man, professor of law at Tubingen, and af
ter his conversion to the Romish ckurch in
1635, professor at Ingolstadt. He published
his motives ; and appears to have been sin
cere ; though the timidity of his character,
and the troubled state of the times, seem to
have had an influence. His revolt was a se
rious loss to the Protestants. See Henke s
Kirchengesch., vol. iii., p. 517, and Schle-
geVs note here. 2V.]
(59) [He was the son of the famous JEgid-
ius Hunnius, and brother to Nicholas. He
was professor of law at Giessen and Marpurg,
turned Catholic in 1631, was made counsel
lor and vice-chancellor at Treves, and died in
1636. See Henke and Schlegel, 1. c. Tr.]
(60) [This celebrated anatomist travelled
for improvement as far as Italy. On his re
turn, he was made professor of anatomy at
Copenhagen. But preferring Italy, he soon
removed to that country. There, at the age
of 37, in the year 1675, he became a real
Catholic, changed his profession, was created
a titular bishop, and sent as papal legate into
Germany ; where he died in 1686. He was
first a great anatomist, and then a very sin
cere Catholic, and a man of blameless life.
lie wrote many tracts in defence of popery.
See Jo. Mollcr s Cimbria Litterata, torn, ii.,
p. 867, &c. Tr.]
(61) [See Henke s Kirchengesch., vol. iv.,
p. 305. He apostatized in 1694; published
bis apology for it ; aid died the next year.
-Tr.]
(62) [This distinguished literary man was
born at Hamburg, in 1596 ; first studied
medicine, but afterwards devoted himself to
Latin and Greek literature, and to ecclesias
tical antiquities. He early travelled to Italy
and Sicily. Returning, he pursued study in
Holland. Being denied a scholarship at
Leyden, he left there in disgust, and after
travelling a year or two, settled in Paris A.D.
1624. Here he was promoted, became a
Catholic and in author. He next went to
302 BOOK IV. -CENT. XVII. SEC. II. PART I. -CHAP. I.
17. Those Christians of the East who were not of the Romish com
m union, opposed the papal envoys no less firmly than the Europeans,
Nor do the more ingenuous Catholics themselves deny, that those who give
us splendid accounts of the great extension of the papal authority among
the Nestorians and Monophysites, and of the favourable disposition of sev
eral of the prelates of these sects towards the Romish church, deceive us
with fictitious statements. (69) On the other hand, the sovereign pontiffs
suffered two very severe losses in the East, during this century ; the one
was in Japan, the other in Abyssinia. What occurred in Japan, has al
ready been stated, among the evils which the Christian cause in general
experienced. It therefore remains only to give some account of the occur
rences in Abyssinia or Ethiopia. In the beginning of the century, the
mission to the Abyssinians which bad been interrupted in the preceding
century, was renewed by the Portuguese Jesuits with very favourable au
spices. For the emperor Susneius, who assumed the name of Scltam Se
gued at his coronation after his victories ove^r his enemies, influenced partly
by the eloquence of the Jesuits, and partly by the hope of confirming his
authority by the aid of Portuguese troops, committed the direction of all
religious affairs, in the year 1625, to Alphonzo Mendcz a missionary from
Portugal ; or in other words, created him patriarch of the nation. The
next year, he not only himself publicly swore obedience to the authority of
the Roman pontiff, but also required all his people to forsake the religion
of their fathers, and to embrace that of Rome. But that new prelate with
his associates, by his ill-timed zeal, himself subverted the foundations of
the papal authority, which appeared to be so well established. For in the
first place, he resolved to subdue the people, (the greatest part of whom to
gether with their ministers held their ancient religion more dear than life
itself), by means of terror, wars, and very severe punishments, in the man
ner of the Portuguese Inquisition. In the next place, the prelate ordered
those who yielded obedience to the commands of the emperor, to be bap.
tized and consecrate-d anew, after the Roman form ; as if they had previ
ously been entirely without the true Christian ordinances : which was an
injury to the religion of their fathers, that the clergy regarded with more
horror than they did the tortures and violence inflicted on recusants. And
lastly, he did not hesitate to rend the commonwealth into factions, and to
encroach even upon the authority and the prerogatives of the emperor.
Hence arose, first, civil commotions and formidable insurrections ; then, tne
indignation of the emperor himself, and a general abhorrence of the Jes
uits ; and finally, a public edict of the emperor in 1631, which gave the
citizens full liberty to embrace which of the two religions they preferred.
