1751.

Remarks on a Bull of Pope CLEMENT VI.

court; that the criminals should be all brought down on that day to receive sentence; and that it should be executed the very moment after being pronounced, in the fight and presence of the judges.

67

You were struck, you say, with the fingularity of this brief; and one cause of your furprize is the general filence of our controverfifts, who seem to have been entirely ignorant of it. It does not appear

He then observes, that if the first A that any one had made use of it

four sections of this treatise should
raise any attention in the legislature,
so as effectually to put a ftop to the
luxury of the lower people, to force
the poor to industry, and to provide
for them when industrious, the latter
part of his labour would be of very
little use; and concludes with saying,
that upon the whole, something
should be, nay, must be done, or
much worse consequences than have
hitherto happened, are very foon to
be apprehended, &c. &c.

A LETTER from a Librarian of
Geneva, concerning an extraordi-
nary Difpenfation of Pope Clement
VI. Translated from the French.

SIR,

that you

against the Roman church, altho it had been published near a centuryt. You add, that this bull would deserve to be made better known, and that you do not think what M. de la Chapelle has said of B it incidently, is sufficient.

You also defire me to tell you what I think of it, and even to be pretty large upon it. It would not be difficult to make an ample commentary upon this bull, had one a mind to reprove all that is offensive Cin it. But many people believe, that as to these sort of pieces, a bare mention of the substance of them is sufficient to excite all the indignation they deserve. However, to fatisfy you, I will enter into some detail, were it only to have the pleaDsure of your correfpondence.

OU acquaint me, Y have been reading M. de la Chapelle's treatise on the neceffity of publick worship. Among your remarks on this reading, you tell me, that you were extremely fur prised at a dispensation, seen amongst the vouchers at the end of the work, E because I had known of this piece

You fay, that all in this act has surprised you, both its fingularity and the obscurity in which it has lain to this time. I will tell you, first of all, that it was far from making the same impression upon me, near 30 years, at least in substance; and in this manner. Having the honour, at London, one day to dine at Dr. Burnet's, bishop of Salisbury, five or fix months before his death, with some men of learning, and amongst others the famous Dr. Hoadley, bishop of Bagnor, the bishop, at whose house we were, acquainted us with this extraordinary bull. He told us the contents of it, and quoted to us as his Warrant Dom Luke d'Acheri, who has related it entire.

granted by Clement VI. in the year 1351, to John king of France, and to queen Joan his second wife; which brief or bull gives to the king's and the queen's confeffor, a power to absolve them both for the past and for the future, from all their engage-F ments and contracts, tho' backed by an oath, if they could not keep them without fome inconveniency *. This favour is not only for them, but also for their successors in perpetuity, on condition only, that their confessor shall commute these oaths into G When I returned into my own counsuch works of piety as he shall think try, I searched for this piece in the

proper.

12

Bene

* Juramenta per ves praftita, & per vos & cos prestanda in pofterum, quæ vos & illi fermware commodè non poffitis. † See the Spicilegium of Dom Luke d'Acheri, ar Paris, 480 sem 4, P. 2750

68

What the Heathen, &c. thought of an Oath. Feb.

Benedictines large collection, but did not know where to find it. Do not be surprised: It is, as it were, buried and stifled amongst a heap of ufeless things collected together in the volume where it is inserted.

decisive, that of Regulus. Never
man by keeping his oath could have
expected more terrible consequences,
He knew the cruel torments which
were preparing for him at Carthage.
Nevertheless, he does not hesitate

This, probably, is the reason why A to return thither, because he had

it has escaped our controverfists.

Rightly to judge of this dispensation to K. John, it will not be ufeless to ftop some moments, to see what mankind in general have thought of an oath.

engaged himself by oath to do it.

