sacrifices in February to Februus, otherwise caUed Pluto, the
god of hell ; and this they did for the souls of their prede
cessors, that God might be merciful to them. They did more
over offer up solemn sacrifices to the souls of their predecessors,
and went about all night with lighted tapers and torches.
And the Roman women, as Pope Innocent relates, did on that
day, celebrate the Feast of Luminaries ; being induced to it
by the fables of some poets ; for the poets said, that Proser
pine was so beautiful, that Pluto, the god of heU, coveted her,
ravished her, and made a goddess of her. And that her
friends were a great while in search of her, through fields and
forests, with lighted tapers and flambeaux. Thus the Roman
ladies represented the thing, going about Rome with lighted
tapers. Now because it is very difficult suddenly to put off
old customs, the new converts to Christianity could not be
prevailed with to shake off that custom ; and for that reason
Sergius the Pope, changed it into one of a better tendency 5
namely, that the Christians, on that day, should go round thp
church of the Mother of God. Thus this solemnity was con
tinued ; but it is turned to another purpose."
In the same month of February, was celebrated a feast,
which the Church of Rome hath removed to the first of
November, to wit, that of All Souls, otherwise caUed the
Commemoration of the Dead. For in those, as well as in our
days, the whole of the people's devotions was employed in
offering sacrifices for the repose of souls ; to pray on the
graves, and to make processions round the burying-places.
For which reason Plutarch, in the life of Romulus, calls the

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 169
month of February the month of expiations. Polydore Virgil*
mentions this custom, and shews its conformity with that of
the Romish Church, in his sixth book. " The custom (saith
he), to perform the service for one's departed friends was long
since appointed. Cicero sheweth it in his first oration against
Antony. Let obsequies and public supplications (says he)
be performed to him whose sepulchre is unknown. Thus
annual service was done, that is to say, sacrifices were yearly
offered up in honour of the dead, &c. .rEneas is reported to
have been the first institutor of this ceremony ; for he did
that honour to his father Anchises ; as Virgil describes it in
his fifth iEneid. And we observe the same ceremony for the
happiness of the dead. And there is all the reason in the
world to conclude, that from thence OdUon took the yearly
celebration of the service for the dead." This Odilon was an
abbot of Clugny, who lived upwards of six hundred years ago,
and who, having learned (say Antonine and the Golden Le
gend), by a man coming from Sicily, that a great noise was
there heard, and that from the continual fire and flames of
Mount iEtna, issued horrid roarings and dreadful cries, be
lieved to proceed from the souls who suffered their purgatory
in that place, and thus impetrated the prayers of the living,
for this reason commanded, that throughout all his diocese,
after tbe feast of All Saints, that of all the dead should be
kept ; and that upon that day should be offered the sacrifice
of the mass for the repose of their souls. Which practice has
been ever since established in all the churches. But JEneas
was the founder of it, as Ovid assures us, in the second book
of his Fasti. Hunc morem REneas, pietatis idoneus Author,
Attulit in terras, Juste Latine, tuas:
Ille Patris genio solemnia dona ferebat.
Hinc Populi ritus edidicere novos.
That is, " 0 ! Latinus, devout JEneas first introduced this
custom into thy country ; for he offered solemn gifts to the
manes of his father. From hence it is, that the people have
learned new ceremonies." He was universally imitated for
many centuries. Thus Suetonius, f in the life of Augustus,
saith, that the emperor, being in the island Caprea, saw from
* Pol. Virg. lib. vi. cap. ix.
t Suet, in August.

17,0 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
his chamber a great number of people carrying flambeaux
round the grave of one who died the year before. Cardinal
Baronius* observes the conformity of this with the service
performed by the Church of Rome for the dead, at the end of
the year.
The Pagans were commonly of opinion, that the souls of
tbe deceased returned into the world to implore the sacrifices,
offerings, and prayers of the living, for obtaining a mitigation
of their torments. Thus Ovidf saith : " Because the service
for the dead had been neglected, during the troubles of the
wars, frequent apparitions of souls had been seen, issuing in
the night out of their graves ; and complaining, with horrid
groans, that the ordinary service for them was not per
formed." Bustis exisse Parentes,

Et tacitse questos tempore noctis avos :
Perque vias urbis latosque ululasse per agros
Deformes Animas.
The same author acquaints us, that the bloody shade of
Remus stood at the head of Romulus' s bed, entreating him to
celebrate his anniversary.
X Umbra cruenta Remi visa est assistere lecto ;
Atque hgec exiguo murmure verba loqui.
What this shade required was, that Romulus
Signaret celebrem fratris honore diem.
That is, " That he would distinguish, by the honours of
sacrifice, the anniversary of his brother."
Suetonius, in the life of Caligula, writes, that the body of
that emperor, having been secretly buried in a garden, the
gardeners were every night terrified with spectres ; and that
in the house wherein he was assassinated, no night passed
without some horrid apparition ; which disturbance lasted till
the house was consumed by fire. Those who have read the
Dialogues of Pope Gregory I.§ know, they are full of such
tales of apparitions of souls, who came to implore the living to
say masses for their repose ; for both Papists and heathens
* Baron. Ann. Eccl. Anno. 44. § 88.
t Fasto. lib. ii. X Ibid. lib. v.
§ Particularly the 3rd book, c. xxiv. xxv. and the 4th book, t. xl.
and lv.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 171
have imagined, that the dead receive great comfort from the
sacrifices and prayers offered for them. " The Pagans (says
Bloridus*) entertaining this opinion concerning the souls of
the dead, did after burying, and performing their rites, offer
up sacrifices for them, at the end of nine days ; performing
the service called the Ninth/f Our people (saith he) do the
like ; celebrating the divine office for the souls of the dead on
the seventh day, and year after year." Polydore VirgilJ saith
the same ; for after having spoke of the Pagans' Ninth, he
adds, " From thence is come the custom with us, to per
form the service for the dead, the seventh day after the
funeral." I cannot forbear taking notice of the rise of a trivial super
stition, which has obtained among the heathens, as it does
now among the Papists, the greatest part of whom scruple to
marry in the month of May. This superstition springs from
the Pagans' offering sacrifices in that month to appease the
spirits, which were said to be wandering all night long. For
during that time the temples were shut up ; and marriages
then celebrated, were deemed unfortunate, as is evident from
these distichs of Ovid.§
Nee vidua? tsedis eadem nee Virginis apta
Tempora. Quse nupsit non diuturna fuit.
Hac quoque de causa, si te proverbia tangunt,
Mense malas Maio nubere vulgus ait.
That is, " Those times are not proper for the marriage of
either widow or virgin. Those who then marry will not live
long. For this reason the proverbial saying of the vulgar is,
that none but lewd women marry in the month of May."
In this month of May, it is now a custom, especially in Italy,
for the people of both sexes to go into the fields to fetch
green boughs, which they plant before their houses. And in
France, and in other countries they plant what they call May
poles. This comes from the ancient Romans, || who then cele
brated the feast of the goddess of flowers, whom they named
Flora. On the first day of that month, was celebrated at Rome,
the Feast of Mars, which was called Lustria ; who for the space
* Rom. Triumph, lib. ii. p. 44.
t Novem diale sacrum. X Polyd. Virg. lib. vi. cap. x.
§ Ovid. Fastorum, lib. v. || Pol. Virg. lib. v. cap. ii.

172 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
of seven days consecrated the eagles and other ensigns of war.
" From hence (saith Blondus*) arises the custom observed in
our times, on St. Geerge's day ; when our soldiers carry their
ensigns and arms out of town, to consecrate them in the
woods." The Feast of St. Martin, is a day of debauch among
Christians, the new wines are then begun to be tasted ; and
the saint's day is celebrated with carousing. For which
reason a Christian Poet calls that the second Bacchanal.
Altera Martinus dein Bacchanalia prsebet ;
Quern colit anseribus populus multoqueLyseo.t
This custom is an imitation of the ancient Romans, who
kept their Feast of Vintage after the wine was settled : and of
the Greeks, who celebrated their Pithsegia, or feast when
they began to broach their new wines, as the term impUes.
On that day they drank to excess, as Plutarch relates.J
Herodotus§ assures us, that the Egyptians kept an annual
feast, the ceremony whereof consisted in lighting up flambeaux,
round their houses all night : for which reason they called it,
The Feast of Flambeaux. " This solemnity|| (saith Baro
nius), is also observed among us, being transferred to the Feast
of Ascension."
The Pagans, says TertuUian, ^[adorned their temples and their
houses with leaves and flowers on certain festivals ; which
custom the Christians of the first ages had in abhorrence,
chiefly for this reason, that it was practised by the Pagans.
But those of the Romish Church have got over that scruple ;
for, saith Baronius, " many not being able to prevent their
practising this ceremony, it seems to have been introduced
very conveniently for the exercise of the true rehgion."
But still there is a worse imitation than the foregoing, viz.
that of the ancient Saturnals ; which are now restored by the
dissoluteness of the Carnival. There was in the former no
extravagance practised which is not revived in the latter.
" That day was consecrated to all kinds of lewdness," saith an
ancient** Christian author, whose fragments are added to those
* Blond. Rom. Trium. p. 56.
t Tho. Neagorgus de Regno Pont. lib. iv.
X In the Third Book of his Table-Talk.
§ Lib. ii. circa medium. || Ad Ann. 58, v. 28.
f De Cor. Mil. c. xiii. and de Idol. c. xv. Anno 58. v. 29.
** Vide Lipsium de Saturn. It. fragm. vet. Authorum de Ritibus Eccl.
Antverpise, 1560, cum Privilegio.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 173
of Charlemagne. Some were seen disguised in monstrous shapes;
putting on the appearance of wild beasts." This hath been
long practised in the Church of Rome. The History of
France gives us an account of a dreadful accident which hap
pened at a carnival in the reign of Charles VI. There was
contrived a masquerade of savages (others say of bears), clothed
in linen, fitted close to the body ; and on the linen, tow was
stuck with pitch, very thin, in imitation of fur. The King
thought it so pretty a contrivance, that he chose to make one
in it, the others were some of the principal nobility of the
Court. The assembly was at the palace of Queen Blanche.
The King himself entering alone thus disguised, the others
being tied together, he left them to dance in the middle of the
place, whilst he went to cast himself on the lap of the Duchess
of Berry. Meanwhile, came in the Duke of Orleans, who
being desirous to know the masks, ordered his pages, who
carried the flambeaux to advance near ; one of whom having
mixed with the dancers, carelessly set fire to the dress of one
of them, which flew in a moment from one to another ; so that
all the dancers were, in an instant, in flames ; and a scene of
mirth was on a sudden converted into one of horror and com
miseration. Instead of the sound of vocal and instrumental
music, nothing was heard but screams and horrible howlings
from the wretches in flames, who, running to and fro, could
not be so soon helped, as to prevent their being scorched to
death. The King himself escaped by means of the Duchess
of Berry, who knowing him, covered him with her gown, and
so hindered the flames, which spread far and wide, from taking
hold of the tow and pitch wherewith he was all over be
smeared. All tbe other disguises and changes of dress which we see
in the Church of Rome are come likewise from Paganism.
For not only at the Saturnals and other feasts of debauchery,
vie. the Bacchanals and Lupercals, but at tbe Feast of the
Mother of the Gods, called Magalesia, people went masked,
and women appeared in men's clothes. " It is allowable on
those days (saith Herodian*) to play, to be wanton, and ap
pear in what dress one will." Ovid,f in his Fasti, attributes
the rise of these masquerades to Hercules, who, to put a trick
on Faunus, his co-rival, on Bacchus's festival-day, dressed
himself in the attire of the beautiful Lyda, his mistress, and
* Lib. i. t Ovid. Fast. lib. ii.

174 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
went and hid himself in an obscure cave. Faunus, who was
very much in love with Lyda, thinking it to be her, followed
soon after, but finding it to be Hercules in Lyda's dress, be
returned very much ashamed.
Seneca* gives us an account of the madnesses of the Satur-
nals, in such a manner, as if he had seen ours on ShroveTuesday^
" We are in the month of December (saith he to Lucilius), a
season when all the city is in a debauch ; when extravagance
knows no law ; every one makes what noise he pleases ; so
great preparations are made, as if the Saturnals were no days
for work. Were you here, I would ask what you would choose
to do, whether, not to go counter to the custom of aU the
world, we had not better put off our gowns, and debauch like
all the rest ? For now, for the sake of diversion and feasting,
we disguise ourselves. It were doubtless a wiser and more
generous conduct to remain dry and sober in the midst of a
people who fill themselves with wine, and who, through their
excesses disgorge their liquor in the streets. But complacency
obliges one not to affect singularities, but to do as others do,
provided it be done in another manner ; for one may be di
verted without being dissolute." This philosopher speaks of
the debaucheries of his time, with a more serious air than the
most reformed Capuchins in our times would do of the Car
nival ; for it is well known, that those religious, do very much
abate of their gravity on those days, and make themselves
amends for the austerities of the remaining part of the year.
It is urged, however, that those who are guilty of those ex
cesses, are not many ; and that the fault of a few must not be
imputed to the whole Church, since the Church condemns it.
But the Pagans could say tbe same of their Saturnals, Bac
chanals and Lupercals. Cicero, in his second Philippic, re
proaches Antony for having been at those feasts, and Varrof
discoursing of the Bacchanals, says, " They could not be cele
brated, but by people out of their senses :" the Fathers have
upbraided the Pagans therewith. They had much less reason
for so doing, than we have to object them to the Church of
Rome ; because, among the Pagans, there never was an honest
man who did not blame those excesses ; whereas, there are
renowned doctors of the Romish Church, who, with Cardinal
Cajetan, approve what is done now ; not to mention par
ticulars, which may be thought of little weight, what can one
* Epist. xviii. § 1. t August de Civit. Dei, lib. v. u. ix.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 175
say of the custom of converting the seats of justice into places
of debauchery, reserving the bawdy causes for those days ;
when the pleaders are allowed, by their words and gestures, to
represent all that is most shocking in whoredom ; even, in
places which ought to be the sanctuaries of chastity, the
schools of continency, and the seats of modesty. 0 Celsus !
0 Porphyry ! O Julian ! What advantage would you have
taken on the ancient Church, if you then had seen what
we see at this day in the Church of Rome ?* The Senate of
old Rome sufficiently shewed their dislike of the villanies per
petrated on the Bacchanals, since they condemned them by a
solemn decree ; but that of the new, has hitherto continued
theirs.

CHAPTER VII.
Of the Saints, their canonization, the worship paid them, and
the offices attributed to them.
Read Platof and Apuleius among the Pagans, TertuUian,
and the author of the Recognitions among the Christian doctors,
and you will find, that the heathens believed that there was a
Sovereign Deity, who was absolute master over all things, but
they believed farther, that there were many inferior and sub
altern divinities, to each of whom they assigned their offices,
according to the rank they imagined them to hold. " Most
have that opinion of the Godhead (saith TertuUian), J that the
superior power belongs only to one, and that he commits the
exercise of his functions to all the other gods, which was what
Plato meant, when he represented the great Jupiter in heaven,
accompanied with an army of gods and demons." He after
wards saith, that they compared the heavenly court to that
of the emperor, where he is raised in dignity above all, and
hath under him his ministers and officers, and that the one and
the others, must have respect paid them according to his
* Livius, lib. ix. Augustin de Civ. Dei, lib. xviii. c. xiii.
t Apul. de Dogm. Plato, p. 257. + Tert. Apol. c. xxiv.

176 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
rank and quality : " You aver," saith the same author,
"that honour must be paid to the officers and Ueutenants of
the prince, as to him, whose majesty they represent." The
author of the Recognitions, who is caUed St. Clement,* at
tributes this theology to the Pagans of bis time ; " We also
maintain (saith he) that there is a God, who is Lord over all,
but these whom we serve are gods also. As there is but one
Caesar, who hath under him several judges : for example,
governors, consuls, tribunes, and other such powers : we hold
in the same manner, that there is a supreme God ; there are
also others, resembUng those powers we have spoken of, who
are appointed gods in this world ; who though they be really
subject to the supreme, yet they dispose of us, and of the
things of the world." Are not these the very same senti
ments of the Church of Rome ? They beheve that there is a
supreme God, governor of aU things ; but they believe also
that there are under him, a great number of saints or inferior
gods (for they commonly call them in Latin divos, " gods")
to whom he commits the care of his affairs, assigning each
of them a share, for which reason they qualify them with the
appellation of mediators, patrons, or protectors ; but above all
the other gods and goddesses (divos and divas) f they attribute a
high authority to the holy Virgin, whom they caU the queen
of heaven and earth, of the angels and archangels. Ac
cording to this diversity of conditions, they will have us pay a
religious worship to each, in proportion to their dignities ; to
God the worship of latria, to the Virgin hyperdulia, and to
the others dulia : they maintain that they do nothing herein
but what is very acceptable to God, who takes pleasure in
seeing his friends honoured whom he hath glorified. The
Pagans had the like sentiments, and talked in the same man
ner : "Those who serve several gods (says Celus the philoso
pher in Origen), do a thing acceptable to the great God, because
none deserves honour, but those to whom God hath vouehsafed
that favour."
The invocation of the saints, % is altogether of Plato's inven
tion, whose doctrines have been bUndly admitted by the ancient
Fathers of the Church : for he taught that as God did not
mix with men, there were mediating spirits, who received our
prayers, and carry them to the Supreme Being. " There are
* Clern. Recogn. u. v. t Bellarm.de Beat. Sanct. lib. i. u. xii.
J Plato in Sympos.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 177
(saith Apuleins*) certain middle divinities, betwixt the high
heavens and this low earth, by whom our prayers and merits are
carried to the gods ; they are called demons in Greek : they
carry up the prayers of men to the gods, and bring down the
favours of the gods to men ; they go and come to carry on
one side the petitions, on the other the relief; they are as
interpreters and salvation-carriers from the one to the others."
In this same quality are the saints, in our days, worshipped in
the Church of Rome : true it is, that the common people make
little or no difference betwixt them and the Supreme Divinity ;
that they even address mostly, and with more confidence, the
Virgin Mary, or some other saints, whom novelty hath brought
into vogue, than God, and do not simply consider them as
mediators, but as the authors of all benefits, as well for the
body as the soul : but the Councils will have them addressed
to, simply as intercessors, who simply intercede with God for
men, who offer up their prayers, and by their credit obtain
their desires. "We do not worship God and the saints in the
same manner (saith the Catechism of the Council of Trent ),f
for we pray to God, that he would grant us his favours, and
deliver us from evils ; but we ask of the saints (because they have
credit with God) that they may take us into their protection,
to the -end they may obtain from God those things we stand in
need of."
Those petty divinities, which the Pagans worshipped, besides
the Supreme, were by their own confession, men, who having
in their life-time, given admiration to the people, have given-
occasion to men to pay them divine honours after their death.
This appears from the ancient laws of the Pontificate men
tioned by CiceroJ in these words : " Let the gods be worshipped,
as well those who have always been thought heavenly, as those
whose merits have placed them in heaven, as Hercules,
Bacchus, yEsculapius, Castor and Pollux, Romulus. Divos et
eos qui ccelestes semper habiti, colunto : Et olios quos in caelum
merita vocarint, Herculem, Bacchum, JEsculapium," fyc. and
Macrobius,§ on Scipio's dream, saith, " That his soul hath been
placed amongst the gods, because he never had forsaken virtue,
but had, on the contrary, always practised it." It is the same
with the saints, to whom the Church of Rome pays divine
* Apuleins de Deo Socratis, p. 290. t Part. iv. e. vii. qu. 3.
X Cic. de Legibus. lib . ii. et de Natura Deorum.
§ Lib. ii. Vide Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. ii. c. vii.
VOL. Till. N

178 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
honours, they believe them to be men, whose merits have
placed them in heaven, and are worthy of their homage ; so
that what TertuUian told the Pagans, may be apphed to
them both, "We know whence your gods are ; the towns they
were born in ; and where they died, bear witness of it."*
The Pagans were not allowed to offer up their prayers or
vows, but to such as the senate by their suffrages had placed
in the number of the gods ; their cause was pleaded before
the tribunal of men, and if they did not prove favourable, they
were not esteemed as gods. " The condition of each of your
gods (saith Tertullianj-), depends upon the approbation of the
senate ; those are not gods, whom men have not decreed so to
be, and who have been condemned by their sentence." " Won
derful !" J saith the same author, in another place, " and from
whence we take much advantage ; the Godhead among you
depends on the approbation of man ; is not a god acceptable
to man, he shall not be a god, man must be favourable to his
god.'' The saints of the Church of Rome are of the same
stamp, they cannot pretend to that quahty, without the con
sent of the Pope and his Consistory ; there it is, that their
cause must be pleaded, and if men do not prove favourable to
them, they are not gods (divi).% The Popes Alexander and
Innocent III. have assumed this privilege of canonizing, whom
they thought fit, forbidding the worshipping a saint, who had
not been approved by the authority of the Pope. Judge you,
after this, have not the doctors of the Roman communion a
good grace, when they exclaim against the folUes of tbe ancient
Senate, who assumed the authority of making its gods ; since
the Pope and his Consistory do, in our days, pretend to the
like power? and is not the Capuchin Yves || very merry, when
he puts on his gravity, and with the air of a censor, declaims
thus : •' To imagine that a decree of the Senate may place a
man in the Godhead, as in a civil office, is so gross an ignor
ance, and so abominable an impiety, that if all historians were
not agreed in the proofs they give of it, it were not possible
for a rational being to imagine it?" Either that Father could
not see the beam in his own eye, or disowns what is practised
in the Court of Rome.
The Pagans have deified the persecutors of Christians, as
* Tert. Apol. 40. t Ch. xiii. i Apol. c.v.
% Lib. iii. Decr. tit. 45. c. 1. Audivimus Bell. deSanct. beat. Lib. 1.
«• viii- II Theol. Nat. torn. iv. p. 155.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 179
was the Emperor Maximianus Herculius, remarked by Baro
nius,* in the year 307. The Pope hath done the same, when
he canonized Dominick and oApr such authors of the mas
sacres of the faithful Albigenses.
As soon as the Senate had placed a man in the rank of the
gods, they paid him divine honours, offered up prayers and
vows, built temples and altars, erected statues, offered up
sacrifices, appointed holy days in honour of him ; as Augustus
did in commemoration of the victories of Julius Caesar, his
adoptive father. Thus, as soon as the Pope has canonized
one, the exterior worship which is offered up to God, is paid
him ; his name, in the 1st place, is entered into the catalogue
of saints; i. e. they are ordered to be publiclyf called saints
by all. 2ndly, They are called upon in the prayers of the
Church. 3rdly, Churches and altars are dedicated in memory
of them. 4thly, They offer up publicly, in honour of them,
sacrifices, as well that of the eucharist, as the sacrifices of
praises and prayers, which are called, "The Office." 5thly,
Holy days are celebrated in commemoration of them. 6thly,
Their pictures are drawn with a ray of light, in token of the
glory they enjoy in heaven. And, in fine, their relics, which
are kept in precious shrines, are publicly honoured ; and they
even place them on altars, where they believe Jesus Christ to
be sacrificed ; they kiss and worship their ashes, their bones,
their hair, and their clothes : in one word, they do nothing in
honour of God, which they do not practise with as much if
not more devotion, in veneration of the saints. So that, one
may, with a great deal of truth, apply to them, what Tertul-
lianj alleged against the Pagans of his time : " What honours
do you shew your gods, which you do not practise also, to
celebrate the memory of dead men. You erect to the one and
to the others temples and altars ; their statues have the same
ornaments." When the zealous Roman Catholics are in some danger,
they immediately make a vow to the Virgin Mary, or to some
other saint, whom they imprecate to their aid ; and if they
happen to escape, in lieu of returning their thanks to God,
they give all the glory of it to the saint, and take occasion from
thence, to rivet themselves the more firmly in their supersti
tion : that of the Pagans was the same, Pliny§ tells us a story
* Tom. iii. p. 23. t Bell, de Sanct. beat. 1. i. c. 7.
t Tertul. Ap. 13. $ Plin. Hist. Nat. 1. viii. c. 16.
N 2

180 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
of one Elpis, who seeing a lion coming up to him with his
mouth wide open, climbed up a tree, and called aloud to
Bacchus : the lion came to th^foot of the tree, in the posture of
a suppliant, with his mouth wide open, wherein was a bone
betwixt his teeth, which he could not loosen ; the man seeing
this, came down presently, and eased him of his pain, without
receiving any harm from the Uon. From that time Elpis had
so great a devotion for Bacchus, that as soon as he returned
to Samos, he dedicated a temple to him.
The devotion which the Pagans had for their gods, was so
fantastical, that they often cursed those they had the most
veneration for. Lactantius* acquaints us, that at Linde, a
town in the island of Rhodes, when the inhabitants comme
morated the feast of Hercules, their tutelar god, they strove
who should utter most curses and execrations against him,
and if any one by accident had uttered one kind word, the
whole mystery had been spoiled. Sabellicus writes, that the
mother of the gods was honoured in the same manner : that
is, by uttering against her such obscenity, as would make
the most abandoned strumpet blush. Many of the Romish
Churches have revived that custom. They pretend a great
zeal for the honour of the Virgin Mary, yet there is no such
blasphemy uttered against her amongst the Mahometans, as in
Spain and Italy, where they call her by a name, which is too
shocking for me to repeat. I could not have believed it, had
I not read it in Bellarmine' sf Treatise of the Art of Dying
Well ; " Inter Cathohcos quantus est eorum numerus qui
Matrem Domini Virginem esse fatentur, et blasphemando Me-
retricem appellare non timent."
ArnobiusJ formerly taxed the Pagans for forging them
selves gods, the one a carpenter, others drapers, others ma
riners, fiddlers, cowkeeepers ; one was a musician, another a
midwife, a third knew the art of divination ; the one was a
physician, another president of eloquence, one followed the
occupation of arms, another was a smith ; and according to
this distribution, every one chose for his patron, whom he
thought presided over his occupation. The orators and poets
worshipped Apollo, Minerva, and the Muses ; the physicians,
^Esculapius ; the soldiers, Mars ; the hammer-men, Vulcan ;
the hunters, Diana. St. Augustine§ writes a whole chapter of
* Lact. Inst. Div. 1. i. t Bellarm. 1. i. c. 3.
X Am. contra Gent. 1. 3. § August, de Civit. Dei, 1. 6, c. 5.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 181
the employs men had been pleased to assign their gods, which
he thinks the most ridiculous thing imaginable, " They cut
out (saith he), to every god his task, and according to that dis
tribution, they tell you, you must direct your prayers to each
of them according to his office : does not that look more like
the buffoonry of a stage, than the majesty of God ?"* What
ever the absurdity be, the Church of Rome has not scrupled
to do the like, assigning to every saint his office, and every
one choosing for his patron, him whom he thinks to preside
over his profession. The litterati, have chosen St. Catherine
and St. Gregory ; St. Thomas is the patron of the divines ;
St. Cosmus and Damian of the physicians and surgeons ;
St. Ives, of the civilians or lawyers ; St. Luke, of the painters ;
St. Eloi, of the goldsmiths and farriers ; St. Eustache, of the
hunters ; St. Nicholas and St. Christopher, of the mariners ;
St. Euloge, of the jockeys ; St. Cecil, of the musicians ; St.
Josse and St Urban, of the ploughmen ; St. Vendelin, of the
shepherds ; St. Anthony, of the swineherds ; St. Crispin, of
the cordwainers ; St. Gutman, of the tailors ; St Goar, of
the potters ; St. Joseph, of the carpenters ; and St Leonard,
of the locksmiths.
The Pagans assigned to each of their gods, the power of
curing particular diseases ; they prayed to Apollo, against
the plague ; to Hercules, against the epilepsy, or fits ; to
Juno and Lucina, in travail of children, &c. In like manner,
the powers of the Romish saints, are thus parcelled out.
Against the plague, St. Sebastian and St. Roch are applied
to ; against a fever, Sancta Petronella is invoked ; against
poison, St. John the Evangelist ; and for the toothache, St.
Apoll onia ; for sore eyes, St. Otilia ; the nefretics, St. Libe-
rius ; those possessed with the devil, St. Romain ; the epilep
tics, St. Valentine ; the prisoners, St. Leonard, and women in
labour, St. Margaret.
Among the Pagans, every kingdom, city and town, put
themselves under the protection of tutelar deities ; thence it
was, that when the Romans laid siege to a town, they used to
evocate the deity by some verses, to make him abandon the

* You will see many of these observations in the new edition of the
False Face of Antiquity; which was published in the year 1665. The
author of that tract had made them six or seven years before, in a printed
letter to his brother, &c. But as they are necessary to the present subject,
it was thought fit to repeat them.

182 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
protection thereof ; to this Virgil alludes, when iEneas says,-
speaking of the taking of Troy —
Excessere omnes adytis, arisque relictis
Di, quibus imperium hoc steterat.
"The gods who protected us with their immortal arms, have
taken their flight and forsaken their altars."
For this reason, when Tyre was besieged by Alexander the
Great, the inhabitants bound the statue of Hercules, the
tutelar god of their city, with golden chains, for fear he should
leave them. The Babylonians had Bell for their protector;
the Egyptians, Isis, and Osiris ; those of Rhodes and Delphos,
Apollo ; Rome, Jupiter Capitolinus, Mars, and Quirinus ;
Ephesus, Diana ; Athens, Minerva : the inhabitants of Crete
or Candia, Jupiter ; those of Cyprus, Venus. France hath at
this time for its protectors, St. Michael and St. Denis;
Spain, St. James ; Germany, St. Martin and St. Boniface ;
Ireland, St. Patrick ; the Portuguese, St. Sebastian ; the
Poles, St. Stanislaus ; the Moscovites, St. Nicholas ; the Bo
hemians, St. Winceslaus ; the Hungarians, St. Mary ; the
Bavarians, St. Wolfgang ; the Catholic Swiss, the Holy Virgin
and St. Gall. And as to cities, Rome is under the protection
of St. Peter and St. Paul ; Paris, under that of St. Genevieve ;
Venice, St. Mark ; Naples, St. Thomas Aquinas ; Antwerp, St.
EUgia and Nordbert ; and almost all cities revere the holy
Virgin for their protectress ; for which reason the Garden
of the Rosary* hath these remarkable words, " AU sorts of
people, of what sect or country soever, have a singular vene
ration for the gods, who were their particular advocates and
protectors, and offered them public sacrifices, with fine theatri
cal verses to their praises, as for example, the Olympians to
Jupiter ; the Cyprians to Venus ; the Delphians to Apollo ;
the Thebans to Bacchus, and the Calabrians to Neptune, &c.
With how much more reason ought we, who are Christians, to
praise, exalt and magnify, that great princess of heaven, the
queen of men, empress of angels, and to speak more properly,
the arch-monarch of the universe ?" As to the other saints,
some of them who are worshipped in one city, are not so much
as known in another, and consequently, are far from receiving
any honour from them, in so much that what Tertullianf said
of the Pagan gods, may be applied to them. " Is it not true,
* Garden of the Rosary, at the beginning. t Apol. c. 13.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 183
that among you, some worship certain gods, which others do
not? You cannot deny, but you do injuries to the gods,
whom you pay no honour to ? the preference you give to the
one, naturally produces a contempt to the other,for, when of two
things you choose the one, it is most certain, that which you
do not choose, you reject : thus, you despise those gods you
own not, and shew you do not fear offending them, when you
refuse them the worship wherewith you honour the other
divinities." Minutius Felix ridiculed the Pagans for the vile drudgery
they put upon the gods whom they adored. " Sometimes
(saith he) Hercules is set to empty dung ; ApoUo turns Ad-
metus's cowherd ; Neptune hires himself to Laomedon, to
build up the walls of Troy, and he is so unfortunate as not to
be paid for his labour." The same thing may be objected
against those of the Church of Rome, who often set their
most respected saints of both sexes, to do jobs, not only sordid,
but dishonourable ; nay, even after they have been received
into glory. Witness the glorious miracles they attribute to
the holy Virgin;* one time they make her come down from
heaven to support an errant thief on a gibbet, who was exe
cuted for his thefts, but who had shewn a great devotion for
her : another time she comes down to mend the gown of
St. Thomas of Canterbury, that was ripped on the shoulder :
another time, to wipe the sweat off the face of the monks of
Clervaux, whilst they work : at another time she performs the
duty of an abbess, whilst the abbess herself is strolling about
the country, with a monk who had debauched her : at another
time, she comes to sing matins for a monk who had entreated
her to supply his place : and, at another time, they make her
descend, to bleed a young man in the arm.
* See the fine Tract of our Lady's Miracles, printed at Lyons.

184 RELIGIOUS RITES OF

CHAPTER VIII.
Of Churches.
It is without the least appearance of reason that we are asso
ciated with Anabaptists, as enemies to churches ; because some
of our soldiers in the Civil Wars have destroyed some. For
these violences ought not to be charged to religion, but to the
disorders of war, since Roman Catholics have shewn no more
moderation than Protestants on the like occasions ; of which
Rome itself, had a woeful experience in the last century, when
taken by the army of Charles V. The Spaniards and Impe
rialists, for cruelty or sacrilege, far exceeded the Vandals and
Arian Goths ; they had no regard either to the name of Ca
tholic, to the venerable name of prelate, or to sacred things.*
The cries of the Roman ladies and virgins, whom the soldiers
were dragging through the streets by the hair, were every
where heard. The ornaments of those famous churches, with
the relics of martyrs, were cast on the ground and trodden
under foot: several prelates were dragged through the streets,
with curses and hallooing, in their pontifical habits, and
mounted on asses, riding backward. The rage of the Spaniards
extended even to the dead, for they dug up the body of Pope
Julius, to take the pastoral ring off his finger : Clement VII.,
who then reigned, was taken prisoner, with the cardinals, who
retired into the Castle of St. Angelo. Never did any Protestant
troops commit the like ravages. Waving therefore what hath
been done in the heat of war, we proceed to examine what is
to blame in the churches of the Roman Catholics. We are
far from blaming them (and Cardinal Bellarmine f wrongs us)
when he accuses us of believing that it is not allowable to
build churches for the service of God. Our practice hath
sufficiently demonstrated that we approve, that among Chris
tians, there should be places called churches, or by any other
name, for assemblies, for the exercises of acts of devotion; to
administer the sacraments, and for the performance of public
* Mezeray in the Life of Francis I.
t De Cultu Sanct. lib. iii. c. 1.

