sisse incrementum, et propter abusus penè in totâ ecclesia disseminatos esse. Et nisi abusus tollantur, vix cessabunt, quæ per vestram diffinitionem damnatæ sunt, et damnabuntur hæreses, imo ut verisimile est (dracone id efficiente) alii nascentur errores multò plures atque pejores.

Si ergò fidei Christianæ zelus vos comedit, si populi dispoliati, vulnerati et semimortui vicem doletis, si ecclesiasticæ autoritati maximè consultum esse vultis, et denique vestro officio non deesse, uni nunc reformationi vacate, uni reformationi incumbite, et saltem serò ægrotis medicinam parate; nam mala per longas convaluêre

moras.

Oratio Petri Fragi, Doctoris Theologi, ad Patres in Concilio Tridentino habita 1551, p. 1056.

Testorque, patres amplissimi, locum hunc quem ego indignus conscendi, non tam unquam Christianæ reipublicæ pericula, non tam dissensiones, non tam schismata, quam corruptissimos mores nostros, nostraque delicta formidasse. Præsertim dum considero, eo nos prolapsos, ut nec vitia jam nostra, nec remedia pati possumus.

Salvatoris Salapusii Archiepiscopi Turritani et Sarrasensis Oratio, in publica solenni Sessione, a resumpto concilio tertia, ad patres habita Tridenti undecima mensis Octobris, quæ fuit Dominica cana nuptiarum. An. Dom. 1551.

Labbai, tom. 14, P. 1066.

Ut illud quod dolenter potius quam contumeliosè dixerim; quanta est, bone Deus, præposteratio rerum atque inversio; quod ordo, collegium, et senatus, quo amplior babetur et sacratior, sæcularibus eò majus et temporalibus se curis atque negotiis implicat, quibus Paulus jubet contemptibiles quosque de ecclesiâ præficiendos; spiritualia verò inferioris classis hominibus demandantur, quasi spiri tualia essent propter temporalia, et non magis contra. Sed pietas inservit quæstui, et talenta aurea spiritualia, quæ negotiaturi accepimus, infelici commercio pueriliter plumbo commutamus. Sic spiritualibus temporalia, divinis terrena, pretiosis vilia præferuntur.

An. Dom. 1562. p. 1388.

Oratio F, Henrici de S. Hieronymo, Dominicani, ad Patres in Concilio Tridentino habita.

Jam vero tantorum malorum causam mihi investiganti, nulla alia sane occurrit, quàm quod succubuerimus tribus illis Satauæ telis, quibus nefarius ille olim caput nostrum, Christum, inquam, optimum maximum jejunantem in deserto impetiit,et experiendi causâ,

for the sake of trial tempted him, an event which the church at the present day commemorates, I mean, gluttony, ambition, and avarice. These are those three plagues proceeding from the mouths of the accursed horses, as it is written in the Apocalypse, which killed the third part of men, namely, the fire, smoke, and brimstone. These, I say, are those three pests, which carry loss and destruction throughout the whole world, as John testifies, the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life. For as soon as these things insinuated themselves into the minds of men, and began to creep about, immediately virtue languished, grew pale, was silent, vanished, and was disregarded.

Extract from a Speech delivered in the eighth Session of the Sacred General Council of Trent, by the Most Reverend Lord Francis Richardotus, Bishop of Arras, in the year of our Lord 1563. But, as it is well known, that the greatest empires of the world, the Babylonian, the Persian, the Macedonian, and the Roman, flourished as long as discipline was maintained, but when that was neglected they fell, so it is necessary to confess that the church never could have been oppressed with so many evils, if the authority of its discipline had remained. To which, if a return is permitted through your good offices, and if through you she recovers her reign and authority, then integrity of morals, probity in business, faith in compacts, equity in judgment, and holiness in all the ways of life, will shine forth. Then that collection of evils which extends itself most widely through all ranks of Christians, will most surely flow back into its gulf.

From Lubbaus, vol. 14.

