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particularly in Spain and Italy, extinguished the Reformation, or drove the Reformers to less intolerant countries. But in general, where information had already made progress, prohibition only inflamed the public avidity for the denounced books, and actually served as a guide to ascertain where the strongest arguments against Popery were to be found. The methods used for concealing the forbidden articles, and the devices used in printing and circulating them, would form a curious chapter in the history of the Reformation.

"He who was afterwards Pius V., when he held the office of Inquisitor of Como, (and a most diligent one he was,) ferreted out a cargo of twelve bales of heretical books sent from the Valteline to his station, for the purpose of distributing in the larger towns of Lombardy, Romana, and Calabria. He detained them at the holy office but the vicar and chapter of the place espoused the cause of the merchant to whom they were consigned; and the poor Inquisitor was obliged to give them up. When he was stationed at Bergamo, the priest there, depraved by the reading of heretical books, had filled two chests with this forbidden ware, and concealed them to obtain an opportunity for distribution. There is another curious anecdote to the same effect in Aymon's Synodes Nationaux, &c. Monsieur de Bourbon, Lieutenant of his most Christian Majesty, told me,' says the writer, 'yesterday, that two days ago he had taken a vessel, where he found, in wine casks, a great quantity of books, sent from Geneva, of the most distressing character that can be conceived, and had destined them to the flames.' Geneva has the same credit from another writer, the historian of the society of Jesus, Sacchino, who, under the year 1562, relates that that heretical city introduced into Lyons vim infinitam librorum pestiferorum, which was intended, not only for France, but for Constantinople and the East; but that the zealous and active Possevinus procured, ut pestilentium illa farrago voluminum flammis aboliretur." pp. 56, 57.

We have given to England, as above, the bad eminence of first promulgating prohibitory indexes; for though the Church of Rome, in her corporate capacity, was the originator of these acts of tyranny, and a censorship had been appointed at the capital of her empire in the tenth session of the council of Lateran in 1515, forbidding, under heavy penalties, the printing of any book without ecclesiastical licence: no formal index of condemned books was issued in Italy till towards the middle of the century. In 1548 or 1549, appeared in the vernacular tongue an Index compiled at the command of Pope Paul IV., by no less a person than the infamous Casa, Archbishop of Benevento, whose own name the pope was compelled, for very shame, to insert in a subsequent edition of that very catalogue, on account of the licentiousness of his publications. In this list we find the principal Reformers, and many writers now forgotten. The literary fate of Casa is remarkable, and furnishes a curious commentary on the infallibility of the pretended successors of St. Peter. First appears, under papal sanction, his own damnatory catalogue, of course without his own name; next Paul IV. inserts it; then Pius IV. in the celebrated Index of Trent omits it; Sextus afterwards re-inserts it; some future pope or editor again leaves it out, and thus the matter continues to this day: so that, though a good catholic may not lawfully read the Bible, he may revel at pleasure in the licentious poems of Archbishop Casa. One can only wonder at the blindness and obstinacy of those who see nothing incongruous in these proceedings, or, seeing them, still retain their blind allegiance to the church which perpetrated them. And then what kind of theology or morality must it be. which has a Casa for its arbiter!

The Spanish and Belgic Indexes (both countries being at that time under the same sway), form a very fruitful branch of this pestiferous Upas.. Charles V. directed the University of Louvain to draw up a list of dangerous books, which was published in 1546, accompanied by a royal ordinance denouncing death as the penalty for printing or selling any unlicensed work containing error. The Louvain catalogue exhibits Bibles in different languages, the writings of the Dutch and German Reformers, and a list of authors condemned by a previous ordinance. A new catalogue.

was published in 1550, containing the bad books printed since the last catalogue. The editors deprecate the wonder of the reader at seeing so many Bibles in the list, by observing, that the greater the danger the greater should be the caution.

The first Spanish Index-prepared by the Inquisitor-general, by order of Philip II.—was published in 1558. A fuller one appeared the next year. The pope's brief, which accompanies it, lets out the awkward fact that some persons who had been permitted to read heretical books, in order to refute them, had themselves been seduced by them to their own destruction and the scandal of the faithful; to guard against which, the good infallible man revokes all his former licences, and forbids the reading of condemned books by all persons whatsoever. Llorente notices some proscriptions of " orthodox" books in this catalogue; and adds, that the legend says that when St. Theresa complained of these prohibitions, "the Lord said unto her, Disturb not thyself; I will give thee the book of life." The members of the Church of Rome might learn an excellent lesson from this legend ;-to appeal to God, instead of to man; and to find in his wisdom and mercy a refuge from the barbarous tyranny of their own infallible church.

