power is infallible? And still are not the judgments of the civil power ratified in heaven? What need then for an ecclesiastical infallibility, if not to give sanction to spiritual tyranny and oppression? Every man upon earth has his own salvation in his own power, so that he cannot be deprived of the possession without his own consent; not so with a man's life and property: therefore there is infinitely more reason for a civil infallibility than an ecclesiastical one; consequently, as God never endowed the civil power with the gift of infallibility, much less did he endow the ecclesiastical power with such a gift. This the apostles were sensible of; for, when they were to pronounce upon any difficult case, they held a convocation for the purpose: not because they thought such a convocation infallible, but because they would observe all the prudent methods our Saviour had prescribed. Nor does this derogate in the least from the authority of the apostles as holy and inspired writers; for, all that is necessary to ascertain the divine authority of their doctrines is, that it should be true, that those inspired writers have not erred. Now, that they have not erred, God himself, who cannot witness a falsehood, has certified by miracles and other splendid attestations from heaven. Hence those arguments must be absurd which the Romanists draw from the conduct of Protestant convocations, viz. that they must look upon themselves to be infallible, otherwise, say the Romanists, how can they pretend to lay people under excommunications and the like? The Protestants do not pretend to extend their jurisdiction to the other world, or to say that those who die under' their censures, are damned to all eternity, as the Romanists do. The punishments they inflict upon obstinate and incorrigible sinners are only temporal. T Therefore the punishments inflicted by them, like those inflicted by the civil power, may be as just and equitable as any ever were, though destitute of the privilege of infallibility. Of ecclesiastical revenues, the celibacy of the clergy, the different orders of monks and friars, their vows of poverty, their habits, austerities, &c. I have already observed, by referring to Livy*, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Juvenal, Baronius and others; that there were several orders of priests among the old heathens; that their heads were shaved in the form of a crown called fenestella, because of its resemblance to a little window; that at their sacrifices, they wore an amict or linen cloth upon their heads; that they wore surplices, albs or long shirts, stoles, chasubles, copes, &c. Now I shall proceed to consider other points of conformity between Popery and Paganism. And first, of ecclesiastical revenues. The heathen priests had the benefit of an offertory, i. e. the offerings that were made on the altars or elsewhere in honour of gods. But, as those offerings were uncertain, Numa Pompilius, in order to establish his clergy upon a reputable footing, instituted and appropriated certain public revenues for the support of all the religious orders of men and women. His example was followed by several, who conse'crated their fortunes to the same pious uses. Those several endowments, like so many benefices, were in the gift of the prince or senate, or college of pontiffs, or private persons, according as the right of presentation was acquired. And the sovereign pontiff, as we learn from Livy|| and Seutonius, sometimes granted a dispensation to hold pluralities. A third resource was the obits and anniversaries for the dead, the legacies and testamentary dona * Lib. 1. + In vita Num. Pomy. Lib, 3. + Sat 6. § Ad. an. 44. ¶ In Claudio. tions made by such as would have sacrifices and prayers offered to the gods, for the repose of their souls.* In fine they had several other resources, as penalties, forfeitures, and confiscations, which the sovereign pontiff appropriated to himself, as may be instanced in the case of Cicero, whose effects were, upon his proscription, confiscated and appropriated for the purposes of sacrifices to be offered in the temple of the goddess Liberty. Secondly, the celibacy of the clergy is likewise of heathen extraction. St. Jerome tells us, that the chief priests among the Athenians, called Hierophantes, were so continent, that they even drank the juice of hemlock to suppress all motions of concupiscence and preserve their virtue; so that when they were promoted to the pontificate, they ceased to be men. He also introduces Cheremon the stoic, giving an account of the celibacy and austere life of the old Egyptian priests, viz. that upon entering into their college or labyrinth, they renounced the world, abdicated all property, lived upon public