ANCIENT AN^D MODERN ROME. 185
worship ; to sing his praises ; and as our Saviour Jesus Christ,
and his Apostles, scrupled not to go into the temple at Jeru
salem, or into the synagogues, to preach the word of God ; so
in what parts soever the Reformation hath been settled, and
where it is received by the magistrates, as well as by the people,
we without any scruple make use of those churches, in which
a superstitious worship was performed before. And as we are
far from supposing any inherent sanctity in building, in walls,
or any other inanimate things, we are in no fear of being defiled
by them ; we use them for our conveniency, and to shelter us
from the weather.
Under the Law, whilst the Church was in its infancy, and
gathered together in a country of a small extent, there was a
temple where God would be worshipped, and in which he gave
the people marks of his Divine presence : " But unto the place
which the Lord your God shall choose, out of all your tribes,
to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall you
seek, and thither thou shalt come."* But under the Gospel,
where the Saviour of the world hath invited all people to
partake of his favours ; this attachment to a certain spot of
earth has been taken away, and our devotion is as good in one
place as another. Jesus Christ, who is the author of our
religion, hath taught us, that we are not now to be attached to
mount Gerizim, Uke the Samaritans, or to the temple at Jeru
salem, like the Jews ; but that God may be worshipped in
whatsoever place we be, and provided we are there assembled
in his name, " he hath promised he will be in the midst of
us;" and his Apostle commands us, "to offer up our prayers
everywhere ; lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubt
ing.'^ Pursuant to this, the first Christians assembled in
differently in all places, where they most conveniently could ;
in private houses,*in auditories. St. PaulJ is said to have
preached for two years at Ephesus in the school of one whose
name was Tyrannus : in caves, in woods, in burying places ; not
doubting but that God, who is everywhere, and regards not the
beauty of the place from which he is worshipped, but the sin
cerity of heart of his worshippers, would hear them in what
soever place they were.
The Church of Rome thinks much otherwise. For they
build churches, not only for the convenience of the Christians,
but to dedicate them to God, as a house wherein he dwelleth ;
* Deut. xii. 5. t 1 Tim. ii. 8. X Acts xv. 9.

186 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
they consecrate them, with various ceremonies ; they believe
that God, is in a more particular manner present in those
buildings, than in any other ; and that the prayers and ser
vices done therein, are more effectual than if done in other
places. They erect altars; they fill them with images, which
they term sacred, and with relics : they adorn them sump
tuously, and with a vast expense ; and, because we do not copy
after their example, they revile us as impious and profane ; so
that we are with them on the same footing that the Christians
of the first ages were with the Pagans, so that we may say to
them what Arnobius * said to these last : " You used to im
pute it to us as a crime of vast impiety, because we do not
build churches, wherein to place the images of the gods ; that
we erect no altars, that we offer no sacrifices, that we burn no
frankincense, and that we therein make no offerings of bread
and wine." To this we answer in the words of that doctor :
" That our omission of these things proceeds neither from im
piety, nor a contempt of the Deity ; but because we believe
that the gods, if they are truly such, scorn those honours, or
behold them with indignation, if they be susceptible of
anger." As to the building of churches to the Deity, as the Pagans
formerly did, and those of the Romish Church do in our days ;
the vanity of that superstition can never be more effectuaUy
exploded, than in the words of the same Arnobius : f " We
ask, of what use can temples be to the gods ; to what purpose
were they formerly founded, or why should any be now built ?
Do the gods feel the frost of winter, or are they parched
with the heats of summer ? Do they fear being wetted by
the rains, or disturbed by whirlwinds ? Are they afraid of
being exposed to the violence of soldiers, or the voracious ap
petites of wild beasts, that it is deemed necessary to lock them
up in buildings for their safety, and to oppose the rampart of
walls for their defence ? What are these churches after aU ?
If you consult the weakness of man, they are something very
great and immense ; but compare them to the greatness of the
gods, they will shew very smaU, or, rather narrow caverns,
which the invention of a weak brain hath put together. Be
they composed of great masses of marble ; be their ceilings
garnished with gold and precious stones ; be they so disposed,
and in such a large quantity, as to give a faint image of the
* Am. contra Gent. t Ibid.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 187
beauties of the firmament — all this is yet but earth, and drawn
from the vilest part of matter. And although their price, or
scarcity, makes them valuable to men, one cannot conclude
from thence that they are acceptable to the gods, and that
these gods are pleased with such gaudy garniture for their
prisons. This, you say, is the temple of Mars ; that, of Juno
or Venus, &c. Is not that doing the gods high injury, to dis
tinguish them by the name of their habitation ? To assign
them narrow lodges, to build them up conclaves, and cells,
and to imagine that they want these dwellings like men, like
eats, like ants, like lizards, and like timorous rats 1"
The Church of Rome hath this in common with the Pagans,
for they consecrate their churches with ceremonies at least as
superstitious. This will easily appear by comparing the one
with the other. When the Pagans were about to build a
temple, they marked out the whole space intended for the
fabric, and surrounded it with ribbons and garlands. The
vestal virgins sprinkled the area with lustral water ; the Pon
tiff, who presided over the ceremony, said solemn prayers for
the consecration of the edifice ; the blood of beasts which were
sacrificed on the area was added thereto ; the people gathered
round it, with boughs of bays in their hands ; the Pontiff,
together with the priests, the senate, and the nobility, laid the
first stone, and silver and gold uncoined was cast thereon, as
one may read in Cicero's Oration to the Pontiffs for his house,
and in the fourth Book of Tacitus' s History, in the pleadings
he makes for the restoration of the Capitol. The ceremonies
observed by the Church of Rome on the like occasion, come
very near the former ; * for the Pontiff first sprinkles the
whole place with holy water. Instead of crowns or garlands,
he plants twelve crosses round the place, and before each of
those crosses he sets a lighted taper. He blesses the first
stone, and makes thereon several signs of the cross, with many
prayers ; he places it himself in the foundation ; he conse
crates the place by pouring oil thereon, " which (Bellarmine
alleges)f has at all times been the symbol of consecration."
During the whole ceremony, the Pontiff says many prayers
for the consecration of each utensil ; and, in fine, the sacrifice
of the mass, as the soul of the whole ceremony, is repeated.
For as the Decretal hath it, " All temples ought always to be
* Pontif. Rom. part 2. init.
t Bell, de Cultu Sanct. lib. iii. c. 5.

188' RELIGIOUS SITES OF
consecrated with saying mass ;* to which purpose the Glos
sary observes, " that the sacrifice of the mass is essential to
the consecration."
It was an error of the Pagans to imagine that the gods were
more particularly present in their temples than any where else,
and that the prayers and devotions offered up were anyways
sanctified by the holiness of the place, or were ever a whit the
sooner heard or more acceptable. " We consecrate temples to
the gods (say they, in Arnobius), f not to shelter them from the
rains, winds, frosts, or the heat of the sun, but that we may
the nearer approach them, and speak to them, as it were, face
to face ; for they could not so well hear prayers offered to
them in the open air, and under the canopy of heaven."
The Roman Church have the very same sentiments, " Deus
est magis in templo quam alibi, saith Bellarrnine.J i.e. God
is more in the temple than elsewhere." " Et in templo citius
exaudit, i.e. and hears soonest in that place," saith the
same author. And it is with an intent of attracting the Deity
within the walls of the temple, that in the prayer used at the
dedication, they say -. " Let him pour forth his Holy Spirit,
that the grace of his visitation bestowed on that place may
spread all over it ; let him continually fiU that building with
his grace ; let his eyes be open day and night on this house ;
let him accept and be propitious to those who come there to
worship ; let him enter into that house, which, being conse
crated to him, is become his dwelling." Thus, believing that
God is in a more particular manner present in those buildings,
they are persuaded that their devotion performed there hath
more virtue than that in other places ; for this reason, they
resort thither to say their prayers, and not only at the times
of congregation, but even when therein alone. They imagine
that to go to visit them for devotion is a meritorious, pious,
and devout work, as the Council of Trent declares. §
The Pagans often undertook long journeys, in pilgrimage to
the famous temples of their gods, in hopes that the prayers
and sacrifices they should offer up there, would be more effec
tual than those in the cities of their abode. Thus, the temple
of the great Diana at Ephesus, || and that of Apollo at Delphos,
were resorted to far and near ; and in Sicily there was a tem-
* Decret. part 2. dist. 1. Can. omnes, p. 1850.
t Arn. lib. vi. X Bell, de Cultu Sanct. lib. iii. c. iv.
§ Cone. Trid. Sess. 25. || Acts six. 27.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 189
pie of Ceres, whereof Cicero saith,* " that when people went
there, it looked more hke going to Ceres herself than to a
temple dedicated to her." Therefore, although there was a
most magnificent temple dedicated to that deity at Rome, the
Decemviri and the Pontiffs did from time to time send thither
to make vows. It is well known that the custom of the Church
of Rome is to do the like, for though their devotees have
churches in the several places of their abode, they neverthe
less go far, in pugrimage, to offer up their vows to those who
have the reputation of more sanctity.
The Pagans not only consecrated temples to the gods, but
also to men. They erected some in honour of their emperors
after their decease, and others to those for whom they had
great veneration, and called them by the name of the one or
the other, saying (as Arnobius assures us) " of the one, this is
the temple of Juno, of the other, Apollo resides here ; Her
cules in that, and Summanus in the other." This Doctor had
scarce ventured to reprove the Pagans had the Christians of
his time consecrated churches to the honour of saints, as well
as to God, or to Jesus Christ. Bellarminef has established it
as a most Christian maxim, which he labours by a multitude
of arguments to support, " that it is well done to consecrate
houses, not only to God, but also to the saints ;" and they
nominate those churches from those in honour of whom they
have been built, — one, St. Saviour, another, St. Michael, Holy
Mary, St. Paul, St. John, St. Stephen, &c. The first Chris
tians were very far from that superstition ; and although Con
stantine the Great be the first who buUt magnificent churches,
it was with no other intention than to consecrate them to God
and his service. "He took care (saith Eusebius)J to adorn
the world with sacred temples, &c. which he dedicated and
consecrated to one only God, the Lord of the whole universe,
therefore those temples were consecrated to him by the name
of our Lord." Thus Augustine§ proves against the Arians,
that Jesus Christ is God, because temples are dedicated to him.
" Were we not accursed by the truth of Christ, and the Church
of God (saith he), if we should make a temple of stone and
wood to some saint or angel, how excellent soever ; because
we should then pay to the creature the service which we owe
* Act vi. in verrem.
t Bell, de Cultu Sanct. lib. iii. t. 4.
X Eus. de Laud. Const.
^ Aug. adv. Max. Arianos, lib. i.

190 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
to God alone ? If, then, we should be sacrilegious by build
ing temples in honour of any creature whatever, why should
we not acknowledge a true God, to whom we build temples,
and of whom we ourselves are temples."* Would not the
Arians have hissed such an argument, had it then been the
custom, as now it is, to erect churches in honour of men and
angels. The ancient Romans,-)- in their battles, vowed temples to
their gods, if they gave them a happy issue out of danger, and
victory over their enemies. Thus, when RomulusJ perceived
his men were giving ground in a battle with the Sabines ; he
vowed to build a temple to Jupiter Stator, in case he inspired
his soldiers with courage, and stopped their flight : this having
succeeded to his wish, he acquitted himself of his vow.
Appius§ the Consul, followed that example, when in the fight
he prayed thus, " O Bellona ! give us this victory, and I vow
thee a temple." Several generals, as Sempronius and M.
Marcellus did the same: many of the churches of the Romish
communion have been built on the same account ; || as was
that of St. Vincent by Clotarius and ChUdebert, after the
defeat of the Goths : that of St. Martin at Paris, by Henry I.
for the happy success he had over Baudom,^[ Count of Flanders,
and several others.
A Doctor of the Church of Rome, of good esteem, who
wrote in the last century, Pollet** by name, hath observed, that
the churches of his days, were taken from the model of the
ancient Romans : for they (says he) were composed of what is
now called Cella Sanctior; that is to say, the holy part,
which we call the choir, distinguished from the basilick and
porches, by a separation, very truly caUed pulpitum, because
it is raised in the nature of a pulpit ; some of the vulgar call
it a throne, &c. The basilick is that which we call the nave
or body of the church, and the walking places on each side,
' or aisles, are properly the porches of the ancients, and are hke
the deck of a ship. The most holy parts were solely destined
for sacred things, but the basilick, the porches, and vestibule,
were mostly exposed to profane uses, for there were held fairs
or markets in as profane a manner, as in our days, among us ;
and agreements of marriage made, &c." It were to be wished,
* Pontiff. 2. part, de impos. primi Cap. p. 202.
t Livy, lib. 1. X Pint, in vita Rom. § Liv. lib. 10.
|| Sabell. Enn. viii. lib. iii. ^ Gagn. lib. v.
** Franc. Pollet, lib. i. Hist. Fori. Rom. c. 3.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 191
that they were not profaned in other matters ; but every one
knows, that in Spain, and Italy especially, these are the places
where the vilest matches are made ; and that there is no less
room now than formerly, for the complaints of Minucius Felix
against the Pagans of his time ; " Where are more bawdy
matches made than in the temples, and near the altars ? Is it
not there the filthiest bargains are made, and where adulteries
are meditated ? Does not impudicity reign more powerfully in
chapels than in stews."
When the Pagans built temples, they always placed the
choir and the principal idols towards the east, as we may read
in these words of Vitruvius :* "Let those who sacrifice
towards the altars, look to the east part of the heavens, as also
the statue which is to stand in the temple, &c. ; for it is
necessary that the altars of the gods be turned to the east."
God, to take his people off from the imitation of the Pagans,
commanded in the construction of the tabernacle, in the
temple, that the contrary should be done, and that the holy of
holies, wherein the ark of the covenant was kept, should be
placed at the west end.f But the Church of Rome has
chosen rather to conform to these, than to the Jews. J " When
a church is built (saith Bishop Durand), let it be so situated
that the head may look to the east." Du Choul owns this
conformity. " The Romans turned towards the east as we
do now, when they sacrificed and prayed. This Porphyry hath
shewn, who will have the entrance into the temples, and the
statue, be erected to the east. And I think I have read the
same in Vitruvius' s Architecture, where he speaks of the
situation of the temples of the immortal gods." He hath
regard to the passage before cited.
It cannot be denied, that from the same source, is come
forth the magnificent ornaments wherewith the churches have
been embellished with so much labour and expense, for so
many ages. Human prudence, which spoils all, when it sets
about governing religion, made the Christians believe, after
they found themselves freed from persecution, that the Pagans
were to be gained over by that exterior show they were before
used to : but it hath so happened, that thinking to attract
them to the true religion, their superstitions have been intro
duced, and instead of forming men to piety, and to raise their
* Vitr. lib. iv. c. 5. t Ezekiel viii. 16.
X Durand. Ration, lib. i. c. 1. num. 8.

192 RELIGIOUS RITFS OF-
hearts on high, they have been made to remain in the admi
ration of walls and ceilings. It were to be wished that the
wise remonstrance Lactantius* made to the Christians on this
subject, had been remembered. " One only God was wor
shipped in the world (said he), when those gods, which you
now worship, were not yet born. This true God abominates
malice, and loves goodness. These stones and mortar are not
his temples, but man himself who bears his image ; and this
temple is to be adorned, not with gold, nor corruptible gifts
of precious stones, but with eternal gifts of all sorts of virtue."
Have we not reason to apply to the luxury, which the Church
of Rome displays, in every part of the decoration of their
churches, in their vessels and images, what this ancient
Doctor reproached the Pagans with ? " The beauty of the
gold,f of the precious stones, and of ivory, dazzles the eyes of
the world, who believe there can be no rehgion where these
things are wanting : they come to their gods, not so much
through devotion, as for gratifying the lust of their eyes, to
stare at that rich metal ; so that the whole worship of God is
nothing else than what the covetousness of man admires."
And what he saith in another place, of the expense for adorning
their images ? ' ' They dress with veils and precious cloth,
what doth not want covering. They consecrate them gold and
silver, which is as muph lost to the donor, as the receivers.
Lactantius little dreamt, that the Christians, should at any
time ever be guilty of the like folly ; that those who should
profess adoring one only Jesus Christ, who Uved and died
in poverty, should change his religion, for vain pomp and
ornaments, which strike the eyes of the flesh alone, and should
amuse themselves with adoring images and walls, whilst they
left vast numbers of poor members of Jesus Christ, naked and
miserable. Cardinal Baronius,J in his Roman martyrology, observes,
"That until Gregory I.'s time, the Christians despoUed the
temples of their idols, leaving them deserted, to testify
their abhorrence of the service of devils : but that Boniface
IV., his successor (who was the first who assumed the title
of Universal Bishop, which Gregory^ had so vehemently
exclaimed against) was of opinion that after taking away the
* Lact. lib. v. c. 9. t Id. lib. ii. c. 7.
1 Ad Diem 13 Maij.
() Antique Urbis splendor Impr. Rom. cum Privil. Papa. Ferreolus
Locreus Maria;, Aug. 1. 4. c 27-

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 193
idols of the Pagans, their temples might be made use of;
wherefore he accommodated himself with many, into which he
conveyed the bones of martyrs, which he had taken out of the
burying places at Rome."* The church of St. Michael, was
[Dr. Middleton says : — " But our notion of the idolatry of modern
Rome will be much heightened still and confirmed, as oft as we
follow them into those temples, and to those very altars, which were
built originally by their heathen ancestors, the old Romans, to the
honour of their Pagan deities; where we shall hardly see any other
alteration, than the, shrine of some old hero, filled by the meaner
statue of some modern saint : nay, they have not always, as I am
well informed, given themselves the trouble of making even this change,
but have been content sometimes to take up with the old image,
just as they found it, after baptizing it only, as it were, or consecrating it
anew, by the imposition of a Christian name. This their antiquaries do
not scruple to put strangers in mind of, in shewing their churches ; and it
was, I think, in that of St. Agnes, where they shewed me an antique
statue of young Bacchus, which with a new name, and some little change
of drapery, stands now worshipped under the title of a female saint.
" Tully reproaches Clodius, for having publicly dedicated the statue of a
common strumpet, under the name and title of the goddess Liberty -a
practice still frequent with the present Romans, who have scarce a fine
image or picture of a female saint, which is not said to have been designed
originally by the sculptor or painter, for the representation of bis own
mistress : and who dares, may we say ironically with the old Roman, to
violate such a goddess as this — the statue of a w — ?
" The noblest heathen temple now remaining in the world, is the
Pantheon or Rotunda ; which, as the inscription over the portico informs
us, having been impiously dedicated of old by Agrippa to Jove, and all
the gods, was piously reconsecrated by Pope Boniface IV., to the blessed
Virgin and all the saints. With this single alteration, it serves as
exactly for all the purposes of the Popish, as it did for the Pagan wor
ship, for which it was built. For as in the old temple every man might
find the god of his country, and address himself to that deity whose re
hgion he was most devoted to ; so it is the same thing now, every one
chooses the patron whom he likes best ; and one may see here different
services going on at the same time at different altars, with distinct con
gregations around them, just as the inclinations of the people lead them
to the worship of this or that particular saint.
"And what better title can the new demigods shew, to the adoration now
paid to them, than the old ones, whose shrines they have usurped ? Or
how comes it to be less criminal to worship images erected by the Pope,
than those which Agrippa, or that which Nebuchadnezzar set up ? If
there be any real difference, most people I dare say, will be apt to de
termine in favour of the old possessors : for those heroes of antiquity
were raised up into gods, and received divine honours, for some signal
benefits of which they had been the authors to mankind ; as the invention
of arts and sciences ; or of something highly useful and necessary to life ;
whereas of the Romish saints, it is certain, that many of them were never
heard of, but in their own legends or fabulous histories ; and many more
VOL. VIII. O

194 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
formerly that of Juno : the church of St. Stephen in the ox
market," was built by the Pagans, in honour of Hercules :
instead of any services done to mankind, owe all the honours now paid to
them, to their vices or their errors ; whose merit, like that of Demetrius
in the Acts, was their skill of raising rebellions in defence of an idol, and
throwing kingdoms into convulsions, for the sake of some gainful im
posture. ' ' And as it is in the Pantheon, it is just the same in all the other heathen
temples that still remain in Rome ; they have only pulled down one idol to
set up another ; and changed rather the name than the object of their
worship. Thus the little temple of Vesta, near the Tiber, mentioned by Ho
race, is now possessed by the Madonna of the Sun ; that of Fortuna Virilis,
by Mary the Egyptian ; that of Saturn (where the public treasury was
anciently kept) by St. Adrian ; that of Romulus and Remus in the Via
Sacra, by two other brothers, Cosmas andDamianus ; that of Antoninethe
godly, by Lawrence the Saint : but for my part I should sooner be tempted
to prostrate myself before the statue of a Romulus or an Antonine, than
that of a Lawrence or a Damian ; and give divine honours rather with
Pagan Rome, to the founders of empires, than with Popish Rome, to the
founders of monasteries.
" At the foot of Mount Palatine, in the way between the Forum and
Circus Maximus, on the very spot where Romulus was believed to have been
suckled by the wolf, there stands another little round temple, dedicated to
him in the early times of the repubhc, into which for the present elevation of
the soil without, we now descend by a great number of steps. It is men
tioned by Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who says, that in his time, there
stood in it a brazen statue of antique work, of the wolf giving suck to the
infant brothers ; which is thought by many to be the same which is still
preserved, and shewn in the Capitol : though I take this rather which now
remains to be another of the same kind, that stood originally in the
Capitol, and is mentioned by Cicero to have been there struck with light
ning ; and of which it retains to this day the evident marks in one of its
hinder legs : it is, however, to one or the other of these celebrated statues
that Virgil, as Servius assures us, alludes in that elegant description : —
' The martial twins beneath their mother lay,
And hanging on her dugs, with wanton play,
Securely suck'd ; whilst she reclines her head
To lick their tender limbs, and form them as they fed.'
But to return to my story : from the tradition of the wonderful escape
which Romulus had in this very place, when exposed in his infancy to perish
in the Tiber ; as soon as he came to be a god, he was looked upon to be
singularly propitious to the health and safety of young children: from
which notion, .it became a practice for nurses and mothers, to present their
sickly infants before his shrine in this little temple, in confidence of a
cure or relief by his favour ; now when this temple was converted after
wards into a church, lest any piece of superstition should be lost, or the
people think themselves sufferers by the change, in losing the benefit of
such a protection for their children ; care was taken to find out in the
place of the heathen god, a Christian saint who had been exposed too in

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 195
that of holy Mary the Egyptian, was formerly the temple of
Fortune: that of St. Adrian, was built by "Saturn: but the
Virgin had profited most from the spoils of the Pagans, for
his infancy and found by chance like Romulus; and for the same reason,
might be presumed to be just as fond of children as their old deity had
been : and thus the worship paid to Romulus being now transferred to Theo
doras, the old superstition still exsists, and the custom of presenting
children at this shrine continues to this day without intermission, of which
I myself have been a witness, having seen as oft as I looked into this
church, ten or a dozen women decently dressed, each with a child in her
lap, sitting with silent reverence before the altar of the saint, in expecta
tion of his miraculous influence on the health of the infant.
" In consecrating the heathen temples to the Popish worship, that the
change might be the less offensive, and the old superstition as little shocked
as possible, they generally observed some resemblance of quality and cha
racter in the saint whom they substituted to the old deity : ' If in converting
the profane worship of the Gentiles,' says the describer of modern Rome,
' to the pure and sacred worship of the Church, the faithful use to follow
some use and proportion, they have certainly hit upon it here, in dedi
cating to the Madonna, or holy Virgin, the temple formerly sacred to the
Bona Dea, or good goddess.' But they have more frequently on these
occasions had regard rather to a similitude of name between the old and
new idol. Thus in a place formerly sacred to Apollo, there now stands
the church of Apollinaris. built there, as they tell us, that the profane
name of that deity might be converted into the glorious name of this
martyr. And where there anciently stood a temple of Mars, they have
erected a church to Martina, with this inscription : —
' Mars hence expelled ; Martina, martyr'd maid,
Claims now the worship which to him was paid.'
" In another place, I have taken notice of an altar erected to St. Baccho :
and in their stories of their saints, have observed the names of Quirinus,
Romula, and Redempta, Concordia, Nympha, Mercurius, which though
they may, for any thing that I know, have been the genuine names of
Christian martyrs, yet it cannot but give occasion to suspect, that some of
them at least have been framed out of a corruption of the old names ; and
that the adding of a modern termination, or Italianizing the old name of
a deity, has given existence to some of their present saints : thus the cor
ruption of Soracte (the old name of a mountain mentioned by Horace, in
sight of Rome) has, according to Mr. Addison, added one saint to the
Roman calendar ; being now softened, because it begins with an S, into
St. Oreste ; in whose honour a monastery is founded on the place ; a
change very natural, if we consider that the title of a saint is never written
by the Italians, at length, but expressed commonly by the single letter S, as
S. Oracte : and thus this holy mountain stands now under the protection
of a patron, whose being and power is just as imaginary as that of its
old guardian Apollo : —
' Sancti custos Soractis Apollo.' — Virg. JEn. ix.
" No suspicion of this kind will appear extravagant to those who are
O 2

196

RELIGIOUS RITES OF

there are, at this time, no fewer than twelve temples con
secrated to her, which heretofore, were dedicated to false gods,

That of St. Mary, in Area"
Cceli.
St. Mary Aventine.
St. Mary in the Capitol.
St. Mary in the Oil-market.
St. Mary of the Painted-
hole.
St. Mary in Equirio.

St. Mary of Feavers, in the
Vatican.
St. Mary of Graces.
St. Mary at the foot of the
Roman Market.
St. Mary on the Minerva.
St. Mary the New.
St. Mary in the Portico.

CD
a.

""Jupiter Feretrius.
The Good Goddess.
Apollo Capitolinus.
Hercules. Venus the Victorious.
Isis, in the Circus of Fla-
minius.
Mars.Vesta. Jupiter Stator.
Minerva.
ApoUo and Diana.
(^Saturn and Ops.

at all acquainted with the history of Popery; which abounds with in
stances of the grossest forgeries, both of saints and relics, which, to the
scandal of many even among themselves, have been imposed for genuine
on the poor ignorant people. It is certain, that in the earlier ages of
Christianity, the Christians often made free with the sepulchral stones of
heathen monuments, which being ready cut to their hands, they converted
to their own use ; and turning downwards the side on which the old
epitaph was engraved, used either to inscribe a new one on the other side,
or leave it perhaps without any inscription at all, as they are often found,
in the catacombs of Rome. Now this one custom has frequently been
the occasion of ascribing martyrdom and saint ship to persons and names
of mere Pagans.
" Mabillon give a remarkable instance of it in an old stone found on the
grave of a Christian, with this inscription : —
<D. M.
Julia Evodia
Filia Fecit
Matri.'
" And because in the same grave there was found likewise a glass vial,
or lacrymatory vessel tinged with a reddish colour, which they call blood,
and look upon as » certain proof of martyrdom, this Julia Evodia,
though undoubtedly a heathen, was presently adopted both for saint
and martyr, on the authority of an inscription that appears evidently to
have been one of those above mentioned, and borrowed from a heathen
sepulchre. But whatever the party there buried might have been, whether
Heathen or Christian, it is certain, however, that it could not be Evodia
herself, but her mother, whose name is not there signified." — Ed.]

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 197
But the most considerable of all the ancient temples, and
which hath been the best preserved, is that now called St.
Mary la Rotunda, which the heathens called the Pantheon,
and which they had dedicated to Cybelle, and all the gods :
this was consecrated by Boniface IV.* to the Virgin Mary,
and all the saints of both, sexes ; the feast whereof, he settled
by the name of All Saints, and placed it in the month of May,
on that which was before the feast of CybeUe : that feast had
been transferred by Gregory IV.-J- to the 1st of November, at
the desire of Louis the Debonaire ; because, the time when
the harvest is all taken in was thought more expedient than
the month of May to feed the great multitude of people, who
then, for the sake of devotion, resorted to Rome.
Augustin Steuchius,J the Pope's librarian, hath admired the
change which hath been made of the Pagan temples, and con
secrated in honour of the saints : " All things, heretofore, pro
fane at Rome (saith he), are they not now become sacred ?
Have not all the temples of false gods been converted into
churches of saints ? Is not the Pantheon, which was formerly
the temple of all the idols, now the church of the Virgin
Mary and all the Saints ? Hath not the temple of Apollo
in the Vatican, where the bodies of the holy Apostles were
buried, been converted into that of those very Apostles, as I
have already shewn, and many others ? That of Castor and
Pollux in the Roman market, is now the church of St. Cosmo
and Damien: all the profane ceremonies are now become
sacred." He had spoke with more truth, had he said that the face of
Paganism had only been changed, but the substance still re
mained entire at Rome, and that all the change it hath under
gone, consisted in this, that another name hath been given it.
* Anno 607. t Anno 835.
X August. Steuchius de Donat. Const, p. 269. E.

198 RELIGIOUS RITES OF

CHAPTER IX.
Of Altars, Relics, the Holy Water Pot, of Asylums, of Votive
Pictures hanging up in the Churches, by the Pagan Romans
called Tabulw votivee.
Having considered the temples, or churches in general, let
us now view their chief ornaments, and examine from whence
they took their rise. The first things looked upon with vene
ration, are the altars, which are in our days consecrated with
great ceremonies, as well as in the heathen times, and for the
very same purpose, that is, to offer sacrifices. It might be
urged, that this is an imitation of the Jews, and therefore, if
herein the Church of Rome offends, it is with restoring one
of the most important ceremonies of the Jews; but this
excuse cannot in the least avail her. For whereas among the
Jews,* there was but one altar, on wliich it was aUowed to
sacrifice : in the Church of Rome, there are an infinite
number, even several in the same church, and in some large
churches, more than forty or fifty ; and this they do in imi
tation of the Pagans, who, in the same temple, consecrated
sundry altars, to the divinity there worshipped, as Virgilf
observes of the temple of Venus, at Paphos, a town in Cyprus.

-Centumque Sabseo

Thure calent Arse. -
" With sweet perfumes an hundred altars smoke."
The altar, which was in the temple of Solomon, was conse
crated to the honour of God alone ; and it had been an hor
rible sacrilege to have raised one there in honour of any
creature ; but among the Pagans, this was very common. One
may still see the inscription of an altar at Narbonne, which
the inhabitants erected to the Emperor Augustus ; as they
dedicated temples to them, so they appointed priests and
altars. And SuetoniusJ observes, that CaUgula would have
no creatures to be sacrificed on them but peacocks, wood-bens,
pheasants, and others of the most scarce fowls. From them
* Joseph, xii. 29. t jEn. i. % Sues, in Calig. c. 22.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 199
the Church of Rome has learned to raise altars in honour of
men, and their images, as it appears in the prayer used at the
dedication. " Be this altar sanctified in honour of the Omni
potent God, and the glorious Virgin Mary, and all the saints,
to the name and memory of N. (they name him to whom it is
particularly consecrated) in the name of the Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost." I think there will be no reason for complaint,
if we call this a most gross idolatry, since a Pope hath pro
nounced it such long before ; it was Innocent III. whose
words in his treatise of the Mysteries of the Mass, are these,
¦' The temples and altars, appertain to the worship of Latria,
&c. They ought not to be dedicated to saints in honour of
God, for fear that doing otherwise, were found not to contri
bute to the service of God, but to idolatry." Ne forte si
seats agitur non Theosebia, sed Idolatria committatur*
St. Augustine had the very same thoughts, when he ridiculed
the Pagans, for raising altars before their images ; a thing
commonly done by the Church of Rome, as if those inanimate
statues were God, " The altar (saith he, about the middle of
his sermon, de Verbis Domini, torn x.) testifies that they take
that statue to be God : for what else hath an altar to do there,
if the image is not believed a God ? Let them not tell me,
it is no divinity, it is not God ; I could wish the Pagans were
as well assured of that, as we are ; but the altar testifieth for
whom they hold it."
Of the many altars which are in the same church, there is
a principal one which stands in the same choir, called the
great altar ; in like manner at Rome, whilst Pagan, there was
an altar, which they called Most great Ara Maxima.-f This
was situated near the ox-market, where people came to be
sworn, and was held in very high veneration, because it had
been consecrated by Hercules.
William Durand,$ bishop of Mande, writes in his Rational
of Divine Offices, that it is a custom, three days before Easter,
to sprinkle the altars with wine and water, taking care there
be more wine than water, otherwise the whole mystery would
be spoiled. This ceremony was observed by the Pagans, who
poured wine upon their altars, in honour of their gods,§ " Pray
* Innoc. III. de MyBt. Missa, lib. iii.
t Dionysius Halicarnassseus, lib. i.
X Durand Rat. Lib. vi. c. 76.
§ Am. Lib. vii. p. 29, ex Edit. Bas. 1546.

200 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
shew us why you thus pour wine on your altars ? (says Ar
nobius) do your gods thirst, that their throats want to be
moistened with that liquor ? Is it, as at our meals, we use to
mix drink with our victuals, that after having fed your gods
with the flesh of victims, you moisten their mouths with wine,
for better digestion." Had that ancient doctor dared thus to
ridicule the Pagans, if, in his time, Christians had done the
same ? Had he not foreseen, that the raUlery might have been
retorted on him, by asking him if his god was thirsty, since,
after offering him bread, they pour him out wine and water.
The altars are not only dedicated for performing thereon
the precious sacrifice of the mass, but likewise to be the re
ceptacle of the relics of saints ; which are two uses, widely
different, to lodge on the same altar, Him who is esteemed
the true God, the supreme Master, as well of the saints, as of
heaven and earth, with relics, that is to say, with bones, ashes,
hair, combs, old shoes, lanthoms, and rags : one cannot suffi
ciently wonder at that fantastical devotion :* for would not a
man be thought mad, who, seeing the king seated on his
throne, instead of paying homage to him alone, should fall on
his knees before the nails, or the breeches of an officer, who
had been dead some time, and who should put those fine relics
on the throne near the King ? Is not the devotion of those
far more stupid, who, believing the presence of the supreme
Monarch of men and angels, on their altars, do place about
him dead bones, wallets, or old clothes of his servants, which
they reverence, kiss, and worship ; with, at least, as great
submission as himself.
But f because it is not my design to treat of relics in gene
ral, which others have done before, neither to exaggerate the
absurdity of the devotion paid to them, I wiU content myself
to shew what conformity the Church of Rome hath with the
ancient Pagans. The Jesuit Vasquez saith, " that it is an
undoubted truth among the Catholics, that the relics of saints,
whether they be part of them, as their bones, their flesh, their
ashes, or other things, which have touched them, and be
longed to them, ought to be worshipped, and deemed worthy
of sacred honour." The heathens never came up to this,
though it be in imitation of them, that men have by insensible
degrees engaged in that excess of superstition. For, in the
* Daille de Cultu, lib. iv. c. 1.
X Monsieur Bochat of Alencon, of Relioues.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 201
first place, they preserved, with vast respect, those things
which had served their heroes in their lifetime, as at Rome,
the crooked stick called Lituus, which Romulus used to hold
in his hand, whilst he observed the flying of birds, when he
took the auguries, and wherewith he had traced the circum
ference of the city, for they had consecrated this staff on the
Palatine Hill ; and, to make it more venerable, they vouched
that it had performed miracles, as among others, to have pre
served itself entire in the midst of the ashes and ruins, when
the Gauls took Rome, and set fire to all the houses there
abouts. But, among the relics, they reverenced chiefly the
ashes of their heroes, in those places where their bodies had
been burnt ; and their flesh and bones, in those countries
where embalming was the custom ; as appears by what Plu
tarch * relates of Theseus : "The Athenians (says he) reve
renced him as a demi-god, and the Oracle of Apollo, which
they had consulted, answered, that they should gather the
bones of Theseus, and putting them on an honourable place,
should religiously preserve them: which obliged Cimon to go
in search of his sepulchre, the place whereof was whollv un
known. That Cimon having discovered it by means of an
eagle, which had perched thereon, he carried his bones to
Athens, where they were received with universal applause,
with solemn processions and sacrifices." And Plutarch adds,
that these relics were still in Athens in his time : thence it is,
that the Romish Church has learned to search the tombs for
bones, instead of letting them rest in peace ; and whenever
they transfer such relics of saints, they do it with the same
¦ceremonies, as were practised by the Athenians, that is to say,
with processions and sacrifices.
The custom of placing the bones and ashes of saints in
churches, is taken from the Pagans, who used to erect altars
near the graves of those they intended to honour, as appears
by what Virgil relates in the third jEneid ; that iEneas, in
order to pay funeral honours to Polidorus, after he had erected
a monument had an altar built near it, slant manibus arce.
From thence the Fathers of three first centuries take occasion
to speak contemptuously of the Pagan temples, commonly
styling them sepulchres, as Cecilius, who contends for the
Pagans, complains in Minutius Felix : " Shall we endure men
(saith he, speaking of the Christians) who mock holy things,
and who fly the temples, as they would graves," &c.
* Plutarch's Life of Theseus, towards the end.