The Gallican Church began its career of proscription in 1544, by a small alphabetical catalogue of sixty-five books, issued by the University of Paris, "under the correction of the holy mother of the church, and the holy apostolical see." A larger catalogue followed in 1551, in which the worthy authors record their joy at the recent burning of several heretics at the stake by order of the supreme senate. Luther, Calvin, and Erasmus, says Mr. Mendham, seem to be the great inspirers of the Parisian panic, as of that of Spain.

The Roman Indexes appear to have begun in 1548 or 1549; the first, which was printed at Venice, being issued in consequence of the Scriptures and religious books finding their way into Italy from other countries. Various others followed, particularly a celebrated one in 1559. A few notices of this Index will interest our readers, and also throw light upon the general character of these papal documents. It is divided into three classes; namely, entire authors, particular works, and anonymous pieces. There is a long catalogue of prohibited Bibles and Testaments; and an inhibition from reading any orthodox book, even including the fathers, if printed by a heretic, unless it be first licensed by the Inquisition: and this licence will not be granted unless every name, reference, or remark, written by, or relating to, any person in the prohibited list, be first expunged or rendered illegible. The penalties are severe; among others, excommunication. This index, as we have seen, had one merit; it inserted the name of M. Talleyrand's poetical predecessor, John Della Casa. Mr. Mendham gives us the following curious specimen of its contents.

"There are some things, however, not undeserving of attention, connected with the insertion of the name, Desiderius Erasmus. It occurs under the class of Auctores quorum libri, et scripta omnia prohibentur. And yet, after the name, the words follow cum universis Commentariis, Annotationibus, Scholiis, Dialogis, Epistolis, Censuris, Versionibus, Libris et Scriptis suis, etiam si nil penitus contra Religionem, vel de Religione contineant. This is somewhat of an illustration of the title, De omnibus Rebus et quibusdam aliis. But this is not all. Be it known, then, that in consequence of this proscribed writer's dedication of the first edition of his Greek Testament, with Annotations, in 1516, to the reigning pope, Leo X., the head, infallible as by many he is believed, of the Roman church, directed to him a brief, which Erasmus has carefully inserted in the second, and in every subsequent edition of his Greek Testament, highly commending the lucubrations of his dear son, and proceeding thus-Quas nuper a te recognitas, et pluribus additis annotationibus locupletatas, illustratasque fuisse certiores facti, non mediocriter gavisi fuimus, ex prima illa editione quæ absolutissima videbatur, conjecturam facientes, qualis hæc futura, quantumve boni, sacræ Theologiæ studiosis, ac

orthodoxæ fidei nostræ sit allatura. Macte igitur, &c. How should we ever have been extricated from this collision of papal authority, had not the healing meditation interposed of the Spanish Index, published about half a century after, in 1612, and to be described in its place? In the Expurgatory division of that Index, and under the long article Desideri Erasmi Roterodami Opera, at the beginning of the censures on the sixth volume, we read the following words- Ad marginem Epistolæ Leonis P. P. X. ad Erasmum, quæ incipit, Dilecte fili salutem, et habetur seq. pag. post inscriptionem hujus Tomi, adscribe: Dulcibus encomiis pius Pater nutantem ovem allicere conatur.' "There is another article possessing some peculiarity: it is Lib. inscrip. Consilium de emendanda Ecclesia. This Consilium was the result of an assembly of four cardinals, among whom was our Pole, and five prelates, by Paul III., in 1537, charged to give him their best advice relative to a reformation of the church. The corruptions of that community were detailed and denounced with more freedom than might have been expected, or was probably desired; so much so, that when one of the body, Cardinal Caraffa, assumed the tiara, as Paul IV., he transferred his own advice into his own list of prohibited books. The genuineness of this work, which was frequently reprinted, and of which I have an edition printed at Antwerp, in the succeeding year, 1538, is past the possibility of controversy; and stands forth as an act of self-condemnation so palpable and confounding, as to necessitate from its incorrigible authors a further self-condemnation, which, however, only aggravates the original disgrace.

