§ 7. The Romish church in this century has been governed by Clement XI. [A. D. 1700-21.] Innocent XIII. [1721—24.] Benedict XIII. [1724-30.] Clement XII. [1730-40.] Benedict XIV. [1740-58.] All these may be pronounced holy, wise, and learned men, if compared with the pontiffs of former times. The most distinguished of them for learning and erudition are Clement XI. and the present pontiff, Benedict XIV., whose former name was Prosper de Lambertini. The most distinguished for piety, or rather for a show of it, was Benedict XIII. This last-named pontiff attempted, by means of a council which he held in the Lateran palace in 1725, the acts and decrees of which have been published, to correct the greater evils in the church, and to reform the very corrupt morals of the clergy of every rank. But the event did not answer his expectations. Nor will Benedict XIV. be more successful; who is now attempting the same thing, though by different means. Moreover, the modern pontiffs differ exceedingly from their predecessors in the extent of their prerogatives, and in their power and influence. For the sovereign princes and states, though they treat the pontiffs personally with high respect and honour, yet are continually depressing and humbling the court of Rome, which they wisely discriminate from the pontiff. This appears, among other things, from the contests of the pontiffs in the present age with the kings of France, Portugal, Sardinia, and Naples; in which the pontiffs have uniformly been obliged to succumb.

§ 8. A reconciliation of the protestants with the papists, if we except some feeble efforts of certain individuals, has not been seriously and earnestly attempted; nor indeed was it hardly possible. For those who formerly attempted this thing, endeavoured principally to gain over the protestants by explaining away and lowering down the [most offensive] Romish doctrines; but Clement XI. deprived the pacificators of this their principal resource by publishing that very noted decree, called the Bull Unigenitus. For this has shown most clearly, that on most of the points which obliged our ancestors to separate from the Romish communion, the present doctrine of the papists is precisely the same as it formerly appeared to be. This disclosure being made, it became manifest, that

those who had formerly offered us peace on very conciliatory terms, had only laid a trap for us, by their pretended expositions of the Romish faith, and that no confidence whatever could be reposed on the promises of such men.

§ 9. The intestine discords, which greatly disquieted the Romish community in the preceding century, were so far from being composed and settled in this, that they have rather acquired new strength, and raged with increased animosity. The Jesuits still contend with the Dominicans and others; though with a little more decorum, and more covertly. The Franciscans are at variance with the Dominicans. There is also dispute respecting the nature and lawfulness of the Chinese rites. It would be endless to enumerate all the contests which disturb and disquiet every part of the widely-extended Romish church, sometimes more slightly and sometimes more violently. The principal controversy now dividing the papal empire is that of the Jansenists; which is carried on with various results, particularly in France and the Netherlands. The Jansenists, or Augustinians as they choose to be called, are inferior to the Jesuits in numbers, power, and influence; but are their equals in fortitude, sagacity, and erudition; and their superiors in sanctimoniousness, and that superstition which dazzles the eyes of the multitude. In France they are oppressed and persecuted, but in the Netherlands they find a ready asylum. The greatest part of the papists in the Spanish Netherlands, and all those in the United Netherlands, adhere to the Jansenist doctrines. The Dutch papists at this day have almost separated themselves from the Roman pontiff; though they profess the closest adherence to the communion of the Romish church: nor are either the threatenings or the entreaties of the Romish prelate able to reduce these rebellious Batavians to subordination.

§ 10. The greatest support of the Jansenist cause, both in the preceding century and in this, was the New Testament of the very learned and pious Paschasius Quesnel, one of the Presbyters of the Oratory, which he translated into French, and accompanied with notes calculated to awaken a sense of religion. For the marrow of the Jansenist doctrines is very elegantly and ingeniously wrought into these notes, so as to infuse it the more agreeably into the mind of the reader. To

destroy the influence of this most pernicious engine, the Jesuits induced Lewis XIV., king of France, to solicit a public condemnation of the book from the Roman pontiff, Clement XI. The pontiff complied with the wishes of the king, or rather of the Jesuits, and issued in the year 1713 the celebrated Bull or decree, which from its first words is called Unigenitus, and in which one hundred and one propositions taken from that book are proscribed. This edict was of some advantage to the cause of the Jesuits, but it was of immense disadvantage to the whole Romish church; as the wiser men in it themselves admit. For not to mention that the protestants learned from it, that the Romish community religiously held fast her former corruptions, the subjects of the pontiff, who had no attachment to the Jansenist doctrines, and who were solicitous only to advance truth and piety, were exceedingly offended at this decree. Besides, the Jansenian schism was widened by it, and rendered more bitter and violent.