The son of Seltam, Basilides, who succeeded to the throne on the death
of his father in 1632, thought proper to clear the country of these trouble-
book xvii., ch. iii., p. 912, & *. Weismanri s nians, Urban Ccrry. EtAt present de I Eglise
Kistoria Eccles., saecul. xvii., p. 738. Romaine, p. 170 : afso concerning the Copts,
Watch s Einleitung in die Rcligions-Stre- p. 216, 222, &c. That some small but poor
itigkeiten, vol. ii., p. 728, &c. [Hcnkc s congregations were collected among these
Kirchengeschichte, vol. iii. and iv.] With sects, no one denies. Thus, near the inid-
these may be joined the best writers on civil die of the century, the Capuchins collected
and literary history- a. very small company of popish converte
(69) See the express declarations of Jo. among the Asiatic Monophysites, whose pre
Cfiardin, in various parts of the latest edition late resides at Aleppo. See Le Quie.n. Ori
f his travels. Add, respecting the Anne- ens Christianus, torn, ii., p. 1408
HISTORY OF THE ROMISH CHURCH.
303
some strangers ; and therefore in the year 1634, he drove Men f lez and the
whole body of Jesuits and Portuguese from Abyssinia, with no kind oi in
dulgence or tenderness. (70) From this time onward, such an abhorrence
of the Roman name became firmly rooted in the breasts of the Abyssin-
ians, that they most cautiously guard their frontiers, lest some Jesuit or
other priest of the Romish communion should creep into the country, and
again embroil their commonwealth. The Roman pontiffs at first sought
to repair the damage done by the Jesuits, by sending out two French Cap
uchin monks : and these being stoned to death by the Abyssinians, as
soon as they were discovered, recourse was had to more secret methods ;
and at last the authority of Lewis XIV. king of France was resorted to,
in order to open a door for the access of their missionaries to Ethiopia. (71)
But to the present time, they have not been able, so far as we know,
to calm the wakeful indignation of that highly-incensed nation. (72)
(70} See Job. Ludolfs Historia JEthiopi-
ca, lib. hi., cap. xii. Mich. Geddes, Church
History of Ethiopia, p. 233, &c. Malur.
Vcisse la Croze s Histoire du Christianisme
d Ethiopie, p. 79, &c. Jerome Lobo s Voy
age d Abyssinie, p. 116, 130, 144, and Hen
ry le Giand s Additions to it, p. 173, and
his fourth Dissertation, subjoined to vol. ii.,
p. 32. The judgment of this learned man,
respecting the Jesuit Mendez, in this Diss.
iv., p. 36, is worth transcribing. II eut e te
& souhaiter quo le Patriarche ne se fut pas
charge de tant d affaires, (thus cautiously
does he speak of Mendez s lust of power,
and intrusion into the affairs of the civil gov-
nernment) et qu il n eut pas fait tantvaloir
son autorite, en se conduisant en Abyssinie,
comme dans un pays d Inquisition. II re-
volta tout la monde, et rendit les Catho-
1 iques, et eu particular les Jesuites, si odieux,
quo lahaiae qu on a congue contre eux dure
encore aujourdhui, [" The third Book of
La Crozes History, which relates to the
progress and ruin of this mission, is trans
lated by Mr. .Lockman into English, and in
serted in The Travels of the Jesuits, vol. i.,
p. 308, &c., as also is Poncefs Voyage,
mentioned in the following note." Mad,]
(71) These projects are mentioned by Ur
ban Gerry, Etat present de 1 Eglise Ro-
maine, p. 217, <fec. Henry le Grand, Sup
plement to Lobo s Itinerar. J3thiopicum,tom.
i., p. 181, etc.; torn, ii., p. 108, Ac. ["Fa
ther Lobo, who resided nine years in Ethi
opia, has given an elegant and lively, though
pimple and succinct description of that vast
empire, in his Itinerarium </Ethiopicura.
This Itinerary was translated into French
by N. le Grand, and enriched by him with
several curious anecdotes and dissertations.
Hence Dr. Moshehn sometimes quotes the
ftinerariwn under the title of Voyage
d Abyssinie, referring to Le Grand s French
Translation of it." Jfacl.] I wish the read
er to compare the statements made from
documents which are above all suspicion, by
this papist [Le Grand] who was not un
friendly to the Jesuits, with the Voyage of
that French physician, Charles James Pon-
cef, who travelled into Ethiopia in the year
1698, in company with the Jesuit Brevedent
who died on the way ; which Voyage was
published by the Jesuits, in the fourth vol
ume of the Lettres curieuses et edifiantcs des
Missions etrangeres, Paris, 1713, 8vo, [in
the ed. Lyons, 1819, torn, ii., p. 238, &c.
