It was to be expected, that a people who had advanced to such a stage in society, as that at which the English had arrived in the reign of Richard II,-who began to know the value of civil liberty, and had learnt to appreciate their social rights,-part of whom were already emancipated from the yoke of feudal oppression, and the rest panting after a similar freedom, it was to be expected that such a people should make efforts to break down the odious barriers of feudal slavery. Nor could they have been greatly blamed, if, instead of having recourse to insurrection and rebellion to effect their purpose, they had resorted to constitutional means of redress. It was the duty, and would have been the best policy, of the rulers of that age, to prevent these evils by removing their cause, and to have abolished the feudal system, before the seeds of discontent had taken so deep a root. Slavery is as incompatible with progressive knowledge, as with genuine Christianity. An enlightened people cannot long continue to be an enslaved people.

Nothing can be more contrary to the genius of Christianity than a turbulent, seditious, and ungovernable temper, which spurns at the restraints of lawful authority, and refuses to bear its portion of those public burdens, which the exigencies of the state may render necessary. In this as well as every other branch of moral duty, we are instructed both by the precept and example of Jesus Christ. For he inculcated on his disciples," render to Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's" and afterwards illustrated and enforced that precept by working a miracle, that he might be able to pay the required tribute. Though "for our sakes he became poor," that poverty was not pleaded as an excuse; and though the government to which he condescended to submit himself, was the most arbitrary and oppressive on earth, yet he yielded prompt and cheerful obedience to all its constituted authorities.

It is sometimes essential to the well-being of society, that those who have been ringleaders in vice, be made public examples, and pay the penalty of their crimes. But in all such cases, every wise government will be careful to blend mercy with judgment. It will be actuated,

not by private revenge, but by a supreme regard to the interests of the social body. It will not imitate the conduct of that infatuated prince, whose reign has been sketched in the preceding essay, by violating, in the plenitude of its power, engagements entered into in the hour of alarm and terror. Such a line of conduct could not fail to destroy all public confidence, and increase the evils it was intended to cure. The sentiment of the captive monarch of France seems to have been too soon forgotten, viz.," that if honour and good faith were banished from the whole world beside, they ought ever to be found in the breasts of kings."

We have just seen several remarkable vicissitudes of fortune, (as they are usually called, though the Christian should rather say, changes in the dispensations of divine providence ;)—a monarch hurled from his throne in the prime and vigour of his days-statesmen advancing and retiring in quick succession, like the gaudy pageants of a splendid show. Thus, too, is the fashion of this world passing away, the whole machinery is gliding along, though we are scarcely conscious of its rapid motion. While some fall from their towering eminence, like Lucifer, the son of the morning, or suddenly dart across the horizon, like a brilliant meteor, and are seen no more, others withdraw by a more gradual descent to the grave, the house appointed for all living. But the same issue awaits all.

"All to the dread tribunal haste,
Th' account to render there.”

When viewed in contrast with the solemnities of that momentous day, how insignificant do all the pomps of life and all the struggles of ambition appear! They scarcely exceed in interest the sportive circles of the insect tribes, that fill the air in a summer's evening; or the confusion of the faded leaves of a forest, when driven and scattered by the winds of heaven.

7

ESSAY XI.

A Retrospect of the State of Religion in England during the Government of the PLANTAGENETS.

THE arrogance of the court of Rome, and the despotism of the Roman pontiff, may be considered ast having attained their utmost height, at the commencement of the period now under review. The titles assumed by the bishop of Rome were indeed lowly, but his pretensions and claims were unbounded. While he called him-` self "the servant of the servants of God," he aspired to be the monarch of the universe; having all principalities and powers, thrones and dominions, in subjection to him. He proclaimed to the world, that "God had established him sovereign over all kings and kingdoms, to pluck up, and destroy, to scatter or to build, at his pleasure; and that whoever disputed this his high authority, was a heretic and an infidel." Nor was the rapacity of the Roman see inferior to its ambition. An endless variety of artifices were employed, by which to extort money from its infatuated devotees. Besides the ancient tribute denominated Peter-pence, and the tribute which king John had consented to pay as a vassal of the papal court, there were immense sums poured into the ecclesiastical treasury, arising from pilgrimages, indulgences, judicial appeals, bribes for valuable church benefices, and contributions levied by the legates and nuncios under various pretences. But more than sufficient evidence of the insatiable avarice and boundless ambition of the Roman see, has been already afforded. It is not the design of this essay to sketch the political history of the church, but rather to contemplate its religious character, by noticing briefly those corruptions of doctrine and practice, which then assumed a greater degree of prominence than before-by marking the rise and progress of persecution in a church, whose anñals have since been chronicled in blood; and by endeavouring to trace the earliest dawn of