contributions, admitted none of their friends or relations near them, saw no women, abstained from meat, eggs, wine, milk, &c. I shall here quote some of the words as they are in the original. "Chæræmon stoicus narrat de vita antiquorum Ægypti sacerdotum, quod omnibus mundi negotiis curisque postpositis semper in templo fuerint-nunquam mulieribus se miscuerint ; nunquam cognatos et propinquos, ne liberos quidem, viderint ex eo tempore quo cæpissent divino cultui deservire, carnibus & vino se semper abstinuerint maxime propter appetitus libidinis qui ex his cibis & ex hac potione nascuntur: pane raro vescebantur ne onerarent stomachum ; & siquando • See the inscriptions taken from the monuments and tombs of the ancient idolaters, by Blondus, a French historian of the 15th century, in his Roman Triumph, 1. 2. +Lib. 2. Contra Jovinianum. comedebant, tusum pariter hyssopum sumebant in cibo ut escam graviorem illius calore decoquerent. Oleum tantum in oleribus noverant; verum & ipsum parum propter nauseam & asperitatem gustus leniendam. Quid loquar, inquit, de volatilibus? Cum ovum quoque pro carnibus vitaverint et lac; quorum alterum carnes liquidas, alterum sanguinem esse dicebant mutato colore." The priests of Cybele were wont to drink of certain waters in Phrygia whereby they were so intoxicated that in their frenzy they castrated themselves; from whence they were called Semiviri, half men. This discipline passed from the heathens to the Jews where, as Josephus* and Pliny tell us, it was adopted by the Essenes. Minutius Felix reproached the heathens of his time for their having temples or convents where no men, and others where no women were ever admitted. So great is the pleasure the devil finds in impurity, that he has banished from his profane altars the chaste and holy state of matrimony, which God himself provided as a remedy against incontinence.* 3dly. The different orders of monks, friars nuns, &c. The heathens, beside their pontiffs, priests, and other inferior ministers, had convents or societies of religious men and women, who devoted themselves to, and took the name of some god or saint, whom they liked and whose institutes they * Antiq. 1. 18. c. 2. + Hist. Nat. 1. 5. c. 17. ‡ Luther by preaching against the celibacy of nuns, friars, &c. has to his immortal honour, not only trampled upon the whole body of heathenism and popery at once, but also approved himself a friend to the safety of national establishments and the general happiness of mankind; and restored discipline to the standard of the primitive times. The celibacy of bishops or any other was never commanded by our Saviour or any of the apostles. St. Paul only forbad simultaneous polygamy, a custom that generally prevailed in the eastern countries. He indeed recommended celibacy in those times of persecution, because it was no season for establishing a family; but still he left people free because even in such times it were better marry than burn. adopted as a rule of their conduct. Thus they had their Quirinales, or the religious of the institute or order of Romulus; their Diales of the order of Jupiter; their Martiales of the order of Mars; their Vulcanales of the order of Vulcan; their Vultúrnales of the order of Vulturnus; their Florales of the order of Flora, &c. &c. They had also their friars or brothers of Augustus, of Adrian, of Anthony, of Aurelius, &c. They called themselves friars or brothers says Alexander* of Alexander, because they were united to each other by charity and mutual alliance; they called themselves companions and associates, because they were all upon a level being incorporated in one society. Some of those religious had certain foundations or endowments appointed for their support as Livy tells us, the Quirinales and the Vestals had. Others were the mendicants, as the religious of the order of the mother of the gods, who as St. Austin says, made out an ignominious livelihood by begging in the streets and highways. Apuleius with a good deal of humour, describes their mendicant friars and detects their knavery and hypocricy. He says that under pretext of devotion they begged and collected money, rundlets of wine, milk, cheese, wheat, barley, pulse, &c. that those sturdy beggars put what they got into wallets or bags which they carried away for that purpose, and that by thus rambling they plundered the country. Polydor Virgil, notwithstanding his being a papist, compares the four mendicant orders of his religion to the priests of Cybelle or mother of the gods. "Posterity, says he, are more tenacious of bad than good institutions, as may be proved by many instances, and particularly by Gehial. lib. 1. c. 26. ↑ Lib. 1. Deci vit. dei. 1. 7. c. 6. De invent, rerum. 1. 7. c, 7. |