infuriate rancour, to sweep away all the foundations of property;-nor, will they cease, until, they savagely triumph, and exultingly howl, over the ruins of irrecoverable anarchy, and universal desolation. And, then, will they, who, from the history of ages, and from a review of the passions of human nature, ought (Mosheim's Eccles. Hist. Cent. iv. Part ii. chap. iii. §. 16.);-then, were the floodgates at once effectually and permanently drawn open, to every species, every degree of fraud, injustice, treachery, intrigues, and cruelty. "This erroneous maxim (says Mosheim, ibid.) was now (i. e. the fourth century) of a long standing; it had been adopted for some ages past, and had produced an incredible number of ridiculous fables, fictitious prodigies, and pious frauds, to the unspeakable detriment of that glorious cause in which they were employed." This principle so disgusting, so injurious to morality, so subversive of the best interests of society, and so sinful, being once theoretically received, and practically acted upon, quickly accelerated the impious march of vice and crime. It was the exercise of such a maxim, which induced even Pope Gregory I.; who because of his just indignation, at the hateful usurpations of John of Constantinople, had, nearly commanded our veneration, who, because of the brilliant eulogium made on his character, by the transcendent genius of Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux, that, "in the midst of the calamities of Italy, and while Rome was afflicted with a dreadful pestilence, St. Gregory the Great was promoted, notwithstanding his reluctance, to St. Peter's chair. Assuaged the plague by his prayers!; instructed the Emperors, and at the same time caused due obedience to be paid unto them; comforted Africa; confirmed in Spain the Visigoths, who were converted from Arianism, and Recarede the Catholic, who had just returned into the bosom of the church; Converted England;! reformed the discipline in France, whose kings, ever orthodox, he exalts above all the kings of the earth; bends the Lombards; saved Rome and Italy, which the Emperors were unable to assist; checked the growing pride of the Patriarchs of Constantinople!; enlightened the whole church by his doctrine; governed the East and West with equal vigour and humility, and gave to the world a perfect model of ecclesiastical government!!!"- (Discours sur l'Hist. Univ. par Bossuet, Prem. Part. l'epoq. xi.)-might deservedly claim the admiration almost of the very enemies of the Roman Church;-and lastly, who, because, he has been blessed with a very conspicuous mark of Saintship in the Roman Calendar, on the twelfth of March; and in the Missal, ordinarily used, by all Roman Catholics, - on the Feast dedicated to his honour, because, we read, in the COLLECT appointed for the Service of the Day,---" O God who hast rewarded the soul of blessed Gregory, thy Servant, with eternal bliss; mercifully grant that we, &c. may find relief by his intercession;" and in the Communion," this is the prudent and faithful servant, whom the Lord placed over his family, to give them their measure of wheat in due to have known better things; find, a wofully practical commentary, on two positions, which the most illustrious of political writers, and the most philosophic of inquirers, into the constitution of government and society;-has laid down in the accustomed brevity, of his oracular and almost infallible dogmas, that, - "the season!;" and in the Post Communion," O God who didst equal blessed Gregory, thy Bp. to the rest of thy Saints in merit: mercifully grant that, &c. we may also follow his example !" - might justly claim the highest respect of all Christians, as a Primitive and faithful Apostolic Pastor, of the Church of God:-yes! notwithstanding all these brilliant encomiums, and these pious ejaculations, put into the mouths of Rome's infatuated vassals, by their unerring Oracle: it was, I say, the horrid exercise of the infamous Maxim, referred to by Mosheim, which made the Sainted Gregory, pollute his Holiness, and prostitute his Infallibility to another Usurper-Phocas, -the most execrable monster that ever united the fiendish projects of sedition and murder, in order to accomplish the fell designs of usurpation, tyranny, and ambition!!! The universal voice, as it is well, and generally known, -of all historians, ancient and modern, Roman or Protestant, unites in branding this infernal miscreant, with the contumely, that is so justly due, to the horrors of his murderous usurpation; and the black catalogue of opprobrious epithets has been quite exhausted to characterize the unnatural Monster. Phocas was an obscure centurion in the army of Mauritius, the Emperor of the East; whose character, was insolence and boldness in the stratagems of sedition, but cowardice and treachery in the face of danger. The infamous usurper seized the occasion of a growing insubordination, and mutiny in the army of his Sovereign; and amidst the expulsion and