the title and dignity of patriarch, though there were already two patriarchs at the head of the Armenian church. He did not however enjoy this dignity long; for soon after his promotion, he was sent into exile by the Persian monarch, at the desire of those Armenians who adhered to the ecclesiastical discipline of their ancestors; and thus the boasting and exultation of the Romans subsided all of a sudden, and their hopes vanished."

and Indians.

VII. The ambitious views of the Roman pontiffs sowed Nestorians the pestilential seeds of animosity and discord among all the eastern churches; and the Nestorian Christians, who are also known by the denomination of Chaldeans, felt early the effects of their imperious councils. In the year 1551, a warm dispute arose among that people about the creation of a new patriarch, Simeon Barmamas being proposed by one party, and Sulaka, earnestly desired by the other. The latter, to support his pretensions the more effectually, rapaired to Rome, and was consecrated patriarch, in the year 1553, by pope Julius III. whose jurisdiction he had acknowledged, and to whose commands he had promised unlimited submission and obedience. Julius gave the name John to the new Chaldean patriarch, and, upon his return to his own country, sent with him several persons skilled in the Syriac language, to assist him in establishing and extending the papal empire among the Nestorians. From this time that unhappy people were divided into two factions, and were often involved in the greatest dangers and difficulties by the jarring sentiments and perpetual quarrels of their patriarchs.

The Nestorians, or as they are more commonly called, the Christians of St. Thomas, who inhabited the maritime coasts of India, suffered much from the methods employed by the Portuguese to engage them to embrace the doctrine and discipline of the church of Rome, and to abandon the religion of their ancestors, which was much more simple, and infinitely less absurd." The finishing stroke was put

n See Nouveaux Memoires des Missions de la Compagnie de Jesus dans le Levant, tom. iii. p. 132, 133. o Jos. Sim. Assemanni Bibliotheca Oriental Clementino Vaticani, tom. iii. part ii. p. 164. See the History of the Eastern Church, in the following chapter of this history.

p For an account of the doctrines and worship of these, and the other eastern Christians, see the following chapter. As also two learned books of Monsieur La Croze, the one entitled Histoire du Christianisme des Indes; and the other, Histoire du Christianisme en Ethiopie.

to the violence and brutality of these attempts by don Alexis De Menezes, bishop of Goa, who, about the conclusion of this century, calling the Jesuits to his assistance, obliged this unhappy and reluctant people to embrace the religion of Rome, and to acknowledge the pope's supreme jurisdiction; against both of which acts they had always expressed the utmost abhorrence. These violent councils and arrogant proceedings of Menezes, and his associates, were condemned by such of the Roman catholics as were most remarkable for their equity and wisdom."

VIII. The greatest part of the first legates and missionaries of the court of Rome treated with much severity and injustice the Christians whom they were desirous of gaining over to their communion. For they did not only require that these Christians should renounce the particular opinions that separated them from the Greek and Latin churches, and that they should acknowledge the Roman pontiff as Christ's sole vicegerent upon earth; their demands went still farther; they opposed many of the opinions of this people, some of which were at least worthy of toleration, and others highly agreeable to the dictates both of reason and Scripture; they insisted upon the suppression and abolition of several customs, rites, and institutions, which had been handed down to them from their ancestors, and which were perfectly innocent in their nature and tendency; in a word, they would be satisfied with nothing less than an entire and minute conformity of the religious rites and opinions of this people, with the doctrine and worship of the church of Rome. The papal court, however, rendered wise by experience, perceived at length that this manner of proceeding was highly imprudent, and every way improper to extend the limits of the papal empire in the east. It was therefore determined to treat with more artifice and moderation a matter of such moment and importance, and the missionaries were consequently ordered to change the plan of their operations, and confine their views to the two following points; to wit, the subjection of these Christians to the jurisdiction of the Roman pontiff, and their renouncing, or at least professing to renounce, the opinions that had been condemned in the general councils of the church. In all other

q See La Croze, Histoire du Christianisme aux Indes, livr. ii. p. 88, &c. in which there is an ample account of the Christians of St. Thomas, and of the rough methods employed by Menezes to gain them over to the church of Rome.

matters, the Roman envoys were commanded to use a perfect toleration, and to let these people remain unmolested in following the sentiments and observing the institutions they had derived from their ancestors. To give the greater credit and plausibility to this new method of conversion, certain learned doctors of the church endeavoured to demonstrate, that the religious tenets of Rome, when explained according to the simplicity of truth, and not by the subtilties and definitions of the schools, differed very little from the opinions received in the Greek and the other eastern churches. But this demonstration was very far from being satisfactory, and it discovered less of an ingenuous spirit, than a disposition to gain proselytes by all sorts of means, and at all events. Be that as it may, the cause of Rome received much more advantage from this plan of moderation, than it had derived from the severity of its former councils; though much less than the authors this reconciling plan fondly expected.

The internal

the church of

ened in various

ways.

