"took his tiara, or crown, off his head, and kneeled before "him, holding this crown in his hand. Near him other car"dinals kneeled also; one of whom carried some tow at the "end of a stick, another a cross, and the rest wax tapers. At "the pope's right hand sat cardinal de Brancas, with eight "other cardinals; at his left, the grand master of Rhodes, with eight cardinals. Next them, on the right, the empe 66 rour, on the left, the elector of Brandenburg, both attended 66 by archbishops. Next them, electors, princes, bishops, and

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other prelates, as many as the place could contain. The 66 rest sat on the stairs, which had been made very wide for "the purpose. There was, beside these, in the court, a great number of archbishops, bishops, and other great lords, both "ecclesiastick and secular, who surrounded the theatre on "horseback. There was, likewise, an immense crowd of people, who could not get into the court. When the musick "had ceased, one of the cardinals, who was kneeling before "the pope, and who carried the tow, lighted it, and twice "said aloud, addressing himself to the pope Sancte pater, sic "transit gloria mundi. After which, three cardinals, who "had been selected for putting the crown on the pope's "head, standing up with the grand master of Rhodes, and taking the crown from the hands of the pope, they all four "kneeled on the highest step of the throne, whence, after saying a prayer, they arose, and put the crown on the "pope's head after which, resuming their former places "they heard the Te Deum, and the musick. When they left "the place, the pope mounted his white horse, which was pre"ceded by three led horses, that were also white, and had "red caparisons. The inferiour clergy walked before, followed " by the abbots, bishops, archbishops, and cardinals, on horse"back. The emperour, on foot, held the reins of the pope's ❝ bridle on the right, walking in the dirt, (which is particu-* "larly observed by the historian) whilst the elector of Bran"denburg did the same on the left. Thus the pope was "carried in procession from the cathedral to the Augustin monastery, and thence reconducted to the episcopal palace. "Here ended the ceremony." And here shall end our aca count of the rise and establishment of papal dominion.

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HAVING now given you some account of the rise and establishment of the Romish hierarchy, it is but reasonable, that before I dismiss the subject of ecclesiastick history, I should consider the causes which have contributed to the declension of that wonderful empire. This will lead me to remark a little on the latent springs, the progress, and the effects of the reformation.

In all governments, of what kind soever, it may be justly said, that the dominion of the few over the many is primarily founded in opinion. The natural strength among beings of the same order, which is equal in the individuals, or nearly so, lies always in the multitude. But the opinion both of right and of occupancy, or secure possession, can and does universally invest the smaller with the direction or govern ment of the greater number. By the opinion of right, we are restrained, through justice, or a sense of duty, from divesting a man of what we think him entitled to enjoy. By the opinion of occupancy, we are restrained, through prudence, or a sense of danger, from disturbing a man in the possession of what we think he has a firm hold of. Either opinion, when strong, is generally sufficient to ensure peace; but they operate most powerfully in conjunction. When the two opinions are disjoined, that is, when fortunately, under any government, it is the general opinion, that the right is in one, and the occupancy in another, there frequently ensue insurrections and intestine broils.

The above remarks hold equally with regard to property, which is in effect a species of power. Now these opinions, which, from the influence of custom, and insensible imitation,

men have a natural tendency to form, prove, in all ordinary cases, a sufficient security to the few rich and great, in the enjoyment of all their envied advantages, against the far su periour force, if it were combined, of the many poor and small. Indeed, it is opinion that prevents the combination, and makes that a master may sleep securely amid fifty servants and dependents, each of whom, perhaps, taken, singly, is, both in bodily strength, and in mental abilities, an overmatch for him. It is this which vests a single person with the command of an army, who, in contradiction to their own will, give implicit obedience to his; notwithstanding that they carry in their hands what would prove the instruments of working their own pleasure, and his destruction. It will not be doubted, that it is in the same way, by means of opinion, that ecclesiastical power has a hold of the minds of men.

There is, however, this remarkable difference in the two sorts of power, that knowledge and civilization, unless accompained with profligacy of manners, add strength to those opinions on which civil authority rests, at the same time that they weaken those opinions which serve as a basis to a spiritual despotism, or a hierarchy like the Romish. The more a people becomes civilized, the more their notions of justice and property, prescription and peaceable possession, become steady, the more they see the necessity of maintaining thesé inviolate, and the ruinous consequences of infringing them. The love of peace and science, the encouragement of industry and arts, the desire of publick good and order, the abhorrence of crimes, confusion, and blood, all co-operate to make those opinions take deep root. Nothing seems to endanger them so much as tyranny and oppression in the rulers. These tending directly to undermine the opinion of right, (for no man is conceived to have a right to tyrannize over his fellows) leave only in the minds of the people, in favour of their superiours, the opinion of occupancy. Thus one of the great pillars by which magistracy is supported, the sense of duty, is removed, and the whole weight is left upon the other, the sense of danger. Virtue, in that case, we consider either as out of the question, or as in opposition to the powers that be, and consult only prudence. Now wherever the present evils of oppression, wherein a people is involved, appear intolerable, and greater than any, or even as great as any which they dread from opposition, the other support, prudence, is removed also; and men will both think themselves entitled to revolt, and, after balancing the chances on both sides, be disposed to hazard every thing.

