on the part of the Popes. A pretext was indeed afforded them by the scandalous sale of benefices, by the unworthy manner in which, when not sold, they were frequently bestowed; and by the practice of keeping sees vacant, that their revenues might be enjoyed by the crown. Having this valid cause for interfering, the Popes carried their interference beyond all reasonable bounds. For their ambition knew no bounds; and I must remind you, Sir, that the same Pope who began the dispute on this point with the Norman Kings, called upon William the Conqueror to do fealty for the Crown of England.

That Pope was the imperious Hildebrand, the firebrand of his age. But according to the Titular Bishop Milner,* equitable judges, who are possessed of the genuine spirit of Christianity, pronounce that he has acquired glory to himself for time and eternity, by extirpating that system of simony, and that wide

to pomp, to haughtiness; if you love better to command than to serve, you will become in fact the vilest of all slaves. You will be the servant not of the servants of God, but of cupidity, of avarice, of pride, of ambition, which are the servants of the Devil,...in a word, of as many masters as there are vices."L'Enfant, Hist. du Concile de Pise, i. p. 65.

* Page 16.

spreading incontinency which undermined the sanctity of the Church at the time in which he lived." Few authors have ever calculated so confidently on the ignorance of their readers as Dr. Milner. His own erudition indeed is "neither as deep as a well, nor as wide as a church door." But he knows, and cannot but know, that simony was never carried on so openly and scandalously as by the Popes themselves, after they had thus succeeded in their claim to the right of investiture. Instead of extirpating it, they transplanted it to Rome, into their own hot-bed, and it flourished accordingly. All persons who have the slightest acquaintance with ecclesiastical history, know that this was one of the most notorious and crying abuses of the Papal Church till the time of the Reformation. And you, Sir, who affirm that the main object of the Popes in asserting their claims, was "generally commendable," you yourself are conscious that by succeeding in those claims they increased the evil† which

* Page 78.

*

+ " "Tis incredible," says Paul the Englishman, "how many mischiefs the sale of offices has done to the Church. From thence have proceeded worthless, ignorant, scandalous, ambitious, and violent Bishops. The other benefices have been disposed of to all manner of persons indifferently,... to pimps, cooks,

they pretended to cure... that they acted more like successors of Simon Magus than of Simon Peter.

grooms and boys. Benefices are as publicly sold at Rome as goods in a market. So much for the Pope's signature: so much for a dispensation, or leave to hold benefices that are incompatible : so much for an indult: so much for taking off an excommunication: so much for such and such indulgencies."-L'Enfant, Council of Constance. Eng. Translation. vol. i. 369.

"One might believe that the Sovereign Pontiffs had drawn to themselves these elections and collations for the sake of giving better pastors to the Church. Nothing less than that. Since that time they chose not those who were most capable of instructing and of ruling the Church, but those who were able to pay best thus the Church found itself filled with ignorant and incapable pastors. This was not sufficient. They took away from patrons the privilege of presenting persons to a benefice, and the liberty of conferring it, threatening these patrons with anathema, if by an audacious rashness they undertook to establish any person whatsoever in a benefice whilst there was any one to whom the Pope had granted by his authority an expectance for it. Graces expectative came in then from all sides. "They do not (says Clemangis) take pastors from the schools or universities, but from the plough and from the most vile professions. We see those who know no more of Latin than of Arabic; some even who scarcely know how to read nor distinguish A from B. There is nothing more unworthy than to see a Pope, or any other ecclesiastic, in an eminent station, not knowing even how to read the Holy Scripture readily, and never touching it but by the cover, although in their installation they are obliged to swear that they have the knowledge of it. If by chance they meet with any pastor of another character, he

CELIBACY OF THE CLERGY.

POPE Hildebrand, according to Dr. Milner, succeeded not only in extirpating simony, but in completely remedying the incontinency of the clergy; and we are to infer that the Romish Church has from that time been immaculate on this score. He was indeed as successful in the one attempt as in the other, and the Romish Church proved itself about as immaculate in morals as it was infallible in doctrine.

It might have been thought that the question concerning the celibacy of the clergy had been set at rest throughout Protestant Europe. You

is exposed to the raillery and the slanders of others, and found only fit to be put in a cloister. Thus the study of the Holy Word passes for folly. Those who make profession of it are the sport of all the world, and particularly of the Popes, who prefer their traditions to the commandments of God. The glorious and holy employ of preaching, which was formerly a privilege particular to Bishops, is so vilified that they are ashamed to exercise it."

Ignorance was yet the least evil. One may judge of the morals of people thus ill brought up. The author makes

a frightful picture of it. There was nothing but lewdness, debaucheries, gambling, and quarrels. The utmost contempt was the necessary consequence of such conduct.-L'Enfant, Hist. du Concile de Pise, t. i. p. 67.

however suppose it to be " abundantly demonstrated that Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, were obliged, from the very infancy of the Church, to observe the law of continency;" and that this law "was taught by the Apostles." This bold assertion is made in the teeth of the Apostle Paul, who tells us that a Bishop must be "the husband of one wife, one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;"...who says, "Let the Deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well;"‡ and who prophetically warned the Church against those who in latter times, "giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils," should speak" lies in hypocrisy, having their consciences seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry.”§...I do not wonder, Sir, that your Church should be so solicitous to withhold the Bible from its people!

A Synod held in this country, and in the eleventh century, ascribed the prohibition of marriage to Christ himself, because, said they, he says in a certain Gospel, "he who hateth not his wife is not worthy to be my disciple."||

* Page 64.

+1 Tim. iii. 2-4.

1 Tim. iii. 12.

§ Ib. c. iv. 1-3.

"Christus ipse stabilivit Christianismum et castitatem; om