"We may add, and conclude with, another instance in this Index, of an exactly corresponding description. Aeneae Sylvii commentaria de actis et gestis Concilii Basileen; softened and explained in the following Tridentine Index to-In actis Aeneæ Silvii prohibentur ea quæ ipse in Bulla retractationis damnavit. In that Bull, § 4, he observes with admirable simplicity, Dicent fortasse aliqui, cum Pontificatu hanc nobis opinionem advenisse, et cum dignitate mutatam esse sententiam. Haud ita est, longe aliter actum, &c. This was a very necessary procedure when he became pope, under the title of Pius II; and before that time he could not pretend to infallibility. He might with justice have given the same ingenious account of his change of sentiment as was given by a pontifical brother in the same predicament, that when he was raised higher he saw things more clearly-at least differently." pp. 46-50.

The whole of the preceding Indexes in various countries were antecedent to the Council of Trent; but it was reserved to that celebrated tribunal to give in this, as in many other instances, new strength and consistency to the worst parts of the Papal system. The subject was fully discussed in the seventeenth session of that council in the year 1562; and in the next session a decree was passed declaring that as the disease of pernicious books had not yielded to the salutary medicines hitherto applied, it was proper that certain fathers should be appointed to consider what more ought to be done for the censure of books. The result was, that in 1564 was published the celebrated Index librorum prohibitorum, cum regulis confectis per patres à Tridentina Synodo delectos." These rules, ten in number, having been thus solemnly decreed, generally received, and not rescinded, may be farely considered, whatever Dr. Kelly or Mr. Butler might urge to the contrary, as the statute law of the Church of Rome; and rules more bigotted, more despotic, more calculated to chain down the human mind to ignorance and servile obedience, were never set forth for the regulation of any church or community. We, indeed, cheerfully acknowledge that they are laudably characterised by an anxiety to restrain many classes of really bad books, such as obscene works (though we know not how to reconcile with this the studied omission of Casa who had been in the former list), and works of astrology, necromancy, and magic; most of which, however, had been far better restrained by the diffusion of knowledge and religion, than by a thundering edict. It is ceded, also, that they did not reject works not written by Protestants, provided they were first examined and approved by Catholic authority; which, however, was quite tantamount to a prohibition wherever religion was concerned. We admit, further, that it is the duty of all persons to endeavour to counteract the influence of heretical publications; but this does not in the least abate our vehement indignation at the intolerance of the means employed, or our horror in viewing the end to which they were directed. The means were mental and spiritual despotism, the usurpation of the rights of private conscience, the most narrow

minded intolerance, and the most unrelenting cruelty. The end was the withholding from men the word of God, which would have led them to discover the errors and sophistries of a degraded and corrupt church. It is said in reply, that the censors only contended for what they honestly considered to be truth; but why, then, conceal the key of knowledge, and why not fairly subject the system by which they got their gains to the pure and infallible light of the revealed will of God? There can be but one sufficient reason for men's prefering darkness to light; namely, when they know or suspect that their deeds are evil.

The prohibitory edicts of the Council of Trent, in regard to the reading of the Scriptures, have, of late years, for party purposes, been so softened down and explained away, that it may not be superfluous to state what is said on the subject in these celebrated " ten commandments" of the Church of Rome, which certainly were not coincident with the commandments of God. The third confines the use of translations of the Old Testament to "learned and pious men," and this only "at the discretion of the bishop," and with the further restriction that they are to be used solely" as elucidations of the Vulgate version." Thus unlearned readers are wholly precluded; and learned also, unless they can obtain an episcopal licence, which few persons were likely to apply for, and many Popish bishops would not, in those days, have granted. And then the Vulgate translation is actually made the standard instead of the original text; and the student is to read, not to correct what is wrong in it, but only to confirm its errors. Is this justice or common sense?

So much for translations of the Old Testament. Translations of the New, made by any of the persons included in the first class of prohibition (and how many vernacular translations were there from the pen of others ?) were wholly and absolutely forbidden. Even the learned and pious might not use them; a bishop himself might not permit them, or so much as read them; "they are allowed," it is added, " to no one, since little advantage but much danger generally arises from reading them." This extreme jealousy could only result from a consciousness that the New Testament did not favour the Church of Rome; for if it did, why prohibit vernacular versions to the clergy and other "pious and learned men," who could readily correct the mistakes of heretical translation; or if not, this might have been done for them in the Index, and the result left to their own honest decision. It is decreed further, that if notes were added to the Vulgate, or to any allowed version, they were not to be read even by those who were licensed to read the text "till the suspected places have been expunged by the theological faculty of some Catholic university, or by the general inquisitor."