TV.] The discerning reader may thus
learn, how much reliance is to be put on the
statements which the Jesuits give us, of the
friendly disposition of the Asiatic and Afri
can Christians towards the see of Rome.
After ingenuously and candidly making this
comparison, he will perhaps declare, that
Grecian and even Punic faith, is more to be
trusted than that of the Jesuits.
(72) The biographers of Clement XI. and
especially Lafituu and Rcboulct, amuse ua
with fables, (invented perhaps by the Jesuits
and their friends), when they tell us of the
Abyssinian emperor s embracing the Romish
religion in the year 1712 ; or of his petition
ing the Roman pontiff in 1703 to send him
teachers, to instruct him and his people.
On the contrary, it is fully ascertained that
but a few years ago, the Abyssinians most
rigorously denied not only to all Europeans
but also to the Turks, all access to their
country ; nay. they would not allow Egyptian
Monophy sites who entered Ethiopia, to re
turn again. This is confirmed by the best
possible testimony in such a case, that of
Benedict Mail let, who long filled the office
of French consul in Egypt, and was appoint
ed by Louis XIV. ambassador to the em
peror of Abyssinia ; in his Description de
1 Egypte, pt. i., p. 325. Paris, 1735, 4to. To
him we add Henry le Grand, who in his Addi
tions to Jerome Lobo s Itinerarium, pt. i., p.
304 BOOK IV. CEN T. XVII. SEC. II. PART I. CHAP. I.
18. We have thus far spoken of the external prosperity or adversity
of the Romish church, and of the zeal of the pontiffs to extend the limita
of their empire : we now proceed to examine its internal state. The an
cierit form of government was in no respects changed ; yet the officers of
the church were in most countries, gradually abridged of no small part of
their ancient power by the civil authorities. For that happy age was ev
erywhere gone by, when th-s clergy might excite public commotions, engage
in civil affairs at their pleasure, terrify with their sacred denunciations, and
impose contributions and other burdens upon the citizens. The supreme
pontiff himself, though saluted with the same appellations and titles as for
merly, often experienced with vast regret, that names had lost much of
their ancient power and import, and were still losing more and more.
The principle formerly held only by the French, that the power of the Ro
man pontiff was wholly and exclusively confined to sacred and ecclesias
tical affairs, and by no means extended to secular things, to the property
the persons, and the business of the citizens, had now become wellnigh
the universal opinion of all kings and princes. The schools indeed in
most parts of the Romish world, with the public writers, extolled the maj
esty of the pontiff to the utmost of their ability ; and the Jesuits, who
wished to be thought among the first defenders of the Romish see and pow
er, did the same ; and even the courts of princes sometimes used magnifi
cent language, respecting the dignity and authority of the head and father
">f the church. But the misfortune was, that in this as in other cases,
men s actions did not accord with their language ; and the sovereign prin
ces, when any question or controversy arose with the court of Rome,
measured the rights and prerogatives of the pontiff not as formerly by the
decisions of the schools, but by their own convenience and interests.
19. This the sovereign pontiffs experienced to their great detriment,
as often as they ventured in this age to resume their former pretensions,
and to encroach upon the jurisdiction of sovereign states. In the year
1806, Paul V. a haughty pontiff, laid the Venetians under an interdict ;
because they presumed to punish certain priests who had committed crimes,
and forbid the erection of any more sacred edifices in their territories
without the consent of the senate, and prohibited all farther transfers of
estates to the clergy without permission from the government. But the
senate of Venice most firmly and vigorously resisted this wrong. For in
the first place, they would not allow the priests to intermit the sacred ser
vices, as the pontiff commanded ; and the Jesuits and Capuchins, who
chose to obey the pontiff rather than the senate, were banished the coun
try. In the next place, they ordered Paul Sarpi, a theologian of the re
public who was a monk of the order of Servitors and a man of very great
genius, and other persons deeply learned in civil and ecclesiastical law, to
demonstrate the justice of their cause in several treatises, and to inquire
with great freedom into the true limits of the pcipal power : and their at-
tacks were so powerful, that CcBsar Baronius and the other writers to
222, (published in 1728), after faithfully de- state of things in Ethiopia : Toutes ces en
tailing all the projects of the French and the terprises paroitront chimeriques a ceux qui
popes in our age for introducing Romish conr.oitront 1 Abissinie et les Abissins. Pi-r-
priests into Abyssinia, subjoins, that all such haps the mission which is now fitting out st
projects must necessarily appear vain and Rome to the Abyssinians, wil add new cow
chimerical to persons acoua -^ed with the firmation to this opinion.
HISTORY OF THE ROMISH CHURCH.
