death into the hands of the secular power. Having declared the condemned individual "an apostate heretic, a defaulter, and an abettor of heretics," and that he has "thereby fallen into and incurred the grievous sentence of excommunication," &c., they, as if to join insult to cruelty, add, "Nevertheless we earnestly beseech and enjoin the said secular arm to deal so tenderly and compassionately with him, as to prevent the effusion of blood, or danger of death!!" No words can do justice to such a masterpiece of hypocrisy; for let it be remembered, that the Inquisition positively commands the civil magistrate to put the condemned to death. The gross falsehood of its professions, therefore, the aspect of meekness which it thus displays, while it thirsts for the blood of, and dooms to the flames, its wretched victim,-clearly proves, that "there is no faithfulness in their mouth, that their inward part is very wickedness, and that their throat is an open sepulchre." Is there in all history an instance of so gross and impudent a mockery of God and the world, as this of the Inquisition, beseeching the civil magistrate not to put the heretics they have condemned and delivered to them to death? For were they in earnest when they made this solemn petition to the secular magistrates, why do they bring their prisoners out of the Inquisition, and deliver them to those magistrates in coats painted over with flames? Why do they teach, that heretics, above all other malefactors, ought to be punished with death? And why do they never resent the secular magistrates having so little regard to their earnest and joint petition, as never to fail to burn all the heretics that are delivered to them by the Inquisition, within an hour or two after they receive them into their hands? And why, in Rome, where the supreme civil and ecclesiastical authority is lodged in the same person, is this petition of the Inquisition, which is made there as well as in other places, never granted? The truth is, as already noticed, the Inquisitors are commanded by the Bulls of various Popes, to compel the civil magistrate, under penalty of excommunication, and other ecclesiastical censures, within six days, readily to execute the sentences pronounced by the Inquisitors against heretics, that is, to commit them to the flames!

CHAPTER XXIII.

PIUS IV. AND V.

At this time Paul was very desirous of convincing the world, that he had sincerely at heart a correction of abuses in the church; and with this view, he ordered all Bishops to proceed to their own dioceses, and all who had embraced a monastic life to return to their monasteries, admitting of no excuse whatever with regard to the latter. But with whatever zeal or sincerity individual Popes may have sought to correct abuses, it is evident that their best exertions would be neutralized by the system of an infallible Church, all the decisions and conduct of which are said to be dictated by the Holy Spirit; from whence a reformation, such as was necessary, became impossible. It was now almost too late to act upon a new course of practice; he was unable to remedy the evils of his administration, as he died on the 18th of August, 1559, in the eighty-fourth year of his age, after a pontificate of little more than four years.

Pius IV., whose original name was John Angelo di Medici, was chosen, on Christmas Day, to succeed Paul, after a delay of more than four months, caused by the intrigues of different Cardinals of noble families, whose power was so equally balanced, that no one of them could obtain the requisite superiority over his rivals.

Soon after his accession to the Papacy, Pius dispatched a Nuncio to England, with secret instructions and a conciliatory letter; offering to annul the sentence against the marriage of Elizabeth's mother, to allow the use of the cup to the English, and to confirm the English liturgy. But Elizabeth had chosen the better part; and the Nuncio was informed, that he could not be permitted to set foot in England. With a more commendable spirit, Pius released various individuals whom his predecessor had left imprisoned at his death, under suspicion of

heresy; but, with a strange perversity of mind, he soon rebuilt that dreaded inquisitorial mansion, which the Roman people had rushed to destroy as soon as they knew Paul IV. had expired. He also empowered the kings of France and Spain to appropriate the property of the Church, for the purpose of applying it to crush the Reformers. He encouraged the French government to the persecution of the Protestants, that its attention might be thereby diverted from urging any measures of reform on the Council then assembled at Trent. To this Council His Holiness had sent five Legates to preside in his place; and, after divers delays, the Council had been opened by his order, on the eighteenth of January, 1562; and matters were treated therein, after the same manner in which they had been treated in preceding Councils, under Paul the Third, and Julius; that is to say, the Pope reigned absolutely, and nothing was done but according to his will. His See was exalted more than before; the disorders of the government of the Church were rather confirmed than corrected; and the errors, and superstitions, and worship, set up by men, instead of being reformed, were, on the contrary, established and enforced by a perpetual and indispensable law. Such was the success of this assembly.

