It was

and one in the exercise of which the Popes seem to have had a special delight. It is the assertion of a Divine prerogative, but the motives which have guided its exercise have often been as far from Divine as possible. We have an illustration of this in Pope Paschal II. A son of the emperor raised the standard of revolt against his father, and at once, as Henry was under the ban of excommunication, the Pope ascribes this dissension between father and son to the inspiration of God, sends his apostolic blessing to a son who showed himself a monster of hypocrisy and perfidy, and gave him absolution for his rebellion against a most affectionate father-an absolution in the final judgment of Christ. Thus a peace which the emperor had proclaimed, and which was felt as an unwonted blessing, was broken, and Germany plunged afresh into a furious civil war. But what of that? enough for the Pope that this son, though a rebel against his father, had pledged himself to be faithful to the Church. The blessing he sent, however, proved to be of little avail, and Paschal was compelled by the emperor to sign a most solemn treaty by which the clergy would have been stripped of their temporal powers, and limited to the exercise of their spiritual functions. He soon found, however, though the Church held him to be omnipotent and infallible to advance her authority, his infallibility was lost when he made any concession. He was taunted with his weakness, and at length, under the violent reproaches of his clergy and cardinals, he deliberately violated his sacred oaths, and broke the treaty into which he had entered. Thus Darius was to be a god while it suited his courtiers, but when he who was to answer all prayers himself became a petitioner for Daniel's deliverance, he found himself cruelly denied, and utterly helpless. Poor infallibility!

About A.D. 1410, there were three Popes at once. This was too plentiful a supply of infallibility, even for the Papists themselves, for Baronius, a distinguished Romish ecclesiastical writer, says of these rival Popes, "Let us see what remedy they first had recourse to, in order that they might extinguish this three-headed beast who had issued from the gates of hell. A remedy was devised precisely similar to that which the poets feign in destroying the fabulous Cerberus— viz., filling the jaws with a pitchy mouthful, by giving them something to eat, so that they should altogether leave off barking." This picture, dark as it is, was sketched not by Luther, but by a cardinal, who was himself (1605) near being elected as Pope.

Let it not be supposed, however, that the quality of the Popes was being at length improved. In the fifteenth century (1471-1484), Sixtus IV. is seen unscrupulously using his spiritual influence for the advancement of his worldly interests, dishonouring the Popedom by dark intrigues, and staining it with the blood of assassination. By falsehood, violence, and murder, he defeated his enemies; but whatever he gained by these means, "there can be no doubt that his spiritual authority and character lost infinitely more. There was even an attempt made to assemble a council against him."*

Still darker, if possible, is the character of one who, not long after him, became the vicar of Christ, Alexander VI. The attainment of

Ranke's "History of the Popes," vol. i., p. 35.

the Papacy in advancing years seemed to impart to him new life. His reigning motives were the love of pleasure and of power. His great aim, on securing the chair of St. Peter, was to advance the wealth and dignity of his sons; for, notwithstanding the doctrine of clerical celibacy, nothing was more common than for the Popes of that period to be fathers without being husbands, an example which, set by the infallible head of the Church, would, doubtless, exert its corrupting influence through all ranks of the inferior clergy, and lower the tone of morals throughout society. One of these sons of Alexander VI. was Cæsar Borgia, of whom Ranke says, "Even depravity may have its perfection. The kindred of the Popes have often distinguished themselves in the career of evil, but none attained the eminence of Cæsar Borgia. He may be called a virtuoso in crime." He caused his own brother, because he stood in his way to power, to be murdered and thrown into the Tiber; caused his brotherin-law to be strangled in his own house; and slew his father's favourite friend, while the unhappy man clung to his patron for protection and was wrapped in the Pontifical mantle. The blood of the favourite flowed over the face of the Pope. Rome trembled at his name. Every night were the corpses of murdered men found in the streets, yet none dared move; for who but might fear that his own turn might be next? Those whom violence could not reach were taken off by poison." The historian adds that there was but one place on earth where such deeds were possible-that, namely, where unlimited temporal power was united to the highest spiritual authority, where the laws, civil and ecclesiastical, were held in one and the same hand, as the Pope claims still to hold them and does hold them, to the extent of his power. Such was the monster whom the Pope owned as a son, patronised and promoted. That the Pope was a little better than his son is evident from the manner of his own death. He purposed to destroy one of the richest cardinals by poison. The cardinal, however, becoming aware of his intention, by entreaties, gifts, and promises, won over the Pope's chief cook. The confection, prepared for the cardinal, was set before the Pontiff himself, and Alexander expired from the effects of the poison he intended for another. People were heard associating the name of the Pope and Antichrist together, as well they might. The "infallible," the "Divine man" was declared, even at that time, to be labouring for the interest of Satan, rather than that of the kingdom of God.

