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the maintainers of heretical opinions; for he not only ordered a considerable number of Hebrew Bibles to be burnt, in 1490, and more than 6,000 volumes afterwards at an Auto-da-fe at Salamanca; but during eighteen years of his inquisitorial ministry caused ten thousand two hundred and twenty persons to perish in the flames, besides many thousands who were condemned to infamy, or perpetual imprisonment and confiscation of goods, exclusive of those who having escaped or being dead were burnt in effigy.

"The violent character of Torquemada lessens the surprise that is felt at his cruelties and proscriptions; but it is impossible to learn without astonishment that the enlightened Cardinal Ximenes, whose Complutensian Polyglott Bible has rendered his memory dear to every Biblical scholar, should so far have entered into the measures of the bigoted men as to collect 5,000 volumes belonging to the Mohamme dan Moors, and commit them to the flames, regardless of their exqui site illuminations, superb bindings, or valuable contents; by this means destroying in all probability the works of some of the most celebrated Arabic or Mohammedan writers. Nor was the conduct of the emperor of Germany, Maximilian I, more tolerant, in issuing an edict in 1510, commanding all Hebrew books, except the Bible, to be burnt, as containing blasphemies and dangerous errors.

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"The invention of printing about the middle of the 15th century caused the rapid multiplication of books, and indeed a diligent attention in the Papal hierarchy to prevent, if possible, the circulation of any that might prove injurious to the interests of the Church of Rome. They were, therefore, soon afterwards subjected to examination, and printers, printing-offices, and publishers, placed under the inspection of official characters, appointed sometimes by the civil government, and at others by the Universities, or ecclesiastical dignitaries, or the inquisitors. The first instances of books printed with Imprimaturs, or official permissions, are two printed at Cologne, and sanctioned by the university in 1479, (one of them a Bible,) and another at Heidelberg, in 1480, authorized by the Patriarch of Venice, &c. The oldest mandate that is known for appointing a Book-Censor is one issued by Berthold, archbishop of Mentz, in the year 1486, forbidding persons to translate any books out of the Latin, Greek, or other languages into the vulgar tongue, or when translated, to sell or dispose of them unless admitted to be sold by certain doctors and masters of the university of Erfurt.” P. 142.

"The Index Expurgatorius, compiled by Arias Montanus, the learned editor of the Antwerp Polyglott, was formed by order of Philip II. of Spain, the husband of our queen Mary. It bears date 1571. Among the works to be corrected are those of Erasmus, Reuchlin, Seb. Munster, J. Faber Stapulensis, &c. &c. The works of B. Arias Montanus himself were afterwards placed in the Index published at Rome and Madrid. The Index compiled by Arias Montanus is sometimes called the Index of the Duke of Alba; it is extremely rare, and was re-printed with a Latin preface by F. Junius, a Protestant, in 1599. The reprint is a small volume in 12mo.

"The Spanish Index Librorum Prohibitorum et Expurgandorum novissimus, printed by order of the Inquisitor General, D.F. Ant a Sotomayor, at Madrid, 1667, fol. is divided into three classes according to the mode adopted at the Council of Trent. The 1st class, or that which enumerates the names of heretical authors or works suspected of heresy, contains a list of 2821 authors or works, with a Supplemental addition of 39. Among the authors whose works are condemned are Lord Bacon, John Fox, John Knox, Luther, Melanethon, Cranmer, Erpenius, Tycho Brahe, Sleidan, Buxtorf, Wiclif, Selden, Drusius, Scapula, Piscator, Frobenius, Calvin, Arminius, &c. &c. &c.-In the 2d Class are included all editions of Sebastian Castalio's translation of the Bible, and all Bibles with Annotations by anonymous authors; beside seven other editions of Bibles.-In the third class, about 160 editions of the Bible and 14 editions of the New Testament, are noted to be corrected; almost all of them in Latin, vernacular translations being altogether prohibited.-This Index was re-printed by the Protestants with the preface of Benedict Turretin. To this edition, the Indexes of the Council of Trent, as published by Clement VIII. in 1695, and of Alexander VII. are subjoined, with copies of the decrees of the Inquisition and Congregation of the Index to the year 1664, the date of the Index published by Alexander VII. In this latter Index we find Walton's Polyglott, Stephens' Greek Thesaurus, Buxtorf's Hebrew, and Scapula's Greek Lexicons, &c. &c." P. 151.