202 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
The reason alleged by the Council of Trent,* to oblige
Christians to worship relics is, " because men receive great
benefit thereby." The same opinion the Pagans had of the
bodies of their heroes, believing them to be the protectors and
tutelar gods of the places where they reposed. Thus, St.
Epiphanius relates, that the Pagans of Egypt paid their great
est devotion near the sepulchre where Jeremiah was buried,
because they thought he protected them from crocodiles
and from asses ; and iElian relates, that there was a very
great dispute among the successors of Alexander the Great,
who should have his body, holding, that in aU places where it
should be, it would be attended with victory and safety. This
Aristander, his chief soothsayer, affirmed had been divinely
revealed to him.
It is the custom among those of the Romish Church to
swear by their saints and their relics. The Pagans did the
same, as Herodotus f assures us of the Nasamones, who swore
by those who had been the most just and honest men among
them, by laying their hands on their sepulchres.
Besides altars, you find in the Romish churches a large
stone vessel called the Holy Water Pot, full of water, where
with those who come in sprinkle themselves. This custom is
derived from the Pagans, as one may read in the third book
of the Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret, J who acquaints us,
that Valentinian (then captain of the guards and afterwards
emperor) accompanying Julian to the temple ; the church
wardens (who stood at the door, to sprinkle those who entered
with lustral water) threw some on him ; at which having taken
offence, he turned to one of them, and gave him a box on the
ear, "believing (saith the historian) rather to have been pol
luted than cleansed by that water," for doing of which he was
exiled ; Du Choul§ assures us, that the Pagans had a water
vessel for that same use. " I have observed (saith he) that
at the door of the temples, the ancient Romans had a water-
vessel of fine marble set up, whence the priests and the people
took out water at their going into the temples to offer up sacri
fices." He afterwards gives us a draft of the vessel, and
the sprinkling brush, as they were taken from the antique.
He tells us moreover, of a portative water-vessel, the fashion of
which he hath taken from an antique marble, of which he hath
* Concil of Trent, sess. 25. Decr. of the Invocation of Saints.
t Herod. Mclpom. X Theod. lib. iii. c. 15.
§ Du Choul, p. 226.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 203
a picture cut in wood in his book, with this inscription : " A
small portative water-vessel, such as that which we make use
of in our churches."
The temples and altars have not only been used by the
Pagans in honour of their gods, but they made them serve
also for places of refuge for the greatest criminals. True it is,
that they had in Israel towns of refuge, but these were only
for such as had killed by accident without premeditate design,
and not for wilful murderers. God * commanded that these
should be taken from the horns of the altar, and it was per
mitted to punish them in whatsoever place they were found.
The first Romans, that is to say, a band of robbers, gathered
together, to people their new city, gave sanctuary to those of
their kind : f Romulus having promised impunity to all who
should come to a temple, which he had, for that purpose,
erected in a wood ; and since that, all the altars on Rome had
the same privilege, as it oftens occurs in Plautus, where the
. slaves, who had committed any crime (says he) fly for shelter
to the altars. This the Romish Church has imitated. " Un
der the law of the Gospel (saith Suarez)f all churches, all
churchyards and religious houses, are sanctuaries for guilty
and criminal people, so that we have more of them than the
Jews had, for theirs extended only to involuntary homicides,
who could even be taken thence to trial; but now these kind
of sanctuaries extend almost to all sorts of crimes." True it
is, that in France, the magistrates do not suffer it to be so
much abused, the convents there serve only for a retreat to
bankrupts ; but in Spain and Italy, the greatest criminals find
in them an inviolable protection. They make of those houses,
wliich they call the houses of God, dens of thieves. It were
to be wished that the Popes would shew as much equity as the
Emperor Tiberius, § who as much a Pagan, and bad as he was,
finding that the impunity of those protections was the cause
of great mischiefs, || could not endure the abuse of them,
abolished those privileged places by an edict.
It was a custom amongst the Pagans, to testify their ac
knowledgment to their gods, after they were cured of some
dangerous sickness, or had escaped any imminent peril, to hang
up in tbe temple of the god they had vowed to,^f the clothes
they had on, during the danger, as also pictures, wherein were
* Exod. xxi. Numb. xxv. Deut. xix. t Livy, lib. i.
t Suarez de Imm. Eccl. c. 19, and 20. § Suet, in vita Tib.
|| Tacitus. 1 See Hospinian de Origine Anathematum.

204 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
delineated the evils they were delivered from; this is what
Horace alludes to in his fifth Ode.
 Me Tabula sacer.

Votiva Paries indicat Humida
Suspendisse potenti
Vestimenta maris Deo.
That is to say : " The sacred wall on which the picture of my
vow is hung, witnesseth, that I have hung thereon my wet
clothes in honour to the powerful god of the sea." And Ti-
bullus, Elegy 3, lib. i.
Nunc Dea, nunc sucurre mihi, nam posse mederi
Picta docet Templis multa Tabella tuis.
That is : " Come, goddess, haste to my aid, for the many
pictures hung up in thy temple, do sufficiently shew, that
thou hast the power of heaUng :" to this Jnvenal* aUudes,
when he saith, that the painters were fed by the goddess
Isis — Pictores quis nescit ab Iside Pasci? AU the world
knows that the same custom stUl subsists in the Church of
Rome.f " We hang up in the churches, to the memory of
saints (saith Molan, doctor of Louvain), arms, feet, and such
like things of wax, silver and other materials : others hang up
pictures, for a witness of the miracle ;" % Polydore Virgil§
owns this conformity. " We hang up in our churches (saith
he) pictures, on which are painted the miraculous things that
have happened to us, for transmitting the memory of each to
posterity. This comes from the Greeks, as Strabo assures
us, || among whom the custom was, to hang up in the temples
of the god who had succoured them, and particularly in that
of iEsculapius ; they also offered to Saturn, and the gods, smaU
images. We do the hke, offering small figures of wax to the
church ; for as soon as we are afflicted in any part of our
body, whether in hands, or feet, or breast, we immediately
make a vow to God, and to bis saints, to whom, as soon as we
are cured, we offer up such hand, or foot, or breast done in
wax. This custom is become so common, that it hath passed
from men, to beasts ; for the Christians offer such images in
wax, for an ox, a horse, or a sheep : of which some scrupulous
* Juven. Sat. xii.
t Molan de Hist. sac. Im. lib. ii. cap. 50.
X Vide Vit. Theod. Sic. Metaph. 22nd April.
§ Lib. v. cap. 1. || Geo. lib. viii.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 205
people may tell us, that we, therein, imitate the superstition,
rather than the religion of the Pagans ; since Cato, in his
treatise of agriculture, acquaints us, that the Romans made
such vows for the oxen, which to him appeared the most
ridiculous thing in the world."

CHAPTER X.
Of Images.
The origin «(8images in religion proceeds from the weakness
of mankind, who will have sensible objects of devotion ; " and
who believe it were vain (saith Lactantius*), unless they have
before their eyes, that which they worship." However, God
hath ever put this off from his worship, having expressly for
bid his people to make any graven image, &c. But the devil,
who is an enemy to his glory, and to the salvation of mankind,
hath with all his power fomented this inclination to idolatry,
instigating the making of images, as well of God, as of
his creatures, and the paying a religious homage to them.f
* Lact. lib. ii. cap. 2.
t [Dr. Middleton says : — ""When a man is once engaged in reflections
of this kind, imagining himself in some heathen temple, and expecting as
it were some sacrifice, or other piece of Paganism to ensue, he will not be
long in suspense, before he sees the finishing act and last scene of genuine
idolatry, in crowds of bigoted votaries, prostrating themselves before some
image of wood or stone, and paying divine honours to an idol of their own
erecting. Should they squabble with us here about the meaning of the
word, idol, St. Jerome has determined it to be the very case in question,
telling us, that by idols are to be understood the images of the dead, and
the worshippers of such images are used always in the style of the Fathers,
as terms synonymous and equivalent to heathens or Pagans.
"As to the practice itself, it was condemned by many of the wisest
heathens, and for several ages, even in Pagan Rome, was thought impious
and detestable : for Numa, we find, prohibited it to the old Romans, nor
would suffer any images in their temples : which constitution they ob
served religiously, says Plutarch, for the first hundred and seventy years of

206 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
This he hath generally established among the Pagans, from
whom their religion proceeded ; for as Gregory of Neo-Cse-
sarea saith, " The Pagan religion is the inventor, and mother
of images ;" and from them it passed to the Christians, as
Eusebius* shews, in the seventh book of his Ecclesiastical
History ; when speaking of a statue, which stood in his time,
in the town of Cesarea, representing Jesus Cheist, with the
woman, whom he cured of the bloody flux ; he adds, that it is
not surprising, that people, among the Pagans, who had been
miraculously cured by Jesus Christ and his Apostles, should
have erected the like monuments, because it was the custom of
the Pagans to pay such honours to those, whom they held for
their deliverers. George Cassander, a very learned divine of
the Romish Church, in his consultation, addressed to the
emperors Ferdinand and MaximUian, on the controversies
between the Catholics and Protestants, ingenuously acknow
ledges, that the Church of Rome has herein imitated the
Pagans : " The matter is too obvious," to need a more particular
explanation : the worship of images, and of statues (saith he),
the city. But as image worship was thought abominable even by some Pagan
princes, so by some of the Christian emperors it was forbidden on pain of
death : not because these images were the representations of daemons, or
false gods, but because they were vain senseless idols, the work of men's
hands, and for that reason unworthy of any honour : and all the instances
and overt acts of such, worship, described and condemned by them, are
exactly the same with what the Papists practise at this day, viz. lighting up
candles, burning incense, hanging up garlands, &c. as may be seen in the
law of Theodosius before mentioned ; which confiscates that house or land,
where any such act of Gentile superstition had been committed. These
princes, who were influenced, we may suppose, in their constitutions of
this sort, by the advice of their bishops, did not think Paganism abolished
till the adoration of images was utterly extirpated; which was reckoned
always the principal of those Gentile rites, that, agreeably to the sense of
the purest ages of Christianity, are never mentioned in tie imperial laws,
without the epithets of profane, damnable, impious, &c.
" What opinion then can we have of the present practice of the Church
of Rome, but that by a change only of name, they have found means to
retain the thing ; and by substituting their saints in the place of the old
demigods, have but set up idols of their own, instead of those of their
forefathers ! In which it is hard to say, whether their assurance or then-
address is more to be admired, who have the face to make that the princi
pal part of the Christian worship, which the first Christians looked upon
as the most criminal part even of Paganism, and have found means to
extract gain and great revenues out of a practice, which in primitive times
would have cost a man both life and estate."— Ed.]
* Eua. Hist. Eccles. lib. vii. cap. 18.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 207
is come to too great an excess, and there hath been too much
condescension, in stooping to the inclination, or rather, to the
superstition of the people ; for ours come nothing short of the
utmost excess of folly the heathens have fallen into, whether
in the making of their images, the adorning, or in paying
supreme adoration to them." If they come nicely to be com
pared together, one will find, that there is no exaggeration in
the discourse of this doctor.
The greatest absurdity of the Pagans in this case, was in
making representations of the Deity, "and in that, they
changed (as the Apostle speaketh), the glory of the incor
ruptible God, into the resemblance of corruptible man ;" for
this reason it was, that Isaiah asked the idolatrous of his time
with bitterness, " To whom then will ye liken God ? and what
Ukeness will ye compare unto him?" &c* Truly, it is not
with God, as with his creatures ; these, because they are com
pound, and finite, may be pictured and represented ; if not
with regard to their very essence, which is not an object of the
senses, at least, with regard to the accidents wherewith it is
overcast, and by which it makes itself sensibly known ; but a
Spirit, so very pure and infinite as God is, in whom there are
no accidents, or any other thing discernible by the senses, it is
absolutely impossible to represent him. Tertulliant speaks
of that attempt with so much horror, as to say, that it is not
God they represent, but " the devil whom they embody "
(Damoniis corpora conferunt), yet the Church of Rome is
guilty of this fault, they making representations of the Holy
Trinity, which they even put as a frontispiece to their Bibles,
as well that of Sixtus, as of Clement VIII. though God in
these very Bibles saith, J " Take you therefore heed of your
selves (for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the
Lord spake to you in Horeb, out of the midst of the fire), lest
you corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the
similitude of any figure, the likeness of male and female."
Notwithstanding this prohibition, the doctors of the Church
of Rome, dare maintain, that it is allowable, to represent the
image of God the Father, in the likeness of an old man, and
that of the Holy Ghost, under the similitude of a dove.
"The Father (saith Sanders§) having appeared formerly as
the Ancient of Days, may be pictured thus now ; the Son, also
* Is. xl. 18. + De Idol. X Deut. iv. 15, 16.
^ Sanderus, de Ador. Imag. lib. i. cap. 4.

208 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
hath a human nature, in which he may be represented : and
the Holy Ghost, hath at one time assumed the likeness of a
dove; at another, cloven tongues, as of fire ; those who represent
the Trinity with such figures, with colours artfully disposed,
mean nothing more than the authority of the Scriptures
permit, and command." Cajetan, Ambr. Catharin, Diego
Payva, Thomas; Valdensis, Moland, and BeUarmine, hold the
same sentiment ; read this last in his treatise of Images and
Saints,* where he endeavours to prove this impiety by
reasons. Besides the images of the gods which the Pagans set up,
they made some of their heroes, whom they styled demi-gois,
as also of those they called daemons, whom they believed to
be mediators betwixt the supreme God and men. Thus, the
Church of Rome, besides the images of the Trinity, make
others of angels and of saints, whom they invoke as their in
tercessors. The materials wherewith those made their images were the
same which are now employed, and subject to the same acci
dents ; and the ancient Fathers have said nothing in derision
of those of the Pagans, which does not suit with those of God,
of the angels, and of the saints. One may say of them with
Tertullian,f " We find no other fault with your images, but
that they are of the same substance with our vessels and com
mon utensils, &c. These cold statues are so perfectly like the
dead they represent, that the owls, the rats, and even the
spiders perceive it." And with Octavius in Minucius Felix :
" What opinion have the mute beasts of your gods ? they per
ceive and know that they have no sensation ; they tread and
sit on them, and if you did not drive the birds away, they
would make their nests in the mouth of your god. The
spiders cover their faces with their webs, and fasten their
threads to their heads." And further with the same author :
" If a man will take a review how these figures are made, and
in what manner they are carved, he will be ashamed to shew
fear for a thing on which the hand of the artist hath thus
played. That god of wood, that may be the remainder of a
wood pile or of a gibbet, is hung up, carved, planed, and
smoothed. If of silver or copper, it may be made of a kettle,
or something more vile, and hammered out upon an anvil.
That of stone is hewed, fashioned, and polished, sometimes by
* Lib. ii. cap. 8. t Tert. Apolog.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 209
the hand of a wicked man. And as it doth not feel the hurts
which are done it at its birth, so is it as ignorant of the ho
nours paid it, after consecration."
Arnobius* ridicules the equipage, and the sundry postures
in which they represented their gods — for painting their Ju
piter Hammon with horns, Saturn with a sickle, Bacchus with
a cup, Silenus mounted on an ass, with the countenance of a
drunkard, Mercury as a messenger, ready for a journey, Vul
can with a hammer, and other smith's tools, Apollo with his
fiddle, Neptune with a trident, Juno with a peacock, Minerva
with a helmet on the head, and a spear in the hand, Ceres
with a wheat-sheaf, &c. By reason of this, that- doctor tells
them : " Should you take from your gods their equipages, they
would not be known ; one might easily mistake one of them
for another."f May not the same be said of the images the
Church of Rome makes of their saints ? — representing Moses
with horns, St. John and St. Barbara with a chalice in their
hands, St. James with a pilgrim's staff, St. Peter with keys,
St. Paul with a sword, St. Genest with a fiddle, St. Anthony
with a book, a swine, fire, and the letter T, St. Genevieve with
a candle, and a devil at her feet, St. Fabian with a dove, St.
Agnes with a lamb, St. Patrick with serpents, St. Gertrude
with rats, St. George with a dragon, in the equipage of a
knight, St. Catherine with her father, whom she treads under
her feet, St. Eloy with a hammer, St. Nicholas with three
children, nobody being able to assign reasons for it. But what
is more filthy and dangerous in this imitation is, that as the
Pagans often made lascivious representations of their gods —
witness their Venuses and their Cupids, their Satyrs, and
keepers of gardens, which St. Augustine J taxes them with when
he produces the passage of Terence, where a young debauchee
excites himself to luxury at the sight of a picture representing
the loves of Jupiter and Danae — they expose, even in the
churches, pictures more proper to raise concupiscence than
devotion. This evil is so common and so heinous, that the
most passionate partizans of these abuses cannot forbear com
plaining thereof. It is upon that subject that Ambrose Can-
tharin, bishop of Minori, one of the divines who appeared
most in the Council of Trent, exclaims thus : " What is most

* Arnob. lib. vi.
t Vide Molan de Hist. Sanct. Imag. lib. ii.
X August, de Civ. Dei. lib. ii. c. vii. Teren. in Eun.
VOL. Till. F

210 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
detestable at this time is, that you wUl find in churches and
chapels, pictures so lascivious that one may plainly see the
most shameful parts of the body, which nature had concealed.
These are more proper to raise the luxury than the devotion of
the most mortified flesh."
The Pagans, after the statue was finished by the carver's
art, consecrated the same with solemn prayers, " and imme
diately, as if the fate thereof had been changed by consecra
tion (as TertuUian in his Apology says), they pay their homage
to it, which they had not done before." Minucius FeUx gives
it a genteel turn. " It is melted (saith he), it is cast, it is
carved, it is not yet a god ; it is soldered, it is built, it is
dressed out, nor is it yet a god ; in fine, it is consecrated, it is
prayed to, then it is a god, when man would have it so, and
has dedicated it." It is the same with the images of the
Church of Rome. Before they come to be consecrated, they
have no more reverence paid them than is paid to a log, or a
stone; but after they have been consecrated, it is no more a
mass of stone, it is a god, or a saint, or a saintess, to which
the same honour is due as to the object it represents, as St.
Thomasf and BellarmineJ both assert ; to those of the Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, the worship of Latria; to that of the
blessed Virgin, the worship of Hyperdulia ; and to those of
the saints, the simple service of Dulia. So powerful is the
virtue of consecration, "that by that (saith the same St.
Thomas), § things inanimate acquire a spiritual virtue, which
makes them fit for the service of God."
The condition of images having thus been changed by con
secration, superstitious people have not looked on them since,
but with veneration. The bigots of our time carry them about
in procession through the streets on solemn ¦ days ; and on
these occasions the people are seen to prostrate themselves,
and deem themselves happy if they can but touch, or rub
their beads on them. One reads in Baruch,|| that the Baby
lonians, at the time the Israelites were captives among them,
did the same. "Now shall you see (saith he) in Babylon,
gods of silver, and of gold, and of wood, borne upon men's
shoulders, which cause the nations to fear. Beware, there-
* Cath. de Cultu Imag.
t Thorn. 3. part. Quest. 25. Art. 3.
X Bellarm. de Imag. Sanct. lib. ii. c. x.
§ Tho. Part 3. Quest. 85. Art. 3.
|| Chap. vi.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 21 1
fore, that ye in no wise be like to strangers, neither be ye
afraid of them, when ye see the multitude before them, and
behind them worshipping them." " But say ye in your
hearts, O Lord, we must worship thee." And Eustathius, on
the first Iliad of Homer, tells us, that at Diospolis, in Egypt,
there was a great temple dedicated to Jupiter, from which
the Ethiopians came yearly to take the image of Jupiter
and the other gods, carrying them in procession round the
country of Lybia, and continued that solemnity for twelve days ;
as it were in honour of their twelve gods.
They light in the Church of Rome tapers and lamps before
the images ; and when the devotees are in danger, they vow a
taper to some certain saint, if by his means they may escape
it : witness that Irishman, of whom Pogge of Florence saith,*
that he being at sea, in a storm vowed a taper to the Virgin
Mary, as big as the ship's mast ; but one alleging that was
more than he should be able to perform, the Irishman whisper
ing told him, "be not troubled at that (saith he), if I escape,
the good Virgin will be satisfied with a farthing candle." I
know not whether the heathens played thus with their gods,
but certain it is, that it was their custom also to light up
¦candles before their images, as maybe read in Baruch,-|- where
he speaks of the Babylonian idolatry : " They light up candles
before their idols, yea more than for their own use, of which
those idols cannot see one, no more than the beams of the
house." Cardinal BaroniusJ excuses this superstition in the
same manner as the Pagans did, by citing the words of Seneca,
who saith that if they light up candles in the temples, it is not
because their gods have need of light, but that such is done
for devotion.
The ancient idolaters kissed their images, as a mark of
religious veneration, as is taught in the sacred writings, § where
God, speaking to Elijah of those who were not guilty of ido
latry, says : " Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel,
aU the knees of whom have not bowed unto Baal, and every
mouth which hath not kissed him." And from these words of
Hoaea : || " And now they sin more and more, and have made
them molten images of their silver ; and idols according to
their own inventions, all of them the work of the craftsmen.
* Pogge in Facettius. t Chap. vi.
X Baron. Ann. Eccles : An. 58. 28.
§ 1 Kings xix. 18. II Chap. xiii. 2.
P 2

212 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
They say of them, let the men that sacrifice, kiss the calves."
Thus Cicero,* in his fourth Book against Verres, among other
sacrileges he accuses that man of, charges him with having
robbed the Agrigentines of a brazen statue of Hercules, which
was held for many years in so high veneration, that its chin
and mouth was quite worn with kissing it. It was on the like
subject that Prudentius,f an ancient Christian poet, contempo
rary with St. Augustine, ridicules the Pagans of his time who
went to kiss the legs of the horses of a statue, representing
Apollo in his chariot. The most celebrated saints have had
the same devotion for their images. Francis de Salle,J lately
made a saint, gives this charge to his Catholics, as one of the
principal preservatives against sin, viz. often to kiss the holy
images, as the crucifix and others. And the abbot Cerius, in
the life of Cardinal Berule, § observes, that he had always about
him several images of saints, which he had almost worn out
with kissing. The greatest comfort the confessors offer the
sick on their death-bed, or to criminals who are going to be
executed, is that of giving them a crucifix to kiss.
The Prophet Jeremiah, laying before the people their
idolatry, accuses them of saying to the stock, " Thou art my
father; and to the stone. Thou hast begotten me."|| Those of
the Church of Rome do the same ; when they faU down before
crosses, or images of wood or stone, when they often with
counting their beads, repeat Pater Noster, &c. And as the
Prophet HoseaU said of those in his time ; " They have made
their petitions to wood :" in hke manner, these ask of a figure
of wood, all spiritual and temporal happiness, as if it had the
power to gratify their desires ; "We speak to the cross, and
pray to it, (saith St. Thomas,** of the Church of Rome), in
the same manner as we should do to him who was crucified
thereon." In the holy week they direct this prayer to it, " 0
crux ave, spes unica, hoc passionis tempore. Auge piis
justitiam, reisque dona veniam. I greet thee at this time of
the passion, O cross, my only hope, increase the holiness of
the just, and forgive the guilty." And in another prayer
which they make to what they call the holy handkerchief
given to Veronica, they require of this image to purge them of
* Orat. de Signis.
t Lib. i. Cont. Symmac. Epig. 13.
X Fr. de Sales in bis Advert, to Confessors, c. 8.
§ Book iii. c. 8. || Jerem. ii. 27.
f Hosea iv. 12. ** Thorn, par. Sum. qu. 5. art. 4.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 213
all spots, and enlighten their hearts by the power it hath, and
conclude with ; " Conduct us, O most blessed figure, into our
proper country, where we may behold the pure face of Christ.*
Nos deduc ad propria, felix figura, ad videndam faciem quos
est Christi pura."
Minucius Felix ridicules the Egyptians on account of the
strong passion they shewed for their idols, which were sundry
animals of the air, the sea and the land, " Strange is their
delusion, for (saith he) they would put a man to death who
should have killed one of them ;" this is verified by the
following example related by Diodorust and Strabo,J that even
in the time, when Ptolemy, king of Egypt, was declared a
friend of the Romans, and endeavoured by all means to culti
vate their friendship, he could not prevent their putting to
death a citizen of Rome, for having killed one of the cats they
adored, though undesignedly. The Athenians also condemned
to death one Atarbe, for having killed a sparrow, which was
consecrated to jEsculapius, as iElian§ hath related it. This
appears very extravagant, and nobody but must abhor such
cruel superstition of idolaters. But I appeal to every man's
conscience, whether the Church of Rome hath used more
moderation, and is the conduct of her votaries more reasonable,
they who have spilt so much blood, to vindicate their images ?
In their opinion, it is the most horrid sacrilege to touch them,
and which deserves the most cruel death : the murderer of a
man shall only incur the gallows, but if any one had temerity
enough to cut off the nose of an image, the most exquisite
torments would be used upon him, of which there were many
examples in the last century, to mention none but such as have
happened in this kingdom (France) ; one John Le Clerc,
having dared to pull down a little statue, which was placed in
a chapel near Metz, whither the people were to go next day
in devotion : was surprised, and that moment condemned.
His hand was cut off,|| his nose torn from his face with red
hot pincers, he was pinched in the arms and breast, and then
burnt with a slow fire ; was ever so much fury seen ? The
Pagans did not even spare little children to revenge the vio
lation of their idols. Pausanius^f acquaints us, that in a town of
Arcadia, called Condylea, there was a temple of Diana ; some
children having found the door of it open, went in, and took
* Antid. Anim. f. t Diod. Sic. lib. i.c 6
X Strabo, lib. xvii. % vElian, lib. v. Var. Hist.
|| Portraiturg. of Beze. f InArcadicis.

214 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
out a little statue of that goddess ; wherewith they played,
dragging it after them, with a packthread tied round its neck ;
the idolatrous inhabitants could not look upon it as children's
play, but notwithstanding the innocency of their age, they
were condemned to die ; and accordingly were all stoned to
death. I cannot doubt but aU reasonable people of the Church
of Rome will blame this cruelty ; nevertheless there was one
lately seen very much like it, in the city of Orange ; where a
boy of eight years and seven months old, was on a Sunday
most cruelly whipped at the corner of every street ; not for
having pulled down an image, for if so, doubtless, he had not
come off so well, but for having been accused (though falsely
against his constant negation) of making water in a stall in the
chapel of the Capuchins ; the child's name was Louis Ville-
neuve, son to a soldier of the garrison, this happened on the
8th of July, 1663.
The Pagans used to give us sundry relations of miracles
wrought by their images, to make the people have the more
veneration for them ; they said of one, that it came down from
heaven, as the Palladium, or image of Pallas, which, whUst
King Ilus was building the temple, came down from heaven,
and lodged therein of its own accord, and was since by .ZEneas
brought into Italy, -conveyed to Rome, and placed in the
temple of Vesta, as the tutelar deity of the city and empire :
of others, they told us, that they had been heard to speak, as
of the Juno of Veies, for when the Romans were about carrying
it to Rome, they asked the image if it were willing to go ;
whereupon it nodded ; adding to tbe fable, saith Livy,* " that
it had been heard to say these words, Yes, I wiU." Valerius
Maximus, relates as improbable a story of an image of
Fortune. Some statues they affirm to have wept, others to
have sung ; witness the celebrated statue of Memnon of which
Ccelius Rhodig :t relates so many wonders. They attributed
to them the power of curing those who prayed to them of all
sorts of diseases, or to afflict such as despised them, with all
sorts of misfortunes. As that of Pelichus, which Lucian
derides in his dialogue, entitled the Liar. They maintain,
that some have been found sweating, as Cicero! tells us of
the statue of Apollo at Cumse of Campania : that of Victory
* Tit. Liv. lib. v. towards the middle. Val. Max. lib. i. C. ult.
t Ccel. Rodigin, lib. xxii. v. v.
X Cicero de Divini, lib. i. near the end.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 215
at Capua ; that of Mars at Rome, during his consulship.
Virgil relates the like miracle of the Palladium; and Dion
Cassius* writes, that in the consulship of Cn. Corvinus, and of
Valerius Messala, among other prodigies, the statues sweated-i"
The same author tells us, that it happened again before the
battle of Mutina ; and the commentator of Apollonius
Rhodius assures us, that before some great event, the statues
are commonly seen to sweat, as he saith it happened at the
time of the battle of Philip, at Chseronea, against the Athe
nians. The Pagans give us accounts of their images, still
more miraculous ; that drops of blood have frequently fallen
from them ; as is told of a statue of Anthony, on Mount Alban,
which at the time of the war of Augustus against Cleopatra,
bled, as a presage of Anthony's death. J Those of the Romish
Church give out such like miracles of their images. Some,
they say, came down from heaven, as that of our Lady of
Liesse, which was brought down by the Virgin Mary herself,
accompanied with an army of angels, to three brothers, who
were prisoners at Cairo ; by whom it was brought into France :
and that of our Lady of Montferrat,§ which was found in a
cave surrounded by angels, who were singing and serving her,
when men had not yet worshipped her. Some they have (if
credit may be aUowed to what they tell of them) which give
the lie to the Prophet, when he saith, " that the statues have
mouths and yet speak not;" || for theirs have spoken several
times, many examples of which may be found in their legends :
it is said in the life of Thomas Aquinas, that the image of a
crucifix signified his approbation of the third part of the
theology of that doctor, entitled the Sum, in these words,
" Thomas, thou hast written well of me." Baronius acquaints
us, that towards the latter end of the year 975, a Synod was
held at Winston, in England, for settling ^a great contest
betwixt the married priests, who had been deposed, and the
monks who had been substituted in their places : in the heat
of the dispute, as the king, and several bishops interceded for
restoration of the priests, there happened, saith the historian,
a wonderful thing, viz. the image of the crucifix (placed in
the middle of the church) caUed out aloud, in the hearing of
every one, " Nonfiet, non fiet, judicasti bene, mutaretis non
* Hist. lib. iv. t Lib. xliii.
X FerreolLocr. lib. iv. c. lxxi. § Id. u. 25.
|| Ps. cxv. 5.