It would be too long to relate minutely that which passed there. Any may read with pleasure and with profit all the particulars in some of the famous historians of those times. It shall suffice me for the present to say, that, considering the means which the Popes took to govern that Council, we ought not to think it strange if they obtained their ends, and if they always turned things to which side they pleased. First of all, they took particular care to crowd it with Italian Prelates: the number of these alone generally exceeded that of one half of the representatives of all the other nations joined together. By this means the Court of Rome might very well assure itself of the Council; for although all the Prelates that composed it should not have been bound to the Popes by an oath, yet the Italians were more particularly dependent upon them, and to these the Court of Rome would not fail to represent the interest that Italy had in preserving to itself the ecclesiastical government over other na

tions; and to maintain, by consequence, the authority of Rome. Secondly, they kept up a stock of money in the hands of the Legates, to help the poor Bishops, and to gain them more and more to them, and to make also presents and gratifications to persons who could render them most service. For they judged that the best means to obtain partisans, was to make a liberal acknowledgment of the good offices already received, and to encourage the hope of future reward. In the third place, the Pope was not contented with presiding in the Council by his Legates. Pius the Fourth unjustly insinuated it into the decree of the opening on the 18th of January, 1562, that they should treat of matters proponentibus Legatis; and when some Spanish Prelates would have opposed that clause, saying, that it was unusual in Councils, and that it wholly took away all liberty from the assembly, where every one ought to have a right to propose, the Legates derided them, and let them alone without giving them any answer. The Pope himself having heard of this opposition, commanded his Legates that they should remain obstinate in that decree, and that they should not remit so much as one point: and the King of Spain having made some complaints, upon the advice that his ambassador gave him, the Pope eluded them, and would change nothing. Behold, therefore, the Court of Rome well nigh aleady assured of two great points; to wit, on the one side, of the greatest number of persons; and on the other, of the propositions that should be made in the Council. There remained nothing but to make sure of their deliberations, and for this they practised divers means. The two most general were, that of the congregations at Trent itself in the house of the chief Legate, and that of the congregation at Rome. The former consisted in this, that from the beginning of the Council under Paul the Third, they unjustly made this order to be established, that, in imitation of that which had been in the last Council of Lateran, there should be made divers particular congregations to examine the matters there which the Legates should propose to them; that afterwards the same matters so digested be brought to a general congregation, which should be held in the house of the Legate, where every one should tell his opinion; and that

after this, they should frame the decrees to contain and make them pass in Council. The second consisted in this, that from the beginning the Pope had deputed some Cardinals at Rome to consult about the affairs of the Council, and to have, as it were, the overlooking of all that should pass there. So that before they came to make any decree, the Legates at Trent had discovered the bottom of the sentiments of the Prelates, and the reasons of every one; since, before they concluded any thing, they sent all to Rome, from whence they received their orders, and the deliberations of the Council, wholly made to their hands: and this is that which they called, the Holy Ghost coming in a cloak-bag.

In one word, they used in the management of this assembly all that was most refined, most forcible and profound in human policy,--promises, threats, secret negotiation, canvassings, diversions, delays, authority; and, in general, nothing was forborne that could turn and corrupt men's minds. The Pope and his Court had a great many difficulties to overcome, and oppositions to surmount, which often put them into great troubles, and inquietudes, and fears; but, in the end, they were so well served, that they remained masters, and saw all things succeed according to their desires.

When information of the dissolution of the Council was brought to Pius, he received it with great joy, and ordained a solemn thanksgiving on the occasion; and in a very short time he published a Bull of confirmation, requiring all the Prelates and Princes to receive and enforce the decrees of the Council of Trent, prohibiting persons from writing any explication or commentary of them, and commanding the Catholics every where to have recourse, in all doubtful cases, to the Apostolic See.* Pius IV. died in December, 1565, in the 67th year of

* Dudithius, Bishop of Tinia, a witness of the wiles and stratagems practised in this Council to accomplish the interests of the Roman Court, relates, that they saw daily hungry and needy Bishops resort thither, youth for the most part, who only began to have beards, addicted to luxury and riot, hired only to vote as the Pope directed. In this assembly, says he, the Holy Ghost had no concern. The counsels given there were the suggestions of human policy, calculated to support the Pope's exorbitant and shameful domination.