De L'Arrêté, du Conseil d'Etat du Canton de Vaud contre les Chrétiens Evangéliques, désignés dans cet Arrêté sous le nom de Mómiers. Extrait des Archives du Christianism. Cahiers d'Avril e de Mai 1824. Pp. 32. Paris. H. Servier. Fils. Libraire. Rue de L'Oratoire, No. 6. 1824.

We have selected this pamphlet from the innumerable publications, that have issued from the press on the subject of the severe laws which have been lately enacted in the free state of the Canton de Vaud against freedom of worship, for three reasons. It is one of the shortest and best; it is written by a person of high literary reputation, who was an impartial spectator of events the young baron de Stael; and it contains some observations upon sectarism in general, which we feel ourselves called upon to notice.

It may happen that our own article may run to half the length of the pamphlet itself, as it is necessary to enter into a few explanations relative to the aspect of religious parties in Protestant Switzerland, where it is generally supposed in this country that rigid Calvinism still prevails; for without such ex

planations, a mere analysis of the production before us would leave most of our readers uninformed of the circumstances which gave rise to it.

Since the French revolution there has been a serious declension from former doctrines, in two of the Protestant cantons of Switzerland, which, from their having such celebrated universities as Geneva and Lausanne, are supposed to fix the tone of religious sentiment among the other reformed churches of that country. In the canton de Vaud, however, the departure from the strict principles of Calvin has not been so great as in that of Geneva, for while the ecclesiastical body of Lausanne have professed at least to adhere to the articles of the Helvetic creed, some of the members of " the venerable company" of pastors in Geneva have made little scruple of declaring their repugnance to it. In a future number we shall give a more detailed account of the movements in religion, which have occurred at Geneva, and we shall then take some pains to shew, that many pastors of the established church of that canton have seceded so far from the vital articles of the Christian faith, and have become so thoroughly Socinian, that Calvinism, in the most severe acceptation of the word, and any system of the Momiers, however reprehensible, are nearer to the principles of the Reformers, and are more likely by some happy re-action to be brought to flow back to the pure source, from whence they have streamed out, than the principles avowed by the present professor of theology, for example, in the academy of Geneva.

The word Momiers was first applied as a term of reproach to a religious party at Geneva, who endeavoured (whether by discreet or indiscreet measures, is not the question now before us) to restore the ancient doctrine and discipline of the Helvetic churches, from which they complained that their countrymen had declined. In a pamphlet published at Paris last year, under the title of "Histoire veritable des Momiers de Genève, we find the following passage: "Les Momiers, sur lesquels on a eu l'addresse d'appeler la derision populaire par une dénomination ridicule ne sont point une secte, ni une secte nouvelle. Ce ne sont que les anciens Calvinistes." In October 1818, a meeting of these persons, (who probably were hitherto undistinguished by any common name,) which it was understood would be held at a village near Geneva, was thus ironically announced in one of the public newspapers: "Dimanche prochain, a Ferney-Voltaire, la troupe des Momiers, sous la direction du Sieur Regentin, continuera ses exercises de Phantasmagorie, jouglerie, et tours de force simples." A more bitter term of reproach could not have been given: it implies all that buffoonery,

hypocrisy, and grimace, can render contemptible; and therefore we perfectly agree with the Baron de Stael in reprobating the adoption of such a term in a state paper, when applied to a portion of subjects who had not offended against any of the existing laws.

"Il y a une haute inconvenance de la part d'un governement, s'addressant dans un acte solennel au pays dont l'administration lui est confiée, à désigner par une épithète injurieuse des hommes irréproachable aux yeux de la loi, quelque jugement que l'on porte de leur doctrine-si les torts des partis ont une sorte d'excuse dans la violence aveugle qui les dirige, comment excuser des magistrats de faire parler à la loi le language grossier des passions populaires." P. 5.

