XVI. of the church reside in his person, and are trans- CENT. mitted into certain portions, from him to the in-szer. III. ferior bishops, but moreover asserts the absolute PARTI. infallibility of all decisions and decrees that he pronounces from his lordly tribunal These arrogant pretensions are, however, opposed by many, and chiefly by the French nation, which expressly maintains, that every bishop receives immediately from Christ himself a portion of that spiritual power which is imparted to the church; that the collective sum, or whole of this power, is lodged in the collective body of its pastors, or, which is the same thing, in a general council, lawfully assembled; and that the pontif, considered personally, and as distinct from the church, is liable to error. This complicated and important controversy may be easily brought within narrower bounds, and may be reduced to the following plain. question; viz. Is the Roman pontif, properly speaking, the Lawgiver of the church, or, is he no more than the Guardian and Depositary of the laws enacted by Christ and by the church? There is no prospect of seeing this question decided, nor the debates terminated to which it has given rise; since the contending parties are not even agreed about the proper and lawful judge of this important controversy [f]. Some great revolution can only effect the decision of this matter. IV. The church of Rome lost much of its an- The declencient splendor and majesty, as soon as Luther, sion of the and [f] The arguments employed by the creatures of the Roman pontif in defence of his unlimited authority, may be seen in Bellarmine and other writers, of which an enormous collection has been made by Roccaberti; and, what is not a little extraordinary, a French writer, named Petitdidier, appeared in defence of the pope's pretensions, in a book published at Luxemburg, in the year 1724, Sur Authorité et Infallibilité des Papes. The sentiments of the Gallican. church, and the arguments by which it opposes the pietensions of Rome, may be seen in the writings of Richer and Launoy. church of Rome. XVI. CENT. and the other luminaries of the Reformation, had SECT. III. exhibited to the view of the European nations the PART 1 Christian religion restored, at least to a considerable part of its native purity, and delivered from many of the superstitions under which it had lain so long disfigured. Among the most opulent states of Europe, several withdrew entirely from the jurisdiction of Rome; in others, certain provinces threw off the yoke of papal tyranny; and upon the whole, this defection produced a striking diminution both of the wealth and power of the Roman pontifs. It must also be observed, that even the kings, princes, and sovereign states, who adhered to the religion of Rome, yet changed their sentiments with respect to the claims and pretensions of its bishop. If they were not persuaded by the writings of the protestants to renounce the superstitions of popery, yet they received most useful instructions from them in other matters of very great moment. They drew from these writings important discoveries of the groundless claims and unlawful usurpations of the Roman pontifs, and came, at length, to perceive, that, if the jurisdiction and authority of Rome continued the same that it was before the rise of Luther, the rights of temporal princes, and the majesty of civil government would, sooner or latter, be absorbed in the gulph of papal avarice and ambition. Hence it was, that most of the sovereign states of Europe, partly by secret and prudent measures, partly by public negociations and remonstrances, set bounds to the daring ambition of Rome, which aimed at nothing less than universal dominion both in ecclesiastical and civil affairs; nor did the Roman pontif think it either safe or expedient to have recourse to the ancient arms of the church, war and excommunication, in order to repel these attacks upon his authority. Even those very kingdoms, who acknowledged the Roman pontif as as the lawgiver of the church, and an infallible c EN T guide, confine, nevertheless, his power of enacting, XVI. laws within narrow limits. SECT. III. The me the Roman losses. V. In this declining state of their affairs, it was natural for the humbled pontifs to look about for theds emsome method of repairing their losses; and, for ployed by this purpose, they exerted much more zeal and pontifs to industry, than had been shewn by their predeces-repair their sors, in extending the limits of their spiritual dominion beyond Europe, and left no means unemployed of gaining proselytes and adherents in the Indies, both among the pagan nations and the Christian sects. The Jesuits, as we have already had occasion to observe, were the first mis- Missions. sionaries that were sent for this purpose into these distant parts of the world; but able met, selected out of the other monastic orders, were afterwards employed in this arduous undertaking. If however, we except the exploits of FRANCIS XAVIER, and his companions in India, China, and Japan, of which notice has been taken above, there were no great matters effected in this century; as, generally