If in one sense it is a relief to turn from this revolting portrait to that of Leo X., it is not because we shall find in him any nearer approach to infallibility. He has been correctly called an elegant Pagan. He had a refined intellectual taste, was gratified by the discovery of ancient classical works, and a munificent patron of the literary men of his own time. He delighted in music, painting, and sculpture, and his galleries were filled with the finest works of art. In disposition, too, he was both gentle and generous. But with all these splendid and attractive qualities, to religious sentiment Leo was an utter stranger. What an incongruity!--the supreme head of the Church, a complete stranger to that Divine grace of which the Church was declared to be the sole depository! Yet this is admitted by this Pope's most admiring historians. But the evil was not merely

negative. He was lavish in expenditure upon favourites, festivities, amusements of all kinds, throwing daily a purse of gold to the people to keep up the licentious exhibitions of the Vatican. The style of living of which he set the example, was an elegant voluptuousness, the embodiment of the sentiment, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." The prevailing philosophy was in harmony with the life it was openly materialistic. : Erasmus declares himself astonished at the blasphemies that met his ears. Attempts were made to prove to him that there was no difference between the souls of men and of brutes. It had become fashionable in the Papal Court itself to attack Christianity. To pass for a gentleman, it was absolutely necessary to hold some erroneous or heretical opinion on the doctrines of the Church. Young courtiers of the Pope maintained that the orthodox faith was merely the result of the crafty inventions of some saints; and whilst the priests performed the sacrifice of the mass, they often uttered blasphemous expressions in denial of its reality. Machiavelli, a profound genius, although not of the happiest celebrity, who was living at Florence when Luther passed through it on his way to Rome, said, "The strongest symptom of the approaching ruin of Christianity is, that the nearer you come to the capitol of Christendom, the less you find of the Christian spirit. The scandalous examples and crimes of the Court of Rome are the cause why Italy has lost every principle of piety and all religious sentiment. We Italians," he continues, "are chiefly indebted to the Church and the priests for having become a set of profane scoundrels." Luther, who visited Rome a devout Papist, was scandalized and horrified by what he saw. It was an abyss, he said, from whence all sins proceeded. It had become an ordinary saying that if there was a hell, Rome was built upon it. What a comment on the influence of its infallible ruler, his Holiness the Pope!*

Leo's profuse expenditure rendered necessary extraordinary means of obtaining money. Hence, at length, he had recourse to a general sale of indulgences. Tetzel's impudent voice was heard in Germany, urging on the scandalous traffic. Luther's indignation was kindled. The celebrated theses soon appeared on the door of the church at Wittenberg, and thus the great and ever-memorable struggle commenced, which resulted, under God, in the Protestant Reformation.

But what of the living Pope, Pius IX.? As we have seen, he lays claim to infallibility, a claim on which his actual history is a strange comment. In his younger days he gained a high character for benevolence. That he is a man of kindly native disposition there is no reason to doubt. As a cardinal, and in the first days of his Popedom, he became popular for his liberal policy; but this policy was soon reversed, as it was found inconsistent with the preservation of his temporal power. The revolution attempted by his subjects

* Dr. Newman, however, one of the most distinguished perverts to Popery from the Church of England, undertakes to show, in his "Lectures on Anglicanism," that the deep demoralization of Popish countries is a sort of indirect result of the superior light, faith, and spirituality of the Romish Church. With a kind of desperate audacity," says Mr. Kingsley, "Dr. Newman digs forth such scandals as notes of the Catholic Church." He cannot deny the shame, but, by a subtle casuistry, comes at length to glory in it!