We believe there is no modern instance, in which our own government or parliament speaks of any sect in terms that could be considered offensive to them.

After giving some account of the progress of the party at Geneva, whom the author of the pamphlet calls “Chretiens Evangeliques designès Momiers," he tells us that a change of religious sentiments, analogous to that in the neighbouring canton, soon manifested itself in the Canton de Vaud; but he is by no means clear or satisfactory in the explanation which he offers of this change, or of the necessity of any counteracting influence. His remark seems to be, that the clergy of the Pays de Vaud were more orthodox in their profession of faith, but not less inclined to degenerate from Calvinistic principles than the Genevan pastors; and then follows one of those strange antitheses, which are so common and unintelligible among writers in the French language: "il avait conservé l'orthodoxie de l'esprit, mais cette orthodoxie du cœur, a laquelle les Chrétiens Evangéliques attachent une bien plus haute importance, s' était de plus en plus affaiblie," p. 16. We cannot make out the distinction; and therefore we do not think that those who separated from the established church of the Canton, and formed religious assemblies in Lausanne, and in other towns and villages, were equally justified in doing so with the separatists of Geneva. Several English travellers, and among the rest an English lady resident at Lausanne, took an active part in fanning the flame; and for this the latter was sent out of the country. Perhaps it was an arbitrary act which banished her, but who can approve of a foreigner's meddling with the ecclesiastical affairs of a State, where she has no political existence? It is no new opinion, that it is the business of a stranger in any foreign country to remain a spectator, and not to interfere with its institutions. "Peregrini autem, (says Cicero, De Off. lib. 1.) atque incolæ K

VOL. II. NO. III.

officium est, nihil præter suum negotium agere, nihil de alieno anquirere, miniméque esse in aliena Republica curiosum."

When we consider that the young ministers who signed the declaration and appeal to the council of State at Lausanne (to which we shall more particularly allude by and by,) were regular attendants at the religious meetings held at the house of the English lady in question, it would be difficult to say how far she may not have contributed to the framing of the very decree which now disgraces the statutes of the Canton de Vaud. She knew at the time that she was giving great offence to the constituted authorities; and even turned a deaf ear to their remonstrances.

Mr. Curtat, a respectable pastor in Lausanne, wrote his opinions in 1821 upon the establishment of conventicles in the Canton de Vaud he dedicated his work to the grand council; and to this council of State in his dedicatory address, he thus complains of our zealous countrymen, who with their purses full of money, and laden with religious tracts, invaded the parishes of the Swiss clergy. "La manière de publier ces ouvrages est tres-dangereuse, car les Anglois, qui nous les apportent, donnent differentes sommes pour les faire imprimer, et repandre avec profusion dans toutes nos paroisses par voie d'intrusion. Cette espece de violence sourde exercée par des etrangers, dans un pays libre, est capable d'y changer non seulement les principes de doctrine et de morale mais ceux de l'ordre public auquel ils sont essentiellement liés." If any of these "differentes sommes" 'come from the funds of religious societies in England, we think the same sums might be applied in a much wiser and better way; for with all our respect for the zeal of those who are anxious to promote the cause of true religion, we cannot conceive any zeal so misguided and so contrary to the very spirit of the Gospel, as that of individuals, who, furnished with means, and consequently with a certain influence, beyond the influence of those amongst whom they live by permission, exert it to unsettle in any degree the religious state of an enlightened people, whose Clergy are acknowledged to be sound in their profession of the true faith, and and where the free use of the Bible is permitted.

Mr. Curtat is not without antagonists. His remarks upon conventicles and English itinerants have been answered by other pastors in or near Lausanne, to whom again Mr. Curtat has an octavo rejoinder. To examine the merits of these controversies would be an endless task, for like the mountains themselves amongst which they are written, they rise as you ascend, and instead of the poetical expression, "Alps on Alps arise," we

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