I believe, Sir, I ought here to put you in mind of a reflection which Cicero makes in the same book of his Offices: Which is, that after this extraordinary event, they were not

The antient heathen always look- B even very much struck at Rome with

the magnanimity of this great man;
the common sentiment was, that he
had done no more than he ought to
do. His action did not begin to be
be very much noticed, till the cor-
ruption of the following ages. It

ed upon the promises made with an
oath as inviolable. These engage-
ments were facred to them, and they
were religious observers of them. It
is true, they wisely distinguished the
promises with an oath which had been
extorted by force, from those which C was among the Romans therefore an

they had made freely. It was also
a principle with them, that they
could not engage themselves by an
oath in any thing but what was good
and commendable, and if the en
gagement they had entered into was
bad in itself, from thence they look-D
ed upon it as null. In those cafes,
far from being obliged to keep their
word, they declared without evasion
that they were obliged to break it.
In confequence of this rule Cicero,
in his Offices, affirms that Agamem
non was doubly guilty, both for en- E
gaging himself by an oath to sacrifice
his daughter Iphigenia, and for hav.
ing facrificed her by virtue of that
engagement *.

opinion generally received, that ra-
ther than break one's oath, one ought
to be ready to brave all that is dread-
ful in banishment, imprisonment and

torments.

The Jews having much founder ideas of the Deity, have also had a very great respect for an oath. I defire you, Sir, only to read over again the 15th Pfalm, where David fets forth the character of the good man, who may hope to enjoy the effects of the love of God both in this life and in the other. " Lord, says he, who is he who shall dwell in thy tabernacle ?" He answers, "He, whose life is upright and whose actions are juft. If he has sworn, were it to his damage, he will not change any thing of his promife."

Excepting these cases, they highly condemned all the pretences to authorife perjury. One of the firft F fubterfuges for this infidelity, is the inconveniency, the damage, one may suffer by keeping his word, the promises que commode feruare non poffetis, as expressed in the brief. But the wife heathen decided, that, in any cafe, not only the inconve-Gought also to carry their respect for

niency, but the damage, how great toever it might be, could not juftify a breach of faith. They alledged an inftance, which seemed to them

After we have seen what the heathen and the Jews have thought of an oath, to compare it with the loose brief of Clement VI. we might shew, that the chriftians, who have much more fublime ideas of the perfections of God than the others,

an oath much farther. But, Sir, not to infift upon such a known fubject, I shall content myself with oppofing

1

1751. An excellent Passage from the Abbé du Guet.

pofing to the scandalous dispensation of this pope, a fine lesson, which the Abbé du Guet gives in his Institution of a prince.

"An oath is a last remedy to put an end to contefts, fays he, to affure ourselves of the heart of men, A and of their intentions, to fix all the doubts which inconftancy or infincerity may create, to subject kings to the fupreme Judge who alone can judge them, and to keep in duty all human majesty, by making it

69

prohibition of perjury in the third commandment, but that they even turn it against those who would hinder the prince from making himself guilty of perjury, and diffuade him from the thought of making use of a dispensation so diametrically opposite to the law of God? For the brief concludes with threatning with the wrath of God and that of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, those who shall be so rash as to attempt to infringe this conceffion †.

appear before the majesty of God, B Fancy to yourself, pray now, that

a wife counsellor of king John had undertaken to disuade him from taking the advantage of this dispensation from the pope, and that feeing him ready to violate a treaty supported by an oath, he had awakened his confcience upon the enormity of the perjury; here that pious minister stands anathematized for that very thing. And who is he then who has pronounced this sentence? It is that pretended head of the church, who takes the title of God's lieutenant

in regard to whom it is nothing.
To violate a treaty therefore, con-
firmed by an oath, would be eter-
nizing diffidences and wars, taking
away all means of coming to peace
by serious treaties, leaving a door
always open to furprizes, rendering C
the fituation of kingdoms floating
and uncertain, abusing what religion
has of the most sacred and the most
formidable, and falling into a ma-
nifest impiety, by despifing at the
fame time the prefence, the truth,
the juftice and the power of God *." D upon earth.

