JOURNAL OF A TOUR IN ITALY, IN 1850, WITH AN ACCOUNT OF AN INTERVIEW WITH THE POPE, At the Vatican. BY THE REV. GEORGE TOWNSEND, D.D. CANON OF DURHAM, AUTHOR OF "THE CHRONOLOGICAL ARRANGEMENT OF THE BIBLE," "ECCLESIASTICAL AND CIVIL HISTORY PHILOSOPHICALLY CONSIDERED," SECOND EDITION. LONDON: FRANCIS & JOHN RIVINGTON, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD, AND WATERLOO PLACE, ADVERTISEMENT. THE Tour in Italy, of which an account is given in the following pages, was begun and completed, and the narrative itself, with the exception of a few sentences, was written, long before the promulgation of the late unscriptural, absurd, and insolent bull of the Pope, whom I visited at the Vatican. I could not be aware, that three years ago the plan of dividing England into dioceses, as if we were either a Heathen or a Popish country, could have been imagined, much less acted upon. The folly and the presumption, however, of the Pope's action has not altered that opinion which I believe I am almost alone in holding, expressing, and enforcing; but which, until I can be convinced I am in error, I shall still hold, express, and enforce that God will so order, by His Providence, the course of this world, that in His own good time the Holy and Omnipotent Spirit of God will change the Papists of France, Italy, and Spain, as He changed, three centuries ago, the Papists of England, Scotland, and Germany. In spite of all the blasphemous pretensions of Rome-in spite of all its unjustifiable additions to the Primitive Faith of Christ,-in spite of all the indefensible assumption, by which, in this hour of its decrepitude, it asserts the divine right to permit to, or withhold from, the soul of man, the birthright of all men, the free use of the Word of God,-in spite of all the wicked laws, bulls, rescripts, and edicts, which are alike hostile to the ancient early Religion of Jesus Christ, to modern constitutional liberty, and therefore to National happiness; I believe, against all appearances to the contrary, that the Omnipotent power, and grace, and influence of the Spirit of God will finally make the Church of Rome become what it is not now, but what it once was, when St. Paul approved and blessed it. If this great Protestant country will now do its duty to the civilized world, as it did in the reign of Elizabeth, when it beat back Popery; or in the reign of William III., when it trod down the divine right of Kings, and all regal despotism; or as it did in the reign of George III., when it rebuked and vanquished the Infidelity of the Continent; then will England be not only safe within itself, but more and more influential as the blessing and the example to mankind. Towards the close of that great and terrible war, which began with the first French Revolution and ended with the contest at Waterloo, an English General begun one of his despatches with the memorable words-" England has saved itself by its firmness, and Europe by its example." So must it be now, in the revival and renewal of the great war between Christianity and its corruptions, between the Reformation and Papistry. But what, it will be demanded, is the remedy? What must be done? How are we to resist these aggressions? How can we meet these encroachments? They must be all met, we answer, by untiring, vigilant, sleepless resistance. This resistance must be of three kinds; Political, Christian, Ecclesiastical. There must be untiring, vigilant, sleepless, Political resistance. The details of this first mode of resistance must be left to our Rulers; but as the soldiers of a foreign enemy are justly regarded as enemies, and are not, therefore, invested with the privileges of citizens, even if they are permitted to traverse the country on their parole of honour ; so also should it now be with the members of the Church of Rome. The Pope has declared himself to be the foreign enemy. By the promulgation of a bull as atrocious and as hostile |