The Speech of Francis Anthony Paganus, a Venetian, of the Order of the Minorites, to the most illustrious Fathers of the Holy Council of Trent, and to the most worthy Senators of the Christian Republic in favour of the Reformation of the Church. Although, O most august fathers, and most distinguished judges of the world, it is a cause of no little wonder, that that holy and mystical Sion, the renowned land of Israel, the fortified city of God, the beloved spouse of Christ, the church, which was formerly redeemed by her husband with his precious blood, was enriched with so many gifts, honoured with his presence and protection, adorned with so many miracles, and brought up in divine joys, at the present day, alas! should appear in so wretched and tearful a state, that we should behold her as it were rejected by God, repudiated, and seemingly deserted, uncultivated, and uninhabitable land; seeing that she is on every side disturbed, attacked, and despised in the midst of so many bands of heretics and wicked Christians; nevertheless if we examine into the matter closely with our mortal eye, if things past are compared with things present, if the tepets, morals, and many virtues of the primitive observances of the church, the frequent partaking of the sacrament, the fervour of love, the earnestness of prayer, and the display of Christian charities, fastings, and other works of piety, be

quemadmodum ecclesia hodiè commemorat, tentavit, gulæ, ambitioni, avaritiæ. Hæc sunt tres illæ plaga de pessimorum equorum ore procedentes, ut est in Apocalypsi, quæ tertiam partem hominum occiderunt, ignis, fumus, et sulphur. Hæc, inquam, tres illæ pestes exitium ac perniciem universo orbi inferentes, ut testatur Joannes, concupiscentia carnis, concupiscentia oculorum, et superbia vitæ. Simul atque etiam ista in hominum mentes irrepsere, et serpere cæperunt, continuò virtus elanguit, emarcuit, conticuit, evanuit, et posthabita est.

Oratio habita in Sessione Octava Sacrosancti Concilii Ecumenici Tridentini,per Reverendissimum D. Franc. Richardotum,Episcopum Atrebatensem, An. Dom. 1563.

Sed veluti manifestum est, maxima orbis imperia, Babylonicum, Persicum, Macedonicum, Romanum, retentâ disciplinâ stetisse,' neglectâ, concidisse: sic fateri necesse est, tot malis nunquam potuisse ecclesiam opprimi, si sua disciplinæ constitisset auctoritas. Cui si beneficio vestro ad nos quasi postliminio redire liceat, per vos suam dignitatem atque auctoritatem recipiat; tum integritas in moribus, probitas in negotiis, fides in pactis, æquitas in judiciis, atque in omni vitæ genere sanctitas elucebit. Tum illa malorum colluvies, quæ in omnes Christiani nominis ordines, se latissimè fundit, in suum barathrum citissimè refluet.

si

Franci Antonii Pagani, Veneti, Minor. observant. ad præstantissimos sacrosancti Ecumenici Tridentini Concilii patres, dignissimosque Christianæ reipublicæ Senatores pro Ecclesia Reformatione

Oratio.

Licet, patres amplissimi, ac præstantissimi orbis judices, non parva est admiratione dignum, quod sancta illa et mystica Sion, terra inclyta Israel, munita Dei civitas, atque prædilecta sponsa Christi ecclesia, quæ jam a suo sponso sanguine illius pretioso fuit redempta, tot muneribus dilata, ejusdemque tum præsentia tum protectione honorata, decorata miraculis, et divinis deliciis educata; hodie proh dolor! in tam miserabili atque flebili statu appareat, ut eam quasi a Deo rejectam repudiatamque, ac velut terram desertam, incultam, et inhabitabilem conspiciamus; cum inter tot tam hæreticorum, quam impiorum Christianorum turmas undique conturbetur, oppugnetur, et despiciatur; attamen, si rectè mentis oculo intueamur, si præterita præsentibus conferantur, si primitivæ illius ecclesiæ observantiæ, dogmata, mores, atque plurima virtutum exercitia, frequens sacramentorum usus, caritatis fervor, orationum assiduitas, eleemosynarum, jejuniorum, et cæterorum pietatis operum exhibitio ponderentur; et si è converso præsentis ipsius ecclesiæ temporis statum, depravatos hominum mores, vitiorum omnium turpitudinem, sacramentorum de

pondered, and if on the other hand we contemplate the state of the church at the present day, the depraved morals, the ignominy of all kinds of vice, the contempt of the sacraments, the lukewarmness of the minds of men, the indolence, the sole anxiety for earthly things, and the forgetfulness of heavenly blessings and all Christian piety, any one may easily ascertain the cause of her humiliation and depression. Thus sin follows sin, and the Christian republic is deteriorated as well by the crimes of the lower as by those of the higher classes, and the beauty of the spouse of Christ is obscured.