the Reformation, whose auspicious light first shone upon our favoured island.

Before the period to which this essay refers, almost every doctrinal error peculiar to the church of Rome had been introduced, and openly defended. But the pernicious influence of these heresies did not fully appear, till long after they were propagated and generally received. For a time they merely occupied the place of controversial dogmas, and formed subjects for polemical discussion; but afterwards they became operative principles, bringing forth the most deleterious fruits. Thus, for

example, the mischievous nature of the doctrine of absolution and plenary indulgences did not so fully appear, till the time of the crusades, when the pope pretended to absolve those who should take the cross from all present and future guilt, and urged it upon all christian princes and their subjects to embark in this enterprise "as an effectual atonement for whatever sins they had committed or night commit, and a certain method of obtaining admission into the kingdom of heaven." The absurd doctrine of transubstantiation had been propagated with zeal by Lanfranc and Anselm during the Norman dynasty; but now it attained its height of absurdity, by the promulgation of canons and decrees of councils, which taught that "the very living and true Christ was received in the sacrifice of the mass under the species of bread alone," and that "this sacrifice was offered both for the quick and the dead." The dreadful extreme which the error of

to

praying to the saints" was carried at this period, appears from two remarkable documents still extant; the one is, a prayer offered up on his death-bed by John Maryns, abbot of St. Alban's monastery, to his tutelary saint, in the following words: "O holy Alban, whom I have “loved and addressed as my best aid! as I have existed by thy help, so, O glorious saint! defend me from the "pains of hell!" The other is, a collect which, towards the close of the reign of Henry II. was commanded to be used in all churches throughout the province of Canterbury for the purpose of propitiating St. Thomas à Becket. "Be favourable, good Lord, to our supplication and prayer; that we which acknowledge ourselves guilty of

iniquity, may be delivered from punishment by the "intercession of St. Thomas, thy blessed martyr and "bishop." So effectually had this tenet superseded the merits and intercession of the only Mediator between God and man, that no reference whatever is made in either of these formularies of superstitious devotion to that celestial Advocate!

That such corruptions in doctrine would be followed by still greater aberrations in practice, was fully to be expected. What could result from the claims urged by ecclesiastics of exemption from civil jurisdiction, and protection from capital punishments even for the most heinous offences-what, from the dispensing power, not only arrogated by the pope himself, but transmitted to the meanest of his vassals but the perpetration of everyspecies of crime, the unrestrained indulgence of every degree of licentiousness. A memorable statute, enacted. A. D. 1316, declared that no ecclesiastic could be lawfully condemned or punished by laymen, even though the alleged crimes were robbery, treason, and murder; and that the privilege of the church should be a sufficient protection from the arm of secular authority. Nor was it unfrequently the practice of the pontiffs of that age, to grant their favourite prelates and princes the privilege of committing themselves, or allowing others to commit, a certain number of specified crimes, as well as to absolve them from the most solemn oaths, and the most heinous offences already perpetrated. Thus (A. D. 1242) pope Innocent IV. sent a provisional bull to Henry III. of England, which informed him, that even if he should lay violent hands on an ecclesiastic, (the most enormous offence then imaginable,) that he might be absolved from it by submitting to the customary penance.

That a church thus corrupt in doctrine and practice would soon become intolerant and sanguinary, was no less to be expected. There were different modes and degrees of persecution resorted to, during the above-mentioned period. The first was the promulgation of anathemas, interdicts, and sentences of excommunication. These ecclesiastical censures were not empty, unmeaning threats; they were dreadful execrations, the very reading of which