after many struggles with monarchical power, the aristocracy had succeeded in gaining the ascendancy, were the people in circumstances of less degradation. The nobles opposed the power of the monarchs, but the object of their opposition was their own aggrandizement, not the liberation of their enslaved subjects; and, remarkable only for their pride, and the contempt with which they regarded the inferior classes of society, the transference of power into their hands effected no melioration in the condition of the people. In fact, it was to the latter an object of extreme indifference, as to any advantage resulting from the change, whether they were in subjection to one despot or a hundred.

Such, on the whole, were the features of the political condition of Christian Europe at the commencement of the 16th century. And who can tell how long-if the Reformation had not taken place-this melancholy state of matters might have been perpetuated? The progress of knowledge-to which the discovery of the art of printing had imparted an unparalleled impulse-would, indeed, have overthrown in process of time this system of things, if there had existed no other power by whose influence that progress could have been counteracted. But there did exist such a power-a power to which almost the entire Christian world did homage-whose influence, if it had not been destroyed, was potent enough to check, in its very commencement, the emancipation of mind, and which, therefore, whilst by perpetuating the reign of darkness, it maintained the security of its own throne, was the guardian of every other system of op

pression by which the world called Christian was enslaved.

The power to which we allude is that of Papal Rome, a power, whose nature, greatness, and duration, are among the most surprising phenomena that human history presents to our contemplation. This power, having its seat at Rome, and an Italian priest as the superintendent of its administration, arrogated to itself the prerogatives of Deity,-claiming unlimited authority over the world in secular as well as in ecclesiastical affairs, assuming to itself the right of dethroning monarchs, and disposing of crowns,-and visiting those who refused obedience to its will with the most fatal and sanguinary vengeance. Spiritual supremacy was all that was originally claimed by the pretended vicars of Jesus Christ; and, abhorrent as the idea of temporal power is to the character of the ministers of religion, and utterly repugnant as it is to the genius of Christianity to be associated with the pride and pomp of worldly grandeur, more than spiritual supremacy it could not have been anticipated that they would demand. But, alas for the peace and happiness of mankind! as if the imposition of an unhallowed spiritual yoke had been too small a triumph for them to have gained over a degraded world, more than this they did demand, and more than this they came to possess. In boundless violation of all propriety, and in outrage to that Saviour for whom they professed to act, but whose "kingdom is not of this world," they assumed to themselves imperial as well as sacerdotal power, grasped the temporal sword, as

well as the keys of Saint Peter, and ceased not to ply their insidious devices, till, not only in religion, but also in all secular affairs, they wielded uncontrolled dominion over the Christian world. What a spectacle of

* The spiritual supremacy of the Roman pontiffs was fully established about the commencement of the seventh century; their temporal power seems not to have been consolidated till a hundred and fifty years after that period. The immediate instrument of its consolidation was Pepin, the betrayer and successor of Childerick, King of France. This crafty usurper, having been materially indebted to Pope Zachary, for the success of his enterprise against his master's throne, conferred upon that pope's successor, Stephen II., the Exarchate of Ravenna, which had been recovered from the King of the Lombards, by whom it had been taken from the emperor. About thirty years afterwards, important additions were made to the gift of Pepin, by his son and successor Charlemagne. This monarch was the first emperor who was crowned by the pope; and, from his time, the pontiffs assumed the right of conferring the empire, and laid claim to sovereignty over all kings. This supremacy of the head of the papal church is asserted in strong and most blasphemous terms in the decrees of her councils, and in the writings of her clergy and her popes. "The pope," says one council, with Gregory VII. at its head, "ought to be called the Universal Bishop; he alone ought to wear the tokens of imperial dignity; all princes ought to kiss his feet; he has power to depose emperors and kings, and is to be judged by none."-" The church, my spouse," exclaims Innocent III.," is not married to me without bringing me something. She hath given me a dowry of a price beyond all price-the plenitude of spiritual things, and the extent of things temporal-the mitre for the priesthood, and the crown for the kingdom-making me the lieutenant of Him who hath written on his vesture and on his thigh, King of kings and Lord of lords,'-to enjoy alone the plenitude of power, that others may say of me, next to God, Out of his fulness have we received." To deny this supremacy is, in the estimation of the church, heresy of the grossest kind. Accordingly, one of the

humiliation was it, to behold such a powerful kingdom as England acknowledging her subjection to a foreign priesthood, by the yearly payment of a tribute levied on all her families?-a tribute which, although the consideration of its amount is insignificant in comparison with the consideration of its degrading import, was far from being trivial in point of value; for, from the time of its imposition to that of its abolition, the sum which it put into the Papal treasury, could not be less than a hundred millions of our present money.*

pontiffs, writing to Philip of France, uses these words: "We would have you know, that you are subject to us, both in things spiritual and temporal; and we declare all those who believe the contrary to be heretics!" At another time, addressing the same monarch, he says, "Do not allow yourself to imagine that you have no superior, or that you are not in subjection to the head of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. He that thinks this is a fool, and he that obstinately maintains this is an infidel, separated from the flock of the good Shepherd." These proud and blasphemous claims of the pontiffs of Rome were never forgotten by them, but, on the contrary, were prosecuted with so much success, that, partly by subtlety, and partly by terror, they gained the sovereignty of Europe, and rendered the greater part of its states the tributary fiefs of the Papal See.t

* In England, this tribute, which was known by the name of Peter-pence, was exacted annually from every family in the kingdom. The payment of it is dated from the reign of Ina the Saxon, It was prohibited by Edward III., but was soon after revived, and continued till the Reformation. Something of the same kind existed in other countries. In Ireland, it was established under

+ A condensed view of the arrogant claims of the Papal See, and of the language in which they were asserted, is to be found in a work of immense research, entitled, “Free Thoughts on the Toleration of Popery," by the late Professor Bruce of Whitburn. Notes, pp. 30-34, 44—55, &c.

So completely, indeed, did clerical ambition gain the ascendancy over the secular powers, that we find the greatest of the princes of the earth humbling themselves to the very dust in the presence of him who was called "the Pope," and sacrificing before him at once the majesty of kings and the dignity of men*; -or, if there did sometimes appear a monarch, who, more spirited than his fellows, dared to disobey" the Vicar of Christ," he became the victim of a resentment, which, availing itself of the superstition of his people, was felt to be terrible. In the history of Henry II. of England is found a memorable illustration of this remark. Perceiving that the insolence and profligacy of the clerical orders in his dominions

Henry II.; in Spain, Portugal, and France, it was claimed by Gregory VII.; and was introduced by other pontiffs into Sicily, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, &c.

*History tells us of two princes-the one a king of England, the other of France, whom one of the pontiffs compelled to hold his stirrup, while he mounted on horseback; of another princean emperor indeed-upon whose neck, while he was lying prostrate before him, the pope placed his foot, exclaiming, with blasphemous application of the words of Holy Writ, " Thou shalt tread upon the serpent, and trample on the dragon and the lion ;"-of another, that he was compelled to lie in chains under the pontiff's table; and of another, the king of England who ventured to punish the insolence of Thomas of Canterbury, that he was obliged to walk barefooted to the tomb of Becket, and there to receive a whipping on the bare back from the monks and priests. We are shocked by the perusal of details like these; but the facts which they record are well authenticated, and serve, at once, as demonstrations of the greatness of the papal power, and as specimens of the revolting insults which the pontiffs inflicted on the princes of Europe.