slaughter of the faithful adherents of Mauritius, put himself at the head of the insurrectionary troops. And without, almost any delay, Phocas, waded through the blood of the Emperor and his family to the Imperial throne. The unfortunate Prince, with his wife and nine children, made their escape, in a small bark, to an adjoining church. But Phocas, impelled by the unrelenting spirit of insatiate fury, dispatched the ministers of death: they cruelly dragged the emperor from his sanctuary; aud the five young and innocent sons of the wretched monarch, were successively murdered before the eyes of their agonizing parent. At every stroke, which the commissioned assassins, gave his offspring, the sorrowing parent, found strength to exclaim, "Thou art just, O Lord! and thy judgments are righteous." We are informed, that, the youngest child's nurse endeavoured to substitute her own infant, in the place of the Emperor's. But Mauritius, in his rigid attachment to truth and justice, discovered and prevented the design, and delivered the royal infant to the executioner. This noble action extorted tears from the eyes of all the other spectators, but made no impression on the ruthless tyrant. The tragic scene was finally terminated by the execution of the Emperor body of the Nobility ought to be hereditary. In the first place it is so in its own nature; and in the next there must be a CONSIDERABLE INTEREST to preserve its PRIVILEGES; PRIVILEGES that in themselves are OBNOXIOUS TO POPULAR ENVY, and of course in a FREE STATE are ALWAYS IN DANGER:-and, secondly, himself. (A. D. 602.) And the bodies of the father, and his five sons were cast into the sea, whilst their heads were exposed in the Imperial city to the insults of the inhuman murderers. The assassination of the Emperor's brother, and the chief Patricians followed. The Emperor's widow, by the command of the assassin and usurper, was, in a short time after, tortured like the vilest malefactor: and thus, the Empress Constantina, with three innocent daughters, were massacred on the same ground, which had been stained with the blood of her husband and five sons. (See Godeau's "Histoire de l'Eglise," vol. 5, p. 43. Bruy's "Histoire des Papes," vol. i. p. 400, &c. edited at the Hague in 1732. Corneille, the Shakspeare of France, has made the various incidents in the murder of Mauritius, the subject of one of his most elaborate tragedies, called, "Heraclius" (Corneille de Voltaire, tom. v. p. 300.) It may, now, be well inquired into; in what manner, this diabolical outrage, was received by Gregory, -who as we have just seen, distinguished himself as the bold opponent of the Antichristian claims of his fellow-Bishop; -the eulogized Apostolic Pastor of the Church; -the blessed Saint of the Missal; - and so meritorious an Intercessor for the devotions of the faithful:--who are instructed, to pass by, the only "One Mediator between God and men," (I.Tim. ii. 5.); in order, to conciliate his Saintship's services; and so may have the complacent satisfaction of obeying those, who, make "the commandment of God of none effect by their traditions" (Matt. xv. 6.); who, "teach for doctrines the commandments of men" (Id. 9.); and, who, think not with even their favourite and patron Apostle, that, they "ought to obey God rather than men." (Acts. v. 29.) It cannot but be highly interesting, to know, how far, the Sainted Gregory, mourned over the sad catastrophe of the violated rights, the merciless havoc, which the assassin's ruthless dagger, made among the innocent members of the Imperial family, of the murdered Mauritius. We are the more concerned to make the inquiry; for, at this very period, the revenues, the sovereignty, the civil and ecclesiastical dominion of Italy, were in the hands of the Eastern Emperors; and Rome itself, now, during the continuance of the Exarchate of Ravenna, paid, as a tributary province, with its unaspiring Bishop, their constant obeisance, to their Imperial Lord; and contented to be ranked, but of the second dignity, among the numberless Metropolitan cities, attached to the Byzantine Court; with humility and thankfulness, continually, applied there, during the space of two hundred years, for succour and advice. For, it was not at this period, nor, indeed until the expiration of nearly two centuries afterwards, (A. D. 755.); that, the Popes of Rome, treasonably, treacherously, --" In perusing the admirable treatise of Tacitus on the manners of the Germans, we find it is from that nation the English have borrowed the idea of their political government. This beautiful system was invented first in the woods. As all human things have an end, the state we are speaking of will lose its li and insidiously, received, the power, influence, and dignity of temporal princes, from the hands of usurpers, -as the gift of rebellion, of rapine, and of conquest; -aided, by the ridiculously absurd fiction, of the forged document of the Donation of Constantine:- a most barefaced imposition, which, the