inevitable tendency of all priestcraft. Is it said we see nothing so bad now? And why? Because man has got the upper-hand of his tyrant, and keeps him in awe, not because the nature of priestcraft is altered; and yet, let us turn but our eyes to Catholic countries, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and the scene is lamentable; and even in our own country, where free institutions check presumption, and the press terrifies many monsters from the light of day,- -we behold things which make our hearts throb with indignation. CHAPTER XIII. POPISH ARROGANCE AND ATROCITIES. The Pope proclaims himself Lord of the Universe-Treatment of Dandolo, of Frederick Barbarossa, and of Henry IV.-Sets up and dethrones Kings-Imitated by the Clergy-Thomas à Becket -King John's Humiliation-Galileo-Massacres of Protestants in the Netherlands-Massacre of Bartholomew-Bloody Persecutions of the Vaudois-War of Extermination waged by the Pope in Provence-Extinction of the Troubadours-Noble Conduct of the young Count of Bezeirs--Rise of the Inquisition. Unless to Peter's Chair the viewless wind As that by dreammg bards to love assigned, And 'tis the Pope that wields it; whether rough WORDSWORTH. ARROGANCE and atrocity are prominent and imperishable features in the priestly character; and it might be imagined that instances had been given in various ages and nations which could not be surpassed: but if we consider the fierce and audacious exhibition of those qualities in the Romish priests; the greatness and extent of the kingdoms over which they exercised them; and the mild and unassuming nature of the religion they professed to be the teachers of, it must be confessed that the world has no similar examples to present. The papal church seemed actuated by a perfect furor and madness of intolerance, haughty dictation, and insolent cruelty. In the 12th century the pope proclaimed himself LORD OF THE UNIVERSE ; and that neither prince nor bishop possessed any power but what was derived from him; in the 14th he, on one occasion, at a great dinner, ordered Dandolo, the Venetian ambassador, to be chained under the table like a dog. In 1155 the pope insisted on the celebrated emperor Frederick Barbarossa holding his stirrup, at the emperor's own coronation; a proposal at first rejected with disdain, and which led to contests of a most momentous nature. Some writers affirm that his successor, having compelled the emperor to submit, trod upon his neck, and obliged him to kiss his foot while the proud prelate repeated, from Psalm xci.-"Thou shalt tread upon the lion and the adder; the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under foot." Our great poet receives it as fact. Black demons hovering o'er his mitred head, He whose strong arm the Orient could not check, And even the common dignity of man! WORDSWORTH. In the eighth century the humiliating ceremony of kissing the pope's toe was introduced. In 1077 the famous pope Gregory VII. compelled the emperor, Henry IV. to do penance for his resistance to his monstrous claims. The unhappy monarch passed the Alps in a severe winter; waited on the pontiff at Canusium, where, unmindful of his dignity, he stood three days at the entrance of the fortress, within which the detestable pope was feasting with his mistress, the Countess Matilda, with his head and feet bare, and no other raiment than a wretched piece of woollen cloth. On the fourth day he was admitted to the pontiff, who scarcely deigned to grant him the absolution he sought, and absolutely refused to restore him to his throne till after further delay and further indignities. The humiliation of holding the stirrup was also forced on the emperor Louis II.; and every reader is familiar with the arrogant spectacle of Pope Alexander riding into the French camp, with the French monarch on the one side, and the English on the other, walking at his stirrup. We have already seen the boundless assumption and insolence of the popes in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries; how they thundered their anathemas against kings and emperors, dethroned and beheaded as they pleased; made bloody wars on them to wrest from them their power, and even set up new kingdoms. Their clergy naturally caught the same spirit, and carried into every region and every house the same intolerable haughtiness. The papal legates came to the courts of the greatest princes, with an odious arrogance that fully represented that of their master. From the history of the European nations we might select the most astonishing instances of legates, cardinals, and bishops, before whom both monarch and people trembled; but I shall only select one or two from our own annals. Who can ever forget the notorious Thomas à Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury? one of the most perfect personifications of priestly insolence and audacity. This wretch, who had been raised to his high dignity by his royal master, and loaded with every honour, having once gained all that his ambition could hope from the indulgent monarch, became one of the most captious and troublesome villains that ever disturbed, with priestly pride, the peace of kingdoms. Henry, by an act of the Council of Clarendon, endeavoured to bring into some tolerable degree of restraint the power and license of the clergy. Becket most arrogantly refused all obedience to the king's wishes; and backed by Alexander III., the same pope who had so humiliated Frederick Barbarossa, commenced a course of annoyance to the mild-spirited king, which, even at this distance of time, makes one's blood boil with indignation to read. The monarch, aroused by it, compelled Becket to retire to France. Hereupon the pope and the French king interposed; and endeavoured so far to pacify the offended sovereign as to allow Becket to return to England, and resume his office. But who that knows any thing of priests could hope that he would be touched with any sense of shame, or gratitude towards his forgiving prince? He became only more inveterately rebellious, and carried his insolence so far, that four gentlemen, who witnessed with indignation the vexations heaped on their sovereign, hastened to Canterbury, and inflicted on the haughty and sanctimonious wretch deserved and exemplary death. But if Becket was dead, the haughty pope was alive, and soon compelled poor Henry to the most humiliating degradations; to go, bare-headed and bare-footed, on pilgrimage to Canterbury, and do penance at the canonized shrine of the now sainted Becket! A similar fate was that of poor King John,-the weak and wicked Lack-land. He ventured to oppose the pope's power, who had proceeded to set aside the election of John de Grey to the see of Canterbury, and to appoint, spite of the king and the nation, Stephen Langton, primate of England. John assumed a high tone; and threatened to extinguish the papal power in England. What was the consequence? Innocent A stop was put laid John's kingdom under the BANN. to divine worship; the churches were shut in every parish; all the sacraments, except baptism, were superseded; the dead were buried in the highways, without any sacred rites. Several, however, of the better and more learned clergy, indignantly refused obedience to this detestable interdict; and the pope accordingly proceeded to further measures. In 1209 he excommunicated John; and two years afterward, issued a bull, absolving all his subjects from their allegiance, and ordering all persons to avoid him. The next year, the enraged pope assembled a council of cardinals and bishops, deposed John, declared the throne of England vacant; and ordered the king of France to take it, and add it to his own. The French king was ready enough to do this: he assembled an army. John assembled another to oppose him; and had he been a monarch of an enlightened mind and steady fortitude, England would have been rescued from popish thraldom, and the Reformation accelerated by some ages. But Pandolph, the pope's legate, arriving in England, so succeeded by his artful representations of the power of France, and the defection of John's own subjects, that his courage broke down, and he submitted to the most abject humiliations. He promised, among other things, that he would, submit himself entirely to the judgment of the pope; that he would acknowledge Langton for primate; that he would restore all the exiled clergy and laity who had been banished on account of the contest; make them full restitution of their goods, and compensation for all damages, and instantly consign eight thousand pounds in part of payment; and that any one outlawed or imprisoned for his adherence to the pope should be instantly received to grace and favour. He did homage to the pope; resigned his crown to him; and again received it from him as a gift; and bound him self to pay seven hundred marks annually for England, and three hundred for Ireland: and consented that any of his successors who refused to pay it should forfeit |