temporal power in the reign of queen Elizabeth, or her immediate successor, is as preposterous, as to charge the present presbyterians with maintaining the lawfulness of religious persecution, because Calvin consigned Servetus to the flames, and Beza lauded him; or to impute the belief of sorcery to his majesty's present judges, because lord Hale convicted some witches capitally in the seventeenth century; or to impute the doctrine of passive obedience to the present bishops, because the divine right of kings was maintained by some of their predecessors in the eighteenth*.

LXXV. 8.

Their alleged Exemption from the Civil Power in consequence of Papal Bulls and Briefs.

We have now to notice the charge brought against the jesuits from the bulls and briefs, by which popes have affected to exempt the jesuits from the civil power.

But these bulls and briefs, so far as they have this tendency, make no part of the institute of the

* "I mention this oversight," says the late learned John Porson,-in one of his letters to Travis, in which he speaks of a mistake of an eminent writer,-" merely to strengthen an "opinion which I have long entertained and will always reso"lutely defend, that all men are liable to error."--If the writer of these pages might be permitted to add his aphorism to that of Mr. Porson, he would, to use the language of that gentleman, say, that, "it is an opinion, which he has long "entertained, and will always resolutely defend,-that no "man is so bad as his polemic adversary describes him."

society. In the Apologie de l'Institût des Jésuites, one of their standard works of defence, this is explicitly asserted. The author of it proves, by numerous examples, that, while the jesuits would rather die, than give up their institute, they resign, without reserve, all claims to these exemptions, when they are repugnant to the laws of any country in which they settle.

Thus,—in 1611, 1626 and 1713, they recognized the absolute civil independence of the sovereign on the pope, in solemn instruments, signed by them, with every legal formality, and entered on the records of the parliament of Paris.

In a former part of this work, the writer has mentioned the declaration of the Gallican clergy in 1682. The first article of it proclaims the absolute civil independence of the sovereign on the pope. Now, these articles were taught in all the schools of the French jesuits, and in 1757 and 1761 they formally and explicitly avowed their adherence to them. It has been related, that this was certified to the court, by the bishops of France ;-it ought to have been added, that, at this time, the gale of promotion veered in the opposite direction, so that a certificate of the contrary was then much more likely to obtain the favours of court.

Finally," In the year 1761," say the authors of the Réponse aux Assertionst, "at which time, "the jesuits were most bitterly attacked for their "institute and doctrine,-a model of a declaration + Vol. iii. p. 597.

Tom. ii. c. 27.

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was sent to the five provincials of the jesuits in "France, by the chancellor Lamoignon; and a copy of it was desired to be returned to him,

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signed by the priests and young jesuits of all the colleges and houses in the kingdom. All their

signatures were accordingly given and trans"mitted to the chancellor."-The declaration is thus expressed:

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"First, that they hold and profess, and will ever hold and profess, that, in no circumstance, "in no place, under no pretence of tyranny, or "vexation from persecution, on no account of religion, under no other possible pretence, it is lawful, or can be made lawful, for any person, "whatever be his state or condition, to make any "attempt, directly or indirectly, on the persons of sovereigns; or to speak, write, insinuate, favour, 66 or do any other act, which can tend to endanger "their safety-that they condemn and detest, as "pernicious and deserving the execration of all

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ages, any doctrine to the contrary, which may be "found in any works, that may have been composed, either by any member of their society, or ' by any other person, whosoever he may be. "Secondly,--That they hold and profess, and "will ever hold and profess, the doctrine of the "clergy of France, declared in their assembly of "1682-consequently, they teach, and always will

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teach, that the power, given by Jesus Christ to "St. Peter, to his successors, and to the church "itself, is purely spiritual, and extends to that only,

"which belongs to eternal salvation; that they "have no power over any thing that concerns tem

porals; and that thus the power of sovereigns in "temporals is so totally independent of every spi"ritual power, that in no case, for no cause, and "on no pretence whatever, can they, either directly or indirectly, be deposed by the power of the keys, or their subjects absolved, from their oath "of allegiance.

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"Thirdly,--That they are, and always will be, "subject to the laws, ordinances, regulations, and usages of the kingdom, in the same manner as all "other subjects of the king, either spiritual or lay: "as also, to the rules of the discipline and the com

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mon law of the church, in the same manner as "these are binding on the other religious persons "in the kingdom, and that they cannot attempt

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any thing contrary to the rights of the bishops,

curates, universities, or others :- or make any use "of any privilege, whatever it may be, except so "far as it is conformable to the import of the laws "and maxims of the kingdom.

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'Fourthly,―That, if it should happen,-(which may God forbid),-that they should be ordered by "their general, or by any other person, invested with any authority, whatever it may be, to do, (contrary "to the declarations above expressed), any thing "against the laws of the church or the state, to their duty to their sovereigns, or to the public welfare "or tranquillity, they declare, that they hold, and "ever will hold, such decrees or instruments, to be null,―on every ground of right, (de plein droit);

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"and that they would be, and would consider "themselves obliged to disobey them*."

LXXV. 9.

The Dissolution of the Society.

It does honour to christianity, that the first persecution of her was set on foot by Nero: it does similar honour to the jesuits, that the first perse

The Monita Secreta, or Private Instructions,-a publication sometimes brought forward against the jesuits,—is a most infamous work, and wholly beneath notice.-It supposes, that the society has a deliberate plan of subjugating the universe to its sway, with a settled determination that, where any villainy would avail towards the accomplishment of this object, its members should adopt any villainy: that this horrid project was reduced to system; that this system is expressed in the Monita Secreta; and that these were put into the hands of the elect, to be used by them, whenever occasion should make it expedient.

Is this possible? Has it entered into the mind of man to conceive such an infernal plan ?- When the queen of France was charged with corrupting the morals of her son, she nobly appealed for the impossibility of the charge, to the feelings of every mother;—and the feelings of every mother absolved her. -For the impossibility of the genuineness of the Monita Secreta, the jesuits may appeal, with equal confidence, to the feelings of every gentleman in the universe.-There does not live the jesuit, or the scholar of a jesuit, who, if any one of the doctrines, which it inculcates, or any one practice, which it recommends, were proposed to him, would not spurn it with indignation.

Neither the original, nor any certified copy, of this vile book was ever produced; no circumstance respecting its discovery, ever proved; no collateral fact to establish its authenticity, ever published.