30c>
wh >m the Roman pontiff trusted the defence of his cause, could with dif
ficulty stand up against them. When at length Paul V. prepared for war
against the Venetians, Henry IV. king of France, interposed and brought
about 3 peace, but on terms that were not very honourable to the pontiff. (73)
For the Venetians could not be induced to rescind entirely those decrees
which had given offence to the Romish bishop, nor to allow the banished
Jesuits to return to their country. (74) The senate of Venice, at that time,
contemplated a secession from the Romish church ; and the English and
Dutch ambassadors endeavoured to persuade them to such a step. But
many causes of gre"at weight, prevented the measure : nor did the saga
cious and circumspect Sarpi himself, though he was no friend to the Ro
mish court, appear to approve the thing. (75)
20. If the Portuguese had possessed as much wisdom and courage as
the Venetians, equally unsuccessful would have been the contest which
(73) Besides Thuanus (de Thmt\ and
other historians, see Gabr. Daniel s Histoire
cb France, tome x., p. 358, &c., of the re
cent edit. Jo. Hen. Heidegger s Historia
Papatus, period vii., $ ccxx., p. 322, &c.
Jo. Wolfg. Jaeger s Historia Eccles., saecul.
xvii., decenn. i., p. 10S. But especially the
writings of the celebrated Paul Sarpi and of
the other Venetian theologians, deserve a
careful perusal. For being written with no
less solidity than erudition and elegance,
these works contributed most to open the
eyes of kings and magistrates, and to lead
them no longer to yield implicit obedience
lo the will of the pontiffs, as had formerly
IK- en done. Pre-eminent among these wri
tings, is the Istoria delle cose passate entre
Pa al V. etlaRepubl. diVenetia ; composed
by Paul Sarpi, who is usually called Fra
Paolo, i. e., Brother Paul; printed Miran-
do!., 1624, 4to ; and the Historia Interdic-
ti Ycneti, by the same author, which was
printed at Cambridge, 1626, 4to, by William
Bedell, at that time chaplain to the English
embassy at Venice, and afterwards a bishop
in Ireland Paul V. therefore, whose rash
ness and imprudence led the Venetians to
publish these books, was himself the cause
of those very great perplexities which the
Romish see afterwards often experienced.
(74) The Venetians indeed, a long time
afterwards, in the year 1657, when Alexan
der VII. governed the Romish church, being
wearied with the importunities of several
princes and especially of Louis XIV. king
of France, suffered the Jesuits to return to
their territories. Yet quite down to our
age, no where is this very powerful society
under more restraint than among the Vene
tians ; to its own loss, it finds the old grudge
remaining deep fixed in the public mind.
See the Voyage Historique en Italic, Alle-
aiagne, Suisse ; Amsterd., 1736, 8vo, vol.
I, p. 291. To this dav, the pontifical re-
VOL. III. Q q,
scripts and bulls have just so much power
among the Venetians, as the interests of the
republic and the judgment of the senate will
allow them to have. I adduce as a most
credible witness cardinal Henry Noris, who
(in the Epistles of famous Venetians to Ant.
Magliabechi, vol. i., p. 67) thus wrote, in
the year 1676 : Poche Bulle passevano quelle
acque verso le partc del Adriatico, per le mas-
sime lasciate nel Testamento di Fra Paolo.
That is : Few bulls of the pontiffs pass the
waters of the Po and reach the shores of the
Adriatic : they are prohibited by the maxims
which Brother Paul laid down in his last
Testament.
(75) This project of the Venetians is ex
pressly treated of, by Gilbert Burnet in his
Life of William Bedell, p. 18, &c., of the
French edit. , and by Peter Francis le Cou-
rayer, Defense de la nouvelle Traduction
de 1 Histoire du Concile de Trente, p. 35,
&c., Amsterd., 1742, 8vo, who shows very
clearly, that Sarpi departed indeed in many
respects from the opinions of the Romish
church, yet that he did not approve of all
the doctrines of the Protestants ; nor would
he recommend to the Venetians, to separate
from the Romish church. [From the ac
count of the agent for a union Jo. Bupt.
Lcnke, to the elector Palatine, which the
keeper of the records Gattler. has given in
an appendix to the Hist, of the duchy of
Wurtemberg, vol. vi., No. 10, p. 57, it ap
pears, that in the year 1609 a Protestant
congregation of more than 1000 persons,
among whom were about 300 gentry of the
principal families, then actually existed ai
Venice ; which Brother Paul Sarpi and his
friend Fulgenzo had collected, and which
contemplated under favourable circumstan
ces to abandon popery. The substance of
this account is also in Le Bret s Magazin
zum Gebrauch der Staaten-und Kirchen
,, vol. ii., p. 235, &c.Scfil.]