made him a prisoner in his own city. He then escaped to Gaeta, and was for eighteen months an exile. When he returned to Rome it was amidst the thunders of French cannon. "His subsequent government at Rome has been a melancholy exhibition of priestly administration in its worst features of rapacity and imbecility, maintained by the terror of foreign arms." It may be said that this is no disproof of his infallibility as a spiritual ruler. Let us, then, look at him in this department. In 1854, he proclaimed the new dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. The Bull Ineffabilis Deus, however, which exalts this into an article of faith, contradicts, in every paragraph, the bulls of former Popes; thus, in effect, denying their infallibility. In this famous bull he ventured to prophesy, with "the most entire confidence, that the blessed Virgin will certainly procure, by her most powerful patronage, that, all difficulties being smoothed, all errors vanquished, our holy mother, the Catholic Church, shall prosper and flourish more and more every day, among all people and in all places that she shall reign from one ocean to the other to the utmost limits of the world, and enjoy an uninterrupted peace, and perfect liberty, and tranquillity." Never was prediction more unfortunate. The course of events has been in all respects so opposite to what was thus foretold, that the poor Pope, in an allocution of 1860, after speaking of "these times of calamity excited against the Catholic Church by the sons of darkness," trusts his venerable brethren, the prelates, will implore the most powerful protection of the immaculate Virgin, Mother of God-that, after that THIS HORRIBLE AND VIOLENT TEMPEST shall have been dissipated, the Church may obtain the peace so desired, and may everywhere enjoy her liberty." This horrible tempest is now beating upon the Papacy with greater violence than ever, so that it is clear that the Pope's infallibility does not include the spirit of prophecy; he has proved, indeed, a false prophet.†

In December, 1866, a Pontifical letter added seven more to the number of saints to be worshipped by the Catholic Church. We cannot dwell upon the absurdity and blasphemy of the practice in itself, but simply refer to the character of one of the seven-Dr. Pedro Arbues de Epila. He was one of the inquisitors of Arragon, under Torquemada, who, in the twelve years of his office as InquisitorGeneral in Spain, "made 10,220 victims who died in the flames; 6,870 who died during persecution, or fled the country and were burnt in effigy; and 97,321 who suffered infamy for themselves and their descendants, with confiscation of property and perpetual imprisonment, along with exclusion of their children from all public employments, even if they professed repentance. This made a grand total of 114,411 families ruined for ever." One of his select agents in the infliction of these atrocities was Dr. Arbues, who, as the result of the burning indignation of society, was assailed while kneeling at the cathedral altar, and died of the wounds there received. This

"Men of the Time." Article-Pius IX.

Superstition, however, has a method of saving the credit of the Pope. A priest of Bassano, seeing how little the prophecies of the Pope had been realized, in the pulpit openly charged the failure upon the Virgin, and reproached Mary for not coming to the aid of the Pontiff, ungratefully forgetting that it was to him she was indebted for the definition of the dogma that she was conceived without sin.

man, stained with the blood of so many Christian martyrs, the present Pope, the mild and benevolent Pius IX., has canonized as a saint in heaven, to whom prayers are to be addressed, thus confessing his yearning after that awful institution which can scarcely be named or thought of without a feeling of horror. Here is a moral element of living infallibility!

Now, if we could suppose doctrinal infallibility associated with a craft, a cruelty, a selfishness, a dissoluteness, beyond which human. depravity cannot go, the unholy character would discredit the truth itself, would stain its glory, and go far to destroy its authority; and, in fact, infidelity on a wide scale has been, and is, one of the rankest growths of the Papacy. The charge to Timothy, "Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine," indicates a relation between purity of character and of doctrine. Pure doctrine tends to pure character; but, on the other hand, evil principles and passions darken that spiritual perception by which the truth as to holiness is truly seen. Hence Popes have not only given their official sanction to scientific falsehoods, imprisoning Galileo for affirming his belief in the true astronomical system, but they have held the grossest errors and the most drivelling superstitions, calling darkness light and light darkness. What more pitiable display of mental imbecility could there be than the worship by the present Pope of those old rags, called the Holy Relics, as described by Mr. Arthur? Finally, the Popes have not only often contradicted each other, and pronounced false and blasphemous doctrines which their infallible predecessors had sanctioned by solemn bulls; but some of them have contradicted themselves, have declared the same doctrine at different times both true and false, have held different creeds at different periods, declaring true and necessary to salvation one year what they have pronounced blasphemous the next. Thus, on any definition of infallibility, the claims of the Popes to its possession proves "the baseless fabric of a vision," which "leaves not a wreck behind."

We conclude, first, that Rome has ample reason for holding the doctrine that Ignorance is the mother of devotion; and, secondly, that against the national support of a system so faithfully answering to the inspired portrait of the Man of sin, and a system, also, of such daring assumptions and wily encroachments, whether as now at Maynooth, or by the endowment of its priesthood, as some desire, we should be prepared at all times earnestly to protest. G. GRUNDY.

THE TEMPTED HIGH PRIEST.

"He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."-Hebrews, iv. 15.

To be tempted, is to be tested. Trial may be wrought by good or evil agency, for good or evil purposes. "The Lord did tempt Abraham." "Satan stood up against Israel," and tempted David to number the people. In the one case, the object was to establish faith; in the other, to subvert it but in both cases there was trial. Perhaps the word, as employed in the text, is used in its most com