216 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
bene. Do it not, do it not, you have judged right, you do
wrong if you change." It is not the image of the crucifix
alone, which hath had that virtue, for the images of the saints ,
of both sexes, have not been silent. Csesarius* relates a wonder
ful example of it, of a man named Theophilus, who had given
himself to the devil, to avoid poverty, and passed a contract
in form of a deed of gift, signed with his blood, and sealed with
the seal of the devil ; this wretch some time after repented of
his having so rashly bound himself to so bad a master, and came
to ask pardon for so heinous an offence, of an image of our
Lady, holding a little Jesus in her arms : our Lady's image was
easily prevailed with to forgive him, but that of Jesus frowned,
and put him back from him, to the master he had bound him
self to ; which the Virgin's image seeing, made this compli
ment to Jesus, " My most sweet son, take pity of this man
who was seduced by infirmity ;" the chUd replied nothing to
this first speech of the Virgin but turned away bis face : she
without losing heart, put her Son on the altar, and bowing
to his feet, prayed with more earnestness ; " I beseech you, my
dear child, to pardon this sin, for my sake." Then did the
Lord bid his mother rise, and told her, " See there, I forgive
him for your sake." Read but the Acts of the Council of
Nice.t and you will find all sorts of miracles, which those good
Fathers acquaint us have been wrought by their images.
Here follow some of which we take notice because they are
conformable to those the Pagans have boasted of. A lady of
Csesarea having mocked the relics and the image of St.
Anastasius, was instantly struck with horrible pains all over
her body, but having acknowledged her fault, and gone to
cast herself on her knees before the image of that saint, she
was presently cured. A Jew having with a knife pricked the
side of a crucifix, there issued forth from it so great abundance
of water and blood, that they filled several pails with it, and
aU that were anointed therewith, miraculously recovered health:
paralytics, the blind, the lame, the dumb, the leprosy, and aU
diseased people, who had access thereto, were perfectly cured:
this made Constantine, the bishop of Cyprus, one of the
Fathers of that Council, after he had heard those miracles
related in the assembly, say with admiration, " We ought to
learn from thence, that the images of the saints are not only
venerable, but that great advantages for the cure of diseases
* Ceesarius, lib. ii. u. 12. t Sym. Nic 2. Ax. 4.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 217
may accrue from them." The same Constantine* entertained
the company with the vengeance an image of the Virgin Mary .
had taken of a man who had insulted it. " This profane
wretch (saith he), having entered a chapel, on the wall whereof
was painted a Virgin Mary, struck the image with the goad
wherewith he pricked his oxen, which put out one of her eyes,
but no sooner was he gone out, when goading his oxen, the
point broke, and flew into his own eye, and put it out."
As to the miraculous sweating of imagesf so frequent
• Const. Eipr. Epist. in Cor. Nic. Act. 4. Alan. c. 4. Dial c. xv.
t [Dr. Middleton says : — " If I had leisure to examine the pretended
miracles and pious frauds of the Romish Church, I should be able to
trace them all from the same source of Paganism, and find that the priests
of new Rome are not degenerate from their predecessors, in the art of
forging these holy impostures ; which, as Livy observes of old Rome, were
always multiplied in proportion to the credulity and disposition of the
poor people to swallow them.
" In the early times of the republic, in the war with the Latins, the
gods Castor and Pollux are said to have appeared on white horses in the
Roman army, which by their assistance gained a complete victory ; in
memory of which the general Posthumius] vowed and built a temple pub
licly to those deities ; and for a proof of the fact, there was shewn, we
find, in Cicero's time, the mark of the horses' hoofs on a rock at Regillum,
where they first appeared.
" Now this miracle, with many others that I could mention of the same
kind has, I dare say, as authentic an attestation as any which the Papists
can produce. The decree of a senate to confirm it ; a temple erected in
consequence of it ; visible marks of the fact on the spot where it was
transacted ; and all this supported by the concurrent testimony of the
best authors of antiquity, amongst whom Dionysius of Halicarnassus says,
"that there were subsisting in his time at Rome many evident proofs of
its reality, besides a yearly festival, with a solemn sacrifice and procession
in memory of it :" yet for all this, these stories were but the jest of men
of sense, even in the times of heathenism ; and seem so extravagant to
us now, that we wonder how there could ever be any so simple as to be
lieve them.
" What better opinion then can we have of all those of the same stamp
in the Popish legends, which they have plainly built on this foundation,
and copied from this very original ? Nor content with barely copying,
they seldom fail to improve the old story with some additional forgery and
invention of their own. Thus in the present case, instead of two persons
on white horses, they take care to introduce three ; and not only on white
horses, but at the head of white armies ; as in an old history of the holy
wars, written by a pretended eye-witness, and published by Mabillon, it is
solemnly affirmed of St. George, Demetrius, and Theodorus. They shew
us too in several parts of Italy, the marks of hands and feet on rocks and
stones, said to have been effected miraculously by the apparition of some
saint or angel on the spot : just as the impression of Hercules's feet was

218 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
among the Pagans, such has also happened to those of the
Church of Rome, and in a manner more profitable, for as those
sweated out fair water only, these of the moderns have flowed
with oil ; as Peter Comestor* tells us of a Virgin Mary taken
out of a house of office (into which a Jew had cast it), and put
into a church, where oil dropped from all parts of her body.
They have also bled, as well of those as the Pagans ; several
examples whereof were related in the CouncU of Nice, to
which I could add many more if I was not afraid of tiring the
reader with such old wives' tales ; nevertheless, as my business
is to point out the conformities of the modern with the ancient
superstitions, I will not omit one miracle, which the Abbot
Trithemiusf assures us happened in the year 1325, of a Jew,
who struck an image of the Virgin Mary on the face with a
dagger, whereupon the blood was seen instantly to flow in great
abundance from the wound, which having been gathered up by
the faithful, served for the cure of many diseased. The infidel
who had given the blow remained some time undiscovered, but
at last the Virgin appeared in a dream to a locksmith, shewing
her wounds, and naming the wretch, who had so barbarously
treated her, with a vehement exhortation to revenge her, and
to challenge her murderer. The smith, when awake, went to
the judge with this complaint against the Jew, and because
there were no proofs sufficient, he was permitted to fight him.
The success turned to the advantage of the Christian, who
being assisted by the Virgin, laid his enemy on the ground,
who seeing himself worsted, confessed his crime, and from the
field of battle was conveyed to the gaUows.
If we come now to examine the reason for which images have
been made use of in religion, they wiU be found to have been
at all times the same. If you ask those of the communion of
Rome what could have induced them so highly to violate the
express prohibitions God hath made in many places of his
Book, to set up images in religion, they will answer, the reason
is, because they are the books of the illiterate, that there are
shewn of old on a stone in Scythia, exactly resembling the footsteps of a
man. And they have also many churches and public monuments erected
in testimony of such miracles, viz. of saints and angels' fighting visibly for
them in their battles ; which, though always as ridiculous as that above
mentioned, are not yet supported by half so good evidence of their reality."
—Ed.] • Pet. Comest. tract, de Lud. Virg. c. 137.
t John Trithem. in Chron. Monast. hirsaug.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 219
no better means to instruct them with facUity in the mysteries
of religion. This consideration made Pope Gregory I. main
tain against Serenus bishop of Marseilles, that they ought to
be put up in churches, " What the Scriptures are to those who
can read (saith he) pictures are to idiots, because they there
may see what they must follow, therein those who have no
learning may read." When the first Christians put such
questions to the Pagans they made them the same answer.
" Those who contended for images (saith Arnobius*) used to
Say, that the ancients were not ignorant that images had
nothing divine in them, and were utterly void of sensation,
but that they acted wisely and usefully in making them, be
cause of the rude and ignorant populace, who make up the
greatest part of cities and states ; that seeing, as it were, an
appearance and form of the Divinity before them, they might
be induced by fears to divest themselves of their rudeness and
barbarity." And Porphyry in Eusebius saith in express terms,
"that images are the books of the ignorant." Theodoretf on
this subject acquaints us, " that the devil was the instigator of
images for the use of those who have not the knowledge of
letters to draw them by that means to superstition." He was
much in the right there, since the Scripture saith that " Wood
only teacheth vanities, that images are doctors of lies,"J and
that God commanded " Isaiah§ to cast images to the moles
and to the bats," as bUnd works to blind animals.
Among the Pagans, the common people, who are always
very rude, worshipped statues of metal, of stone, or of wood,
as they did God himself, imagining, that their nature was
changed by consecration ; but the most learned had less ex
travagant sentiments ; they distinguished betwixt the image
and its original, and averred, that the image itself ought not
to be worshipped, but the Divinity represented by the image.
"There is no body,'" saith Celsus in Origen,|| " unless he be
very sUly indeed, who believes those things to be gods, they
are no other than symbols of the Deity, and we only adore
them to the honour of God." And in Arnobius, ^f the Pagan
tells the Christian, " Thou mistakest, we believe not the brass,
gold, or silver to be God, and the other materials of which
* Arn. lib. vi.
t Theodor. Serm. vii. de Sacrif. Serm. vii. ad Grsec. infideles.
§ Jer. x. 8. X Is. ii. 20.
|| Orig. contra Celsus. lib. vii. p. 387. & 285. 292.
II Arn. lib. vi. p. 229. ex. edit. Frob. See also Lact. lib. ii. c. 2.

.220 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
the statues are made, to be in themselves God ; but we serve
God in them, and we reverence those who come to dwell in
them by virtue of consecration." All the world knows that
things are much in the same state in the Church of Rome,
except, that the learned of the Pagans were ashamed of the
idolatries of the common people, who confounded the images
with God, and paid them the same adoration ; very celebrated
doctors were found, who ranked themselves among the igno
rant, and taught that the image, and what it represents, must
be worshipped in the same manner. This was the opinion of
Constantine, bishop of Constance,* in the second Nicene.
Council, who declared aloud without being contradicted, say
ing, " As for my part, I pay the same adoration to the image,
which is due to the enlivening Trinity, and whoever shall re
fuse to do the same, I anathematize him, as Marcion and
Manes." One reads these very words in the book Charle
magne wrote against that Synod, pursuant to which it was
decreed. " That they are not two adorations, but one only,
that which is paid to the image, and to him whom the image
represents." They are now ashamed of so gross a supersti
tion, and although they still persist in the sentiments of that
Council, yet when the party-men for images fall upon this
topic, with some of our people, they endeavour to persuade
them, that they do not worship the image, but him whom it
represents, and if any do otherwise, it is a fault of some few,
which ought not to be imputed to their whole Church. But
whatsoever pretence they may use to shelter themselves be
neath, their conduct sufficiently discovers their true sentiments:
what kind of honours could they pay to the Deity, more than
they do to images ? Do they shew any veneration to the
sacrament of the Eucharist, which they beheve to be the true
God, which they do not pay to images ? Do they not faU
down before them ? Do they not crown them ? Do they not
.adorn them ? Do they not offer incense to them ? Do they
not light tapers before them ? Do they not carry them in pro
cession ? Do they not set them on their altars ? Do they not
go in pilgrimage to them ? Do they not put their confidence
in them, as in things whose nature is changed by consecration,
and that have received a supernatural and divine virtue ? The
abuse is so glaring, that their divinest are forced to own,
* Act iv. almost at the end.
t Lud. Vives in Aug. de Civit. Dei. lib. viii. c. 27.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 221
" That several Christians reverence the saints of both sexes, in
the same manner as they reverence God." These are the
words used by Louis Vives, a Spanish divine, to which he
adds, " I hardly see what difference can be made betwixt the
opinion many have of their saints, and that of the Gentiles, of
those they esteemed their gods." Polydore Virgil* owns,
" That they were arrived at such a degree of folly, that that
part of devotion came not far short of impiety." We have
now as much reason as Lactantiust had to say, " These fools
do not consider, that if their images could feel, or move, they
would themselves worship the maker and polisher of them.
They who are endued with sense, adore what is insensible !
they who are endued with reason, worship what is void of rea
son ! and they who are descended from heaven, that which is
born of earth."
The chief reason for which the ancient Fathers of the Church
accused the Pagans of idolatry,, was, that among other honours
which they paid to their images, this was the most common,
to say their prayers before them ; all who understand Latin
know, the word " to adore," signifies " to direct one's prayer to
a certain object ;" and the ancient Pagans used to say, they
" came from adoration," when they had said their prayers
before an image ; as it may be read in a passage of Euripides's
Tragedies^ where one of the actors, to signify that he had
paid his adoration to Venus, saith, he had prayed before her
statue. If those of the Romish Church do not repeat their prayers
before images, they are in the right to say they do not adore
them, and that they are wrongfully ranked with the ancient
Pagans : but we have already shewed, that they pray, not only
before their images, but that they address their prayers to
them, as if Jesus Christ himself was there present.
The material difference those of the Church of Rome pre
tend is betwixt them, and the Pagans, about the worship of
images is, that they pay their devotions to the images of God,
of Jesus Christ, of the blessed Virgin, of the angels and of the
saints, which are representations of the true, and real ex
istences ; whereas the Pagans worshipped idols, that is to say,
the images, or representations of false gods, which the Scrip
tures call vanities, which "are nothing in the world ;"§ as St.
• Polid. Virg. lib. vi. c. 13. X Lact. lib. ii. c. 2.
t Euripid. in Hipolit. § 1 Cor. viii. 4.

222 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
Paul expresses it. To this I will not allege the many replies,
which may be read in the books of our authors, but wiU only
add, that the images of the Pagans, as well as those of the
Church of Rome, were representations of true, and real
things ; for like them, they had such, of him, whom they
esteemed the true God, and of men, who had been in the
world, and had by their great actions made themselves com
mendable. Most part of those they worshipped as gods, were
men, of whom mention is made in the Old Testament. Then-
Saturn was Adam, in whose days was the golden age, under
standing thereby the happy times he passed in innocency in
the earthly paradise : by Jupiter, who drove his father away,
and married his sister, Cain is to be understood ; who caused
his father so much grief, and who doubtless married his sister.
Vulcan, who, they say, was the first smith, and made his
father Jupiter's thunderbolts, was that Tubal-cain, the grand
son of Cain, who, as Moses relates, " was the first forger of
instruments of brass and iron ;" and who, without doubt, made
some for his grandfather. All these idols were taken from true
and real models. Ruffin* writes, that it was the opinion of
the many, that the idol Serapis (in so high esteem among the
Egyptians) representing a man bearing a bushel on his head,
was a statue designed at first to the honour of Joseph, because
of the wheat he had distributed during the famine : neverthe
less the image of so holy a man, was converted into a detest
able idol, which was destroyed in Theodosius's time in the
year 389.
Whatever veneration the Pagans had for their images, that
was no bar to their resentment, and iU usage of them, when
ever they were enraged against them. Thus, when the people
of Arcadia went out to hunt, they offered sacrifices to the
image of Pan, their chief idol, to obtain his favour ; but if the
sport answered not their expectations ; at their return, they
used to throw onions at the head of their god, in despite ; as
the poet Theocritusf observes, and SabeUicusJ writes of Nero,
who, despising all the other divinities, bore a respect only for
a statue of the goddess Syria ; but when he was out of humour,
he would piss against it.
Among the people of the Romish communion, there are
* Ruffin. lib. ii. Hist. Ind. Firmicus, c. 14.
t Theoc. in Thalysie. Nat. Comes, in Mytheol. lib. v c. 6
X Sabell. lib. ii. Enn. 7.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 223
examples of this fantastical devotion. Bodin* acquaints us,
that, being at Toulouse, the children, in open day, in sight of
all the people, dragged the holy images, and even the crucifix
to the river, to oblige them to send rain, for which reason
those images were called Tirre Masse. Schenkius,f in his
Treatise of Images, saith, " It is a custom in many parts of
Germany, to drag the images of St. Paul and St. Urban to the
river, if, on the day of their feast, it happens to be foul
weather." And John Bohemian Auban, J in his book of the
Manners of Nations, speaking of Franconia, acquaints us, that
" On the day of the Feast of St. Urban, the wine-reapers set
up tables in the middle of the field, which they cover with a
cloth and sweet herbs, and place thereon the statue of St.
Urban : if it be fair weather that day, they crown it with
flowery garlands, and pay it all imaginable honour ; but if it
happens to rain they bedaub it all over with dirt." Molan,§
in his History of Holy Images, relates the same thing.
Besides the images the Pagans had in their temples, they
erected others to their genii, or tutelary deities, on their doors
and the corners of their houses, on the high roads, on bridges,
and all other places ; so that, as the poet Prudentius hath it,
" Non propria vacat angulus ullus ab umbra."
That is to say, " They leave no corner without a familiar."
Those of the Church of Rome practise the same. There are
on the gates of the cities, on the corners of particular houses,
the corners of streets, and on bridges, niches for the saints of
the respective places. Molan || owns this is done in imitation
of the Pagans: "It is well done," saith he, "to put up, in
public places, crosses, and images of saints, as was decreed in
the second Nicene Council ; for if the Pagans, as St. Clement
saith, erected on their roads a Mercury, how much more
becoming is it for us to erect the images of the saints in public
places, to implore their assistance." From this example one
may be convinced, how easy it is for any one who has a greater
share of zeal than reason, to fall into the grossest idolatry :
for it is no more than only changing the name of the object,
without the least alteration in the substance.
* Dcemonolog. lib. ii. c. 8. t Ch. 13.
X De Moribus Gentium, lib. iii. c. 15. § Lib. iii. c. 19.
|| Molan de Hist. Sanct. im. lib. ii. u. xlv.

224 RELIGIOUS RITES OF

CHAPTER XI.

Of Prayers, of Agnus Deis, of Funerals, of the Sound of
Bells, and of Purgatory.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, as is recorded in St. Matthew,*
condemns a bad custom of the Pagans in their prayers, and
warns his disciples not to imitate their example. "When
you pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathens do : for
they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking."
To learn what must be understood by these vain repetitions,
one has no more to do, than to read the Ritual of the Church
of Rome ; the Canonical Hours ; those they call, Of our
Lady ; the Rosary, and such-Uke prayer-books, or rather vain
repetitions ; where these words, Kyrie Eleison, Christe Elei-
son, Ora pro nobis, Domine exaudi nos, are repeated a hun
dred times over in imitation of the priests spoken of in the
first book of Kings,t who bawled out from morning to noon,
" Baal exaudi nos ; Baal, hear us." They are so much pre
possessed with the belief, that much talking and many repeti
tions are of weight in prayer, that they count them with beads
to the number they think needful to complete the payment,
giving God so many Paters, so many Credos and Ave Marias,
as if "heaven was to be forced with that crowd of words;"
as TertullianJ said of the Pagans, Agmine verborum Deum
adeundum putant. These also said their prayers by tale, and
used, as now, a string of beads ; you may see the figure of it
in Du Choul, § who hath copied it from an old medal; they
are beads threaded like our Pater-nosters.
Pentheus, in the third Book of Ovid's Metamorphoses,
seeing a troop of men and women at Thebes, who, at the sound
of drums, and the vociferation of the Bacchantes (as if on a
sudden seized with a spirit of frenzy), run through the streets,
told them, " What ! has the noise of a basin beat with sticks,
the sound of flutes, the cries of a few women, and the sound of
your bells tinkling in your ears, been able so suddenly to
change you?" Is there not reason for telling the same to the
devotees of the Church of Rome, when hearing either the Uttle
* Ch. vi. 7. t Ch. xviii. 16.
t Tertul. de Orat. § P. 255.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 225
bell that rings before the sacrament, or the signal at noon and
vespers, caUed the Ave Maria, as if on a sudden struck with
lunacy you see them stop at once in the street, fall on their
knees, thump their breasts, cross themselves, and mutter some
words. Of Agnus Deis.
Plutarch, in his Life of Romulus, assures us, that the chU-
dren of the Romans, but more particularly those of the best
sort, wore about their necks little balls in the shape of a heart,
by them called bullae, imagining that they had the virtue to
protect them against sorceries and tempests. To this has
succeeded in the Church of Rome the Agnus Deis, as they are
called; these are composed of virgin wax, balsam, and
chrism ; these are also hung round children's necks with the
same intent ; for they tell us, that these small figures have the
virtue to preserve those who wear them from all manner of
accidents, and heap on them all kinds of happiness. The
properties of that antidote are expressed in those lines, which
Pope Urban V. subjoined to one of those Agnus Deis, which
he sent to the Greek Emperor ; they are too pretty to be
omitted : " Balsamus et munda cera, cum Chrismatis unda
Conficiunt agnum, quod munus do tibi magnum,
Fulgara de sursum depellit, omne malignum
Peccatum frangit, ut Christi sanguis et angit,
Pregnans servatur, simul et Partus liberatur,
Dona defert dignis, Virtutem destruet ignis.
Portatus munde de fluctibus eripit undae."
"The great present I make thee is an Agnus Dei, com
pounded of virgin wax, balsam, and chrism. It hath the
virtue to secure from thunder-bolts ; it destroys the evil of sin
as well as the blood of Christ does. It preserves pregnant
women, and the chUd, when born. It confers grace on the
worthy, and breaks the force of fire. It protects from the
danger of waters all those who wear it in purity." Cardinal
Baronius* acknowledges this conformity, saying, " Those who
have been baptized wear an Agnus Dei round their necks, out
of devotion, derived from a superstition of the Pagans, who
fastened about the necks of their children small bottles, to
* Ann. Eccles. 58.
VOL. VIII. Q

226 religious rites of
preserve them from sorcery and enchantments. These bottles
were made in the form of a heart, to teach them, that to be
men, they must have heart, or courage ; in like manner the
Christians wear the image of the Lamb, to learn by his
example to be humble and meek of heart."
Of Funerals.
It is much the same with the funeral ceremonies. In the
Church of Rome, although they be performed by dayhght,
they nevertheless carry lighted flambeaux to their burials, in
imitation of the heathens, as Polydore Virgil* owns. "To
honour the funeral pomps," saith he, " especially of the kings
and nobles, the people walk before the corpse with lighted
torches ;" as Virgil says of that of Pallantus. Lucet via longo
or dine flammarurn ; that is to say, " The street is lighted by
a long train of fire. And it is infalhbly from thence that the
same is practised in our ceremonies." And even the Latin
word funus, which signifieth the company of a burial, is
derived from funale, signifying a torch, because they always
buried with flambeaux, as Servius observes on the sixth .<Eneid,
It is the custom of those of the Romish Church, to have a
basin with holy water at the door of the bouse where there is
a dead body ; and those who go out, or pass by in the street,
sprinkle themselves, and the coffin wherein the corpse lieth.
The Pagans did the same.f " Those who were come to a
house of mourning," saith Pollux, " cleansed themselves at
their going out, sprinkling themselves with the water that was
kept for that purpose in an earthen vessel." And VirgU, when
giving us a description of the obsequies of Misenus, in his sixth
iEueid, tells us, that Chorinea having put the bones into a brass
vessel, sprinkled three times with fair water, all those who
were present, making use of an olive-branch for the sprinkler.
" Idem ter socios pura. circuntulit unda
Spargens Rore levi, et Ramo felicis Olivse."
To this custom OvidJ alludes, when mentioning the return
of Juno from hell (where she had been among the dead), he
saith, that before her entrance into heaven, her messenger Iris,
* Lib. vi. cap. x. t Poll. Lib. viii. c. 8.
X Metam. lib. iv. Fab. 13.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 22/
or the rainbow, poured dewy water upon her, to purge her
from the bad air of hell.
" Laeta redit Juno, quam ccelum intrare parantem
Roratis lustravit aquis, Thaumantias Iris."*
The ancient Romans employed certain persons, named
designatores, clothed in black, to invite people to funerals, and
to carry the coflin ; there are persons in our days who wear
the same clothing, and serve the same office. " The Romans,"
saith Marolles.f "had in those ceremonies, lictors dressed in
black, who did the office of our mourners."

Of the Sound of Bells.
When any one of the Roman communion is dead, especially
if he be rich, and hath bequeathed a legacy to the Church,
the parish bells are immediately set a ringing; "the sound of
which have the virtue to shake, and divert the powers of the
air ;" as it is mentioned in the prayer the bishop makes use of
when he baptizeth the bell. The same thing was practised by
the Romans, as we may learn from the ancient Greek scholiast
upon Theocritus,J wn0 assures us, that they held the opinion
in his time, that the sound of bells had the virtue of driving
away devils and dissipating spectres ; it was also a ceremony
among the Lacedemonians, when their king was dead, instead
¦ of beU3, to make use of their kettles, by beating upon them
with sticks. Of Purgatory.
The Church of Rome prays for the dead. The Pagans did
the same ; witness that line of Ovid cited by Marolles : " Ossa
quieta precor tuta requiescite in urna ; I pray that his bones
may rest quietly in the urn."
We have before observed, that the service for the dead as
done in our days, either at the end of some time, or from year
to year, is in imitation of the Pagans, as Marolles§ acknow
ledges : "The ancients," saith he, "performed the nine days'
devotion, and according to Virgil's testimony, called those
nine days' devotion, sacred." It is not at all surprising that
* Paga 313. t Ritual, the chapter of Bened.
t In Theocr. Pharmaceutria. § Mem. p. 212.
O 2

228 RELIGIOUS RITES OF ,
the ceremonies for the dead are the same, since they have the
same sentiments about the state of thedead. For Plato* has
not only laid the foundation for purgatory, but hath raised it
to the height it now appears. He ranges the souls of the
deceased in three classes, as Eusebiusf acquaints ns in his
Evangelical Preparation. Such as have led good lives, are
received into the Elysian fields, in pure and celestial habita
tions ; the wicked, whose malice hath been desperate, are
condemned to the eternal torments of hell ; but a third sort,
viz. the souls of those who, though they have not led the Uves
of perfect saints, have nevertheless not wholly abandoned
themselves to evil, but have committed venal sins : these be
condemns to a fire of purgatory, where they suffer, one a
longer, another a shorter time, tiU their purgation is completed.
For these, the Pagans offered up prayers and sacrifices, as is
done now, for their comfort, and for obtaining a shorter dura
tion of their pains. And as the Legends often teU us stories
of the souls coming out of purgatory into the world, to pray
for succour, and to complain of their sufferings, so Virgil, in
his sixth iEneid, informs us, that the soul of Palinurus came
to beseech iEneas to ease bis pains, to which the Sybil
answers, that his manes must be appeased, and solemn sacri
fices offered for them. Will you have a description of purga
tory, read what this poet hath given us in the said sixth book,
and you will find that Pope Gregory I. hath copied from
thence the best part of what he hath in his Dialogues. He
says, that some souls are purged by fire, others by water, or
by the air. AU this is Virgil's invention, who will have it,
that the souls having contracted certain stains by their com
merce with bodies, are purged after this life, before they be
received into the blessed mansions.
" Ergo exercentur poems, veterumque malorum
Supplicia expendunt ; aliae panduntur inanes
Suspensse ad Ventos, aliis sub Gurgito vasto
Infectum eluitur scelus, aut exuritur Igni
Quisque suos patimur manes," &c.
They are exercised with punishments on this account, and
undergo pains suited to their past offences, Some are hung
up to the winds, others immersed in water, a third sort exposed
to fire ; each of us suffer for our own crimes
* Plato in Gorgia item de Anima in Phsedone. t Eus. Lib. xi. c. ult.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 229

CHAPTER XII.
The Conclusion, and Reply to the Reasons of our
Adversaries.
One may, without the least difficulty, by the relations already
made (and to which many more might be added), see the entire
conformity there is betwixt the Pagan religion and that of
the present Church of Rome. Now, since their ceremonies
flow from a source so impure, is there no room for wonder,
that she strives so eagerly to subject all Christians to them ?
that she stigmatizes all who reject them, as profane, as enemies
of God and all piety ? and that she causes so many dis
turbances for the vindication of such trash ? The greatest
monarchs occasionally abate of their ceremonies, and the
nation, which sheweth itself so learned in these matters, and
sells such wares with a gold scale, knows how to be liberal of
them when its interest, which is styled by them the Master
of Ceremonies, requires it. Wherefore do they insist, with so
ttfach obstinacy, on those very things which infidels have
introduced into religion ? why, rather than recede from the
least tittle, doth she choose to set all Europe at variance ?
The reason is so plain, that all the world may perceive it :
that the same interest which makes her so flexible with regard
to the ceremonies of civil life, obliges her to maintain those of
religion with so much stiffness. What is very surprising is,
that the eyes of those who have not the least interest therein
should not be opened, but that they should still continue to
have a veneration for those things they ought to detest. How
can it be said, that these impurities are of divine institution,
that the Holy Ghost is the author of them ? " That if Plato
forbids the opening one's mouth against the laws of the Cre
tans and Lacedemonians, a respect infinitely greater is due for
ceremonies, which are known with certainty to have proceeded
from the Spirit of God, who presides over his Church, who
loves her, who preserves her, and prevents her from the possi
bility of falling into errors," as Cardinal Hosius* expresses
himself. I appeal to the conscience of man, whether the
Spirit of God, or the spirit of ambition, hath estabUshed in
* Hosius, lib. iv. de Trad.

230 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
the Church the authority of a sovereign Pontiff ; his grandeur
and worldly pomp ; his tiara ; his purple, his gold, his pearls,
and diamonds : the various sects of monks, their vows, their
austerities, their celibacy, abstinence from certain meats ; the
consecration of holy water, of oil, balm, ashes, salt, spittle,
tapers, and incense ; the dedication of temples, the consecra
tion, of altars, of veils, of gold and silver vessels ; the canoni
zation of dead men, the invocation of them, the adoration of
their bones, and of their images ; the observation of festivals.
the Agnus Deis, strings of beads, the baptizing of bells, and
their virtue of expelling evil spirits ; those long and pompous
processions ; that melodious music, that vast variety of habits,
the colour and fashion whereof are big with mysterious mean
ings. Have all these preparations, which stifle religion, the
least foundation in the Word of God ? Are they not wholly
of human invention ? Do these ornaments become the chaste
" Spouse of the Lord, whose glory is all internal ;"* or the
great whore, who was to borrow all those trinkets from Ba
bylon, and who is figured out in the Revelationf adorned with
gold, pearls, and precious stones ? St. Jerome, speaking of
ceremonies, compares the ancient Jews to those who eat the
flesh ; the Christians, to those who suck the marrow ; and the
modern Jews to the dogs which gnaw the bones ; because they
amuse themselves with the bark of the ceremonies, of which
we have the truth in Jesus Christ. But to whom should he
compare those who stick at the invention of the Pagans?
Would he not say, that they act like crows, which feed upon
carrion ?
When one considers the simplicity of the primitive Christian
worship, and compares it with that confusion, and prodigious
mixture, which hath been added to it, is there no room for
that declamation of Isaiah, J " How is the faithful city become
an harlot ! It was full of judgment, righteousness lodged in
it ; but now murderers ? Thy silver is become dross, thy wine
mixed with water?" In the Apostles' time, the whole service
consisted in the plain preaching of the Gospel ; in prayers put
up to God, for the advancement of the kingdom of Christ, and
for the prosperity of the king and magistrates, to the end,
" that under their government the faithful might lead a quiet
and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty ;"f singing of
* Psalm xlv. t Revel, xvii.
X Isa. i. 21, 22. § 1 Tim. ii.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME- 231
psalms, praises and spiritual hymns, the administration of the
sacraments of baptism and the Lord's supper, the one cele
brated with plain water, " in the name of the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Ghost;" and the other with " bread and wine in
remembrance of the death of the Lord."* The most solemn
meetings were on Sunday, in memory of the resurrection of
Jesus Christ, where, after the faithful had heard the Word of
God read and expounded, every one gave ¦ his alms for the
relief of the poor, as may be read in the Corinthians.f For
the three following centuries, they continued in the same
simplicity, as appears by the second Apology of Justin Martyr.
" On the day which is called the day of the sun," saith he,
" the people of city or country assemble together in one place,
where is read, for some time, the instructions of the Apostles,
or the writings of the Prophets. When the reader hath done,
the pastor makes an exhortation to the people, to excite them
to the imitation of the excellent things they have heard. After
this, we all rise to prav, bread, wine, and water are brought in,
the same pastor then again prays, and offers praises, and all
the people say, Amen. Then those things for which thanks
were given, come to be distributed to all present, and are sent
by the deacons to those who are absent. And they who have
the means, and have the will, give what they please, and what
hath been collected is given to the pastor for the relief of
orphans and widows, and such as, either through sickness, or
otherwise, are reduced to want, or to prisoners or strangers."
These were all the ceremonies used by the first Christians, to
which they joined the singing of psalms, as may be gathered
from sundry writings of TertuUian, J and among others, what
he saith about women who came to the meetings only to be
seen. " What punishment," saith he, " do those deserve,
who have their heads uncovered whilst psalms are singing, and
the name of God is spoken ?" The Church continued yet in
that simplicity of the evangelical worship, of which St. Augus-
tine§ speaks, " That Jesus Christ hath submitted his followers
to a gentle yoke ; and have cemented together the society of
his new people by sacraments, which are very few in number,
very easy to observe, and very excellent in their signification."
But, as the Israelites in the desert were soon tired with
manna, which, to their depraved taste, appeared too simple,
* Col. iii. t Chap. xvi. ii.
t Tert. de Veland. Virg. in fin. ^ Aug.. ad. Jan. Ep. 128.

232 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
and longed after the flesh-pots and onions of Egypt, so men
have thought the Gospel established a religion too simple, and
too naked, and have imagined it needful to adorn it with the
trappings pf human traditions, and ceremonies, those who have
assumed the appeUation of Vicars of Jesus Christ, and suc
cessors of St. Peter, have imagined themselves wiser than
either the one or the other These sons of Adam have been
smitten with the vanity of their father, beUeving themselves
wiser than God ; the disciples h.ave presumed to know more
than their Master ; and human ignorance to have a more ca
pacious understanding than Divine p wisdom. This foolish
imagination (for the wisdom of man is foUy before God) hath
by little and little introduced superstitions into the Church,
and opened a gate for errors, which have carried the adminis
tration of sacred mysteries so far from the purity of their first
institution, insomuch that, before the Reformation, they had
reduced Christianity into a state nothing less than Christian :
for it may without exaggeration be said, that all the ceremonies
of the Jews, all the superstitions of the Babylonians, Egyptians,
Greeks, and Romans together, were simple, in comparison of
the multitude, and the confusion of those of our days.
And yet this is the outward appearance that enchants the
populace. They swallow down the poison of Pagan supersti
tion with pleasure, because it is offered them in a golden cup,
covered with the name of Christian. A rehgion thus set off
appears beautiful to chUdren, who suck it in with their milk ;
and to carnal minds, who judge of things by their senses; even
those who are endowed with knowledge superior to the vulgar,
and who know, and are assured, that these ceremonies were
derived from the heatheus, are so far from using their superior
knowledge to draw the people from error, that, on the con
trary, they abuse it. To continue them therein, and to give
it a gloss, the Abbot MaroUes* saith, " That those things are
not the worse for having been practised by the Gentiles, be
cause God, when he pleases, sanctifieth the things that are
indifferent, especially when they are put to a pious use." And
Cardinal Baroniusj- uses this comparison, " That the Christian
Church hath imitated that of Israel, who, by the command of
God, have employed the gold and silver of the Egyptians to the
service of the true God, making therewith sacred vessels."
* Mem. de Mar. p. 282.
t Ann Eccl. in the year 44, toward the end.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 233
Thus these men " call evil good,'- and " darkness light."*
But it is easy to prove, that " they are become vain in their
reasonings, and that believing themselves wise, they are nothing
less than wise."f For do not they know, that God never gave
men, so much authority as to permit them to settle, ac
cording to their own sense, the form of his service ; that he
alone is the supreme legislator, who can save and destroy ; and
that|there is no other besides his only Son, of whom he hath
called from heaven, that he should be hearkened unto ? Do
they Jiot know, that this true head of the Church (in order to
declare void the customs which the doctors of the Jews had
introduced into religion) says no more than this, that they
were of human invention. "In vain," saith he, "they do
worship me, teaching for doctrines the traditions of men." J
Have they not observed, that his Apostle useth the same argu
ment to refute all the ceremonies which the teachers endea
voured to impose upon the Christians, however specious, and
whatever show of hoUness they bore. " Why do they subject
you to ordinances?" saith he, to thei faithful Colossians:
" touch not, taste not, handle not, which all are to perish with
the using, after the, commandments of men."§ This reason
alone is so strong, and God, in his Word, shews so much
his abhorrence of the. rashness of those who presume, without
his special direction, to usher in any novelty in religion, that
the Scripture,.|| to express God's disUke of any such thing,
only saith, that God hath not commanded it. Thus, to shew
his abhorrence of the idolatry of, the Jews (who burnt their
children in honour of idols), the Lord saith no more than this :
" They have built the high places, of Tophet, in the valley of
the, son of Hinnom, to burn their, sons and their daughrers in
the fire, which I commanded them not ; neither came it into
my heart." For this reason it was, that the wrath of God
was kindled against Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron,
though they were legal priests ; because, saith Moses, their
uncle, they lighted before the Lord " a strange fire,^f which
God hath not commanded." To know, therefore, if the cere
monies, to which the Christians are so subjected, should be
received,, or not, one need do no more than see if God hath
commanded them ; in which case, nobody will refuse due sub
mission ; but if they be of men only, as it is confessed, and
* Isa. v. 20. t Romans i. 21, 22. X Math. xv. 9-
§ Col. ii. || Jer. vii. 31. IT Lev. x. i.