500 BOOK IV. CENT. XVII. SEC. II. PART I. CHAP. 1.
Urban VIII. commenced against them in 1641, and which continued till
the year 1666. The Portuguese having driven out the Spaniards, made
John duke of Braganza, their king. Urban and his successors pertina
ciously refused either to acknowledge John as king of Portugal, or to con.
firm the bishops appointed by him, though urged to it in a thousand waya
both by the Portuguese and the French. The consequence was, that the
greatest part of the Portuguese territories was for a long time without
bishops. The vicar of Christ who above all things should have no fear of
man, had such a dread of Spanish resentment, that rather than offend the
king of Spain, he chose to violate his most sacred duty and leave great
numbers of churches without pastors. The king of Portugal was advised
from various quarters, and especially by the French, to imitate the exam
ple of the Venetians ; and to cause his bishops to be consecrated by a na
tional council of Portugal, in despite of the pontiff: and he seemed at
times, disposed to act with vigour. But the ascendency of the Inquisition,
and the amazing superstition of the people and their devotion to the will
of the pontiff, prevented his adopting energetic measures. Thus, it was
not till after the lapse of twenty-five years, and the conclusion of a peace
with the Spaniards, that Clement IX. confirmed the bishops appointed by
the king. Yet in this the Portuguese showed themselves men, that they
strenuously resisted the pontiff when he endeavoured to take advantage of
this contest to extend his power in Portugal ; nor would they suffer the
ancient prerogative of their kings, to designate the bishops of the country,
to be at all abridged. (76)
21. For many centuries there had been almost perpetual controversy
between the French nation and the popes ; which, as in other periods, so
also in this century, sometimes came to an open rupture. If the pontiffs
ever employed cunning and perseve-rance in any cause, they certainly did
so throughout this century, in their endeavours to subdue the hostility of
the French to the Romish power, and to destroy or gradually undermine
what are called the liberties of the Gallic church : and their principal coad
jutors in this business were the Jesuits. But to these machinations, very
strong opposition was constantly made, both by the parliament of Paris,
and by the very able writers, Edmund Richer, John Launoy, Peter de Mar-
ca, N a tails Alexander, Lewis Elites du Pin, and others : who had the cour
age to bring forward the opinions of their ancestors, some with more
spirit and erudition, and others with less, and to confirm them with new
arguments and authorities. The court indeed, did not always reward
these protectors of their country according to their merits ; nay, frequent
ly showed itself opposed to them, with a view to please the angry and
menacing pontiff; yet this afforded little advantage to the papal cause.
The French kings it seems, would rather have their rights silently main
tained, than publicly defended with noise and war, in open declarations and
disputations ; nor did they esteem it below their dignity to temporize oc-
casionally, and to pretend great reverence for the mandates and edicts of
the pontiffs, in order more easily to obtain from them the objects of their
(76) See Mich. Gcddes, History of the defended among the French, by Ism. Buli
pope s behaviour towards Portugal, from alii, whose Libelli duo pro Ecclcsiis Lusi
1641 to 1666 ; which is in his Miscellaneous tanis, ad Clerum Gallicanum, were reprinted
Tracts, vol. ii., p. 73-186. The cause of at Helmstadt, 1700, 4to.
the Portuguese in this contest, was learnedly
HISTORY OF THE ROMISH CHURCH.
307
wishes. (77) But if they perceived the Romish prelates taking advantage
of this complaisance to extend their authority, they remembered that they
were kings of the French, that is, of a nation for a long time most impa.
tient of Romish serviti.de. This is abundantly confirmed by the contests
of Lewis XIV. with the pontiffs.(78)
(77) " It was with a view to this, that
Voltaire, speaking of the manner in which
the court of France maintains its preroga
tives against the Roman pontiff, says pleas
antly, that the king of France kisses the
pope s feet, and ties up his hands. 1 1 Mad.~\
(78) Many, both of the Lutherans and
Reformed, and they men of great merit and
learning, lament the augmentation of the Ro
mish power in France during this century, and
:he gradual corruption of the minds of both
xhe noblesse and the clergy, by the prevalence
of Italian notions respecting the papal power,
which the ancient French people viewed
with abhorrence ; and from this they infer,
that the famous liberties of ihe Gallic church
were much abridged in this century, by the
influence principally of the Jesuits. Into
these views they are led, partly by certain
measures of the French monarchs, which
have the appearance of greatly subserving
the wishes of the pontiffs ; and partly by the
numberless declamations of the Jansenists
and other recent French writers, who lament,
that the ancient, glory has departed from the