SECTION V.. PRECAUTIONS OF FOREIGN NATIONS TO COUNTERACT THE USURPED SUPREMACY OF THE CHURCH OF ROME. THE modern distinction between the Supreme Head of the Church and the Supreme Head of the State, was unknown in ancient times. In the patriarchal ages, the royal and ecclesiastical powers were frequently united in the prince. Thus, Melchizedek, king of Salem, was also Priest of the MOST HIGH GOD; to whom Abraham offered the tythes of his spoils, after he had vanquished the Assyrian confederates, Gen. xiv. 18-20. In the heroic times, Anius was king of the sacred isle of Delos, and priest of Apollo; as Virgil and Ovid inform us : "Rex Anius, rex idem hominum, Phœbique sacerdos." ÆNEID, iii. 80. "Hunc, Anius, quo rege homines, antistite Phœbus "Rite colebatur, temploque domoque recepit." METAM. xiii. And in early Rome, the first kings, Romulus, Numa, &c. combined both powers, as Pontifex Marimus, and Chief of the Augurs; which were entailed upon the emperors Augustus, Tiberius, &c. down to Gratian. He relinquished these heathen titles, which were afterwards assumed by the Popes, as remarked in the Introduction, p. 45-50. Hence, Constantine the Great*, the first Christian emperor, uniting both powers in himself, fully exercised the ecclesiastical jurisdiction. This illustrious prince used to say, that "a bishop was not only the bishop of his own diocese; but that he was the bishop of all." And, therefore, in this angust character, as Supreme Head of the Church in his dominions, or Chief Guardian of the peace of the Church, he convened the general councils of his empire, Nice, &c. whenever disputes arose about matters either of doctrine or discipline. In questions of heresy and schism, the emperor ratified the decisions of the ecclesiastical synods held thereon, and punished the delinquent bishops or clergy, by confiscation of goods, imprisonment, exile, or even death, whomsoever he should find disturbing the peace of the Church. But a succession of ambitious and enterprizing Popes from Hildebrand or Gregory VII. to Innocent III. gradually usurped the privileges and * See an Historical Enquiry into the Ancient Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the Crown, traced up to Constantine's time, by James Baldwin Browne: cited Report, &c. p. 158-160. rights of the emperors and kings of Europe; and at length established a despotic influence throughout Christendom, which the several sovereign powers have long struggled to restrain or abolish, both at home and abroad. * In the year 1812, a circular letter was written by Lord Viscount Castlereagh, principal Secretary of State for foreign affairs; and another by Earl Bathurst, in 1815, to his Majesty's ministers at foreign courts, requesting they would procure and communicate to Sir John Cox Hippisley information respecting the laws of foreign countries as they affect the Roman Catholics; and a Committee of the House of Commons was appointed to report from the great mass of evidence thus furnished, the system of ecclesiastical polity, which, under different shades of regulation, prevails in the several foreign states respecting their Roman Catholic subjects, and their intercourse with the Church and See of Rome. Accordingly, the Report was drawn up, with a copious Appendix, containing the documents on which it was founded, and published in a folio volume, in 1817; which, for compass, variety, and accuracy of information, and the luminous arrangement of the materials, reflects great honour on the industry and ability employed in the compilation of the work. See Report, p. 3, 4. 52. 73. The principal points to which their attention was directed, were, — I. The modes of nominating, appointing, and electing the Roman Catholic Prelates and Clergy, and their oaths to the Pope. II. The restraints imposed upon Papal Nunciatures, Bulls, Mandates, Rescripts, Collations, &c. &c. III. Miscellaneous articles of ecclesiastical regulation respecting the different orders of Monks, especially the Jesuits; marriages of the laity, and of priests; divorces, excommunications, interdicts, auricular confessions, &c. The foreign states reviewed in the Report, are reduced to three classes: I. Those in communion with the Church of Rome in Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, and Switzerland. II. Those of the Greek Church, not connected with the Church of Rome, Russia. III. Those of the Lutheran and Calvinistic Churches separated from the Church of Rome, Denmark, Sweden, Prussia, &c. and the British Colonies in America and the East Indies. Deviating from the precise order of the Report, I shall begin, in this abridgment of its substance, with FRANCE. This great kingdom was the foremost in Europe to found, augment, and establish the spiritual and temporal dominions of the See of Rome; in con sequence of which, its kings have long been honoured by that See, with the title of "Most Christian," and styled "the Eldest Sons of the Church." For, when the people of Rome withdrew their allegiance from the Eastern Emperors, A. D. 726, they attached themselves to the neighbouring rulers and kings of France, then most powerful in the west; and in return, Pepin conferred on the Pope the exarchate of Ravenna, A. D. 756. His son, Charlemagne, annexed the duchy of Rome, and also a considerable part of Lombardy, to be held by the Pope and his successors as fiefs of the empire, A.D. 774; and he was formally crowned Emperor of the Romans, by the Pope, A. D. 779; and his son, Louis the Pious, granted "St. Peter's patrimony" to the Pope and his successors, in their own right, principality, and dominion, unto the end of the world," A.D. S17. Hence, the Pope assumed the three keys in his arms, and the triple crown or mitre, as a temporal prince; and "his look was more stout than his fellows," "the other horns," over whom he domineered as the "little horn;" and frequently awed them by his anathemas or excommunications, as foretold in prophecy. Dan. vii. 7, 8, 20-24. See Hales's New Analysis of Chronology, vol. ii. p. 544. -- Charlemagne, however, was careful to maintain his ecclesiastical supremacy. In a council held at Rome, A. D. 782, Pope Adrian I. granted to Charlemagne, emperor and king of France, and to |