234 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
those men profane, and infidels, wretched heathens, who have
not had the least communion with God, or no share in his
covenant, and have lived and died " without hope, and with
out God in the world," they ought to be rejected, pursuant to
that irrevocable order of Heaven, " What thing soever I com
mand you, observe to do it ; you shall not add thereto, nor
diminish from it."*
But it is said, we have sanctified these false services, by con
secrating them to the true God, whereas they were employed
before in honour of idols. And who gave you the power of
making this change ? Who told you, that God will approve it,
and take delight to see the spirits of demons in his temples, and
on his altars ? Whereon do you ground your assurance, for
undertaking matters of that importance ? How ! shall sinful
and impure men, boast of the power of sanctifying abomina
tions, because they are pleased to apply them to another use,
than that for which the devil had invented them ? Though
these ceremonies were of an indifferent nature, that is to say,
neither good nor bad, they are become impure by the ill use
which has been made of them ; St. Paul teaches us this
maxim, when speaking of the victims, which the heathens
offered to their false gods, he forbids the Corinthians to " eat
of their flesh," giving this reason for it ; that however innocent
they were in their own nature, they have been defiled by
idolatry, having been sacrificed to devils : who doubts the
flesh of these poor animals, " being creatures of God, not to
be good ?"f But the ill use that had been made of them, had
defiled them, and that made the Apostle say, " that to eat
thereof, is to have communion with devUs :" J must not we say
the same thing of all Pagan ceremonies, that having been in
fected through the consecration, which hath been made of
them to demons, to practise them, is to hold communion with
them ? To all these things, must be extended the exhortation
of the same Apostle : '' Wherefore come out from among them
and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean
thing, and I will receive you." § But the worst of all is, that the
greatest part of those ceremonies are impious, and bad ; con
demned in the Word of God, and expressly thrown out of his
service ; as is that, of raising a mortal man in the temple of
God, and worshipping him, as if he were God. To make
* Deut.xii. 32. + 1 Cor. x. 19.
X 1 Tim.iv. % 2 Cor. vi. 17.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 235
images of the Divinity, and the resemblance of the things
which are in heaven, and in earth, &c. To fall down before
them and worship them ; to invoke dead men, and chimeras,
which never had any existence ; to direct prayers to them ; to
swear by their name; to build temples and erect altars; to burn
incense, and sacrifice the only Son of God in honour of them ; to
worship water, wood, and relics ; can it be said that these things
are sanctified, and " the clean hath been drawn from the im
pure."* " If the Pope hath the power of making that' which
is sin, not to be sin ;"f and the most enormous crimes, become
virtues, as his flatterers give out ; he may, by the same power,
make idolatry to become holy ceremonies. There is no doubt
that, if it was in the power of men to sanctify any one ceremony
(as is commonly said), there are none which could with more
justice claim our acceptance, than those of the law of Moses,
for God himself had appointed, and authorized the establishing
of them, by many great miracles ; yet he would not give them
admittance into the New Covenant ; St. Paul J declared to those
who were for retaining circumcision, "that Christ will not
profit them ;"§ he condemns the Galatians for observing the
Jewish feast days: in the Council of Jerusalem, for that
reason assembled by the Apostles, St. Peter said, it was tempt
ing God, to restore among the Christians, the ceremonies of
Moses, which he calls an insupportable burden : and St. Paul||
exhorts the faithful, to stand firm in the liberty, wherewith
Jesus Christ hath set them free, not to suffer themselves to be
again brought under the yoke of bondage. Is there the least
likeUhood, that Christ should have delivered us from the
Mosaical yoke, to put us under that of Numa Pompilius, or
rather of the evil spirit, with which that magician had com
munication. We have reason to praise God, who, lest his Church should
be left to an unavoidable corruption, would not suffer the good
grain in his field, to be stifled by the tares of his enemy, but
hath in favour of his elect, reduced things to their first prin
ciple ; raised up faithful servants, who have rent in twain the
veil of those ceremonies ; some vain, and others impious ;
calling aloud in every place, that God would not be served with
such pomps, and such vanities ; but by the impulses of an
enlightened spirit, and the dictates of a good conscience. We
* Job xiv. 4. t Bellarmine contra Barclai.
t Gal. v. 2. § Idemiv. 10. || Acts xv. Gal. v. 1.

236 RELIGIOUS RITES OF
have not among us, those vast buildings, nor those huge heaps
of stone, wherein to contain our assembles, neither have we those
rich altars, nor those images so gaudUy adorned ; nor have we
that diverting music, nor that noise of bells, nor those triumph
ant processions ; we may be reproached (as most commonly is
done) with the same thing, which was said to the Primitive
Christians, that our religion is too bare, " that we have neither
temples, nor images, nor altars, nor sacrifices, nor per
fumes ;"* we will not take offence at it ; but with those
faithful ancients answer, " What image should we make of
God, since we are ourselves his image ? What temple should
we build for him, since this whole world, which he hath him
self formed, is not capacious enough to contain him ? And
if we who are but men, are yet desirous to Uve in large habi
tations, should we dare to confine the virtue of so immense a
Majesty in a small chapel ? Is it not better to dedicate him
in our understanding, and consecrate him in the bottom of our
breasts 1 ShaU I offer to my God, those hosts and victims,
which he hath made for my use ? The sacrifice that is pleasing
to him, is a good soul, a pure mind, and a sincere faith : to
live in innocence; is .worshipping the Lord. To do justice is
making aspersions to God: to abstain from fraud is appeasing
him : to save a man from danger, is immolating to him a fat
victim. These are our sacrifices, our divine ceremonies. The
most honest man of us is esteemed the most devout." We
will say with Origen,t answering' the philosopher Celsus, who
ridiculed the simplicity of the Christians, who then had neither
altars, churches, nor images. "Our altars are the mind of
every just man, whence we send up on high, the perfumes of
most sweet odour ; that is to say, prayers, proceeding from a
pure conscience. Virtues are our images ; our bodies are the
temples of God." In such like holy disposition of soul, con
sists that true devotion wliich is pleasing to God ; whereas that
of the, Pagans, the Pharisee, and of the false Christian, minds
nothing bnt exterior things ; take away from him those vain
amusements, he remains without any rehgion at aU Thus
that ancient declaimer in Seneca tells us, that Phidias, when
the Elians had cut off his hands as a sacrilegious person, after
he had carved them the idol of Jupiter Olympus, complained
that before that time, he could make them gods ; but that
now, his hands being cut off, he could not so much as worship
* Minu. in Octa. t Origen. 1. 8. contra Cels. p. 400.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME. 237
them ; as if adoration consisted in the elevation of hands
towards an image. True it is, that such gods wanted no better
worshippers ; but the true God requires the affections of the
heart, and the holy disposition of a regenerated soul.
It may be asked, must there then be no ceremonies at all in
religion? To put them entirely away were to make the
earthly Church like the heavenly, where there shall need no
symbols but naked truths ? I answer, those alone are to be
retained which are commanded in the Gospel. In conformity
whereof we meet together in one place, to hear the Word of
God, and jointly to worship him ; we fall on our knees and
raise our eyes and hands to heaven when we pray ; we sing-
aloud the pTaises of our Creator and Saviour ; we celebrate
moreover, the sacred ceremonies of baptism and the Lord's
supper. But when we meet together our meaning is not to
attribute any particular devotion or holiness to the buildings
commonly called churches, as if God was more pleased with
the prayers made to him in one place than another ; and we
have those edifices destined for holy assemblies in all parts of
the world whatever, knowing that " the earth is the Lord's,"*
and that " he hath given to his Son all nations for his inheri
tance, and for his possessions the utmost parts of the earth."
When we kneel before him and lift up our eyes to heaven we
do not intend thereby to limit our adoration to any particular
object, but in order to pay homage to God with our bodies as
with our souls. When we sing his praises aloud, our design is
that " our mouths and all within us should praise the name of
his holiness," and to excite our minds by the actions of our
bodies to a true and entire devotion. As to the holy sacraments,
they are sacred symbols, which the Son of God himself hath
instituted in a very small number, and with the utmost simpU-
city, for memorials of his grace and our redemption, as pledges
of his love, and infalhble earnests of his heavenly inheritance,
whereby his holy truth is taught us plainly, and without the
least obscurity ; and thus this small number of ceremonies
does not hinder the Christian religion, like the Pagan, the
Jewish, and Samaritan, from being a reUgion entirely spiritual
and heavenly, such as the supreme Doctor of the Church hath
described to us.
Let us then, carefully preserve the precious deposit of the
* Psalm ii.

238 RELIGIOUS RITES OF ANCIENT AND MODERN ROME.
wholesome doctrine. Let us inviolably hold fast this purity
and simphcity which our Lord hath set .before us in his Word ;
let us be firmly persuaded that he is infinitely more wise and
prudent than we, and that the perfection and exceUency of true
religion consists in doing his will, not ours, and in serving him
with the affection of a pure heart, but not with the pomp of
many ceremonies.

A DISCOURSE

CONCERNING THE

UNITY OF THE CHURCH,

ISAAC BARROW, D.D.
LATE MASTER OP TRINITY COLLEGE IN CAMBRIDGE.

" Non habet Charitatem Dei, qui Ecclesiae non diligit Unitatem."
Aug. de fiapt. 3.

A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE
UNITY OF THE CHURCH.

Ephes. iv. 4. — One Body, and one Spirit.
The Unity of the Church is a point which may seem some
what speculative and remote from practice, but in right judg
ments it is otherwise ; many duties depending upon a true
notion and consideration of it, so that from ignorance or mis
take about it we may incur divers offences or omissions of
duty ; hence in holy Scripture it is often proposed as a consi
derable point, and useful to practice.
And if ever the consideration of it were needful, it is so now,
when the Church is so rent with dissensions ; for our satisfac
tion and direction about the questions and cases debated in
Christendom ; for on the explication of it, or the true resolu
tion wherein it doth consist, the controversies about Church
government, heresy, schism, liberty of conscience, and by con
sequence many others do depend ; yea, indeed all others are by
some parties made to depend thereon.
St. Paul, exhorting the Ephesians, his disciples, to the main
tenance of charity and peace among themselves, doth for in
ducement to that practice represent the unity and community
of those things which jointly did appertain to them as Chris
tians : the unity of that body whereof they were members, of
that Spirit which did animate and act them, of that hope to
which they were called, of that Lord whom they all did wor
ship and serve, of that faith which they did profess, of that
baptism whereby they were admitted into the same state of
duties, of rights, of privileges ; of that one God and universal
Father, to whom they had all the same relations.
He beginneth with the unity of the body, that is, of the
vol. viii. R

242 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING
Christian Church, concerning which unity what it is, and
wherein it doth consist, I mean now to discourse.
In order to clearing which point we must first state what the
Church is of which we discourse, for the word Church is am
biguous, having both in holy Scripture and common use,
divers senses, somewhat different -. for,
1 . Sometimes any assembly or company of Christians is
called a Church, as when mention is made of the Church* in
such a house (whence Tertullianf saith, " Where there are
three, even laics, there is a Church)."
2. Sometimes a particular society of Christians, living in
spiritual communion, and under discipline, as when the ChurchJ
at such a town, the Churches§ of such a province, tbe
Churches, || all the Churches, are mentioned. According to
which notions St. Cyprian^]" saith that there is a Church
where there is "a people united to a priest, and a flock ad
hering to their shepherd." And so Ignatius** saith, that
" without the orders of the clergy a Church is not caUed."
3. A larger collection of divers particular societies com
bined together in order, under direction and influence of a
common government, or of persons acting in the public
behalf, is termed a Church : as the Church of Antioch, of
Corinth, of Jerusalem, &c. each of which at first probably
might consist of divers congregations, having dependencies of
less towns annexed to them ; all being united under the care
of the bishop and presbytery of those places ; but however,
soon after the Apostles' times, it is certain that such coUec-
tions were, and were named Churches.
4. The society of those who at present or in course of time
profess the faith and Gospel of Christ, and undertake the
evangelical covenant, in distinction to all other religions ; parti
cularly to that of the Jews ; which is called the synagogue, ft
* Rom. xvi. 5 ; Col. iv. 15 ; Philem. 2.
t Ubi tres, Ecclesia est, licet Laici. — Tertull. de Exh. Cast. c. 7.
X Acts viii. 1, 14, 27, v. 11 ; 1 Cor. i. 1 ; Col. iv. 16 ; 1 Thess. i. 1 ;
2 Cor. i. 1 ; Apoc. ii. 1, &c. ; Rom. xvi. 1.
§ Acts ix. 31 ; Gal. i. 2 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 19 ; 2 Cor. viii. 1.
|| Rom. xvi. 4 ; 1 Cor. iv. 17 ; xi. 16 ; Acts xvi. 5 ; Apoc. ii. 7, 11.
Kar' 'ExxXno-iav, Actsxiv. 23.
% Ecclesia, Plebs Sacerdoti adunata, et Pastori suo Grex adherens.—
Cypr. Ep. 69.
** Xerpic tovtwv ''EiaeXnaia ov KaXurai — Ignat. ad Trail.
tt Matth. xvi. 18 ; Eph. iii. 10 ; Gal. i. 13 ; 1 Tim. iii. 15 ; Acts iii. 1;
ii. 47 j xx. 28 ; 1 Cor. x. 82 ; xii. 28 ; xv. 9 ; xlv. 12.

THE UNITY QF THE CHURCH. 243
5. The whole body of God's people, that is, ever hath been,
or ever shall be, from the beginning of the world to the con
summation thereof, who having (formally or virtually) be
lieved in Christ and sincerely obeyed God's laws, shall finally
by the meritorious performance and sufferings of Christ be
saved, is called the Church.
Of these acceptations the two latter do only come under
present consideration ; it being plain that St. Paul doth not
speak of any one particular or present society but of all at
all times who have relations to the same Lord, faith, hope,
sacraments, &c.
Wherefore, to determine the case between these two, we
must observe that to the latter of these (that is, to the ca
tholic society of true believers and faithful servants of Christ,
diffused through all ages, dispersed through all countries,
whereof part doth sojourn on earth, part doth reside in
heaven, part is not yet extant ; but all whereof is described
in the register of divine pre-ordination,* and shall be recol
lected at the resurrection of the just ; that, I say, to this
Church), especiaUy all the glorious titles and excellent
privileges attributed to the Church in holy Scripture do
agree. This is " the body of Christ," whereof he is " the head,"
and Saviour.-)-
This is the spouse, and wife of Christ ; whereof he is bride
groom and husband. J
This is "the house of God ;" whereof our Lord is the
master ; which is " built upon a rock, so that the gates of
hell shall not prevail against it.''§
This is " the city of God ; the new, the holy, the heavenly
Jerusalem, the mother of us all."||
This is the " Sion, which the Lord hath chosen, which he
hath desired for his habitation, where he hath resolved to
place his residence for ever."^f
This is " the mountain of the Lord, seated above all moun
tains, unto which all nations shall flow."**
* Ephes. i. 10. t Col. i. 18. 20.
X Ephes. v. 25, 32; Apoc. xix. 7 ; Matth.. xxii. 2; xxv. 1.
§ Matth. xxiv. 13; lTim.iii.15; Heb. iii. 5 ; lPet.ii.5; Eph.ii.21;
Matth. xvi. 18.
fl Apoc. iii. 12 ; xxi. 2, 10 ; Gal. iv. 26 ; Heb. xii. 22.
IT Psalm cxxxii. 13. ** Isa. ii. 22 ; Micah iv. 1 .
R 2

244 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING
This is "the elect generation, royal priesthood, holy nation,
peculiar people."*
This is " the general assembly, and Church of the first-born,
who are enrolled in heaven."f
This is " the Church which God hath purchased with his
own blood ;"% and, "for which Christ hath delivered himself,
that he might sanctify it, and cleanse it, with the washing of
water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glo
rious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, nor any such thing;
but that it might be holy and unblemished." §
To this Church as those high elogies most properly do
appertain, so that unity which is often attributed to the
Church doth peculiarly belong thereto.
This is that " one body, into which we are aU baptized by
one Spirit ; which is knit together, and compacted of parts
affording mutual aid, and supply to its nourishment and in
crease ;" the members whereof do hold a mutual sympathy
and complacence ; which is joined to one Head, deriving sense
and motion from it ; which is enlivened, and moved by one
Spirit. ||
This is that " one spiritual house, reared upon the founda
tion of the Prophets and Apostles, Jesus Christ being the
chief corner-stone ; in whom all the buUding fitly framed
together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord."
This is that one family of God, whereof Christ is the
OkocWTToVjjc/ whence good Christians are O'ikCwi 0eo5.^[
This is that one city, or corporation, endued with an ample
charter, and noble privileges, in regard to which St. Paul saith,
" we areSi>pro\(Vcu t£>v Ayitav,** (fellow citizens of the saints,)
and that our troXlrevfia (our civil state and capacity) is in
heaven, or that we are citizens thereof."
That one holy nation, and peculiar people,ft (the spiritual
Israel,) subject to the same government and law, (that which
is called the kingdom of heaven,) enjoying the same franchises
and privileges, following the same customs and fashions ; using

* 1 Pet. ii. 9. t Heb. xii. 23. X Acts xx. 28.
§ Eph, v. 25.
|| 1 Cor. xii. 13 ; Rom. xii. 5 j Eph. iv. 16; Col. ii. 19 ; 1 Cor. xii. 13, 26.
f Heb. iii. 6 ; 1 Tim. iii. 15 ; Matth. x. 25.
•* Heb. xii. 22 ; Apoc. iii. 12, 21 ; ii. 10 ; Eph. ii. 19 ; Phil. iii. 20.
tt 1 Pet. ii. 9 ; Ezek. xxxvii. 22.

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 245
the same conversation and language ; whereof Jesus Christ is
the Lord and King.
This is the " one flock,"* under " one Shepherd."
This is the society of those for whom Christ did pray, that
that they might "be all one."t
It is true, that divers of these characters are expressed to
relate to the Church after Christ ; but they may be allowed to
extend to all the faithful servants of God before, who in effect
were Christians, being saved upon the same account: and
therefore did belong to the same body.}
To this Church in a more special and eminent manner all
those titles, and particularly that of unity, are ascribed ; but
the same also in some order and measure do belong and are at
tributed to the Universal Church sojourning upon earth.
For because this visible Church doth enfold the other, as
one mass doth contain the good ore and base alloy ;§ (as one
floor the corn and the chaff ; as one field the wheat and the
tares ; as one net the choice fish and the refuse ; as one fold
the sheep and the goats ; as one tree the living and the dry
branches:) || because this society is designed to be in reality
what the other is in appearance, the same with the other : be
cause therefore presumptively every member of this doth pass
for a member of the other, (the time of distinction and sepa
ration being not yet come :)^[ because this in its profession
of truth, in its sacrifices of devotion, in its practice of service
and duty to God doth communicate with that. Therefore
commonly the titles and attributes of the one are imparted to
the other.
"All," saith St. Paul, " are not Israel who are of Israel ; nor
is he a Jew, that is one outwardly ;"** yet in regard to the
conjunction of the rest with "the faithful Israelites ;" because
of external consent in the same profession and conspiring in
* John x. 16 ; Ezek. xxxvii. 24 ; xxiv. 23.
t John xvii. 20, 21.
X Ex quo vocantur Sancti, est Ecclesia in terra. Aug. in Psal. 128.
Since men are called saints there is a Church upon earth. Sancti ante
Legem, Sancti sub Lege, Sancti sub Gratia, omnes hi perficientes Corpus
Domini in membris sunt Ecclesia? constituti. Greg. Mag. Epist. iv. 24.
Saints before the law, saints under the law, saints under the Gospel, all
these make up the body of Christ, and are reckoned among the members
of the Church.
§ One great house hath vessels of honour and dishonour, 2 Tim. ii. 20 ;
Rom. ix. 21 ; Matth. iii. 12, 13, 38, 47.
I| John xv. 2. f Matth. xiii. 30.
** Rom. ix. 6 ; ii. 28 -. John i. 18.

246 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING
the same services, all the congregation of Israel is styled "a
holy nation and peculiar people."*
So likewise do the Apostles speak to all members of the
Church as to elect and holy persons, unto whom all the pri
vileges of Christianity do belong ; although really hypocrites
and bad men " do not belong to the Church, nor are concerned
in its unity," as St. Augustine doth often teach. t
The places therefore of Scripture which do represent the
Church one, as unquestionably they belong (in their prin
cipal notion and intent) to the true Universal Church, (called
the Church mystical and invisible ; ) so may they by analogy
and participation be understood to concern the visible Church
Catholic here on earth ; which professeth faith in Christ, and
obedience to his laws.}
And of this Church (under due reference to the other) the
question is, wherein the unity of it doth consist, or upon what
grounds it is called one ? being that it compriseth in itself so
many persons, societies, and nations.
For resolution of which question we may consider that a
community of men may be termed one upon several accounts
and grounds ; as,
For specifical unity of nature, or as unum genus; so are aU
men one by participation of common rationaUty, to 'AvOpwmvov,
humanum genus.
* Sicut lilium in medio spinarum, ita proxima mea in medio filiarum.
— TJnde filias appellat, nisi propter communionem Sacramentorum ? Aug.
de Unit. Eccl. c. 13. As the lily among thorns, so is my love among
the daughters. — Why doth he call them daughters, but for the commu
nion and agreement in sacraments.
t Non ad earn pertinent avari, raptores, fceneratores. Videntur esse
in Ecclesia, non sunt. Aug. de Bapt. c. Don. 4. 1. 6. 3. Ecclesiam
veram intelBgere non audeo nisi in Sanctis et justis. Aug. de Bapt. v. 27.
I dare not understand the true Church to be but among holy and righteous
men. Pax autem hujus Unitatis in solis bonis est — Sicut autem isti qui
intus cum gemitu tolerantur, quamvis ad eaudem Columbfe unitatem et
illam gloriosam Ecclesiam, non habentem maculam aut rugam, aut aliquid
ejusmodi non pertineant. Idem de Bapt. iii. 18. Nee regenerati spiri-
tualiter in corpus et membra Christi co-sedificentur nisi boni, &c. Aug.
de Unit. 18. Multi tales sunt in sacramentorum communione cum
ecclesia, et tamen jam non sunt in ecclesia. Idem de Unit. Eccl. cap.
20. There are many such who communicate in sacraments with the
Church, and yet they are not in the Church. Omnes maii spiritualiter a
bonis sejuncti sunt. De Bapt. vi. 4. AU evil men are spiritually severed
from the good.
X 'EiucXnviav KaXS to adpourpa tSiv IkXiktSv. Clem. Alex. Str. vii.
p. 514. I call the Church the congregation of the elect.

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 247
For cognation of blood, as genus una ; so are all Jews, how
ever living dispersedly over the world, reckoned one nation or
people ; so aU kinsmen do constitute one family ; and thus
also all men as made of one blood are one people.
For commerce of language, so Italians and Germans are
esteemed one people, although living under different laws and
governments. For consent in opinion, or conformity in manners and prac
tices, as men of the same sect in religion or philosophy, of the
same profession, faculty, trade : so Jews, Mahometans, Arians ;
so orators, grammarians, logicians ; so divines, lawyers, physi
cians, merchants, artizans, rustics, &c.
For affection of mind, or compacts of good will ; or for
Unks of peace and amicable correspondence ; in order to mu
tual interest and aid, as friends and confederates.
For being ranged in order under one law and rule, as those
who live under one monarchy, or in one commonwealth, as the
people in England, Spain, France ; in Venice, Genoa, Hol
land, &c.
Upon such grounds of unity or union a society of men is de
nominated one; and upon divers such accounts it is plain that
the Catholic Church may be said to be one. For,,
I. It is evident that the . Church is one by consent in faith
and opinion concerning aU principal matters of doctrine, espe
cially in those which haye considerable influence upon the
practice of piety toward God, righteousness toward men, and
Sobriety of conversation ; to " teach us which the grace of
God did appear."*
As he that should in any principal doctrine differ from Plato
(denying " the immortality of the soul, the providence of God,
the natural difference of good and evil,") would not.be a Pla-
tonist ; so he that dissenteth from any doctrine of importance
manifestly taught by Christ, doth renounce Christianity.f
AU Christians are " delivered into one form of doctrine,"
to which they must stiffly and steadfastly adhere, " keeping
the depositum committed to them." They " must strive toge
ther for the faith of the Gospel ; and earnestly contend
for the faith which was once delivered to the saints."
They must " hold fast the form of sound words} — in faith and
* " My sheep hear my voice," John x. 27, 16 ; Tit. ii. 12.
t Regula fidei sola immobilisetirreformabilis — Tert. de Virg. vel. 1.
X Rom. vi. 17 ; Col. ii. 7 ; Heb. iii. 6 ; xiii. 9 ; 1 Cor. xv. 58 ; Eph.
iv. 14 ; Phil. i. 27 ; Jude 3 ; 2 Tim. i. 13.

248 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING
love which is in Christ Jesus ;" that "great salvation which
at first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed
unto them by his hearers, God also bearing them witness with
signs and wonders, and with divers miracles and gifts of the
Holy Ghost, according to his own will."*
They are bound " to mind (or think) one and the same
thing ;" " to stand fast in one spirit with one mind ;" " to
walk by the same rule ;" "to be joined together in the same
mind, and in the same judgment ;" " with one mind and mouth
to glorify God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."t
They are obliged to disclaim consortship with the gainsayers
of this doctrine ; " to stand off from those who do irepoZohlv ;"
or who " do not consent to the wholesome words of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godli
ness ;" " to mark those who make divisions and scandals beside
the doctrine which the Christians had learnt, and to decline
from them :" " to reject heretics :" " to beware of false pro
phets, of seducers, of those who speak perverse things to draw
disciples after them :" " to pronounce anathema upon whoever
shall preach any other doctrine."}
Thus are all Christians "one in Christ Jesus;" thus are
they (as Tertullian§ speaketh) " confederated in the society of
a sacrament," or of one profession,
" This preaching and this faith the Church having received,
though dispersed over the world, doth carefuUy hold as inha
biting one house ; and alike believeth these things as if it had
one soul, and the same heart, and consonantly doth preach,
and teach, and deliver these things, as if it had but one mouth. ||
" As for kings, though their kingdoms be divided, yet he
equally expects from every one of them one dispensation, and
one and the same sacrifice of a true confession and praise. So
* Heb. ii. 3.
t Ti 'iv Kai airi fpoviiv. Phil. ii. 2 ; 2 Cor. xiii. 11.; Phil. i.
27 ; Phil. iii. 16 ; 1 Cor. i. 10 ; Rom. xv. 6.
X 'AtpiaraaBat. 1 Tim. vi. 4 ; 2 Thess. iii. 16 ; Rom. xvi. 17 ; Tit. iii.
10 ; Matth. vii. 15 ; xxiv. 1 1 ; Acts xx. 29, 30 ; 2 Pet. ii. 1 ; Eph. iv. 14 ;
Gal. i. 8 ; iii. 28 (26).
§ De societate Sacramenti confoederantur. — Tertull. in Marc. 4. 5.
|| ToSro ro Kripuypa irapuXnipvla, Kai ravrnv T-qv iriunv j) 'EeicA))-
aia Kaiirep jv 'oXyrip Roapip Sieairappivn iwiptXtie (pvXaoaati (ic eva
oikov oiKovaa- Kal opoiwg tnanvu tovtoiq <ic piav tyvxrjv Kai
rtjv avrr/v ixovaa KapSiav Kai avpfupwc. ravra Knpvaau Kai SiSa-
oku, Kai irapaSiSbxn, utg sv aropa KiKTnpivn.—lten. i. 3. (apud Epiph.
htcr. 31.)

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 249
that though there may seem to be a diversity of temporal ordi
nances, yet an unity and agreement in the right faith may b,e
held and. maintained among them."*
In regard to this union in faith peculiarly the body of Chris
tians adhering to it, was called the Catholic Church, from
which all those were esteemed ipso facto to be cut off and sepa
rated who in any point deserted that faith ; " such an one (saith
Saint Paul) i ZitrrpairTat, is turned aside,"f or hath left the
Christian way of life. He in reality is no Christian, nor is to
be avowed or treated as such, but is to be disclaimed, rejected
and shunned.
" He (saith St. Cyprian) cannot seem a Christian who doth
not persist in the unity of Christ's Gospel and faith."}
" If (saith TertuUian) a man be a heretic he cannot be a
Christian."§ Whence Hegesippus saith of the old heretics, that they did
"divide the unity of the Church by pernicious speeches
against God and his Christ." ||
" The virtue (said the Pastor Hermes, cited by Clemens
Alexan.) which doth keep the Church together is faith."^[
So the Fathers of the Sixth Council tell the Emperor that
" they were members one of another, and did constitute the
one body of Christ by consent in opinion with him and one
another, and by faith."**
" We ought in all things to hold the unity of the Catholic
Church, and not to yield in anv thing to the enemies of faith
andtruth."ff * Reges — Quorum etsi divisa sunt regna, sequaliter tamen de singulis
dispensationem exigit, unamque de eis ver<B de se confessionis hostiam
laudis exspectat — ut etsi dispositionum temporalium videatur esse diversi-
tas, circa ejus fidei rectitudinem unitatis consonantia teneatur. — (P. Leo
II. Epist. 5. ad Ervigium R. Hisp.
t 'E£e<rrpairrat o roioiiroc, Tit. iii. 10 ; Rom. xvi. 17 ; 2 John 10.
X Nee Christianus videri potest, qui non permanet in Evangelii ejus et
fidei veritate. — Cypr. de Unit. Eccl.
§ Si Hseretici sunt, Christiani esse non possunt. — Tert. de Prsescr. c. 37.
|| O'irivtg ipspiaav rrjv 'ivmaiv rrjg 'EsicXj/ffiac <p9optpaloig \6yoig
Kara rov OeoS, Kai Kard. tov Xpiorov avrov.— Euseb. Hist. 4. 22. [p.
128. Oxon. 1845. vel p. 183. Cantab. 1720.]
f 'H avvkxovaa rrjv 'EKKXnaiav dptri), ij IliaTig ion. — Herm. apud
Clem. Strom. 2. p. 281.
** MfiXwv aXXfjXiov ovt(ov i\pij}V, Kal to tv autpa avviaT&vTwv
Xpiarov Sid rrjg Trpbg abrbv Kal aXXrjXovg opoSokiag Kai ¦wiorioig.
-Cone. VI. Act. 18. p. 271.
tt Per omnia debemus Ecclesiae Catholica; Unitatem tenere, nee in ali-
quo fidei et veritatis hostibus cedere. — Cypr. Ep. 71. (ad Quint, de
Steph. P.)

250 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING
" In each part of the world this faith is one, because this is
the Christian faith."*
" He denies Christ who confesses not all things that are
Christ's."t Hence in common practice, whoever did appear to differ
from the common faith was rejected as an apostate from Chris
tianity, and unworthy the communion of other Christians.
There are points of less moment, more obscurely delivered
— in which Christians without breach of unity may dissent,
about which they may dispute, in which they may err — with
out breach of unity, or prejudice to charity.}
The faith of Christians did at first consist in few points,
those which were professed in baptism, whereof we have divers
Summaries§ in the ancients— by analogy whereto aU other
propositions were expounded, and according to agreement
whereto sound doctrines were distinguished from false ; so that
he was accounted orthodox who did not violate them —
" So he that holds that immoveable rule of truth which he
received at his baptism, will know the words, and sayings and
parables which are taken out of the Scriptures," &c. ||
II. It is evident that all Christians are united by the bands
of mutual charity and good-will.
They are all bound to wish one another well, to have a com
placence in the good, and a compassion of the evUs incident to
each other, to discharge all offices of kindness, succour, con
solation to each other.
This is the command of Christ to all : ("This is my com
mandment," saith he, " that ye love one another.") This is
the common badge by which his disciples are discerned and
distinguished, " Hereby (saith he) shall all men know that ye
are my disciples, if ye love one another." They must have
"the same love." They must "love as brethren, be compas
sionate, pitiful, courteous each to other." They must "bear
one another's burthens ;" and, " especially, as they have op
portunity, do good to the household of faith." " If one mem-
* Utriusque partis terrarum fides ista una est, quia et fides ista Chris
tiana est. — Aug. o. Jul. 1. 2. (p. 203, 2.)
t Negat Christum, qui non omnia qua; Christi sunt confitetur. — Ambr
in Luc. lib. 6. cap. 9. p. 90. (Vid. p. 85.)
X Alia sunt in quibus inter se aliquando etiam doctissimi atque optimi
reguhe Catholica; defensores, salv& fidei compage non consonant, &c. —
Aug. c. Jul. I. 2. p. 205. § Iren. 1. 2.
|| Sic autem qui regulam veritatis immobilem apud se habet quam per
Baptismum accepit, hsec quidem qua; sunt ex Scripturis nomina et dictiones
et parabolas cognoscct, &c. — Iren. 1. 1. vid. Gr. (p. 4.)

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 251
ber suffer, all the members must suffer with it ; and if one
member be honoured, all the members must rejoice." " The
multitude of them who believe must be (like that in the Acts)
of one heart, and of one soul." They must " walk in love,
and do aU things in love."*
Whoever, therefore, doth highly offend against charity, ma
ligning or mischiefing his brethren, doth thereby separate
himself from Christ's body, and cease to be a Christian.
"They that are enemies to brotherly charity, whether they
are openly out of the Church, or seem to be within, they are
pseudo-Christians and Antichirsts. When they seem to be
within the Church, they are separated from that invisible con
junction of charity. Whence St. John : ' They went out from
us, but were not of us.' He saith not, that by their going
out they were made aliens, but because they were aliens, there
fore he declareth that they went out."f
Wherefore, the most notorious violations of charity being
the causing of dissensions and factions in the Church, the
causeless separation from any Church, the unjust condemna
tion of Churehesi whoever was guilty of any such unchristian
behaviour was rejected by the Fathers, and held to be no
Christian. Such were the Novatians, the Donatists, the Mele-
tians, the Luciferians, and other schismatics.
" For what can be more acceptable and pleasant than to see
those who are severed and scattered into so many places yet
knit and joined together in the bond and union of charity, as
harmonious members of the body of Christ."}
" In old time, when the Church of God flourished, being
rooted in the same faith, united in love; there being, as it
were, one conspiracy, or. league of different members in one
body."§ * John xv. 12 ; 1 John iii. 11 ; 1 Thess. iv. 9 ; John xiii. 35 ; Phil. ii.
2 ; 1 Peter iii. 8 ; Gal. vi. 2, 10 : 1 Cor. xii. 26 ; Acts iv. 32 ; Eph. v. 2 ;
1 Cor. xvi. 14.
t Hujus autem fraternse charitatis inimici sive aperte foris sint, sive
intiis esse videantur, pseudo-Christiani, sunt et Antichristi. Aug. de
Bapt. 3. 19. — Cum intfis videntur, ab ilia invisibili charitatis compage
separati sunt; Unde Johannes (1 John ii. 19), ex nobis exierunt, sed non
erant ex nobis. Non ait quod exeundo alieni facti sunt, sed qu&d alieni
erant, propter hoc eos exisse declaravit. Ibid.
j: T« yap av ykvoiro ^apilffrtpov, r) rovg roaovrq) r<f ttXjjSm t&v
T6iru>v Siupyp'svovg ry Bid. rjjc ayairng ivuau saBopav tig piav /itXSv
appoviav iv aiapari Xpitrrou Ssdeffdai. Bas. Ep. 220.
§ 'Biri T<Sv apxaXiav Kaipiov — ijvuca jjvBovv ai 'E«x\)j<ri<H row Qtov
Ippi'Cwptvai ry vLotei, iivtdpivai ry ayawy oiffirtp Iv ivi aiopari piag
(rvpirvoiag titafyoptov pcXiSv VTrapxovang. Bas. Ep. 338.