Pray hear likewise what this wife author fays of those who infinuate to a prince, that he may sometimes difpense with keeping treaties, tho' accompanied with an oath. "A man must be, I will not fay very bold, adds he, but very blind and very corrupt, to dare to advise a prince to make himself liable to the eternal wrath of God, and to draw down vengeance upon his own head, and upon the heads of the whole nation, by converting an oath into perjury, and by despising the irre- F heavenly wrath those who should

It was not enough for this worthy vicar of Jesus Christ to have altered the morality of the gospel, so far as to permit and to authorise perjury for any temporal interest; it was not enough for him to be the author E of this pevarication, but heaven must go halves with him in it. It was already a great deal to dare to suppose in the Divinity a connivance at this wicked action; but he must be made an accomplice in it as well as the apostles, and threaten with

vocable threatning annexed in the decalogue to the prohibition of so great a crime."

Yet, after all, it is highly probable that this Abbé never knew of this scandalous dispensation. What would he not have faid, had he known that G they not only despise in it the irrevocable threatning annexed to the

think of preventing this crime by wife counfels. This dispensation of the pope, therefore, ought to be looked upon as entirely contrary to good faith, and altogether pernicious; but the manner in which it concludes still exceeds the body of the bull: In cauda venenum.

Here

• Inflitution of a prince, tom. 1, p. 304. † Nulli ergo bominum liceat banc paginam noftræ conceffionis infringere, vel ei aufu temerario contraire. Si quis autem attentare præfumferit, indignationem omnipotentis Dei & beatorum Petri & Pauli apoftolorum ejus fe noverit incurfurum. 70

Excuses for the BULL shewn to be vain.

Feb.

say they, may have put the pope in great dependence upon the prince, who perhaps might have abused the afcendant which he had over his old subject, to extort this dispensation from him."

Here is a great noise about a trifle, will fome zealous defender of the see of Rome say. It is a matter of stile, *this conclusion is the common form of all bulls, so that they have no reafon to pretend to lay such a stress upon the terms. I have not examined A This is the most plausible excuse

that can be alledged in favour of a bad cause. To which I answer, that, were it so as here represented, there would be a great deal of cowardice in the Pontiff to condescend to such a demand. But it does

whether the Roman chancery concludes all those bulls with this threat ning; but were it fo, would you think this answer, Sir, very satisfactory? Let this conclufion be found in ever so many other places, it cannot be allowed here. Why? Because B not appear, either that the king

required any thing like it, or that the pope had put himself on the footing of having the cowardly complaisance for that prince, which he is supposed to have had. There are even proofs to the contrary.

it squares altogether with the tenor of the brief, and because it squares with it in the most impious manner. If I found a blafphemy at the end of an act, would he who drew it up justify himself by representing to me, that it was a matter of stile, a mere C After the bull in question, Dom

form? Now nothing is more blafphemous than to dare to affert, that God will punish those who shall oppose perjury.

Luke d'Acheri relates another, which dispenses with the king and queen's fasts and abstinences from meat, but with great precautions. For that purpose there must be an attestation, not of one physician only, but of several, as to the alteration which fasting caused in their majeries health. The confeffor and the faculty must agree together, that the king is in a condition, which makes that permission absolutely necessary, and if they shall have determined a little

It is faid, that at Padua there happened one day to be brought to the cenfor of books, a tranflation of the D Alcoran, for leave to print it. He was at that moment so absent from himself, that without any other examination he wrote at the end of the manufcript, that he permitted it to be printed, as having nothing in it contrary to the catholick faith. Every E lightly, he discharges his own con

one cried out upon this approbation. But the examiner might alledge the fame excuse as that which I am refuting. He need only have faid, that he had kept to the common form. Now, which of the two do you believe to be the most contrary to the chriftian religion, the Alcoran, or the bull of Clement VI.