Ix. While the Roman pontiffs were using their utmost efforts to extend their dominion abroad, they did constitution of not neglect the means that were proper to Rome strength- strengthen and maintain it at home. On the contrary, from the dawn of the reformation, they began to redouble their diligence in defending the internal form and constitution of the church of Rome against the dexterity and force of its adversaries. They could no more have recourse to the expedient of crusades, by which they had so often diminished the power and influence of their enemies. The revolutions that had happened in the affairs of Rome, and in the state of Europe, rendered any such method of subduing heretics visionary and impracticable. Other methods were therefore to be found out, and all the resources of prudence were to be exhausted in support of a declining church. Hence the laws and procedures of the inquisition were revised and corrected in those countries, where that formidable court is permitted to exert its dreadful power. Colleges, and schools of learning were erected in various places, in which the studious youth were trained up, by perpetual exercise, in the art of disputing, that thus they might wield with more dexterity and success, the arms of controversy against the enemies of Rome. The circulation of such books as were supposed to have a pernicious tendency, was either entirely prevented,

or at least much obstructed, by certain lists, or indexes, composed by men of learning and sagacity, and published by authority, in which these books were marked with a note of infamy, and their perusal prohibited, though with certain restrictions. The pursuit of knowledge was earnestly recommended to the clergy, and honourable marks of distinction, as well as ample rewards, were bestowed on those who made the most remarkable progress in the cultivation of letters. And, to enlarge no farther on this head, the youth in general were more carefully instructed in the principles and precepts of their religion than they had formerly been. Thus it happens, that signal advantages are frequently derived from what are looked upon as the greatest evils, and much wisdom and improvement are daily acquired in the school of opposition and adversity. It is more than probable, that the church of Rome would never have been enriched with the acquisitions we have now been mentioning, had it continued in that state of uninterrupted ease and undisputed authority that nourish a spirit of indolence and luxury; and had not the pretended heretics attacked its territories, trampled upon its jurisdiction, and eclipsed a great part of its ancient majesty and splendour.

of the order

x. The monastic orders, and religious societies have been always considered by the Roman pontiffs as the Ignatius Loyprincipal support of their authority and domi- ola the founder nion. It is chiefly by them that they rule the called Jesuits. church, maintain their influence on the minds of the people, and augment the number of their votaries. And indeed, various causes contribute to render the connexion between the pontiff and these religious communities much more intimate, than that which subsists between him and the other clergy, of whatever rank or order we may suppose them to be. It was therefore judged necessary, when the success of Luther, and the progress of the reformation, had effaced such a considerable part of the majesty of Rome, to found some new religious fraternity, that should, in a particular manner, be devoted to the interests of the Roman pontiff, and the very express end of whose institution should be to renew the vigour of a declining hierarchy, to heal the deep wound it had received, to preserve those parts of the papal dominions that remained yet entire, and to augment them by new accessions. This was

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so much the more necessary, as the two famous mendicant societies, by whose ministry the popes had chiefly governed during many ages, and that with the greatest success and glory, had now lost, on several accounts, a considerable part of their influence and authority, and were thereby less capable of serving the church with efficacy and vigour than they had formerly been. What the pontiff sought for, in this declining state of his affairs, was found in that famous and most powerful society, which, deriving its title from the name of Jesus, were commonly called Jesuits, while they were styled by their enemies Loyalites, and sometimes Inighists, from the Spanish name of their founder. This founder was Ignatius Loyola, a Spanish knight, who, from an illiterate soldier, became an unparalleled fanatic; a fanatic indeed, of a fertile and enterprising genius," who, after having passed through various scenes of life, came to Rome, and being there directed by the prudent counsels of persons much wiser than himself, was rendered capable of instituting such an order as the state of the church at that time essentially required."

These two orders were the Franciscans and the Dominicans.

Is The Spanish name of the founder of the order of Jesuits was don Inigo de Guipuscoa.

t The writers who have given the most particular and circumstantial accounts of the order of the Jesuits, are enumerated by Christoph. Aug. Salig. in his Historia August. Confessionis, tom. ii. p. 73.

u Many Jesuits have written the life of this extraordinary man; but the greatest part of these biographers seem more intent on advancing the glory of their founder, than solicitous about the truth and fidelity of their relations; and hence the most common events, and the most trivial actions that concern Ignatius, are converted into prodigies and miracles. The history of this enterprising fanatic has been composed with equal truth and ingenuity, though seasoned with a very large portion of wit and pleasantry, by a French writer, who calls himself Hercules Rasiel de Selve.* This work, which is divided into two volumes, is entitled Histoire de l'admirable Don Inigo de Guipuscoa, Chevalier de la Vierge, et fondateur de la Monarchie des Inighistes, and it has passed already through two editions at the Hague.

w Not only the protestants, but also a great number of the more learned and judicious Roman catholics, have unanimously denied that Ignatius Loyola had either learning sufficient to compose the writings of which he is said to be the author, or genius enough to form the society of which he is considered as the founder. They maintain, on the contrary, that he was no more than a flexible instrument in the bands of able and ingenious men, who made use of his fortitude and fanaticism to answer their purposes; and that persons much more learned than he, were employed to compose the writings which bear his name. See Geddes, Miscellaneous Tracts, vol. iii. p. 429. The greatest part of his works are supposed to have proceeded from the pen of his secretary John de Palanco; see La Croze, Histoire du Christianisme en Ethiope, p. 55, 271. The Benedictines affirm, that his book of Spiritual Exercises is copied from the work of a Spanish Benedictine monk, whose name was Cisneros; see La Vie de M. de la Croze, par Jordan, and the constitutions of the society were probably the work of Lainez and Salmeron, two learned men, who were among its first members. See Histoire des Religieuxde la Compagnie de Jesus, tom. i. p. 115.

*This is a feigned name. The real author was Monsieur Le Vier, an ingenious Bookseller, who lived formerly at the Hague.