§ 11. The most violent contests were produced by this unhappy edict, especially in France. Many of the bishops, and a vast number of influential, pious, and learned men, both among the clergy and the laity, appealed from it to a future general council. And especially Lewis Anthony Noailles, the archbishop of Paris, manfully opposed it, regardless of the resentments both of the pontiff and the king. These strenuous defenders of the Gallic liberty and of the religion of their fathers, the pontiffs, kings, and Jesuits, laboured to subdue by all sorts of punishments and indignities: and in part they did subdue them. For many became exiles, and retired among their brethren in Holland: others were coerced, by violence and fear, to approve the decree of the pontiff: and others, being deprived of their livings, their honours, and their offices, removed to foreign countries. At length the matter was carried so far, that this papal edict was declared to be a law of the land. All these measures reduced the nation to some degree of quietude; but they by no means purged it of enemies to the pontiff. Every part of France abounds with Appellants, as they are called, who are only waiting for a convenient opportunity for renewing the old controversy, which has never been properly settled.

§ 12. Amidst these calamities, the Jansenists had but two resources by which to defend themselves and their cause against so many powerful enemies, namely, the press and miracles. Accordingly, they attacked the pontiff and the Jesuits in numberless publications, many of which being written with elegance and solidity, have produced great effect; and as human aids proved insufficient, they called in the help of divine aid. For they persuaded the people that God had imparted to the bones and ashes of certain persons, who had been distinguished for their zeal in the cause of Jansenius, and who had appealed anew in their last moments to a future council, the power of healing the most inveterate diseases. Among those who were said to have received this glory, the most distinguished was Francis de Paris, a deacon of the church of Paris, a man of noble birth, but of a gloomy temperament and excessively superstitious, and one who had voluntarily brought on his own death by abstinence from food and other self-tortures. To miracles divine visions were superadded. For many persons, especially at Paris, pretended to be actuated by the Holy Spirit, and uttered prophecies, often of the most insipid character, by which however the multitude, as is usual, were greatly affected. But the prudence of the French court put an end to these commotions also: so that, as things now are, the Jansenists have no other means of defence but their genius and their pens.

§ 13. Of the Greek and Oriental church very little can be said. For their ignorance, and the severe oppression under which they live, prevent their attempting any change in their condition. The Russians, as already stated, under the guidance of the emperor Peter the Great, adopted better regulations of their church. Yet there still remain vast numbers in that immense empire who would be better pleased with the rude system of their ancestors: and there are some who, if they were able, would exterminate the protestants and the followers of other religions with fire and sword. This is manifest, especially, from a work of Stephen Javorski against the heretics. The Greeks are said to meet with more indulgence from their Muhammedan masters. The Nestorians and Monophysites in

Asia and Africa perseveringly refuse communion with the Romish see, notwithstanding all the promises and arguments of the papal missionaries. The pontiffs have several times contemplated a new mission to the Abyssinians; but have not yet been able to discover a way to elude the vigilance of that nation so hostile to the Romish religion. Nor is there even a tolerable prospect that the embassy now preparing at Rome to the emperor of Abyssinia will meet with success. The Monophysites in Asia extend the limits of their church as they have opportunity; and not long since they gained over a part of the Nestorians inhabiting the maritime coasts of India.

§ 14. The Lutheran church celebrated, in peace and tranquillity, the secular festival of its religion in 1717, and that of the Augsburg Confession in 1730. It received no small accession a few years since, by means of that multitude which abandoned the territories of Saltzburg and Berchtolsgadden, in order to profess the pure religion without fear, and emigrated, some to Prussia, others to Holland, and others to America and other countries. The Lutheran church has likewise been increased in consequence of its extension to America and Asia; nor are the Lutheran congregations small in those distant regions. In Germany, on the other hand, as appears from the public documents and from numerous complaints, it has in various places been much oppressed by the adherents to the Roman pontiff, and been very unjustly deprived of a part of its privileges.

§ 15. No change could take place in the doctrines and regulations of the Lutheran church; because the ancient confessions and canons, by which the public faith and discipline were ascertained, remained as formerly. But the method of teaching and inculcating these doctrines was not uniformly the same. At the commencement of the century, it seemed very generally to be the aim to restore every part of christianity to its ancient simplicity, and to exclude all philosophical terms and reasonings. But in process of time many fell into the opinion, that christianity could by no means maintain its ground, unless it was supported by the aids of philosophy,