On the other hand, the opinions, which are the great bulwarks of spiritual tyranny, are founded in ignorance and su perstition, which are always accompained with great credulity. Of these, nothing can be so subversive as knowledge and improvement. Virtue, and even piety itself, when its exalted and liberal spirit begins to be understood, become hostile to opinions which, under the sacred name and garb of religion, prove the bane of every virtue, and indeed of every valuable quality in human nature, as well as the nurse of folly and malevolence. Luxury and vice are often pernicious to the best constituted civil governments, because whilst, on one hand, they strengthen and inflame the passions, the great incentives to criminal attempts, they, on the other hand, loosen and undermine our regards to equity and right. But no kind of vice in the people, if accompanied with ignorance, is an enemy; every kind is, on the contrary, a friend to the reign of superstition. Consciousness of profligacy will at times ex cite terrour even in the most obdurate. Superstition, especi ally when formed into a politick system, like the Romish, is never deficient in expedients for conjuring down that terrour, and rendering it subservient to the invariable aim, priestly dominion. It requires but little knowledge, in the history of christendom, to enable us to discover, that many of those persons, both princes and others, most highly celebrated by ecclesiasticks as the great benefactors of the church, were the most worthless of the age wherein they lived, the most tyrannical, the most rapacious, the most profligate, men who have concluded a life stained with the blackest crimes, by beggar ing their offspring, and devoting all that they had, by way of atoning for their sins, to one of those seminaries of sloth, hypocrisy, and unnatural lusts, commonly called convents; or by enchancing, in some other way, the power and wealth of churchmen. Few contributed more to the erection and es tablishment of the hierarchy than the emperour Phocas; and a greater monster of cruelty and injustice never disgraced the human form.

That the great enemy which superstition has to overcome is knowledge, was early perceived by those, who found their account in supporting her throne. Nor were they slack in tak ing measures for stifling this dangerous foe. Among the chief of these measures were the following:- 1st, They judged it proper to confine to a few those divine illuminations, which they could not totally suppress, and which they could not deny had originally been given for the benefit of all. 2dly, When that formidable thing, knowledge, in spite of all their efforts, was making progress, they, in order to give it a times

ly check, affixed a stigma on all the books which tended to expose their artifices, and open the eyes of mankind. adly, For the more effectual prevention of this danger, through the terrour of example, persecution was employed, which has, in their hands, been digested into an art, and conducted with a cool, determinate, systematick cruelty, that defies alike all the principles of justice and humanity; and of which, among Jews, Mahometans, or Pagans, the world has hitherto furnished us with nothing that deserves to be compared.

In what regards the first method, we comprehend under it the means that have been used to render the scriptures inaccessible to the common people, by discouraging, as much as possible, translations into the vulgar tongue; and, by confining the whole publick service to a dead language, thereby rendering it to the congregation no better than insignificant mummery. Nothing is more evident from the scriptures themselves, than that they were, written for the benefit of all. Accordingly, all are commanded to read and study them. And indeed, soon after the different books came abroad, one of the first effects of the pious zeal, with which the primitive christians were inspired, was, in every country, to get those inestimable instructions, as soon as possible, accurately translated into the language of the country. It is astonishing to observe how early this was effected in most of the languages then spoken. Indeed, there was nothing in those purer times which could induce any one, who bore the christian name, to desire either to conceal, or to disguise, the truth. To propagate it in its native purity, and thus diffuse to others the benefit of that light which they themselves enjoyed, was the great ambition, and constant aim, of all the genuine disciples of the Lord Jesus.

As no tongue (the Greek excepted, which is the original of the New Testament) was of so great extent as Latin,—into this a translation seems very early to have been made. It was commonly distinguished by the name Italick, probably because undertaken for the use of the christians in Italy. It is not known who was the author. This is also the case of most of the old translations. About three centuries after, a new version into Latin was undertaken by Jerom. Our present vulgate consists partly of each, but mostly of the latter. No version whatever could, in early times, be more necessary than one into Latin. This was not the language of Italy only; it had obtained very generally in all the neighbouring countries, which had long remained in subjection to Rome, and in which Roman colonies had been planted. But in the other western churches, where Latin was not spoken by the people,