Vernacular translations by Roman-Catholic authors, could not in common decency be wholly, and in every instance, forbidden; for that would have been tantamount to a confession that even a Papist could not make the Bible speak Popery; besides which, such a prohibition we might have supposed would not be thought practically necessary, as vernacular RomanCatholic translations or copies were not generally accessible or in demand; so that the versions made by Protestants being forbidden by the preceding rule (partially in the case of the Old Testament, and wholly in the case of the New) the inquisitors, we might have thought, needed not be in any great alarm lest the use of the Scriptures should become general. But to make safety doubly safe, the fourth rule enjoins that no person shall read even a Catholic version in the vulgar tongue without permission from the bishops or inquisitors, to be procured only by special recommendation from the priest or confessor, the permission being in the form of a written certificate. It was not likely that many persons would expose themselves to

this severe ordeal, more especially as the very application might be followed by an order on the turnkey of the Inquisition to prepare a dungeon and a rack for their reception. The rule expressly enjoins, that no "regular" shall read or purchase one even of these licensed Bibles without special permission from his superior. This shews the peculiar jealousy of the Council of Trent with regard to the religious houses, lest the light of the Gospel should penetrate them, and expel the darkness of Popery. The preamble to this fourth rule is very significant. It declares, that it is manifest from experience that if the Holy Bible translated into the vulgar tongue be indiscriminately allowed to every one, the temerity of men will cause more evil than good to arise from it." The inquisitors were certainly right, using the words evil" and "good" in the sense of defection from, or adherence to, the Church of Rome.

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Such is the character of these celebrated rules; and can any man who reads them deny that the Papal hierarchy does avowedly and systematically oppose itself to the popular reading of the Scriptures? The decisions of the Tridentine Fathers, be it remembered, have not been revoked or cancelled; so that they are still the statute law, or, to say the least, the authoritative decision and practical guide, of the clergy and laity of the Roman-Catholic communion. Let the authorities of that church boldly throw open the word of God, correctly translated in the vulgar tongues, to the people, and then, though we shall still think them deluded, we shall admit them to be honest; but in fairness we ought to add, we shall confidently expect to see the speedy downfal of their system.

We shall not delay our readers with an account of the re-impressions of the Trent Index, which henceforth became the basis for damnatory catalogues, in various countries, with such additions, omissions, or alterations, as were thought expedient. Neither shall we attempt to follow Mr. Mendham in detail, in his notices of the post-Tridentine Indexes, or reprints of Indexes, of Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Poland, Bohemia, Sweden, Austria, and France. They are all in the same style of ecclesiastical narrow-mindedness and tyranny. A few detached facts will suffice as an example.

A Spanish (or Belgic) reprint of the Trent Index, with additions, soon appeared in three languages; French, Flemish, and Latin. It contained a royal edict; and the infamous duke of Alva was enjoined to enforce its provisions. This index restores to the condemned list those Bibles and Testaments, which the Trent Index had dropped. Another followed, in which is inserted an order, that none but the king's printer should print it, or any person sell or possess it without licence. The king orders books which were capable of correction, without destruction, to be purified, according to an expurgatory index drawn up and provided, which the bishops might lend to confidential booksellers, to be used privately, for correcting the books which they sold, or those of their customers who might apply to them to mutilate their volumes as prescribed, in order to their undergoing the official censorship; otherwise the parties were likely to visit the dungeons of the Inquisition. The precautions taken that the expurgatory indexes should not get abroad, and the secrecy of the process of mutilating books, abundantly exhibit the character of the whole proceeding. The Indexes became increasingly cautious; for it was found that the too explicit mention of heretics and heresies, led to inquiry; and total suppression, where practicable, became henceforth the favourite rule of censuring. Thus the Spanish Index of 1632, with officious communicativeness, under the word Luther, added, "Islebii natus in Saxonia, an. 1483. prædicat contra indulgentias 1517. ab Ordine Religioso et a Fide Catholica Apostata, et Heresiarcha, 1517. reperitur in lecto misere CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 367. 3 R

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