journey thither, or on his way back; and further, such also as became vacant by his promotion to a bishopric or abbey: etiamsi ad illa persona consueverint et debuerint per electionem aut quemvis alium modum assumi. And this last, the canonists declared was no detriment at all to the patron, being only like the change of a life, in a feudal estate by the lord. Dispensations, to avoid these vacancies, begat the doctrine of commendams; and papal provisions were the previous nomination to such benefices, by a kind of anticipation, before they became actually void; though afterwards indiscriminately applied to any right of patronage exerted or usurped by the pope. In consequence of this, the best livings were filled by Italian and other foreign clergy, equally unskilled and adverse to the laws and constitution of England. The very nomination to bishoprics, which was considered a prerogative of the crown, was wrested from King Henry I., and afterwards from his successor King John, and seemingly, indeed, conferred on the chapters belonging to each see; but, by means of the frequent appeals to Rome, through the intricacy of the laws which regulated canonical elections, was eventually vested in the pope. To sum up this head with a transaction most unparalleled and astonishing in its kind, Pope Innocent III. had, at length, the effrontery to demand, and King John had the meanness to consent to a resignation of his crown to the pope, by which England was to

become, for ever, the patrimony of St. Peter; and the dastardly monarch re-accepted his sceptre from the hands of the papal legate, to hold, as the vassal of the holy see, at the annual rent of a thousand marks.

Another engine set on foot, or, at least, greatly improved by the Court of Rome, was a masterpiece of papal policy. Not content with the ample provision of tithes which the law of the land had given to the parochial clergy, they endeavoured to grasp at the lands and inheritances of the kingdom, and, had not the legislature withstood them, they would, by this time, have probably been masters of every foot of ground in the kingdom. To this end they introduced the monks of the Benedictine and other orders, men of sour and austere religion, separated from the world and its concerns by a vow of perpetual celibacy; yet fascinating the minds of the people by pretences to extraordinary sanctity, while their whole aim was to aggrandize the power and extend the influence of their grand superior the Pope. As in those times of civil tumult great rapines and violence were daily committed by overgrown lords and their adherents, the people were taught to believe, that founding a monastery a little before their deaths would atone for a life of incontinence, disorder, and bloodshed. Hence innumerable abbeys and religious houses were built within a century after the conquest, and endowed, not only with the tithes of parishes, which were extorted

from the secular clergy, but also with lands, manors, lordships, and extensive baronies. The doctrine inculcated was, that whatever was so given to the monks and friars, or purchased by them, was consecrated to God himself, and that to alienate or take it away was no less than the sin of sacrilege.

Had I time, I might here have enlarged upon other contrivances, which will occur to the recollection of the reader, set on foot by the Court of Rome, for effecting an entire exemption of its clergy from any intercourse with the civil magistrate; such as the separation of the ecclesiastical court from the temporal; the appointment of its judges by merely spiritual authority, without any interposition from the crown; the exclusive jurisdiction it claimed over all ecclesiastical persons and causes; and the privilegium clericale, or benefit of clergy, which delivered all episcopally ordained clerks from any trial or punishment except before their own tribunal. But I shall only observe, at present, that notwithstanding this plan of pontifical power was so deeply laid, and so indefatigably pursued by the unwearied politics of the Court of Rome through a long succession of ages; notwithstanding it was polished and improved by the united endeavours of a body of men, who engrossed all the learning of Europe for centuries together; notwithstanding it was firmly and resolutely executed by persons the best calculated for establishing tyranny and despotism, being unconnected

with their fellow-subjects, and totally indifferent to what might befal that posterity to which they bore no endearing relation, and being fired with a bigoted enthusiasm, which prevailed, not only among the weak and simple, but even among those of the best natural and acquired endowments; yet it vanished into nothing when the eyes of the people were a little enlightened, and they set themselves with vigour to oppose it. So vain and ridiculous is the attempt to live in society without acknowledging the obligations which it lays us under, and to affect an entire independence of that civil state which protects us in all our rights, when the laws are properly and duly administered.

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CHAP. II.

THE PROGRESSIVE POWER AND USURPATION OF BISHOPS.

BISHOPS or Presbyters, are two appellations which originally designated the same office and the same order of persons. The one appellation may have denoted their inspection over the faith and manners of the Christians who were committed to their pastoral care; the other may have indicated their age, or rather have been expressive of their experience and wisdom.

Clemens Alexandrinus informs us, that James, the brother of Christ, was, after the ascension, chosen bishop of Jerusalem, by the apostles, Peter, James, and John; and Eusebius tells us, that Peter was first seven years bishop of Antioch, and that seven other years he remained about Jerusalem and the eastern region, and became bishop of Rome, A.D. 44. and continued there twenty-five years. We also read in the introduction of the Apocalypse, that bishops, in St. John's time, were instituted under the title of angels, in the seven cities of Asia; and we know, that since the time of Tertullian, who