252 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING
" For the communion of the Spirit is wont to knit and
unite men's minds, which conjunction we believe to be between
us and your charitable affection."*
" They, therefore, who by tbe bond of charity are incorpo
rated into the building settled upon the rock."f
"But the members of Christ aTe joined together by the
charity of union, and by the same cleave close to their head,
which is Christ."}
III. All Christians are united by spiritual cognation and
alliance ; as being all " regenerated by the same incorruptible
seed," being alike " born, not of blood, nor of the will of the
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God ;" whence, as " the
sons of God," and "brethren of Christ," they become bre
thren one to another. § So that it is a peculiar title or appel
lation of Christians, "the brethren," signifying aU Christian
people ; and " a brother," being the same with a Christian
professor. ||
IV. The whole Christian Church is one by its incorpora
tion into the mystical body of Christ ; or as feUow-subjects of
that spiritual, heavenly kingdom, whereof Christ is the sove
reign head and governor ; whence they are governed by the
same laws, are obliged by the same institutions and sanctions ;
they partake of the same privileges, and are entitled to the
same promises, and encouraged by the same rewards ; " being
called in one hope of their calling."^
So they make up one spiritual corporation, or republic,
whereof Christ is the Sovereign Lord.**
"Though the place disjoin them, yet the Lord joins them
together, being their common Lord," etc. ft
Hence a habit of disobedience doth sever a man from this
body ; for, " not every one that saith Lord, Lord, shall enter
* 'H Kard. Hvevpa ovva6ua E^TroitTr ttI^vke t<)v oiKtiwatv, fjv ij/uv
rival Trpbg ti)v ayairnv vp<3v 7r£— iaT£UKfl/i£j/. Bas. Epist. 182.
t Qui ergb compage charitatis incorporati sunt asdificio super petram
constitute, etc. Aug. de Unit. c. 18.
X Membra verb Christi per unitatis charitatem sibi copulantur, et per
eandem capiti suo coherent, quod est Christus. Aug. de Unit. c. 2. —
Omnes Sancti sibi charitate cohserent. Aug. de Bapt. 6. 3.
§ 1 Peter i. 23 ; James i. 18 ; John i. 14 ; Gal. iii. 26 ; John i. 12 ;
Heb. ii. 10, 11.
|| 1 Cor. vii. 15 ; v. 11 ; Rom. xiv. 10, &c.
IT They are under a covenant of allegiance. Eph. iv. 4.
** 'O y&p abrbg Kvpiog ttcivtiov. Rom. x. 12.
tt Ei ii 6 roirag x<i>p£?«, aXX' 6 Kvpiog aurovg avvairru Koivbg w,
etc. Chrys. in 1 Cor. Orat I. Vid.

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 253
into the kingdom of heaven,"* or continue therein. Every
such person who " denieth God in works"f is a rebel, an out
law, renouncing his allegiance, forfeiting his title to God's
protection and favour.
He is not a sheep of Christ,} because he doth not "hear his
voice." §
He is separated from the body, by not " holding the

" It is a lie, to call oneself a Christian, and not to do the
works of Christ."^[
" He that does not the work of a Christian name, seems not
to be a Christian."**
" When, instead of the works themselves, he begins to op
pose even the most apparent truth, whereby he is reproved,
then he is cut off (from the body, or the Church). "ft
Hence, St. Augustine often denieth wicked persons to be in
the Church, or to appertain unto its unity.}}
" For when there is one and the same Lord that dwelleth in
us, he everywhere joins and couples those that are his with
the bond of unity."§§
V. All Christians are linked together in peaceable concord
and confederacy ; so that they are bound to live in good cor
respondence, to communicate in works of piety and devotion,
to defend and promote the common interest of their profes
sion. Upon the entrance of the Gospel by our Lord's incarnation,
it was by a celestial herald proclaimed : " Peace on earth, and
good will among men."|||| It was our Lord's office *' to preach
peace."*[^[ It was a principal end and effect of his death " to
* Matth. vii. 21. t Titus i. 16.
X Qui eum non sequitur, quomodo se ovem ejus dicere audebit ? Aug.
de Unit. Eccl. c. 10.
$ John x. 27. II Col. ii. 19.
f Mendacium est, Christianum se dicere, et opera Christi non facere.
Ambr. ** Qui Christiani nominis opus non agit, Christianus non esse videtur.
Salv. de Gub. D. 4.
tt . Cum pro ipsis operibus etiam veritati apertissimse, qua redarguitur,
resistere cceperit, tunc prseciditur. Aug. de Unit. Eccl. c. 20.
tt Vid. supra.
fy Nam quum Dominus unus atque idem sit, qui habitat in nobis,
conjungit ubique et copulat suos vinculo unitatis. Firmil. apud Cypr.
Ep. 75.
|||| Luke ii. 14. f f Acts x. 36 ; Eph. ii. 17.

254 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING..
reconcile all men, and to destroy enmity."* He specially charged
his disciples, elpnveveiv iv a.XXr)Xoig, " to maintain peace one
with another ."-f It was his wUl at parting with them, " Peace
I leave with you." }
The Apostles frequently do enjoin to " pursue peace with all
them who call upon the Lord with a pure heart ;"§ to follow
the things "which make for peace and edification mutual ;||
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." ^f
It was in the Prophecies, concerning the evangelical state,
declared, that under it, " The wolf should dweU with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the sucking
child should play on the hole of the asp ;"** that is, that
men of all tempers and conditions, by virtue of this institu
tion, should be disposed to live innocently, quietly, and lov
ingly together : so that they should " not hurt or destroy in
all God's holy mountain ;" for that would be a duty incumbent
on the disciples of this institution, which aU good Christians
would observe.
The evangehcal covenant, as it doth aUy us to God, so it
doth confederate us together. The sacraments of this cove
nant are also symbols of peace and amity between those who
undertake it. Of baptism it is said, " that so many of you
as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ," and
thence, " Ye are all one in Christ Jesus — aU in one Spirit
have been baptized into one body."ff And in the eucha
rist, by partaking of one individual food, they are transmuted
into one body and substance. " We (saith St. Paul) being
many, are one bread, one body ; for all of us do partake of
one bread."}}
" By which sacraments also our people appears to be united;
for as many grains coUected, and ground, and mingled toge
ther, make one bread, so in Christ, who is the bread of hea
ven, we may know ourselves to be one body, that our company
or number be conjoined and united together."§§
* Col. i. 20 ; Eph. ii. 14. t Mark ix. 50.
X John xiv. 27. % 2 Tim. ii. 22.
|| Rom. xiv. 19. f Eph. iv. 3.
** Isa. xi. 6 ; lxv. 25 ; lxvi. 12. Isa. ii. 4. They shall learn war no more.
tt Gal. iii. 27, 28 ; 1 Cor. xii. 13. XX 1 Cor. x. 7.
§§ Quo et ipso sacramento populus noster adunatus ostenditur : ut quem-
admodum grana multa in unum collecta, et commolita, et commixta
panem unum faciunt ; sic in Christo, qui est panis coelestis, unum sciamus
esse corpus, cui conjuuctus sit noster numerus et adunatus. Cyp. Ep.
63. [p. 164. Lipsiee, 1838 ]

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 255
" With us there is both one Church, and one mind, and un
divided concord."*
" Let us hold the peace of the Catholic Church in the unity
of concord."f" The bond of concord remaining, and the individual sacra
ment of the Catholic Church continuing," &c.}
" He, therefore, that keeps neither the unity of the Spirit,
nor the conjunction of peace, and separates himself from the
bond of the Church, and the college (or society) of priests,
can have neither the power of a bishop, nor the honour ."§
Thus in general; but particularly, all Christians should
assist one another in the common defence of truth, piety, and
peace, when they are assaulted in the propagation of the faith,
and enlargement of the Church, which is awa&Ktiv rfj irio-ru
rov evayyeXiov, " to contend together for the faith of the
Gospel ; to be good soldiers of Christ ; warring the good war
fare ; striving for the faith once delivered to the saints." ||
Hence if any where any heresy or bad doctrine should arise,
all Christians should be ready to declare against it ; that it
may not infect, or spread a doubt arising, as in the case of
celebrating Easter : " They all, with one consent, declared by
letters the decree of the Church to all every where." ^[
Especially the pastors of the Churches are obliged with con
sent to oppose it.
" While we laboured here, and withstood the force of envy
with the whole strength of our faith, your speech assisted lis
very much."**
Thus did the bishops of several Churches meet to suppress
the heresy of P. Samosatenus.
* Nobis et Ecclesia una, et mens juncta, et individua Concordia. Cypr.
Ep. 57. [Ep. 60. p. 150. Lipsise, 1838.]
t Catholicae Ecclesia; pacem concordiae imitate [unanimitate] teneamus.
Ep. 45. [Id. Ep. 48.]
X Manente concordiee vinculo, ct perseverante Catholica; Ecclesiae indi-
viduo Sacramento, etc. Ep. 52. (ad Anton, p. 96.) [Id. Ep. 55. p. 114,]
§ Qui ergo nee unitatem Spiritus, nee conjunctionem pacis observat, et
se ab Ecclesiae vinculo, atque a sacerdotum collegio separat, episcopi nee
potestatem potest habere, nee honorem, etc. Ibid. p. 97. [Id. p. 117.]
|| Phil. i. 17 ; 1 Tim. i. 18 ; vi. 12 ; 2 Tim. iv. 7 ; Jude 3.
IT HavTtg ts pi(f yviapy ii iiti<SToX5>v 'EKKXnataariKbv Aoypa rolg
iravraxota iurvtrovVTO. Euseb. 5. 23. [p. 169. Oxon. 1845, vel p.
242. Cantab. 1720.]— Cypr. Ep. 67.
** Laborantes hie nos et contra invidite impetum totis fidei viribus
resistentes, multum sermo vester adjuvit, &c. Cypr. Ep. 23. [Ep. 27. p.
53. Lipsiae, 1838.]

256 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING
This was the ground of most Synods.
" So they who afterwards, in all places and several ways,
were gathered together against the innovations of heretics,
gave their common opinion in behalf of the faith, as being of
one mind ; what they had approved among themselves in a
brotherly way, that they clearly transferred to those who were
absent ; and they who at the Council of Sardis had earnestly
contended against the remainders of Arius, sent their judgment
to those of the Eastern Churches ; and they who had then
discovered the infection of ApolUnarius, made their opinions
known to the Western."*
If any dissension or faction doth arise in any Church, other
Churches, upon notice thereof, should yield their aid to quench
and suppress it ; countenancing the peaceable, checking and
disavowing the factious.
Thus did St. Cyprian help to discountenance and quash the
Novatian schism .f
Thus, when the Oriental Churches did labour under the
Arian faction, and dissensions between the Catholics, St. Basil
(with other orthodox bishops consorting with him) did write
to the Western bishops (of Italy and France) to yield their
succour. " For this, my brother, we must earnestly endeavour, and
ought to endeavour, to have a care, as much as in us hes, to
hold the unity delivered to us from the Lord, and by the
Apostles, whose successors we are ; and what Ues in us," &c.}
All Christians should be ready, when opportunity doth
invite, to admit one another to conjunction in offices of piety
and charity ; in prayer, in communion of the eucharist, in
brotherly conversation, and pious conference for edification or
advice. §
* Ovrtag 01 pira ravra iravraxri iroiKiXwg iiri roic rwv Aipcri-
kwv adpoi<y9ii>TEg Kaivi.ap.aoi koivtjv ibg (rvfiipvxoi ttjv virkp rijg
TTiGTewg ipijQov &irep aitXfbiKwg iavrolg iioKipaaav, ravra ToavGJg
ro7g airovai SiaTropQpivaavTig' Kal oi piv ik ^apiiKrjg Kara rwv
'Apeiov Xeupavinv ayiaviaapkvoi roic iv dvaroXy ri)V Kpioiv iUmp-
irov 01 Bi ivravQa ttjv 'ATroXivapiov Xvpqv <pwpaaavTEQ, roig iv
Svtta rriv iprjtyov iyviipi^ov. Syn. Chalced. ad Imper. Cone. dial, pars
3. p. 468.
t Vid. Ep. 42. (ad Cornel.) p. 77.
X Hoc enim vei maxime, frater, laboramus, et laborare debemus, ut
unitatem & Domino, et per Apostolos nobis successoribus traditam, quan
tum possumus, obtinere curemus ; et quod in nobis est, etc. Cypr. Ep.
42. p. 78. [Ep. 45. p. 91. Lipsiae, 1838.]
§ Ep. 398.

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 257
" So that he who flies and avoids communion with us, you
in your prudence may know, that such a man breaks himself
off from the whole Church."*
St. Chrysostom doth complain of Epiphanius :
" Then when he came to the great and holy city Constanti
nople, he came not out into the congregation according to
custom and the ancient manner, he joined not himself with us,
nor communicated with us in the Word, and prayer, and the
holy communion," &c.+
So Polycarp, being at Rome, did communicate with P.
Anicetus.} If dissension arise between divers Churches, another may
interpose to reconcile them ; as did the Church of Carthage
between that of Rome and Alexandria §
If any bishop were exceedingly negligent in the discharge of
his office (to the common damage of truth and piety), his
neighbour bishops might admonish hint thereto ; and, if he
should not reform, might deprive him of communion. ||
All Christians should hold friendly correspondence, as occa
sion doth serve, and as it is useful, to signify consent and faith,
to recommend persons, to foster charity, to convey succour and
advice, to perform all good offices of amity and peace.
" Siricius, who is our companion and fellow-labourer, with
whom the whole world, by the mutual commerce of canonical
or communicatory letters, agree together with us in one com
mon society."^"
" The Catholic Church being one body, it is consequent
thereto, that we write and signify one to another," &c.**'
* "Qoti 6 rqv irpbg ypag Koivioviav diroiiipdoKOiv py XavQavsrct)
ip&v Tr\v axpifteiav icaang iavrbv rijc 'EKKXnoiag diroppnyvvg.
Bas. Ep. 75.
t Eira rrjg psydXng Kal StoQiXovg KwvoTavTivoviroXewg iirifiag
ovk esc 'EKKXnaiav i%rjX9t Kara to duiQbg, Kai t'ov avw9ev Kparij-
oavra S/iOjibv ovx VP-iv ovvtyi.vi.TO, oil Aoyojj ptrkiwKiv, oiiK Evxvg,
ob Kotvwviag, ciXX' airofSag tov irXoiov, &c. Chrys. ad Innoc P. (Ep.
122.) [p. 615. vol. 3. Paris. 1835.]
X 'Ev rn 'EKK\r]oitp Trapexdpnosv 6 'AvUnrog rijv Evxapioriav
Tif HaXvKapirip, kut' ivrpoirriv SnXovon. Euseb. 5. 24.
§ Cod. Afr. Can. 101. || Cod. Afr. Can. 123.
¦ if Damaso Siricius hodie, qui noster est socius, cum quo nobis totus
orbis commercio formatarum in una communionis societate concordant.
Opt. lib. 2. p. 40.
** 'Evbg oiiparog ovrog rijc KaBoXiKrjg 'EKKXnoiag o.k6Xov96v ion
ypaipuv ripag Kai or\paivuv a\Xi)Xoig, etc. Aiex. Alex®. Socr. 1. 6.
Theod. VOL. VIII. S

258 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING
In cases of doubt or difficulty, one Church should have
recourse to others for advice, and any Church should yield it,'
" Both common charity and reason requires, most dear
brethren, that we conceal nothing from your knowledge of
those things which are done among us, that so there may be
common advice taken by us concerning the most useful way
of ordering ecclesiastical affairs."*
One Church should acquaint others of any extraordinary
transaction concerning the common faith or discipline, request
ing their approbation and countenance.-)-
Thus did the Eastern Churches give account to aU other
Churches of their proceedings against P. Samosatenus.}
" Which letters are sent aU the world over, and brought to
the notice of all the Churches, and of all the brethren." §
When any Church or any pastor was oppressed or injured,
he might have recourse to other Churches for their assistance
in order to relief.
"Let him who is cast out have power to apply himself to
the neighbouring bishops, that his cause may be carefully
heard and discussed." ||
Thus did Athanasius (being overborne and expelled from
his see by the Arian faction) go for refuge to the Church of
Rome. St. Chrysostom had recourse to the Bishop of Rome, and to
those of the West, as also to the Bishop of Antioch.
VI. Now, because in the transacting of these things the
pastors have the chief hand, and act in behalf of the Churches
which they inspect, therefore is the Church united also by
their consent in doctrine, their agreement in peace, their main-
* Et dilectio communis et ratio exposcit, fratres charissimi, nihil con-
scientia; vestrse subtrahere de his quae apud nos geruntur, ut sit nobis
circa utilitatem Ecclesiastics administrationis commune consilium. Cyp.
Ep. 29 (ad Cler. Rom ) [Ep. 35. p. 70. Lipsise, 1838.]
t The practice of this we see frequently in St. Cyprian's Epistles;
particularly in Epist. 4, 15, 23, 29, 30, 42. 48. (P. Corn.) [9, 20, 27,35,
36, 45, 50. Lipsiae, 1838.]
X Euseb. 7. 30.
§ Quae literae per totum mundum missa; sunt, et in notitiam Ecclesiis
omnibus et universis fratribus perlatae sunt. Cypr. Ep. 52. (ad Anton.
p. 92.) [Id. Ep. 55. p. 106.]— Scripsimus ad Cornelium collegam nostrum,
&c. Ibid.
|| Habeat potestatem is qui abjectus est, ut episcopos finitimos inter-
pellet, et causa ejus audiatur ac diligenter tractetur, &c. Cone. Sard.
Can. 17. Vide Cod. Afr. Can. 125.

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 259
taming intercourse, their concurrence to preserve truth and
charity. " We ought all to be vigilant and careful for the body of
the whole Church, where members are dispersed through many
several provinces."*
" Seeing the Church, which is one and Catholic, is not
rent nor divided, but truly knit and united together by the
bond of priests united one to another."t
• " This agrees with the modesty and discipline, and the very
life of all, that many of the bishops meeting together might
order all things in a reUgious way by common advice."}
"That since it having pleased God to grant us peace, we
begin to have greater meetings of bishops, we may also by
your advice order and reform every thing." §
',' Which that, with the rest of our colleagues, we may
stedfastly and firmly administer, and that we may keep the
peace of the Church in the unanimity of concord, the divine
favour will vouchsafe to accomplish." ||
" A great number of bishops — we met together."^"
Bishops being chosen did acquaint other bishops with it :
"It was sufficient (saith St. Cyprian to Cornelius**) that you
should by your letters acquaint us that you were made a
bishop." * Omnes nos decet pro corpore totius Ecclesiae, cujus per varias
quasque Provincias membra digesta sunt, excubare. Cyp. Ep. 30. (Cler,
Rom. ad Cypr. P.) [Ep. 36. p. 73. Lipsiae, 1838.] — Quod servis Dei, et
maxime sacerdotibus. Cypr. Ep. 42. (ad Cornel.) [Id. Ep. 45. p. 84.] —
Idcirco copiosum corpus est sacerdotum, &c. Cypr. Ep. 67. (p. 161.)
[Id. Ep. 68. p. 187.]
t Quando Ecclesia, quae catholica una est, scissa non sit, neque divisa,
sed sit utique connexa, et cohaerentium sibi invicem sacerdottim glutino
copulata. Cypr. Ep. 69. [Id. Ep. 66. p. 178.]
X Hoc verecundiee et disciplina; et vitae ipsi omnium convenit — ut
episcopi plures in unum convenientes — disponere omnia consilii communis
religione possimus. Cypr. Ep. 14. (Clero suo.) [Id. Ep. 19. p. 41.]
§ Ut cum pace a Domino nobis data plures praepositi convenire in
unum cojperimus, communicate etiam vobiscum consilio disponere singula
et reformare possimus. Cypr. Ep. 15. (Clero Rom.) [Id. Ep. 20. p. 43.]
|| Quod ut simul cum caeteris collegis nostris stabiliter ac firmiter
administremus, atque ut catholicae Ecclesiae pacem concordiae unanimitate
teneamus, perficiet divina dignatio. Cypr. Ep. 85. (ad Cornel.) [Id. Ep.
48. p. 94.]
f Copiosus episcoporum numerus— in unum convemmus. Cypr. hjp.
52. (adAnton.) [Id. Ep. 55. p. 106.]
** Satis erat, ut tu te Episcopum factum Uteris nunciares. Cyprian, ad
Cornel. (Epist. 42.) s 2

260 , A DISCOURSE CONCERNING
" Declare plainly to us who is substituted at Aries in the
room of Marcian, that we may know to whom we should
direct our brethren, and to whom we should write."*
All Churches were to ratify the elections of bishops duly
made by others, and to communjcate with those. And likewise
to comply with all reasonable acts for communion.f
To preserve this peace and correspondence, it was a law and
custom, that no Church should admit to communion those
which were excommunicated by another ; or who did schis-
matically divide.
" We are all believed to have done the same thing, whereby
we are found to be all of us associated and joined together by
the same agreement in censure and discipline."}
The decrees of bishops were sent to be subscribed. §
VII. All Christian Churches are one by a specifical unity
of discipline, resembUng one another in ecclesiastical adminis
trations, which are regulated by the indispensable sanctions and
institutions of their sovereign.
They are all bound to use the same sacraments, according
to the forms appointed by our Lord, not admitting any sub
stantial alteration.
They must uphold that sort of order, government, and
ministry, in all its substantial parts, which God did appoint in
the Church, or give thereto, || as St. Paul expresseth it; it
being a temerarious and dangerous thing to innovate in those
matters which our Lord bad a special care to order and settle.
" Nor can they continue in the Church that have not re
tained divine and ecclesiastical disciphne, neither in good
conversation, nor peaceable life."^[
In lesser matters of ceremony or discipline (instituted by
* Significa plane nobis quis in locum Marciani Arelate fuerit substi
tutes, ut sciamus ad quern fratres nostros dirigere, et cui scribere debeamus.
Cypr. Ep. 67. ad Steph. P. [Id. Ep. 68. p. 189.]
t Cypr. Ep. 41, 42, 52, (p. 93.) Theod. 5. 9. Euseb. de P. Samos.
X Idem enim omnes credimur operati, in quo deprehendimur eadem
omnes censurae, et discipline consensione sociati. Cler. Rom. ad Cypr.'
Epist. 31. [Id. Ep. 45. p. 91.]
§ Vide Cone. Sard. P. Leonis II. Ep. 2. (ad Hisp. Episc.) N. B. p.
385. (Tom. 5.) P. Bened. II, Ep. 16. (p. 404.)
|| 1 Cor. xii. 28. Eph. iv. 11. Rom. xii. 7. Acts xx. 28.
% Nee remanere in Ecclesia possunt qui Deificam et Ecclesiasticam
Disciplinam nee actus sui conversatione, nee morum pace tenuerunt. P.
Cornel, apud Cypr. Ep. 48. Vide Ep. 73. (ad Jub.) [Id. Ep. 50. Vide
Ep. 73.]

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 261
human prudence) Churches may differ, and it is expedient
they should do so, in regard to the various circumstances of
things, and qualities of persons to which discipline should be
accommodated ; but no power ought to abrogate, destroy, or
infringe, or violate the main form of discipline, constituted by
divine appointment.*
Hence, when some confessors had abetted Novatianus
against Cornehus, thereby (against a fundamental rule of the
Church, necessary for preserving of peace and order therein,
that but one bishop should be in one Church), St. Cyprianf
doth thus complain of their proceeding.
(To act anything) " against the sacrament of divine ordi
nation and cathoUc unity, once deUvered, makes an adulterate
and contrary head out of the Church."}
— " Forsaking the Lord's priests contrary to the evangelical
disciphne, a new tradition of a sacrilegious institution starts
up."§ " There is one God and one Christ, and one Church and
one See founded upon Peter by the Word of the Lord ; besides
one altar and one priesthood another altar cannot be erected
nor a new priesthood ordained." ||
Hence were the Meletians rejected by the Church, for intro
ducing ordinations —
Hence was Arius accounted a heretic, for meaning to
innovate in so grand a point of discipline, as the subordination
of bishops and presbyters.
VIII. It is expedient that all Churches should conform to
each other in great matters of prudential discipline, although
not instituted or prescribed by God : for this is a means of
preserving peace, and is a beauty or harmony. For difference
of practice doth aUenate affections, especially in common
people. * Ep. Firmil. (p. 198.) Aug. Ep. 118. et 86, supra.
t Gravat enim me, atque contristat, &c. Ep. 44. (ad Confess. Rom.)
[Id. Ep. 46. p. 92.]
X Contra Sacramentum semel traditum Divinae dispositionis et Catho
lica; unitatis adulterum et contrarium caput extra Ecclesiam facit.
Cyprian. Epist. 42. (ad Cornel.) [Id. Ep. 45. p. 89.]
^ Relictis Domini Sacerdotibus contra Evangelicam disciplinam nova
Traditio sacrilegae Institetionis exsurgat. Cypr. Ep. 40. (Plebi suae.)
[Id. Ep. 43. p. 84.]
|| Deus unus est, et Christas unus, et Ecclesia una, et Cathedra una
super Petrum Domini voce fundata ; aliud altare constitui, aut sacer-
dotium novum fieri praeter unum altare, et unum sacerdotium non potest:
Ibid. [Id. p. 85.]

262 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING
So the Synod of Nice :
" That all things may be aUke ordered in every diocese, it
hath seemed good to the holy Synod, that men should put up
their prayers to God standing, vis. between Easter and
Whitsuntide, and upon the Lord's day."*
The Church is like the world ; for as the world doth con
sist of men, all naturally subject to one king, Almighty God ;
all obliged to observe his lawSj . declared by .natural Ught ; all
made of one bjoqd, and so brethren, all endowed with common
reason, all bound to exercise good offices of justice and
humanity toward each other, to maintain peace and amity
together ; to further each other in the prosecution or attain
ment of those good things which conduce to the welfare and
security of this present life : even so doth the Church consist
of persons spiritually allied, professing the same faith, subject
to the Same law and government of Christ's heavenly kingdom:
bound to exercise charity, and to maintain peace toward each
other, and to promote each other's good in order to the future
happiness in heaven.
All those kinds of unity do plainly agree to the universal
Church of Christ ; but the question is, whether the Church is
also necessarily by the design and appointment of God to be
in an/ way of external policy under one singular government or
jurisdiction of any kind ; so as a kingdom or commonwealth
are united under the command of one monarch or one senate ?.
That the Church is capable of such an union, is not the>
controversy ; that it is possible it should be so united (sup
posing it may happen that aU Christians may be reduced to
one nation, or one civil regiment; or that several nations
spontaneonsly may confederate and combine themselves into
one ecclesiastical commonwealth, administered by the same
spiritual rulers and judges according to the same laws), 1 do
not question ; that when in a manner aU Christendom did
consist of subjects to the Roman empire, the Church then did
arrive near such an unity, I do not at present contest, but that
such an union of all Christians is necessary, or that it was.
ever instituted by Christ, I cannot grant ; and, for my refusal
of that opinion, I shall assign divers reasons.
* 'Yirip tov iravra ior iraoy itapoiKiif bpoiug TOTTto9(U, ioriuTag
itio%e ry ciyia ^.vvoiip rag £v\&g A-TroSiiovai Tip 9fqJ. Can. 20.
Ilpoc ruvrotg ko-'kuvo TraptaTi ovvopav, tjg iv rnXtKovrtp 7rpdy/in-i,
Kai Toiairy SrpijoKeiag iopry Sia(j)a>viav dpxuv iariv dSipirov. Const.
M. in Epist. ad Eccles. Euseb. Vita Constantini, 3. 18.

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 263'
1 . This being a point of great consideration, and trenching
upon practice, which every one were concerned to know ; and
there being frequent occasions to declare it ; yet the holy
Scripture doth nowhere express or intimate such a kind of
unity ; which is a sufficient proof, that it hath no firm ground.
We may say of it as St. Augustine saith of the Church itself,
" I will not that the holy Church be demonstrated from
human reasonings, but the divine oracles."*
St. Paul particularly, in divers Epistles, f designedly
treating about the unity of the Church (together with other
points of doctrine neighbouring thereon), and amply des
cribing it, doth not yet imply any such unity then extant, or
designed to be.
He doth mention and urge the unity of spirit, of faith, of
charity, of peace, of relation to our Lord, of communion in
devotions and offices of piety ; but concerning any union under
one singular visible government of polity he is silent : he saith,
" One Lord, one faith, one baptism ; one God and Father of
all :" not one monarch, or one senate, or one sanhedrim —
which is a pregnant sign, that none such was then instituted ;
otherwise he could not have slipped over a point so very
material and pertinent to his discourse.
2. By the Apostolic history it may appear, that the
Apostles, in the propagation of Christianity, and founding of
Christian societies, had no meaning, did take no care, to
establish any such polity.
They did resort to several places (whither divine instinct,
or reasonable occasion, did carry them) where, by their
preaching, having convinced >>and converted a competent
number of persons to the embracing Christian doctrine,} they
did appoint pastors to instruct and edify them, to administer
God's worship and service among them, to contain them in
good order and peace, exhorting them to maintain good cor
respondence of charity and peace with all good Christians
otherwhere ; this is all we can see done by them.§
3. The Fathers, in their set treatises and in their incidental
discourses about the unity of the Church (which was de facto,
* Nolo humanis documentis, sed Divinis Oraculis Sanctam Ecclesiam
demonstrari. Aug. de Unit. c. 3.
t Eph. iv. 1 Cor. xii. Rom. xii. Gal. iii. 28.
X "OxW ikovov. Acts xi. 26. ,
$ XaiporovrioavTig avrolg Xlptoj3vTepovg kut 'EKKXnoiav. Acts
xiv. 23.

264 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING
which should be de jure in the Church,) do make it to con
sist only in those unions of faith, charity, peace,- which we
have described,' not in this political union.
The Roman Church gave this reason why they could not
admit Marcion into their communion, they would not do it
without his father's consent, between whom and them " there
was one faith and one agreement of mind."*
TertuUian, in his Apologetic, describing the unity of the
Church in his time, saith, " We are one body by our agree
ment in religion, our unity of discipline, and our being in the
same covenant of hope."t
And more exactly or largely in his prescriptions against
heretics, the breakers of unity. "Therefore such and so many
Churches are but the same with the first Apostolical One, from
which all are derived : thus they become aU first, all ApostoU-
cal ; whilst they remain in the same unity ; whilst there are a
communion of peace, names of brotherhood and contributions
of hospitality among them ; the rights of which are kept up
by no other means, but the one tradition of the same mystery;"}
"They and we have one faith, one God, the same Christ,
the same hope, the same baptism, in a word, we are but one
Church." §
And Constantine the Great, in his Epistle to the Churches :
" (Our Saviour) would have his CathoUc Church to be one:
the members of which, though they be divided into many and
different places, are yet cherished by one spirit, that is, by the,
will of God." j|
And Gregory the Great : " Our Head, which is Christ,
would therefore have us to be his members, that by the joints
* Mia yap Iotiv 17 iriorig Kai pia »j oiiovota. Epiph. haer. 42.
t Corpus sumus de conscientia religionis et disciplinae Unitate, et spei
fcedere. Apol. 39.
X Itaque tot ac tantae Ecclesiae una est ilia ab Apostolis prima, ex qua
omnes ; sic omnes prima;, et omnes Apostolicae j dum unam omnes pro-
bant Unitatem ; Communicatio pacis, et appellatio fraternitatis et contes-
seratio hospitalitatis ; quae jura non alia ratio regit, quam ejusdem
Sacramenti una traditio. Tertul. Prescript, c. 20.
$ Una nobis et illis Fides, unus Deus, idem Christus, eadem Spes,
eadem lavacri Sacramenta ; semcl dixerim, una Ecclesia sumus. Tert.
de Virg. vel. 2.
|| Kal piav livai rffv Ka9oXiKi)v avrov 'EKKXnoiav fisfiobXnTaf >;c
d Kai rd pdXiora slg no\\ovg Kai iiatpbpovg roVowc rd pipt) Bir/pnTai,
d\X"6pu>g ivi TlvtvpaTi, TovrkoriTip Qeiip (lovXripaTi SaKirtrai. Const.
M. in Ep. ad Eccles. Euseb. Vit. Const. 3. 18.

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 265
of charity and faith, he might make us one bodv in him
self"* Clement of Alexandria defineth the Church : " A people
gathered together out of Jews and Gentiles in one faith, by
the giving of the Testament fitted into unity of faith."f
"This one Church therefore partakes of the nature of unity,
which heresies violently endeavour to divide into many ; and
therefore we affirm the ancient and Catholic Church, whether
we respect its constitution or our conception of it, its beginning
or its excellency, to be but one ; which into the belief of that one
Creed which is agreeable to its own peculiar Testaments, or
rather to that one and the same Testament, in times however
different, by the will of one and the same God, through one
and the same Lord doth unite and combine together all those
who are before ordained, whom God had predestinated, as
knowing that they would be just persons, before the foun
dation of the world."}
Many passsges of the Fathers, applicable to this point, we
have alleged in the foregoing discourses. §
4. The constitution of such a unity doth involve the vesting
some person or some number of persons with a sovereign au
thority (subordinate to our Lord) to be managed in a certain
manner, either absolutely according to pleasure, or limitedly
according to certain rules prescribed to it.
But that there was ever any such authority constituted, or
any rules prescribed to it by our Lord or his Apostles doth
not appear, and there are divers reasonable presumptions
against it.
, * Caput nostrum, quod Christus est, ad hoc sua esse membra nos
voluit, ut per compagem Charitatis et Fidei unum nos in se corpus ef-
ficeret. Greg. M. Ep. 7. 111.
t '0 iK vopov Kal it i6vo>v tig rijv piav Jlioriv ovvayoptvog Xaog.
Strom. 6. init. Ty Kara rag AiaSijKag ioou OKtva£6ptvov tig
'Evornra rrjg Uiortuig. Str. 7. (p. 516.)
X TtJ yovv rov 'Evdc, tpvoei ovyKXnpovrai 'EKKXnoia 17 pla, rjv tig
mXXdg Kararepvuv (HidZovTai aipiotig- Kara rt ovv inrboraoiv, Kara
rt iirivoiav, Kara rt dpxvv, (principium) Kara rt i^oKyv, ]ibvr\v tivai
ipaptv T-nv apxaiav Kal KaBoXiKTjv 'EKKXnoiav tig'EvOTnra Iliortojg
ptdg rrjg Kara rag oiKtiag AiaQriKag, pdXXov Si Kara rtjv Aia9rjKnv rr)v
piav iiafopoig roig xpovoic, tEvbg rov Btov rip j3ouXjjjuart it' 'Evbg
rov Kvpiov ovvdyovoav rovg Tjiw KarartTaypkvovg, ovg irpo&piotv,
iiKa'iovg ioopivovg trpb Kara(}oXrjg K&apov iyvu>Kiig. Strom. 7. (p. 549.)
§ Catholicam facit simplex et verus intellectas, intelligere singulare, ac
verissimum Sacramentum, et Unitas animorum. Opt. 1. (p. 14.) — Eccle
sia non parietibus consistit, sed in dogmatum veritate, &c. Hier. Ps. 133.