speaking, the persons who were set apart to execute this grand project, were not as yet endowed with that experience and dexterity that it necessarily required, and set about the work with more zeal than prudence and knowledge. The Portuguese had, in the preceding century, opened a passage into the country of the Abyssinians, who professed the doctrine, and observed the religious rites, of the Monophysites; and this offered a favourable occasion of reducing this people under the papal yoke. Accordingly, JOHN BERMUDES was sent into Ethiopia for this purpose; and, that he might appear with a certain degree of dignity, he was clothed with the title of Patriarch of the Abyssinians. The same important commission was afterwards given to IGNATIUS LOYOLA, and the companions of his laVOL. IV. bours; N CENT. bours [g]; and, at their first setting out, seveSECT. I. ral circumstances, and particularly a war with a PART I. neighbouring prince, which the Abyssinian mo XVI The Egyp tians and Arme ians. narch was desirous of terminating by the powerful succours of the Portuguese, seemed to promise them a successful and happy ministry. But the event did not answer this fond expectation; and, in some time, it appeared plainly, that the Abyssinians stood too firm in the faith of their ancestors, to be easily engaged to abandon and forsake it; so that, towards the conclusion of this century, the Jesuits had almost lost all hopes of succeeding in their attempts [b]. VI. The Egyptians, or Copts, who were closely connected with the Abyssinians in their religious sentiments, and also in their external forms of worship, became next the objects of Rome's ambitious zeal; and, in the year 1562, CHRISTOPHER RODERIC, a Jesuit of note, was sent, by the express order of Pope Pius IV. to propagate the cause of popery among that people. This ecclesiastic, notwithstanding the rich presents and subtle arguments by which he attempted to change the sentiments, and shake the constancy of GaBRIEL [i], who was at that time patriarch of Alexandria, returned to Rome with no other effect of his embassy than fair words, and a few compli [g] It is certainly by mistake that Dr Mosheim mentions Loyola as having made a voyage into Abyssinia. Jesuits were sent, at different periods to that country, and with little success; but their founder was never there in person. [b] See Ludolfi Histor. Ethiopica et Comm.-Geddes, Church History of Ethiopia, p. 120.-Le Grand, Dissertation de la Conversion des Abyssins, which is to be found in the se cond volume of the Voyage Historique d' Abyssinie du R. P. Jerome Lobo, p. 13.-La Croze, Histoire du Christianisme en Ethiopie, livr. ii. p. 90. [i] Franc. Sachini Histor. Societat. Jesu, part II. lib. v. Euseb. Renaud. Historia Patriarchar. Alexandrin. p. 611.Ilist, de la Campagnie de Jesus, tom. iii. p. 314. XVI. compliments [k]. It is however true, that, to-C EN T. wards the conclusion of this century, and during secr.III. the pontificate of CLEMENT VIII. an embassy PARTI. from another patriarch of Alexandria, whose name was also GABRIEL, appeared at Rome, and was considered as a subject of triumph and boasting by the creatures of the pope [7]. But the more candid and sensible, even among the Roman Catholics, looked upon this embassy, and not without reason, as a stratagem of the Jesuits, to persuade the Abyssinians (who were so prone to follow the example of their brethren of Alexandria) to join themselves to the communion of Rome, and to submit to the authority and jurisdiction of its pontif [m]. It is at least certain, that, after this solemn embassy, we do not find in the records of history the smallest token of a propensity in the Copts to embrace the doctrine or discipline of Rome. Many years before this period, a considerable sect of the Armenians had been accustomed to treat the Roman pontif with particular marks of veneration N 2 [] This patriarch offered to send one of his bishops to the council of Trent in order to get rid of the importunity of these Jesuits; but he refused positively the sending any of his young students to be educated among their order, and declared plainly, that he owed no obedience nor submission to the bishop of Rome, who had no more dignity nor authority than any other bishop, except within the bounds of his own diocese. See Histoire des Religieux de la Campagn. de Jesus, tom. ii. p. 322. 324. [The transactions of this embassy, adorned with an ample and pompous preface, are subjoined to the sixth volume of the Annal. Eccl. of Baronius, p. 707. edit. Antwerp. [m] Renaudot, in his Hist. Patriarch. Alexandrin. p. 611. 612. endeavours to maintain the credit and importance of this embassy, of which Baronius has given such a pompous account. He is, however, much mistaken when he asserts, that father Simon, relying upon the falacious testimony of George Douza, was the only person that ever considered this anbassy as a stratagem; since it is evident, that Thomas a Jesu, in the sixth book of his treatise De Conversione omnium gentium procuran. da, has considered it in the same light, as well as several other writers. See Geddes, Church-History of Ethiopia, p. 231, 232. |