I have heard some persons alledge, in excuse of the Pontiff, as follows: "The bull, say they, is dated from Avignon, where the popes held their see for fome time. Clement VI. was a French gentleman, born a subject to king John. These circumstances,

science from it and lays the fin at their door *. To excuse the king from his oath, it is sufficient he is a little incommoded by it, but to excuse him from the fasts of the church, the inconveniency must be F confiderable and well attested. Here is a director, whose delicacy we cannot but admire! He carries his scruple fo far as to fear lest those he directs should swallow a gnat, and to make use of the same figure in the gospel, he permits them to swallow a camel, But the question is not here upon the contrariety of this conduct; what I will only conclude from it, is,

G

-de carnibus vefci poteritis, de concilio tamen medicorum, quotiens confeffor medici boc vobis videbitur expedire, quorum confcientias oneramus, Spicilegium, P. 377.

1751. CHARACTER of King
is, that in this permission to eat meat
granted with so many limitations, we
do not perceive a pope who pushes
his complaifance to his sovereign too
far. There is no petty gentleman
in the kingdom, to whom they could
have refused this dispensation on the A
like attestations.

JOHN of France. dishonesty and perjury! If Mr. Jurieu had known of this bull, it would have been an excellent article against the popes, in his Just prejudices against popery.

Some confident of the pope's should have represented to him, before he let such a scandalous piece slip, that one precaution should have been taken, which was, to erase the third commandment out of the deca logue. His church had fuppressed the second for a long time, that it

But to prove in a more direct manner, that the king had not demanded of the pope to be abfolved from the oaths which might be inconvenient to him, and that the holy father granted him this favour with B might not prejudice the worship of

images; its neighbour, in good Ro-
man policy, ought not to be more
spared.
The oftner I read over this brief,
the more I confider the circum-
stances of it, the more it feems to

out being follicited for it, we need only to observe the beginning of the bull. It begins thus: We readily acquiefce to your defires and your requests, but especially to that which you make to us, as to the means to procure you the favour of God, peace C me not to be extorted from the

of foul and eternal salvation *.

pope. The holy father did things with a good grace, he gratified the king in it out of his own good pleasure, voluntarily, and, if I may fo say, with gaiety of heart. That which, above all, persuades me of this, is the character of king John, who does not seem capable of making such a demand. You know, Sir, the history of that prince: He had the misfortune to lose the battle of Poitiers against the English, and to be taken prisoner. The victori

This bull is dated from Avignon, April 20, 1351. In the beginning of this year the king had come into that country. It is very probable, that he confulted the pope about the state of his confcience, as his director. D The beginning of the bull infinuates it. He went to him with very good intentions, and much like those of the young man in the gospel, who asked Jesus Chrift what he should do to obtain eternal life. But what a difference in the answer!" If you E ous prince ‡ carried him into Eng

land the year following. By the treaty of Bretigni, concluded some time after, and confirmed by the oath of the two kings, John gives up to K. Edward several provinces, and a great many very confiderable

will be faved, keep the commandments," says our Saviour to him †. But he who calls himself his vicar, teaches to violate them. For this purpose he furnishes expedients to the king, who comes to confult him. To make him enjoy peace of foul, F lands. Before this affair was finish

to procure him the favour of God in this life, and in the end eternal salvation, he indulges him in making fraudulent treaties, which he may confirm by an oath, and violate them afterwards if he finds them a little inconvenient. An admirable way G το procure our selves peace of conscience and salvation, by infidelity,

ed, the captive king was reconducted into France. If ever treaty contained hard and burthensome clauses, it was certainly that of Bretigni. It would be too soft an expreffion, to say with the bull, that they could not be observed without inconveniency. In reading this treaty, we immediately represent to ourselves a king

• Votis veßris libenter annuimus, iis præcipuè per quæ, ficut piè defideratis, pacem & falutem anima, Deo propitio, confequi valeatis. † Matt, xix. 17. I The Black Prince.