superstition and credulity, commingled with the ignorance and darkness of the eighth century, at the close of which, this scandalous fabrication, was ushered out to the world, under the introduction of an epistle from Pope Adrian the First, for the pious imitation of Charlemagne! ;-enabled its advocates to erect an amazing superstructure of wealth, power, and sovereignty:--but the honesty of a Sabine Monastery, so early as the twelth century, declared it a cheat and fraud (Muratori's "Script. Rerum Italicarum," tom. ii. pars. ii. p. 637 &c. Edit. of Milan.); and the fictitious deed, has been transpierced by the pens of almost all the most learned scholars, -not even, excepting, the most powerful Roman advocates, that have lived since the fifteenth century; who, have all pronounced the Donation of Constantine, which Popes themselves once recommended and urged as genuine, upon their infallible authority; --to be a detestable imposture !!! (See Pagi's Critique upon Baronius' Annals. Bayle, "Dictionaire Critique," under the article, Valla. For, Valla (Laurentius) very vehemently attacked the Donation of Constantine, in a most powerful treatise ; and bitterly condemned the gross immorality of the Clergy, for which he was banished from Rome; but the patronage and hospitality of Alfonso, king of Arragon and Naples, sheltered him from the vengeance of the infuriated priests; he was recalled and died at Rome, A. D. 1457; of whom, see an interesting account, also, in Tiraboschi, "Storia della Letteratura Italiana," Mill's Travels of Ducas, vol. 1. p. 161, and Vossius, "de Historicis Latinis," p. 580. With the sentiments of Valla, we find that, Guicciardini,-the devoted creature of the Popes, whom Leo X. appointed Advocate of the Consistory, -perfectly coincides, in his celebrated " Istoria d'Italia:"-at the end of the fourth book of the recent editions of Guicciardini's history, there is a most spirited, valuable, and faithful outline, of the rise of the temporal power of the Popes, and the state of that power, at the commencement of the sixteenth century. It is universally considered a masterpiece of historical sketching, and extremely interesting, for many sources of information were open to Guicciardini. The later editions of Guicciardini are only satisfactory; as no edition prior to the one printed under the name of Friburgo, 1775, though really printed at Florence, in four volumes quarto, contains his strictures, on the court of Rome, and no pas berty, will perish. Have not Rome, Sparta, and Carthage perished? It WILL PERISH, when the LEGISLATIVE POWER, shall be MORE CORRUPT than the EXECUTIVE." (Montesquieu, de l'Esprit des Lois, liv. xi. chap. 6.) Now, Sir, at such an extraordinary a crisis as this, when, there appear firmly united, the discordant elements of hitherto opposing bodies, -the one affording an irresistible attraction to the other, and both unnaturally united, to gain their proposed object;-we are led to mourn over the palpable mockery--the complete annihilation, of stedfast, unvarying principles; -and to suppose, that profession is mere hypocrisy ; or, at best, but an ignis fatuus to allure the unwary, and inexperienced. For, what can we say of those Modern Liberals-those Political Harlequins, who, now since they are no longer among the grovelling ranks of hungry retainers, but have wisely abandoned the barren wastes-the Arabian wilds of opposition; sages of that tendency were allowed, as might be expected, to appear in the early editions. And Baronius in his " Annales Ecclesiastici," considers the document to be, no less, than a forgery of the Greeks!!! If the general reader, refer to the very celebrated work, of Machiavelli, of Florence, entitled, "Discorsi sopra Tito Livio," he will find a congenial partner, in this very notorious philosophic politician, to the history of Guicciardini. Machiavelli, in that well-known book, attributes, not only the division of Italy into petty states, and the weakness and misfortunes of that country, to the ambition and avarice of the Holy See, but the general depravity, the decline of good morals and religion, to the evil example of the Roman Court ! He censures the Popes for introducing foreign princes into Italy, and rendering that fair region the scene of war. The Popes, says he, no sooner make a prince powerful than they repent of their goodness or policy. They then endeavour to destroy him, not wishing that any other person should possess a country which their weakness would not permit them to possess themselves! Machiavelli's works were printed after his death, with the infallible Privilege of Pope Clement VII. We might well ask-did his Holiness read them before he gave the privilege of his name? Infallibility, strange to say, delights in contradictions. A few years afterwards Pope Paul IV., revoked the privilege of Clement VII., the entire works of Machiavelli were put into the Index of Prohibited Books, and were also condemned by the Council of Trent!!!) [To be continued.] |