2#6 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING
It is reasonable that whoever claimeth such authority should
for assuring his title shew patents of his commission, mani
festly expressing it ; how otherwise can he justly demand obe
dience, or any with satisfaction yield thereto ?
It was just that the institution of so great authority should
be fortified with an undoubted charter, that its right might be
apparent, and the duty of subjection might be certain.
If any such authority had been granted by God, in all Uke-
lihood it would have been clearly mentioned in Scripture ; it
being a matter of high importance among the estabUshments of
Christianity, conducing to great effects, and grounding much
duty. Especially considering that
There is in Scripture frequent occasion of mentioning it ; in
way of history, touching the use of it (the acts of sovereign
power affording chief matter to the history of any society) in
way of direction to those governors how to manage it ; in way
of exhortation to inferiors how to behave themselves in regard
to it ; in way of commending the advantages which attend it ;
it is therefore strange that its mention is so baulked.
The Apostles do often speak concerning ecclesiastical affairs
of all natures concerning the decent administration of things,
concerning preservation of order and peace, concerning the
furtherance of edification, concerning the prevention and re
moval of heresies, schisms, factions, disorders ; upon any of.
which occasions it is marvellous that they should not touch
that constitution, which was the proper means appointed for
maintenance of truth, order, peace, decency, edification, and
all such purposes, for remedy of aU contrary mischiefs.
There are mentioned divers schisms and dissensions, the
which the Apostles did strive by instruction and persuasion to
remove, in which cases, supposing such an authority in being,
it is a wonder that they do not mind the parties dissenting of
having recourse thereto for decision of their causes, that they
do not exhort them to a submission thereto, that they do not
reprove them for declining such a remedy.
It is also strange that no mention is made of any appeal
made by any of the dissenting parties to the judgment of such
authority. Indeed, if such an authority had then been avowed by the
Christian Churches, it is hardly conceivable that any schisms
could subsist, there being so powerful a remedy against them ;
then notably visible and most effectual, because of its fresh
institution, before it was darkened or weakened by age.

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 267
Whereas the Apostolical writings do inculcate our subjection
to one Lord in heaven, it is much they should never consider
his vicegerent, or vicegerents upon earth; notifying and pressing
the duties of obedience and reverence towards them.
There are indeed exhortations to honour the elders, and to
obey the guides of particular Churches ; but the honour and
obedience due to those paramount authorities, or universal
governors, is passed over in dead silence, as if no such thing
had been thought of.
They do expressly avow the secular pre-eminence, and press
submission to the Emperor as supreme ; why do they not like
wise mention this no less considerable ecclesiastical supremacy,
or enjoin obedience thereto ? why " honour the king," and be
" subject to principalities" so often, but honour the spiritual
prince or senate doth never occur?*
If there had been any such authority, they would probably
have been some intimation concerning the persons in whom it
was settled, concerning the place of their residence, concerning
the manner of its being conveyed, (by election, succession, or
otherwise.) Probably the persons would have some proper name, title
or character to distinguish them from inferior governors ;
that to the place some mark of pre-eminence would have been
affixed. It is not unlikely, that somewhere some rules or directions
would have been prescribed for the management of so high a
trust ; for preventing miscarriages and abuses to which it is
notoriously liable.
It would have been declared absolute, or the limits of it
would have been determined, to prevent its enslaving God's

But of these things in the Apostolical writings, or in any
near those times, there doth not appear any footstep or preg
nant intimation.
There hath never to this day been any place but one
(namely Rome) which hath pretended to be the seat of
such an authority ; the plea whereof we largely have ex
amined. At present we shaU only observe, that before the Roman,
Church was founded, there were Churches otherwhere ; there
was a great Church at Jerusalem (which indeed was the
* Rom. xiii. 1 ; Tit. Ui. 1 ; 1 Peter ii. 13, 17 ; 1 Tim. i. 2.

268 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING
mother of all Churches,* and was by the Fathers so styled,
however Rome now doth arrogate to herself that title).*f
There were issuing from that mother a fair offspring of
Churches (those of Judea, of Galilea, of Samaria, of Syria
and Cilicia, of divers other places), before there was any
Church at Rome, or that St. Peter did come thither ; which
was at least divers years after our Lord's ascension. St. Paul}
was converted — after five years he went to Jerusalem, then
St. Peter was there ;§ after fourteen years thence he went to
Jerusalem again, and then St. Peter was there ; after that, he
met with St. Peter at Antioch. Where then was this autho
rity seated ? How then did the poUtical unity of the Church
subsist ? Was the seat of the sovereign authority first resi
dent at Jerusalem, when St. Peter preached there ? Did it
walk thence to Antioch, fixing itself there for seven years ?
Was it thence translated to Rome, and settled there ever
since ? Did this roving and inconstancy become it ?
5. The primitive state of the Church did not weU comport
with such an unity.
For Christian Churches were founded in distant places,
as the Apostles did find opportunity, or received direction
to found them ; which therefore could not, without extreme
inconvenience, have resort or reference to one authority, any
where fixed.
Each Church therefore separately did order its own affairs,
without recourse to others, except for charitable advice or
relief in cases of extraordinary difficulty or urgent need.
Each Church was endowed with a perfect liberty and a
full authority, without dependence or subordination to others,
to govern its own members, to manage its own affairs, to
decide controversies and causes incident among themselves,
without allowing appeals, or rendering accounts to others.
This appeareth by the Apostolical writings of St. Paul
and St. John to single Churches ; wherein they are supposed

* Acts ii. 41, 47 ; iv. 4; vi. 1; viii. 1. — ' F.irXnBvvtro dpiBpbg t&v
pa9nrS>v iv 'ltpovoaXrjv oipoipa. — Acts vi. 7.
t Mijrijp dirao&v tiSv 'EKKXnoiiSv ij i" ltpoooXbpoig. — Cone.
Const, in Synod. Ep. Theod. v. 9.
X Acts ix. 31; xv. 41 ; ii. 19 ; viii. 1.
§ 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 19; Rom. xvi. 4. Vales, in Euseb. ii. 16. Gal. i.
18, 19; ii. ,1,9, 11.

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 269
able to exercise spiritual power for establishing decency, re
moving disorders, correcting offences, deciding causes, &c*
6. This AiiTovofiia, and liberty of Churches, doth appear to
have long continued in practice inviolate ; although tempered
and modeUed in accommodation to the circumstances of place
and time.
It is true, that if any Church did notoriously forsake the
truth, or commit disorder in any kind, other Churches did
sometime take upon them (as the case did move) to warn,
advise, reprove it, and to declare against its proceedings, as
prejudicial not only to the welfare of that Church, but to the
common interests of truth and peace ; but this was not in way
of commanding authority, but of fraternal solicitude ; or that of
liberty which equity and prudence do allow to equals in regard
to common good :f so did the Roman Church interpose in
reclaiming the Church of Corinth from its disorders and sedi
tions : so did St. Cyprian and St. Denys of Alexandria, meddle
in the affairs of the Roman Church, exhorting Novatian and
his adherents to return to the peace of their Church.
It is also true, that the bishops of several adjacent Churches
did use to meet upon emergencies (concerning the mainte
nance of truth, order and peace ; concerning settlement and
approbation of pastors, &c.) to consult and conclude upon
expedients for attaining such ends ; this probably they did at
first in a free way, without rule, according to occasion, as
prudence suggested ; but afterwards, by confederation and
consent, those conventions were formed into method, and
regulated by certain orders established by consent, whence did
arise an ecclesiastical unity of government, within certain
precincts ; much like that of the United States in the Nether
lands ; the which course was very prudential, and useful for
preserving the truth of rehgion and unity of faith against here
tical devices springing up in that free age ; for maintaining
concord and good correspondence among Christians, together
with a harmony in manners and discipline ; for that other
wise Christendom would have been shattered and crumbled
into numberless parties, discordant in opinion and practice ;
and consequently alienated in affection, which inevitably
among most men doth follow difference of opinion and man-
* Apoc. ii. and iii. ; 1 Cor. xiv. 40 ; 1 Thess. v. 14 ; 1 Cor. v. 12 ; vi. 1.
f Iren. iii. c. 2.

2/0 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING
ners, so that in short time it would not have appeared
what Christianity was, and consequently the religion, being
overgrown with differences and discords, must have pe
rished. Thus in the case, about admitting the lapsi to communion,
St. Cyprian relates, " when the persecution* (of Deeius)
ceased, so that leave was now given us to meet in one place
together, a considerable number of bishops whom their own
faith and God's protection had preserved sound and entire
(from the late apostasy and persecution) being assembled, we
deliberated of the composition of the matter with wholesome
moderation," &c.
Which thing also Agrippinusf of blessed memory, with his
fellow-bishops who then governed the Church of Christ in
the African province and in Numidia did establish ; and by
the well-weighed examination of the common advice of them
altogether confirmed it.
Thus it 'was the custom of the Churches of Asia, as Fir-
milian telleth us in those words :
" Upon which occasion it necessarily happens, that every
year we the elders and rulers do come together to regulate
those things which are committed to our care ; that if there
should be any things of greater moment, by common advice
they be determined."}
Yet while things went thus, in order to common truth and
peace ; every Church in more private matters, touching its own
particular state, did retain its liberty and authority, without
being subject or accountable to any but the common Lord ; in
such cases even Synods of bishops did not think it proper or

* Persecutione sopitA, cum data esset facultas in unum conveniendi,
copiosus Episcoporum numerus, quos integros et incolumes fide sua ac
Domini tutela protexit, in unum convenimus, et scripturis diu ex utraque
parte prolatis, temperamentam salubri moderatione libravimus, &c. Cypr.
Ep. 52. (ad Antonian.) [Ep. 55. p. 106. Lipsiae, 1838.]
f Quod quidem et Agrippinus bonoe memoriae vir cum caeteris co-epis-
copis suis qui illo tempore in Provincia Africa et Numidia Ecclesiam
Domini gubernabant, statuit et librato consilii communis examine firmavit.
Cypr. Epist. 71. (ad Quint.) [Id. Ep. 71. p. 205.]
X Qua ex causa necessario apud nos fit, ut per singulos annos Seniores
et Praepositi in unum conveniamus, ad disponenda ea quae curae nostrse
commissa sunt; ut si qua graviora sunt communi consilio dirieantur.
Cypr. Ep. 75. [Id. Ep. 75. p. 231. sect. 4.]

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 271
just for them to interpose, to the prejudice of that liberty
and power which derived from a higher source.*
These things are very apparent, as by the course of eccle
siastical history, so particularly in that most precious monu
ment of antiquity, St. Cyprian's Epistles ; by which it is most
evident, that in those times every bishop or pastor was con
ceived to have a double relation or capacity, one toward his
own flock, another toward the whole flock.
One toward his own flock ; by virtue of which, f he taking-
advice of his presbyters, together with " the conscience of his
people assisting,"} did order all things tending to particular
edification, order, peace, reformation, censure, &c. without
fear of being troubled by appeals, or being liable to give any
account but to his own Lord, whose vicegerent he was.§
Another toward the whole Church, in behalf of his people ;
upon account whereof he did (according to occasion or order)
apply himself to confer with other bishops for preservation of
the common truth and peace, when they could hot otherwise
be well upheld, than by the joint conspiring of the pastors of
divers Churches.
So that the case of bishops was like to that of princes ;
each of whom hath a free superintendence in his own ter
ritory, but for to uphold justice and peace of the world, or
between adjacent nations the intercourse of several princes is
needful. The peace of the Church was preserved by communion of
all parts together, not by the subjection of the rest to one part.
* Sirperest ut de hac ipsa re singuli quid sentiamus, proferamus, ne-
minemjudicantesauta jure communionis aliquemsidiversumsenseritamo-
ventes, &c. Vid. Cone. Carthag. apud Cypr. p. 399. [p. 266. Pars 2.
Paris, 1834.] Vid. Syn. Ant. Can. 9.
t Vide Epist. 28. 39. 14. 18.
J: Sub Pppuli assistentis conscientia. Cypr. Epist. 78. ,
$ Actum suum disponit, et dirigit unusquisque Episcopus, rationem
propositi sui Domino redditurus. Cypr. Epist. 52. [Ep. 55. Lipsiae, 1838.]
Cim statutum sit omnibus nobis ac aequum sit pariter ac justum, ut uni-
uscujusque causa illic audiatur, ubi est crimen admissum ; et singulis Pasto-
ribus portio Gregis sit adscripta, quam regat unusquisque Propositus ra
tionem actus sui Domino redditurus. Cypr. Ep. 55. ad — [Id. Ep. 59.
p. 144. sect. 20.] Qua in re nee nos vim cuiquam facimus, nee legem
damus, cum habeat in Ecclesiae administratione voluntatis suae liberum
arbitrium unusquisque Praepositus, rationem actus sui Domino redditurus.
Cypr. Ep. 72. ad Steph. P. [Id. Ep. 72. p. 208.] Vide Ep. 73. p. 186.
Ep. 76. p. 212.

272 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING
7. This political unity doth not well accord with the nature
and genius of the evangelical dispensation.
Our Saviour affirmed, that "his kingdom is not of this
world;"* and St. Paul telleth us, that it consisteth in a spi
ritual influence upon the souls of men ; producing in them
virtue, spiritual joy and peace.f
It disavoweth and discountenanceth " the elements of the
world,"} by which worldly designs are carried on, and worldly
frames sustained.
It requireth not to be managed by poUtic artifices or " fleshly
wisdom," § but by simplicity, sincerity, plain deaUng : as every
subject of it must lay aside all guUe and dissimulation, so espe
cially the officers of it must do so, in conformity to the Apos
tle's word, who " had their conversation in the world (and pro
secuted their design) in simpUcity and godly sincerity, not with
fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God ; not walking in
craftiness, or handling the word of God deceitfully," &c. ||
It needed not to be supported or enlarged by wealth and
pomp, or by compulsive force and violence ; for " God hath
chosen ihe foolish things of the world to confound the wise ;
and the weak things of the world to confound the mighty, and
base despicable things, &c. that no flesh should glory in his
presence."^" And, "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but
mighty through God," &c.**
It discountenanceth the imposition of new laws and pre
cepts, beside those which God hath enjoined, or which are ne
cessary for order and edification ; derogating from the Uberty
of Christians and from the simplicity of our religion.ff
The government of the Christian state is represented purely
spiritual ; administered by meek persuasion, not by imperious
awe ; as an humble ministry, not as stately domination ; for
the Apostles themselves did not " lord it over men's faith,
but did co-operate to their joy : they did not preach them
selves, but Christ Jesus to be the Lord, and themselves then-
servants for Jesus."}}
• John xviii. 36. t Rom. xiv. 17.
X Gal. iv. 3, 9 ; Col. ii. 20. § 1 Pet. ii. 1.
|| 2 Cor. i. 12 ; 2 Cor. iv. 2 ; ii. 17 (icajrqX.) ; 1 Thess. ii. 3, 5.
f 1 Cor. i. 27; James ii. 5. ** 2 Cor. x. 4.
tt Matth. xv. 9 ; Colos. ii. 8, 20, 21 ; Gal. iv. 10.
1* 2 Cor. i. 24 ; 2 Cor. iv. 5.

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 273
It is expressly forbidden to them, " to domineer over God's
people."* They are to be qualified with gentleness and patience ; they
are forbidden to strive, and enjoined to be " gentle toward all,
apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that op
pose themselves."f
They are " to convince, to rebuke, to exhort with all long-
suffering and doctrine."}
They are furnished with no arms beside the "divine
panoply ;\ they bear no sword, but that of the Spirit, which
is the Word of God — they may teach, reprove — they cannot
compel." They are not to be entangled in the cares of this life.||
But supposing the Church was designed to be one in this
manner of political regiment, it must be quite another thing ;
nearly resembling a worldly state, yea in effect soon resolving
itself into such an one ; supposing, as is now pretended, that
its management is committed to an Ecclesiastical monarch, it
must become a worldly kingdom ; for such a polity could not
be upheld without applying the same means and engines,
without practising the same methods and arts, whereby secular
governments are maintained.
Its majesty must be supported by conspicuous pomp and
phantastry. Its dignity and power must be supported by wealth ; which
it must corrade and accumulate by large incomes, by exaction
of tributes and taxes.
It must exert authority in enacting of laws for keeping its
state in order, and securing its interests, backed with rewards
and pains ; especially considering, its title being so dark and
grounded on no clear warrant, many always will contest it.
It must apply constraint and force, for procuring obedience,
and correcting transgression.

* 1 Pet. v. 3 ; Matth. xx. 25, 26.
t 2 Cor. vi. 4 ; 1 Tim. iii. 3 ; Tit. ii. 2 ; 2 Tim. ii. 24, 25.
X Chrys. Isid. 2 Tim. iv. 2. Episcopus praeest volentibus non nolen-
tibus. Hier. Ep. 3. (adNepot.)
§ ' AvaXdfitTt rfiv iravOTrXiav Qtov. Eph. vi. 13 ; vi. 17.
|| 2 Tim. ii. 4. — MaXiffra ydp a irdvrtiiv xQioriavoig oi/c i^tXrai irpbg
j3iav iiravoaBovv rd rSiv dpapravovriav Trraiopara. — Chrys. de Sacerd.
2. [p. 457. vol. 1. Paris. 1834.] 'Evrav9a ov {SiaZoptvov, dXXd
IrUBovra iti iroitiv aptf-vot rov toiovtov. Ibid.
VOL. VIII. T

274 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING
It must have guards to preserve its safety and authority.
It must be engaged in wars, to defend itself and make good
its interests.
It must use subtilty and artifice, for promoting its interests,
and countermine the policies of adversaries.
It must erect judicatories, and must decide causes with for
mality of legal process ;* whence tedious suits, crafty pleadings,
quirks of law and pettifoggeries, fees and charges, extortion
and barretry, &c. will necessarily creep in.f
All which things do much- disagree from the original con
stitution and design of the Christian Church, which is averse
from pomp, doth reject domination, doth not require craft,
wealth or force to maintain it ; but did at first, and may
subsist without any such means.}
I do not say that an Ecclesiastical society may not lawfully
for its support, use power, policy, wealth, in some measure to
uphold or defend itself ; but that a constitution needing such
things is not divine ; or that so far as it doth use them, it is
no more than human.
Thus in effect we see that it hath succeeded, from the pre
tence of this unity ; the which hath indeed transformed the
Church into a mere worldly state ; wherein the monarch
beareth the garb of an emperor, in external splendour surpass
ing all worldly princes, crowned with a triple crown. §
He assumeth the most haughty titles of, our most holy
Lord, the vicar-general of Christ, &c. and he suffereth men
to call him the Monarch of kings, &c.
He hath respects paid him, like to which no potentate doth
assume, (having his feet kissed, riding upon the backs of men,
letting princes hold his stirrup and lead his horse.) ||
He hath a court, and is attended With a train of courtiers

* "Ertpov ti irapd rdg jroXmcdc dpxdg ol dpxovrtg. Arist. Pol. iv.
15. t Is modus qui frequentatur exeerabilis plane, et qui non dico Eccle
siam, sed nee forum deceret, &c. Bern, de Consid. I. 10 — Attendens
itaque S. Synodus, qubd spiritualia sine carnalibus sustineri nequeant. Syn.
Bass. Sess. 42. ,n
X Omnis pulchritado Alias Regis intrinseens. Aug. Ep. 68.
§ One crown doth serve an emperor, but he must have a triple : to
kiss the hands of a king is a sufficient respect, but you cannot salute him
without kissing his blessed feet.
|| That which Seneca did take for a piece of enormous pride in Caligula.
De Benef. ii. 12.

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 275
surpassing in state and claiming precedence to the peers of
any kingdom.*
He is encompassed with armed guards, Switzers.
He hath a vast revenue, supplied by tributes and imposts,
sore and grievous ; the exaction of which hath made divers
nations of Christendom to groan most lamentably.
He hath raised numberless wars and commotions for the
promotion and advancement of his interests.
He administereth things with all depth of policy, to advance
his designs.
He hath enacted volumes of laws and decrees to which
obedience is exacted with rigour and forcible constraint.f
He draweth grist from all parts to his courts of judgment,
wherein all the formalities of suspense, all the tricks of squeez
ing money, &c. are practised, to the great trouble and charge
of parties concerned.
Briefly; it is plain, that he doth exercise the proudest,
mightiest, subtlest domination that ever was over Christians.}
8. The union of the whole Church in one body, under one
government or sovereign authority, would be inconvenient and
hurtful ; prejudicial to the main designs of Christianity ; de
structive to the welfare and peace of mankind in many
respects. This we have shewed particularly concerning the pretence of
the Papacy ; and those discourses being applicable to any like
universal authority (perhaps with more advantage, monarchy
being less subject to abuse than other ways of government), I
shall forbear to say more.
9. Such an union is of no need, would be of small use, or
would do little good ; in balance to the great mischiefs and in
conveniences which it would produce.
This point also we have declared, in regard to the Papacy,
and we might say the same concerning any other like authority
substituted thereto.
10. Such a connexion of Churches is not anywise needful
or expedient to the design of Christianity, which is to reduce
mankind to the knowledge, love, and reverence of God ; to a-
just and loving conversation together ; to the practice of so-
* Cardin. vid. Uss. p. 103.
t Sub mortali. — He imposes rigorous oaths of fealty and obedience.
t Exaltatio, et inflatio, et arrogans ac superba jactatio, non de Christi
magisterio, qui humilitatem docet, sed de Antichristi spiritu nascitur.
Cypr. Ep. 55. (ad P. Cornel.)
T 2

276 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING
briety, temperance, purity, meekness, and all other virtues ; all
which things may be compassed without forming men into
such a pohcy.*
It is expedient there should be particular societies in which
men may concur in worshipping God, and promoting that de
sign by instructing and provoking one another to good practice,
in a regular, decent and orderly way.
It is convenient that the subjects of each temporal so
vereignty should live as in a civil, so in a spiritual uniformity,
in order to the preservation of goodwill and peace among them
(for that neighbours differing in opinion and fashions of
practice will be apt to contend each for his way, and thence to
disaffect one another), for the beauty and pleasant harmony of
agreement in divine things, for the more commodious succour
and defence of truth and piety by unanimous concurrence.
But that all the world should be so joined is needless, and
will be apt to produce more mischief than benefit.
1 1 . The Church in the Scripture sense hath ever continued
one, and will ever continue so, notwithstanding that it hath
not had this political unity.
12. It is in fact apparent that Churches have not been thus
united, which yet have continued Catholic and Christian.
It were great, no less folly than uncharitableness to say, that
the Greek Church hath been none
There is no Church that hath in effect less reason than that
of Rome to prescribe to others.
13. The reasons alleged in proof of such an unity are in
sufficient and inconcluding, the which (with great diligence,
although not with the like perspicuity) advanced by a late divine
of great repute, and collected out of his writings with some
care, are those which briefly proposed do follow, together with
answers declaring their invalidity.
Arg. I. The name Church is attributed to the whole body of
Christians, which implieth unity, f
Answ. This indeed doth imply an unity of the Church, but
determineth not the kind or ground thereof, there being seve
ral kinds of unity ; one of those which we have touched, or
several, or all of them may suffice to ground that comprehen
sive appellation.
Arg. II. Our Creeds do import the beUef of such an unity ;}
for in the Apostolical we profess to believe the holy Catholic
* Tit. ii. 12. t Epil. p. 38. Lat. p. 114. X Epil. Lat. 144.

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 277
Church; in the Constantinopolitan, the holy CathoUc and
Apostolic Church.
Answ. 1 . The most ancient summaries of Christian faith ex
tant in the first Fathers (Irenseus, TertuUian, Cyprian, &c.)
do not contain this point.*
The word CathoUc was not originally in the Apostolical (or
Roman) Creed, but was added after Ruffin and St. Augustine's
time. This article was inserted into the Creeds upon the rise of
heresies and schisms to discountenance and disengage from
them. Answ: 2. We do avow a Catholic Church in many respects
one, wherefore not the unity of the Church, but the kind and
manner of unity being in question, the Creed doth not oppose
what we say, nor can with reason be alleged for the special
kind of unity which is pretended.
Answ. 3. That the unity mentioned in the Constantinopoli
tan Creed is such as our adversaries contend for, of external
policy, is precariously assumed, and relieth only upon their
interpretation obtruded on us.
¦ Answ. 4. The genuine meaning of that article may reasona
bly be deemed this : that we profess our adhering to the body
of Christians, which diffused over the world doth retain the
faith taught, the discipline settled, the practices appointed by
our Lord and his Apostles ; that we maintain general charity
toward all good Christians, that we are ready to entertain com
munion in holy offices with all such ; that we are willing to
observe the laws and orders established by authority or consent
of the Churches, for maintenance of truth, order and peace ;
that we renounce all heretical doctrines, all disorderly prac
tices, all conspiracy with any factious combinations of people.f
Answ. 5. That this is the meaning of the article, may suffi
ciently appear from the reason and occasion of introducing it ;
which was to secure the truth of Christian doctrine, the au
thority of ecclesiastical discipline, and the common peace of
the Church ; according to the discourses and arguments of the
Fathers (Irenseus, TertuUian, St. Augustine, Vincentius Liri-
nensis), the which do plainly countenance our interpretation.
Answ. 6. It is not reasonable to interpret the article so as
will not consist with the state of the Church in the Apostoli-
* Iren. Tert. Cyp. Cone. Nic. X Ilapaovvayuiyai.

278 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING
cal and most primitive ages, when evidently there was no such
a political conjunction of Christians.
Arg. III. The Apostles delivered one rule of faith to all
Churches,* the embracing and profession whereof, celebrated in
baptism, was a necessary condition to the admission into the
Church, and to continuance therein, therefore Christians are
combined together in one political body.
Answ. 1 . The consequence is very weak, for from the ante
cedent it can only be inferred, that (according to the sentiment
of the ancients) all Christians should consent in one faith,
which unity we avow, and who denieth ?
Answ. 2. By like reason all mankind must be united in one
political body, 'because all men are bound to agree in what the
light of nature discovereth to be true and good, or because the
principles of natural religion, justice, and humanity are com
mon to all.
Arg. IV. God hath granted to the Church certain powers
and rights, as Jura Majestatis, namely, the power of the
keys (to admit into, to exclude from the kingdom of heaven),
a power to enact laws (for maintenance of its order and peace,
for its edification and welfare), a power to correct and excom
municate offenders, a power to hold assembUes for God's ser
vice, a power to ordain governors and pastors.-)"
Answ. 1. These powers are granted to the Church, because
granted to each particular Church or distinct society of Chris
tians, not to the whole as such or as distinct from the parts.
Answ. 2. It is evident that by virtue of such grants particu
lar Churches do exercise those powers ; and it is impossible to
infer more from them than a justification of their practice.
Answ.. 3. St. Cyprian often from that common grant doth
infer the right of exercising disciphne in each particular
Church, which inference would not be good, but upon our
supposition ; nor indeed otherwise would any particular Church
have ground for its authority.
Answ. 4. God hath granted the Uke rights to aU princes and
states, but doth it thence follow that all kingdoms and states
nrast be united into one single regiment ? The consequence is
just the same as in our case.
Arg. V. All Churches were tied to observe the same laws or
* Ep. p. 40. Lat. p. 144—151.
t Epil. p. 37, 49. Lat. p. 153, 118. Leges ferre. Lat. p. 171. Lat.
p. 54.

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 279
rules of practice, the same orders of discipUne and customs,
therefore all do make one corporation.*
Answ. 1 . That all Churches are bound to observe the same
divine institutions, doth argue only an unity of relation to the
same heavenly King, or a specified unity and similitude of po-
Ucy, the which we do avow.
Answ. 2. We do also acknowledge it convenient and decent,
that all Churches in principal observances, introduced by hu
man prudence, should agree so near as may be, an uniformity
in such things representing and preserving unity of faith, of
charity, of peace.
Whence the governors of the Primitive Church did endea
vour such an uniformity, as the Fathers of Nice profess in the
canon forbidding of Genuflexion on Lord's days, and in the
days of Pentecost.f
Answ. 3. Yet doth not such an agreement, or attempt at it,
infer a political unity, no more than when aU men, by virtue
of a primitive general tradition, were tied to offer sacrifices and
oblations to God ; that consideration might argue all men to
have been under the same government ; or no more than the
usual agreement of neighbour nations in divers fashions doth
conclude such an unity.
Answ. 4. In divers customs and observances several Churches
did vary, with allowance, which doth rather infer a difference
of pohty than agreement in other observances doth argue an
unity thereof.}
Answ. 5. St. Cyprian doth affirm, that in such matters
every bishop had a power to use his own discretion, without
being obliged to comply with others. §
Arg. VI. The Jewish Church was one corporation, and in
• Ep. p. 42, 49. Lat. p. 151, 219. 1 Cor. xi. 16.
t 'Yirkp rov irdvra iv -irdon irapoiKiq. bpoiwg tyvXarTtaQai.— Cone.
Nic. Can. 20.— Vide de Paschate.
X Vide Aug. Epist. 86. (ad Casul.) Ep. 118. ad Jan. Cypr. Ep. 75. p.
198. Iren. apud Euseb. 5. 24. Socr. 5. 22. 7. 19.— Caetera jam dis
ciplines et conversationis admittent novitatem correctionis, hac lege ma-
nente, &c. Tert. de Virg. vel. Thornd. Lat. p. 219. P. Greg. I. In una
fide nihil officit sanctse Ecclesias consuetudo diversa. P. Greg. I. Epist.
I. 41. P. Leo IX. Epist. I. cap. 29. Nil obsunt salnti credentium di
versae pro loco et tempore consuetadines, quando una fides per dilectionem
operans bona quae potest uni Deo commendat omnes. P. Nic. I. Ep. 6.
De consuetudinibus quidem, quern nobis opponere visi estis, scribentes per
diversas Ecclesias diversas esse consuetadines, si illis canonica non resistit
auctoritas, pro qua eis obviare debeamus, nil judicamus vel eis resistimus,
&c. § Cypr. Ep. 73.

280 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING
correspondence thereto the Christian Church should be
such.* Answ. 1 . As the Christian Church doth in some things cor
respond to that of the Jews, so it differeth in others, being de
signed to excel it ; wherefore this argumentation cannot be
valid ; and may as well be employed for our opinion as
against it.
Answ. 2. In like manner it may be argued, that all Chris
tians should annually meet in one place ; that aU Christians
should have one archpriest on earth ; that we should all be
subject to one temporal jurisdiction, that we should aU speak
one language, &c.
Answ. 3. There is a great difference in the case, for the
Israelites were one small nation, which conveniently might be
embodied ; but the Christian Church should consist of aU na
tions, which rendereth correspondence in this particular im
practicable, at least without great inconvenience.
Answ. 4. Before the law Christian religion, and conse
quently a Christian Church, did in substance subsist, but what
unity of government was there then ?f
Answ. 5. The temporal union of the Jews might only figure
the spiritual unity of Christians in faith, charity, and peace.
Arg. VII. AU ecclesiastical power was derived from the
same fountains, by succession from the Apostles, therefore the
Church was one political body.}
Answ. 1 . Thence we may rather infer that Churches are not
so united, because the founders of them were several persons
endowed with co-ordinate and equal power. §
Answ. 2. The Apostles did in several Churches constitute
bishops, independent from each other ; and the like may be
now, either by succession from those, or by the constitutions
of human prudence, according to emergencies of occasion and
circumstances of things.
Answ. 3. Divers Churches were AMvopoi • and aU were so,
according to St. Cyprian.
Answ. 4. All temporal power is derived from Adam and the
Patriarchs, ancient fathers of families ; doth it thence follow
that all the world must be under one secular government ?
Arg. VIII. All Churches did exercise a power of excommu-
* Ep.p. 39. Lat. p. 159.
t Euseb. Hist. 1. 4. Baron. App. 2.
X Ep.p. 51, 55. Lat. p 157. % Iren. 3. 3. Tert. Praescr. 31, 32.

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 281
nication, or of excluding heretics, schismatics, disorderly and
scandalous people.*
Answ. 1 . Each Church was vested with this power ; this
doth therefore only infer a resemblance of several Churches in
discipline, which we avow.
Answ. 2. This argueth that all Churches took themselves to
be obliged to preserve the same faith, to exercise charity and
peace, to maintain the like holiness of conversion : what thenT
do we deny this ?
Answ. 3. All kingdoms and states do punish offenders against
reason and justice, do banish seditious and disorderly persons,
.do uphold the principles and practice of common honesty and
morality ; doth it thence follow that all nations must come
under one civil government ?+
Arg. IX. AU Churches did maintain intercourse and com
merce with each other by formed, communicatory, pacificatory,
commendatory, synodical epistles.}
Answ. 1. This doth signify that the Churches did by admo
nition, advice, &c. help one another in maintenance of the
common faith, did endeavour to preserve charity, friendship
and peace ; this is all which thence may be concluded.
Answ. 2. Secular princes are wont to send ambassadors and
envoys with letters and instructions for settlement of corres
pondence and preserving peace, they sometimes do recommend
their subjects to other princes, they expect offices of humanity
toward their subjects travelhng or trading any where in the

• Ep. p. 59, 125. Lat. 185, 195.
t Excommunication of other Churches is only a declaration against
their deviation from Christian truth, or piety, or charity. — Communio
suspensa restituiter demonstranti causas, quibus id acciderat, jam esse
detersas, et profitenti conditiones pacis impletas. P. Inn. I. Ep. 16. (de
Attico Constant. Ep.)
X Ep. p. 69. Lat. p. 222.— Liters: formates. Optat. 2. Cone. Milev.
Can. 20. — Communicatoriae. Aug. Ep. 162, 163. — Kai rd irapd rovrov
KoivmviKq.. Euseb. 7. 30. Cypr. Ep. 55, 67. — Tpdppara ovorariKd.
Apost. Can. 12. — EipnviKai. Cone. Chald. Can. 11. — EvvoSucai. Soz.
7. 11. Cone. VI. Act. 11. (p. 158, 198, 223.) Greg. M. (Ep.) P. Zach.
Baron. A. 743. §. 29. — Significa plane nobis quis in locum Marciani
Arelate fuerit substitutes, ut sciamus ad quern fratres nostros dirigere, et
cui scribere debeamus. — Cypr. Ep. 42. 67. ad P. Steph. (p. 161.) Ep.
55. (N. B. p. 113.) — 'Evbg oiaparog ovrog rrjg KaBoXiKrjg 'EKKXnoiag,
lvToXr)g T£ ovong kv rate Seiaig. ypaipalg rrjptiv ovvitopov rrjg bpo-
voiag Kal tipiivqg, aKoXovBov ion ypdipav ripdg, Kai onpaivtiv aXXt;-
Xoig rd 7rap' iicaffroic yiyv6p.tva, &c. Alexandri Epist. Socr. I. 6.

282 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING
world, common reason doth require such things, but may com
mon unity of polity from hence be inferred ?
Arg. X. The effectual preservation of unity in the Primitive
Church is alleged as a strong argument of its being united in
one government.*
Answ. 1. That unity of faith and charity and disciphne,
which we admit, was indeed preserved, not by influence of any
one sovereign authority (whereof there is no mention), but by
the concurrent vigilance of bishops, declaring and disputing
against any novelty in doctrine or practice which did start up,
by their adherence to the doctrine asserted in Scripture and
confirmed by tradition, by their aiding and abetting one ano
ther as confederates against errors and disorders creeping in.
Answ. 2. The many differences which arose concerning the
observation of Easter, the re-haptization of heretics, the re-
conciUation of revolters and scandalous criminals, concerning
the decision of causes and controversies, &c. do more clearly
shew that there was no standing common jurisdiction in the
Church ; for had there been such an one, recourse would have
been had thereto, and such differences by its authority would
easily have been quashed.
Arg. XI. Another argument is grounded on the rehef which
one Church did yield to another, which supposeth aU Churches
under one government, imposing such tribute.-)"
Answ. 1 . This is a strange fetch, as if aU who were under
obligation to relieve one another in need, were to be under one
government. Then all mankind must be so.
Answ. 2. It appeareth by St. Paul that these succours were
of free charity, favour and UberaUty, and not by constraint.}
Arg. XII. The use of Councils is also alleged as an argu
ment of this unity. §
Answ. 1. General CouncUs (in case truth is disowned ;|| that
peace is disturbed, that discipline is loosed or perverted) are
wholesome expedients to clear truth and heal breaches ; but
the holding them is no more an argument of political unity in
the Church, than the treaty of Munster was a sign of aU Eu
rope being under one civU government.
* Ep. p. 64. Lat. p. 221.
t Ep. p. 119. Lat. p. 209.
X 2 Cor. viii. 3. aiOaiperoi. Vers. 8. ou icar' iirirayr)v. 2 Cor. ix. 7.
ticaoToc K<i9£>g irpoaipiirai. Rom. xv. 26. tiSoKnaav. Acts xi. 29 ; xxiv.
17. iXtnpoovvag iroii)Oiov.
§ Ep. p. 51. Lat. p. 400. || Aug.