*

For which reason it is not surprising, if on every side commotions, persecutions and heresies, and innumerable evils, disquiet and con found the ship of the church, since an opinion is disseminated among all, that these adversities arise from our sins, and that so loug as our sins remain unrestrained, the whip of an angry God will continue to punishus, since iniquity superabounds,and the love of many waxes cold. For if we discuss all the conditions of the Christian republic, we shall find all of them, to have not a little fallen from the right path, and not only the prelates and other religious classes, but we shall behold that even the temporal lords and citizens and the common people also, as their minds have been daily more intensely applied to worldly affairs, and the pursuit of temporal riches and dignities and honours, and as they have placed their chief hope and trust in them, and seem to gain advantage by them, so on the other hand they have continually more. and more fallen off in divine grace, in Christian virtue and piety, and other Christian excellences, and they seem to incline to worse things. For at what period were there ever so many tribunals and less justice? When were there so many senators and magistrates, and less care of the state? When were there more laws and statutes and constitutions, and fewer causes discussed according to the order of the law? When were there so many judges and doctors and pleaders and such crowds of notaries, and so much noise, and when were the cause of the widow and the orphan, and the rights of the poor and of the insane, less defended? Lastly, when was there a greater multitude of poor men, and when greater riches and less piety among the rich? and when were there greater riches and fewer alms? Nor can I pass over altogether in silence the clergy and monks, who pay but little of that attention which perfection and diligence require of them to their prescribed rules and restrictions, and to the canonical law; among whom very frequently the care and anxiety of secular affairs hinder devotion, a fervent spirit, humility, the exercise of virtue, and the other conditions of Christian perfection. Whence is it that since the beginning of the church at no time has there been so much discussion upon the Scriptures, and preaching, and respecting the contents of the gospel even among plebeians, and so little consequent performance of good works?

I say nothing of public adulteries, rapes, and robberies; I pass over the great effusion of Christian blood, unlawful exactions, impositions gratuitously accumulated, and for whatever cause they were

spectum, tepeditatem animorum, otium, solam curam terrenoruin, et cælestium bonorum totiusque Christianæ pietatis oblivionem consideremus, facilè quisque ipsius objectionis depressionisque causam dijudicabit.

Sic peccatum peccato trahitur, et tam inferiorum quam superiorum criminibus Christiana respublica deterior fit, et sponsæ Christi decor obscuratur.

Quâ de causâ non est mirum, si undique perturbationes, undique persecutiones et hæreses et mala innumera ecclesiæ naviculam inquietent et confundant; quoniam vulgata est apud omnes sententia, quod propter peccata eveniant adversa, atque ideo dum peccata nostra in omni statu non cohibentur, irati Dei flagellum nos puniens perseverat, cum jam superabundat iniquitas, et charitas multorum refrigeat. Nam si Christianæ reipublicæ status omnes discutiamus, eos a recti et veri tramite non parùm excidisse inveniemus, et non solos prælatos et religiosos alios,sed temporales ipsos dominos et cives,et plebeculam ipsam aspiciemus, quod quanto in mundanis negotiis et temporalibus bonis, et dignitatibus et honoribus ingenia quotidiè magis acuere, vires extendere, spem et fiduciam omnem in eis ponere, et valdè proficere appareant; tanto e converso in divinis gratiis, in Christianis virtutibus, et devotione et cæteris spiritualibus bonis, indies magis semper deficere et ad deteriora prolabi videantur. Nam ubi unquam tot fuerunt in sæculo tribunalia et minor justitia? Ubi unquam tot senatores et magistratus, et minor cura reipublicæ? Quando plures fuerunt leges, et statuta et constitutiones et causæ secundum juris ordinem minus absolutæ ? Et ubi tot judices et doctores et advocatorum et notariorum turmæ et tumultus, et minus accepta causa viduæ et pupilli, et pauperis agricolæ et idiotæ jura minus defensa? Ac denique ubi major pauperum multitudo, et minor divitum pietas ? Et ubi majores divitiæ et pauciores fuerunt eleemosuna? Neque clericos et monachos sub silentio omnino præteribo, qui de præscriptis sibi terminis et regulis ac canonico jure, ea ad quam tenentur perfectione et diligentia, parùm servant: inter quos sæpenumerò sæcularium rerum cura et sollicitudo, devotionem, fervorem spiritus, humilitatem, virtutum exercitia, et alias Christianæ perfectionis conditiones propediunt. Unde est quod post ecclesiæ initia, nullo unquam tempore sic de sacris literis in prædicatione, sive etiam de evangelicis dictis inter plebeias ipsas personas in ea tractatum fuit, et nunquam bonorum operum actis minus subsecutum ?

Taceo publica adulteria, stupra, rapinas; prætereo tantam Christiani sanguinis effusionem, indebitas exactiones, vectigalia gratis superaddita, aut quavis ex causa jam introducta, (abs te) tamen perseverantia, innumeras hujuscemodi oppressiones: prætermitto etiam. superbam vestium pompam, supervacaneos ultra status decentiam sumptus, ebrietates, crapulas, atque enormes luxuriæ fœditates, quales a sæculo non fuêre. Quia nunquam fœmineus sexus lascivior,

T