immediately of their own accord to keep them out, and fhut the gates very faft; but the holy prelate order'd them to be open'd, faying, Ecclefia Dei non eft cuftodienda more caftrorum; and he offer'd himself to the affiaffins, chufing rather to fall by their cruel hands, than to defend himself according to the custom of perfons now-a-days. O happy and venerable antiquity, when the tongue, the hands, words, and actions, all join'd together in one accord! I no longer wonder that St. Paul wrote with fo much boldness to the Philippians, Those things which ye have both learned and received, and heard and feen in me, do; and the God of Peace shall be with you. For at that time the prelate's innocency was their natural protection, fo that they needed no laws for their guard.

There's not a frier of any order, but hopes to obtain falvation by a regular life; and indeed the more exact they are in this particular, the more affurance have they of being faved. But how many are, 'tis to be fear'd, damn'd within a monaftery, who might probably have been fav'd without one? You fee by this, I don't spare my own cloth. A monk engages himself voluntarily to an infinite number of duties, which if he performs, he merits, and is fav'd; but if not, he fins, and is damn'd, while he may thank himself for it, by voluntarily charging himself with fuch a multitude

of

of obligations. In like manner, the laity may say that many laymen die guilty of the breach of pofitive laws, who had not been criminal if fuch laws had not been establish'd; for as St. Paul fays, without the law, fin was dead fo that if this had been the case, they had not died disobedient. St. Ambrofe fpeaks still more clearly, Sunt in nobis qui habent timorem Dei, fed non fecundum fcientiam, ftatuentes duriora præcepta, que non poffit humana conditio fuftinere: Timor Domini in eis eft, quia videntur fibi confulere difciplina opus virtutis exigere, fed infcitia in eis eft, quia non compatiuntur naturæ, nec exiftimant poffibilitatem, i. e. There are thofe among us who have the fear of God in their hearts, but not according to knowledge, impofing harder precepts than the condition of man can bear: The fear of the Lord indeed is in them, because they think that while difcipline is their Study, they are only requiring a virtuous act, but then they are grofly ignorant, because they don't confider the frailty of human nature, nor the possi bility of the thing injoin'd. For my own part, I muft fay with David, Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth, and keep the door of my lips; for I am cautious of faying too much, for fear of giving offence; but the teftimony which is due to the truth, obliges me not to be altogether filent. Whoever reads the ancient and modern canons, will find that next to heresy, they treat nothing with more abhorrence than fimony; and there's a great deal of reason for

it, because, as Adam's disobedience is fet down as the firft fin under the old law, fo the wickedness of Simon the forcerer, who would have purchas'd the gifts of the holy spirit with money, is reckon'd one of the firft rate crimes under the new teftament dispensation; and from his name this crime was call'd fimony.

Now is there any poffibility of concealing from the whole world that horrid crime of fimony, fo much forbid by the facred canons, and by all the Councils, especially that of Trent, when every body knows the valuation of every benefice, prelacy and bishoprick? the good fathers of that Council forefaw that the wit of men would not be at a loss to invent some specious titles or other to justify the raifing of fums for the compofing and figning of bulls; and therefore, to prevent all manner of juggle, they decreed that no more than the eighth part of a gold denier fhould be given or receiv'd for a bull or feal,and for the foliciting and dispatch of briefs. After this, how can we reconcile the law with its execution, or the command with the obedience it requires ? I am not willing to make use of that trite proverb, which is in every one's mouth, That there is no greater evil than evil itself, nor will I fay that fimony is criminal every where but in the court of Rome; for fuch an imprudent affertion as this would discover the groffeft ignorance of the mind of God, who makes no distinction betwixt persons, and in whofe balance the ple

beian

beian weighs as much as the nobleman, the subject as the fovereign, the layman as the prelate, and the prelate as the fovereign pontiff; and if there be any difference at all, 'tis this, that God will weigh him most strictly in the balance, who has the more obligations to difcharge, the higher he is advanc'd in dignity. Perhaps fome will fay, that these reflections are foreign to the matter in hand, and that I only fhew my spite against the court of Rome, by faying every ill-natur'd thing that I can invent to their prejudice; but I take God to witnefs I act upon a quite different principle; and it will appear by and by, that these reflections were not malicious, but abfolutely neceffary. The court of Rome are daily reproaching fovereigns, and the most ferene republic more than any one befides, with non-obfervance of the canons, which they argue is not only a fin, but a most hateful obftinacy, deferving both cenfure and excommunication. But I cannot help faying, that I wonder how they dare to plead the indifpenfable obligation of submitting to those canons, while they themselves either break them, or elfe with manifeft contempt evade them. Evil is always the fame, and the Pope has not a better road to falvation, with refpect to his own actions, than every other chriftian. Thy righteousness endureth for ever, and thy law is truth, fays the Pfalmift. If therefore fimony, nay, I may fay any species of it, or any of its confequences, is a

crime in a poor prelate, why fhould it not be the fame crime in the chief of all prelates? To maintain the contrary, is to do like fome phyficians, who, upon the moft trifling ailment, prescribe such potions as they never care to take themselves. Solomon fays, Horribly and speedily shall he come upon you, for a sharp judgment fhall be to them that be in high places. I have not made these reflections on fimony, with a view to accuse the court of Rome, but, only to diminish the authority of the canons in point of pofitive laws, to which canons obedience is challeng'd from thofe who had no hand in making them, while 'tis pretended those who had are exempted from that obedience. Bede obferves that Chrift drove those that fold doves out of the temple, to give us, to understand that fuch as are partakers of the, holy fpirit, of which a dove is the emblem, ought not to be either buyers or fellers, according to that claufe, quam multi de altari accipi unt & moriuntur, & accipiendo moriuntur. Which made St. Jerom fay, Va vobis miferis ad quos? pharifæorum vitia tranfierunt, i. e. Wo to you wretches, who have fallen into the vices of the pharifees!

Since therefore, according to the Romish, courtiers, the canons may be fo explain'd as to take off the obligation of obferving, or obeying them, a prince ought not to be excommunicated for difobeying the canons, when he finds them prejudicial to his ftate. The ca[PART II.]

R

nons