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 283
Answ. 2. They are extraordinary, arbitrary, prudential
means of restoring truth, peace, order, discipline; but from
them nothing can be gathered concerning the continual ordi
nary state of the Church.
Answ. 3. For during a long time the Church wanted them,
and afterwards had them but rarely. " For the first three
hundred years (saith BeUarmine*) there was no general assem
bly, afterwards scarce one in a hundred years.
And since the breach between the Oriental and Western
Churches for many centenaries there hath been none.
Yet was the Church from the beginning one, tUl Constan
tine and long afterwards.
Answ. 4. The first General Councils (indeed all that have
been with any probable show capable of that denomination)
were congregated by emperors to cure the dissensions o*
bishops ; what therefore can be argued from them, but that
the emperors did find it good to settle peace and truth, and
took this for a good mean thereto ?
Alb. Pighius said that General Councils were an invention
of Constantine, and who can confute him ?f
Answ. 5. They do shew rather the unity of the empire than
of the Church, or of the Church as national under one empire
than as catholic ; for it was the state which did call and mo
derate them to its purposes.
Answ. 6. It is manifest that the congregation of them de-
pendeth on the permission and pleasure of secular powers, and
in all equity should do so (as otherwhere is shewn).}
Answ. 7. It is not expedient that there should be any of
them now that Christendom standeth divided under divers
temporal sovereignties, for their resolutions may intrench on
the interests of some princes, and hardly can they be accom
modated to the civil laws and customs of every state.
Whence we see that France wUl not admit the decrees of
their Tridentine Synod.
* Primis trecentis annis nulla fuit congregatio generalis ; postea verb
vix centesimo anno. DeRom. P. 1. 8.
t BeU.de Cone 1. 13. [Albertas Pighius, lib. 6.cap. 1. Bel. p. 13. vol.
2. Pragas, 1721.]
X The validity of synodical decrees (as spiritual) doth proceed from the
obligation to each singular bishop ; as if princes in confederacy do make
any sanction, the subjects of each are bound to observe them, not from any
relation to the body confederating, but because of their obligation to their
own prince consenting.

284 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING
Answ. 8. There was no such inconvenience in them while
Christendom was in a manner confined within one empire, for
then nothing could be decreed or executed without the empe
ror's leave or to his prejudice.
Answ. 9. Yea (as things now stand) it is impossible there
should be a free Council, most of the bishops being sworn
vassals and clients to the Pope, and by their own interests
concerned to maintain his exorbitant grandeur and domina
tion.* Answ. 10. In the opinion of St. Athanasius there was no
reasonable cause of Synods, except in case of new heresies
springing up, which may be confuted by the joint consent of
bishops.f Answ. 11. As for particular Synods, they do> only signify
that it was useful for neighbour bishops to conspire in promot
ing truth, order and peace, as we have otherwhere shewed.}
Councils have often been convened for bad designs, and been
made engines to oppress truth and enslave Christendom.
That of Antioch against Athanasius ; of Ariminum for
Arianism. The second Ephesine, to restore Eutyches, and
reject Flavianus. The second of Nice, to impose the worship
of Babies. The Synod of Ariminum, to countenance Arians.
So the fourth Synod of Lateran (sub Inn. III.), to settle the
prodigious doctrine of transubstantiation, and the wicked doc
trine of Papal authority over princes. The first Synod of
Lyons, to practise that hellish doctrine of deposing kings. The
Synod of Constance, to establish the maim of the Eucharist,
against the Calistines of Bohemia. The Lateran (under Leo X.)
was called (as the Archbishop of Patras affirmed) " for the
exaltation of the Apostolic see."§ The Synod of Trent, to
settle a raff of errors and superstitions.
Obj. II. It may farther be objected, that this doctrine doth
favour the conceits of the Independents, concerning ecclesiasti
cal discipline.
I answer, no. For,
* Hist. Tri. p. 67. A free Council. P. Leo I. Ep.
t At Si vvv Kivobptvai trap' avriSv oivoSoi icoiav ixovoiv tiXoyov
airiav, etc. Athan. de Syn. p. 873.
t Subrependi enim occasiones non prsetermittit ambitio, et quoties ob
intercurrentes causas generalis congregatio facta fuerit sacerdotem, difficile
est ut cupiditas improborum non aliquid supra mensuram suani non mo-
liatur appetere. Leo M. Ep. 62. (ad Maximum Ant. Ep.)
§ Pro Apostolicae Sedis exaltatione. Lat. Syn. Sess. 10. p. 129.

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 285
1. We do assert that every Church is bound to observe
the institutions of Christ, and that sort of government which
the Apostles did ordain, consisting of bishops, priests, and
people. 2. We avow it expedient (in conformity to the primitive
Churches, and in order to the maintenance of truth, order,
peace), for several particular churches or parishes to be com
bined in poUtical corporations ; as shall be found convenient
by those who have just authority to frame such corporations :
for that otherwise Christianity, being shattered into numberless
shreds, could hardly subsist ; and that great confusions must
arise. 3. We affirm, that such bodies having been established, and
being maintained by just authority, every man is bound to
endeavour the upholding of them by obedience, by peaceable
and compliant demeanour.
4. We acknowledge it a great crime, by factious behaviour
in them, or by needless separation from them, to disturb them,
to divide them, to dissolve or subvert them.*
5. We conceive it fit that every people under one prince (or
at least of one nation, using the same language, civil law, and
fashions) should be united in the bands of ecclesiastical polity ;
for that such a unity apparently is conducible to the peace and
welfare both of Church and State, to the furtherance of God's
worship and service, to the edification of people in charity and
piety, by the encouragement of secular powers, by the concur
rent advice and aid of ecclesiastical pastors, by many advan
tages hence arising.f
6. We suppose all Churches obliged to observe friendly
communion ; and, when occasion doth invite, to aid each
other by assistance and advice, in Synods of bishops, or
otherwise. 7. We do affirm, that all Churches are obliged to comply
with lawful decrees and orders, appointed in Synods with con
sent of their bishops, and allowed by the civil authorities, under
which they live : as if bishops of Spain and France assembling
* Jude 19. Oi diroSiopiZovTtg. — We allow the Apost. Can. 31. Eiric
KaTa<j>povr)oag rov iSiov 'EirtOKOTrov %wpic ovvaydyy, Kal Stvoiaorr)-
ptqv srepov irifey, pnSiv KartyvuiK&g rov 'Eitiokoitov iv sbotfitiQ Kal
BiKaioovvy, Ka9aiptio9bt tag QiXapxog, etc.
f A'lKaiov ovv ion vdvrag roiig iv np 'Piopawv Koopip SiSaaKaXovg
roii vopov avrd vtpl rou vopov Qpovelv, Kal pr] Siatpopoig SidaoKaXiaig
rr)v irianv piaivtiv. Syn. Rom. apud Theod. 2. 22.

286 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING
should agree upon constitutions of disciphne which the kings
of both those countries should approve ; and which should not
thwart God's laws ; both those Churches, and every man in
them, were bound to comply in observance of them.
From the premises divers corollaries may be deduced.
1 . Hence it appeareth, that all those clamours of the pre
tended Catholics against other Churches, for not submitting
to the Roman chair, are groundless, they depending on the
supposition, that all Churches must necessarily be united under
one Government.
2. The injustice of the adherents to that see ; in claiming
au empire (or jurisdiction) over aU, which never was designed
by our Lord; heavUy censuring and fiercely persecuting those
who will not acknowledge it.
3. All Churches, which have a fair settlement in several
countries, are co-ordinate ; neither can one challenge a juris
diction over the other.
4. The nature of schism is hence declared, viz. that it con
sisted in disturbing the order and peace of any single Church ;
in withdrawing from it obedience and compliance with it ; in
obstructing good correspondence, charity, peace, between
several Churches ; in condemning or censuring other Churches
without just cause, or beyond due measure.
In refusing to maintain communion with other Churches
without reasonable cause ; whence Firnulian did challenge
Pope Stephanus with schism.*
5. Hence the right way of reconciling dissensions among
Christians is not affecting to set up a political union of several
Churches, or subordination of all to one power ; not for one
Church to enterprise upon the Uberty of others, or to bring
others under it (as is the practice of the Roman Church
and its abetters), but for each Church to let the others alone,
quietly enjoying its freedom in ecclesiastical administrations,
only declaring against apparently hurtful errors and factions,
shewing good will, yielding succour, advice, comfort, upon
needful occasion, according to that excellent advice of the
Constantinopolitan Fathers to the Pope and Western Bishops
—(after having acquainted them with their proceedings)
towards the conclusion they thus exhort them :—
* Excidisti enirn teipsum ; noli te fallere ; siquidem ille est vere
Schismaticus, qui se a communione Ecclesiastics! Unitatis Apostate m
fecerit. Firmil. apud Cyp, Ep. 75.

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 287
" We having in a legal and canonical way determined these
controversies, do beseech your Reverence to congratulate with
us, your charity spiritually interceding, the fear of the Lord
also compressing all human affections, so as to make us to
prefer the edification of the Churches to all private respect
and favour towards each other, for by this means the word of
faith being consonant among us, and Christian charity bearing
sway over us, we shall cease from speaking after that manner
which the Apostle condemns, 'I am of Paul, and I am of
Apollos, but I am of Cephas :' for if we all do appear to be
of Christ, who is not divided amongst us, we shall then
through God's grace preserve the body of the Church from
schism, and present ourselves before the throne of Christ with
boldness."* 6. AU that withdraw their communion or obeisance from
particular Churches, fairly established (unto which they do
belong or where they reside), do incur the guilt of schism,
for such persons being de jure subject to those particular
Churches, and excommunicating themselves, do consequently
sever themselves from the Catholic Church, they commit
great wrong toward that particular Church, and toward the
whole Church of Christ.f
7. Neither doth their pretence of joining themselves to the
Roman Church excuse them from schism ; for the Roman
Church hath no reason or right to admit or to avow them
it hath no power to exempt or excuse them from their duty
it thereby abetteth their crime, and involveth itself therein
it wrongeth other Churches : as no man is freed from his
allegiance by pretending to put himself under the protection of
* Olc tvBkapwg Kal KavoviKwg irap' r)p~iv K£Kpar»jieo<7i Kal rr)v vptripav
ovyvaiptiv irapaKaXovptv tvXdfieiav, rrjg irvsvpanKrjg ptoirtvovonc.
iyda-i/s, <ai rov KvpiaKov 0o/3ov wdoav piv KaraoriXXovTog (compressing)
ivBpuTtivTiv Trpoowd8eiav, ttjv Si 'EkkXtioiuiv oiKoSoptjv irporiporkpav
xoiovvTog rrjg irpbg rov Ka8' 'iva avpiraBtiag r) xapirog- oiirw yap tovtc
rrig rrioTtiag ovprmvn9ivT0Q Xdyou, Kai rijc X9^TiavwiiS KvpuBtiong tv
r)piv ayairnc. navooptBa Xiyovrtg to irapd tSiv 'AvoBToXuivKaTtyva.
opivov, 'Ey(i uivtipi UavXov, iyio Si 'AvoXXiS, tyio it Ktfa- iravrsg
St Xpiorov <pavivTtg, 8c iv r)piv ov ptpiptorai aoporov ro oupa rr,E
'¦EKKXnoLaQTnPr)oopsv, Kal np Pnpan row K«p«o« ptra nappnoiag
irapaoTnobuiBa. — Theod. 5. 9. .
+ Aug. contra Jul. E. 2. Te certeoccidentahs terra generavit, occi
dentals regeneravit Ecclesia : quid ei quieris inferre quod in ea non in-
venisti, quando in ejus membra venisti ? imb quid, &c.

288 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING
another Prince, neither can another Prince justly receive such
disloyal revolters into his patronage.*
It is a rule grounded upon apparent equity, and frequently
declared by Ecclesiastical Canons, f that no Church shall
admit into its protection or communion any persons who are
excommunicated by another Church, or who do withdraw
themselves from it; (for self-excommunication or spiritual felony
de se doth involve the Church's excommunication, deserving
it, and preventing it.)}
Which canon, as the African Fathers do allege and expound
it, doth prohibit the Pope himself from receiving persons
rejected by any other Church. §
So when Marcion, having been excommunicated by his own
father, coming to Rome, did sue to be received by that
Church into communion, they refused, teUing him that " they
could not do it without the consent of his reverend father,
between whom and them there being one faith and one agree
ment of mind, they could not do it in opposition to then-
worthy fellow-labourer, who was also his father."||
St. Cyprian refused to admit Maximus (sent from the No-
vatian party) to communion.^"
So did Pope Cornelius reject Felicissimus, condemned by
St. Cyprian, without further inquiry.**
It was charged upon Dioscorus as a heinous misdemeanour,
* Syn. Sard. Can. 13. Gr.
t Thornd. Lat. p. 220.
X AvTOKaraKpnog. — Et rig cXijoueoc r) XaiKog dtytupiopivog, ijroi
dSsKrog dwtXBiov, iv iripa 7r6Xti SsxQy dvtv ypafipdnov ovaraTiK&v,
dipopiria9u) Kal b Seidptvog, Kal o StxBtig. Apost. Can. 12. — Kparsiru
r) yvwprj Kara rbv Kavova rbv Siayoptvovra roig ixft7 irspuiv diro-
fiXn9ivTag, vp' iripuv pr) irpooitoBai. Cone. Nic. Can. 5.
§ MnSi rovg trap' r)ptDv diroKoivuivrjTovg tig Koiviaviav tov Xoiwov
SkXrjTe Sk%aa9at, iirtiSdv tovto Kal ry iv NiKaia ovvoSia SpioOiv
tvxtpdg tvpot r) or) oefiaopioTng. Syn. Afr. Epist. ad P. Celest. I.
— Eiric virb tov iSiov 'EmoKowov aKotvuvnTog ykyovtv, pr) irpoTt-
pov avrbv Trap' iripiav Sex9r)vai, ti pr) iiir' ai/rov rrapaStxQtin too
iSiov 'EmoKoirov. Cone. Ant. Can. 6. Idem in Concil. Sard. Can. 13. 14.
(Graec.) || "EXeyt, rt pr) i8tXr)oaTs pt brroSkZaoQai; tiSv Sk Xtyovrwv, 'on
ob Svvdpt9a dvtv Trjg imTporrijg rov npiov irarpog oov rouro troir)-
oaf pia yap ionv r) wiong, Kai pia r) bpovoia, Kal ob SvvdpeBa
ivavTiwBijvai np KaXip ovXXtirovpyiji, irarpi Si om. Epiph Haer. 42
f Ep. 55. p. 113.
** Ep. 55. init. (abs te rejectam, Vid.) Vid. Rig. p. 79.

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 289
that he had, against the holy canons, by his proper authority,
received into communion persons excommunicated by others. *
The African Synod (at the suggestion of St. Augustine)
decreed, that "if it happened that any for their evU deeds
were deservedly expelled out of the Church, and taken again
into communion by any bishop or priest whosoever, that he
also who received him, should incur the same penalty of ex
communication . "t
The same is by later Papal Synods decreed.}
The words of Synesius are remarkable : he, having excom
municated some cruel oppressors, doth thus recommend the
case to all Christians. §
Upon which grounds|| I do not scruple to affirm the Recu
sants in England to be no less schismatics than any other
Separatists. They are indeed somewhat worse ; for most
others do only forbear communion, these do rudely condemn
the Church, to which they owe obedience, yea, strive to de
stroy it : they are most desperate rebels against it.
8. It is the duty and interest of all Churches to disclaim the
pretences of the Roman Court ; maintaining their liberties
and rights against its usurpations ; for compliance therewith,
* — Quosdam k diversis Conciliis rite damnatos, in communionem,
propria, auctoritate, suscepit, Sanctis Regulis prsecipientibus excommuni
cates ab aliis, in communionem alios non debere suscipere. Epist. Syn.
Chalced. ad Imper. Act. 4. p. 286. — KaBaiptBkvra KavoviKiSg rrapd
tov iSiov 'EiriaKovov ab8tvTf)aag aKavoviormg tig Koivwviav iSi-
iaro. Evagr. 2. 4.
t Augustinus Episcopus, legates Provinciae Numidiae dixit ; Hoc sta-
tuere dignamini, ut si qui forte merito facinorum suorum ab Ecclesia pulsi
sunt, et sive ab aliquo Episcopo vel Presbytero fuerint in communionem
suscepti, etiam ipse pari cum eis crimine teneatur obnoxius. — Cod. Afr.
Can. 9.
X Sanctorum quippe Canonum sanxit auctoritas, et ea passim Ecclesiae
consuetudo servat, ut a quolibet juste excommunicatum Episcopo, alius
absolvere non praesumat. P. Urb. II. Epist. 20. (apud Bin.)— A suis
Episcopis excommunicates, ab aliis Episcopis, Abbatibus et Clericis in
communionem recipi proculdubio prohibemus. Cone. Lat. I. (sub P.
Calixto II.) cap. 9. — Qui verb excommunicato antequam ab eo qui eum
excommunicaverit absolvatur, scienter communicare preesumpserit, pari
senteutiae teneatur obnoxius. Cone. Lat. II. (sub Innoc. II ) Can. 3.
Ij 'Eirl rovroig r) IlToXipd'idos 'EeicXj/ffta rdSe rrpbg rag dwavra-
XOv yrjg iavrrjg dStXtpdg SiaraTTtrai. . . . Ei Se ng we /uKpo7roXtrtj/
d?ro(raiij3aXt(T£i rfjv 'EKKXr)oiav, Kal BQtrai robg diroKnpvKTOvg abrr)g
(proscribed by it) <ic ouk dvdyKn ry irivnTai wti9to9ai, ioroi oxioag
rrjv 'EKKXnoiav, i)v piav 6 Xjiiotoc tirai fiobXtTai, &c.
|| P. Leo, Ep. 84. cap. 9.
VOL. VIII. U

290 CONCERNING THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.
as it doth greatly prejudice truth and piety (leaving them to
be corrupted by the ambitious, covetous, and voluptuous de
signs of those men) ; so it doth remove the genuine unity of
the Church, and peace of Christians ; unless to be tied by
compulsory chains (as slaves) be deemed unity or peace.
9. Yet those Churches, which by the voluntary consent or
command of princes, do adhere in confederation to the Roman
Church, we are not, merely upon that score, to condemn or
reject from communion of charity or peace ; (for in that they
do but use their liberty.)
10. But if such Churches do maintain impious errors ; if
they do prescribe naughty practices : if they do reject commu
nion and peace upon reasonable terms ; if they vent unjust and
uncharitable censures ; if they are turbulent and violent, striv
ing by all means to subdue and enslave other Churches to their
will or their dictates — if they damn and persecute all who
refuse to be their subjects : in such cases we may reject such
Churches as heretical or schismatical, or wickedly uncharitable
and unjust in their proceedings.*
* Cuicunque haeresi communicans meritb judicata a nostra societate
removendus. Gelas. Ep. 1. ad Euphem.

INDEX.

INDEX
TO THE TRACT ENTITLED
POPERY AN ENEMY TO SCRIPTURE.

Alphonsus a Castro strongly approves the prohibition of Scrip
ture, 13.
Archbishop Coddes' answer when censured for allowing the people to read
the Scriptures, an illustration of the policy of Roman Catholics as to
the same, 24.
Authority of Scripture, the principles of Romanists destructive of, 31.
Bishops of Bononia against the Bible, 41.
Bordeaux Version of the Scriptures corrupt, 46. Some account of, 49.
Object of the translators, 51. Mistranslation of, as to penance, 52.
Translation of, in order to favour pilgrimages, 53 ; tradition, 57 ; relics,
57; processions, 57; crucifixes, 57,; legates, 58; sacrificing priests,
58 ; albes, 58 ; the distinction of Latria, Hyperdulia, Dulia, 60 j
worship of angels, 61 ; canonization of saints, 63 ; prayers for the dead,
64 ; image worship, 65 ; transubstantiation , 68 ; the sacrifice of the
mass, 70. Eludes the force of some texts by mistranslation, 73. Mis
translation in favour of purgatory, 75 ; and in favour of the merit of
works, 77 ; and the distinction between mortal and venial sin, 78 ; and
the sacramental character of matrimony, 81 ; and the celibacy of priests,
83. Mistranslates the passage in Romans iii. 10, 87. Their version
of Titus iii. 1, 87 ; of 1 Cor. viii. 4, 88 ; of 2 Thess. ii. 7, 88 ; of
2 Cor. iv. 2, 88 ; of 2 Cor. iv. 3, 89 ; of 1 Cor. iii. 10, 89 ; of 1 Tim.
iv. 1, Sec, 90.
Bull of the Pope condemnatory of the sentiments of Quesnel as to the use
of Scripture, of great authority in the Church of Rome, 19.
Cardinal Richelieu and the Scriptures, 17.
Ceremonials, Romish, character and effect of, 29.
Christianity itself cannot be proved to be divine, if, according to Romish
principles, the Scriptures, the monuments upon which it relies, be not
of themselves divine, 34.
Costerus, his disrespect for Scripture, 40.
Decrees made by Rome in direct opposition to Scripture, 42.
VOL. VIII. X

292 INDEX.
Difficult places in Scripture, answer as to, 37.
Dispensing power of the Pope, against Scripture, 43.
English translations, policy of Romish theologians in publishing, 20;
much fairer than the French Versions, 46.
Fathers, their works falsified by the heads of the Inquisition, 9.
Febre, against Scripture, 41.
French divines, some have endeavoured to repudiate the 4th rule of the
Index, on the ground that it was not received in France, but such an
attempt is fallacious, 13 ; General Assembly of, condemned the trans
lation of the Bible into the Vulgar Tongue, 17.
French translations of the Scripture, their character, 18.
General Council, the argument that no such Council forbids Scripture
answered, 16.
Grounds of religion overthrown by Popery, 1.
Infallibility, from whence derived, if, according to Romanists, the Scrip
tures of themselves have no divine authority, 33.
Infidel assertions of Rome as to Scripture, 33.
Jansenists, their disrespect for Scripture, 40.
Knowledge, rational, Popery destructive of, 2 ; comes through either the
senses, or by reason, 2.
Linden against Scripture, 41.
Mallet, Dr., of Sorbonne, shews that the French Church condemned the
general circulation of Scripture, 17.
Mariner against the written Word, 41.
Marriage, even lawful, sometimes annulled by the Pope, 44.
Oaths, the dispensation of, by the Pope, against Scripture, 43 ; regarded
even by the heathen, 43 ; the sacredness of, 43.
Pamelius, his disrespect for Scripture, 40.
Preaching, the office of, does not supersede the necessity for the free
circulation of Scripture, 28. The character of Romish, 28.
Quesnel, condemnation of his sentiments by Rome, a proof of her hos
tility to the general circulation of Scripture, 18.
Reason, Roman Catholics divested of, 3 ; inconsistency of Romanists as
to, 3 ; Christianity itself is based as to its evidence upon, 4. Argu-
mentum ad hominem as to the admissibility of reason, 4. God deals
with man as a rational creature, 5.
Rheimish translators speak with approval of the 4th rule of the Index, 20.
Their policy in giving a translation, 25.
Rule of faith, the Scriptures a perfect, for various reasons, 35.

INDEX. 293
Scriptures, Rome prohibits the general use of, 6. Reason of Gregory
VII. for concealing the Word of God in an unknown language, 7. The
rule for the interpretation of Scripture a virtual prohibition of, 7. The
4th rule of the Index on the use of Scripture, 10. Even bishops,
inquisitors, and heads of convents are not authorized to grant licenses
to read, buy, or keep the Bible translated into Vulgar Languages, 11.
The rules of the Index allow persons of ripe years to read the works
of heathen authors, but forbid the divine Word, 12. Dr. W.'s reasons
against the general circulation of Scripture answered, 21. Translations
of, published by Roman Catholics, a downright violation of their sta
tutes, 24. Translations of, as published and read by Roman Catholics,
allowed by the dissimulation of a pious toleration, rather than an ex
press license, 25 ; prohibition of, injurious to Scripture, 27 ; the pro
hibition of, an effectual method to prevent religion taking root in men's
minds, 27. Public preaching does not supersede the necessity for the
free circulation of Scripture, 28. This is evident from the fact that
the Apostle Paul, while he was industrious in preaching, yet com
mended the Bereans for searching the Scriptures, 28 ; and from the
fact that the Romish laity is the most ignorant in the world, 28.
Marvellous' discrepancy between modern Rome and the ancient Chris
tian Church as to the Scriptures, 30 ; disrespect of Romanists to, 31.
Assertions of Romanists as to Scripture really of an infidel character,
33. If the Scriptures be an imperfect rule, they have not good au
thority of themselves belonging to them, 34. A perfect rule, 35. As
to difficult places in, 37. Fundamental truths clearly revealed in, 37.
Leading doctrines as clearly taught in Scriptures as in the decrees of
Councils, 37. To maintain that Scripture is not clear, is to reflect
upon God, 37. Romanists speak of Scripture with contempt, 39.
Papal doctrines in direct opposition to, 44. Scripture corrupted by
Romanists, 45.
Senses, denied by the doctrine of transubstantiation, 2 ; inconsistency of
Rome as to, 2.

INDEX

TO THE TRACT ENTITLED

RELIGIOUS RITES OF ANCIENT AND MODERN
ROME.

All Souls, feast of, similar to one instituted amongst Pagans, 168.
Altars, consecration of, practised by Pagans, 198.
Baronius, and others, vindicate the transference of Pagan Ceremonies to
Christian Worship, 109 ; as to Vestments worn by ancient Pagans,
126.
Bells, sound of, was supposed by Pagans, as by Romanists, to drive away
devils, 227.
Bones and Ashes of Saints, the custom of placing them, in Churches, of
Pagan origin, 201.
Cardinals, college of, formed after the high priest's sacerdotal college, 125.
Celibacy, of great esteem amongst heathen philosophers, 1 33.
Ceremonies, heathen, the admission of, into Christian worship, not expe
dient now, 112 ; evil tendency of the admission of such, 113.
Churches, superstitious consecration of, similar to Pagan rites, 187.
Confession of sin, made by Fagan priests before they offered sacrifice,
140.
Constantine, according to the testimony of Eusebius, began to transfer
Pagan ceremonies to Christian worship, 111.
Convents, or Societies of Religious, of Pagan origin, 127. Such societies
were called by the names of those to whom they devoted themselves, as
in the Roman Church, 128.
Dei Agnus, little bags similar to the, worn by Pagans, 225.
Demons, or middle deities, were supposed to bring down favours from
God to man as now in the Church of Rome, it is taught that the inter
cession of the saints avails, 177.

INDEX. 295
East, turning to the, of Pagan origin, 191.
Flagellations and austerities, practised by Pagans, 135.
Friars, remarkable similarity between the rapacity and character of, and
the religious orders of Pagans, 129.
Funerals, manner of conducting, borrowed by Rome from Paganism, 226.
Hermits, their austere and wild life, an imitation of Pagans, 136.
Holy days, similarity of Papal and Pagan views as to, 162 ; instances of
punishments inflicted on the profaners of Pagan holy days, 165.
Host, the, its round form derived from Pagans, 140 ; kept under lock and
key as Pagan gods were, 152.
Images, borrowed from Paganism, 206; against reason and the Bible,
207 ; views of Fathers in opposition to, 209 ; consecration of, practised
by Pagans, 210; tapers and lamps lighted by Pagans and Romanists
before, 211 ; kissed by ancient idolaters as by Romanists, 211. Prayers
offered to the cross, 212. Similarity between Pagans and Romanists
in reverencfffor, 213. Miracles attributed to images by Pagans and Ro
manists, 214 ; reasons of Romanists and Pagans alike for the use of, 218.
God worshipped through images by the more learned Pagans, 219.
Incense, of Pagan origin, 145 ; hateful to the primitive Christians, 146.
Lamps, the continued lighting of before the altar, of Pagan origin, 143.
Marriages in the month of May, the superstition as to, of Pagan origin,
171.
Mass, the, of Pagan origin, 139 ; the worship of the, exceeds in grossness
that of the Pagans, 139.
Meats, abstinence from, borrowed from Paganism, 134. The Brahmins,
the Epicureans, the Egyptians, the Gymnosophists, &c, practised it,
134.
Monks, habits of the, borrowed from the philosophers, 130.
Mysteries, the concealment of, a Pagan practice as well as Popish, 153.
Numa Pompilius first instituted the unbloody sacrifices, 139.
Orders of ecclesiastics formed on the old plan of Pontiffs, Augurs, Salii,
Fratres, Arvales, &c, 124.
Pilgrimages to places frequent amongst Pagans, 188.
Pontifex Maximus, the title of the Pope, derived from the Pagan high-
priest, 114. Dr. Middleton's observations as to, 114. The extent of
authority which belonged to the Pagan pontiff, 114. The authority of
the Papal Pontifex similar in extent to that of the Pagan Pontifex
Maximus, 115. Parallel between the Papal and Pagan Pontifex, in
subsidies, or Peter's-pence — annates, titles, kissing of the feet, &c,
119.
Pope, excommunication of kings by, 118. Character of Popes given by
Roman Catholics, 122.

296 INDEX.
Prayer, vain repetition in prayer practised by Pagans, 224 ; for the dead,
practised by Pagans, 228.
Processions, a Pagan practice, 154 ; Dr. Middleton upon, 154 ; the reasons
for which they were formed amongst Pagans, 158. '
Purgatory, of Pagan origin, 227.
Relics, Popery and Paganism, as to, 203 ; Romish ceremonial, incon
sistent with the due simplicity of Christian worship, 230 ; inconsistent
with Apostolic reasoning, 233.
Sacrifice, the, performed by Pagans in the morning, to which time also is
limited the Papal sacrifice, 142.
Saints, invocation of, attributable in part to Plato, 176 ; canonization of,
borrowed from Paganism, 178 ; Patron saints of Pagan origin, 181.
Tonsure of priests, an imitation of the Priests of Isis, 137.
Vestments of Papal ecclesiastics, formed from the pattern of those of
ancient Pagans, 125.
Virgil, Polydore, institates a comparison between the begging friars and
Pagan religious orders, 129 ; says that flagellations are derived from
Paganism, 135 ; complains of the multitudes of holy days, and insti
tutes a comparison between them and such days' as kept by Pagans,
168.
Vows of poverty originate in Paganism, 132.
Water, holy, of Pagan origin, 147 ; prayer in the consecration of, 147 ;
hateful to primitive Christians, 148 ; applied to horses and cattle, 149.

INDEX

BARROW ON THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.

Albertus Pighius says, that General Councils came on invention of
'Constantine, 283.
Ambrose on the Faith, 250 ; on the necessity of doing the works of
Christ, 253.
Augustine on the Faith, 250 ; on Charity in the Church, 252 ; on the
hearing of the voice of Christ, 252; denieth that wicked persons are in
the Church, 253 ; on the demonstration of the Church from divine
Oracles, 263.
Basil on Charity in the Church, 257 ; on those who break off communion
from the Church, 257.
Chalcedon, Council of, on the Union of the Church against Heretics, 256.
Charity : those who offend against, though professedly in the Church, are
not of it, 251.
Chrysostom on the union of Christians, 252 ; his complaint of Epiphanius,
257.
Church, its nature, 242 ; visible and invisible, 243 ; the visible compre
hends the invisible, as one mass contains the good ore and base alloy,
245 ; the various privileges and titles belonging to the elect, or preor
dained Church as set forth in the Scripture, 243 ; the visible Church
needs not, in all its parts one singular government, 263.
Clement of Alexandria on the unity of the Church, 265.
Councils, General, reasons against the meeting of such, 283.
Council, the sixth, Fathers of, on the unity of the Church, 249.
Corollaries deduced from Barrow's statement, 286.
Creeds, argument for Papal unity deduced from the Creeds answered, 277.
Cyprian on unity, 249 ; on the unity of Christians in Charity, 254 ; on
mutual advice, 258 ; on the agreement of doctrine of Pastors, 259 ; on
the necessity of the Ecclesiastical dicipline, 260 ; on the double relation
of the Pastor to his own, and to the whole flock, 271 ; shews that in
divers customs several Churches did vary, 279.
Faith of Christians did first consist in but few things, 250.
Gregory the Great on the Union of the Church in charity and faith, 264.

298 INDEX.
Hermes on the Faith of the Church as keeping it together, 249.
Hegesippus on Unity, 249.
Independents, answers to the objection that Barrow's view of Unity
favours the sentiments of the, 284.
Nice, Council of, enjoins that prayer should be offered standing, between
Easter and Whitsunside, and upon the Lord's day ,262.
Popedom, practical evils of the, inconsistent with the Evangelical kingdom
of Christ, 274.
TertuUian on Unity, 248 ; denies that a heretic is a Christian, 249.
Unity more particularly attributed in the Scriptures to the elect Church,
244 ; several accounts upon which Unity may consist, 246 ; faith or
agreement upon principal points of doctrine, 247 ; in charity and good
will, 250 ; in spiritual cognation or alliance, 252 ; by incorporation
into the mystical body of Christ, 252 ; in peaceable concord and con
federacy, 253 ; in friendly correspondence, 257 ; in mutual advice, 258 ;
in mutual assistance, 258 ; in the consent of doctrine of Pastors, 258 ;
agreement of discipline, 260 ; in prudential discipline, 264 ; does not
necessarily consist in one singular form of government, 263 ; such one
ness of form not spoken of by the Apostles, 263 ; and not established
by the Apostles, 263 ; doth not consist according to the Fathers in such
political union, but in faith, charity, peace, 264 ; such political union
can only flow from some sovereign authority, against which there is
presumptive evidence, 265 ; the primitive state of the Church against
such unity, 268 ; such political union does not accord with the nature
of an evangelical dispensation, 272 ; evils which must arise from such
political union, 273 ; such political union would be inconvenient and
hurtful, 275 ; such union is not needful, 275 ; such union is not calcu
lated to promote amongst mankind, the knowledge, love, and reverence
of God, 275 ; such union the Church has not possessed, 276 ; the
reasons alleged for such a union are not conclusive, 276 ; answers to
objections, 276.

THE END.

G. NORMAN, PRINTER, MAIDEN LANE, COVENT GARDEN.

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