spiritual sentence, and then hands the victim over to the secular power for immolation.

As a corollary flowing from the aforesaid premises, it is proved beyond contradiction, that the Church of Rome holds it as a maxim, "that faith is not to be kept with Heretics to the prejudice of the Church;" (for the observance of faith in private transactions is not at all concerned :) a maxim, which is perfectly compatible with another deduction ;-namely, the su periority of the ecclesiastical, over the temporal authority and that it is, and must be in principle, and in practice, when it has the power, what it was, when the Council of Constance held its sessions. Its eternal sameness, so appositely expressed by Dr. Troy's semper eadem, proclaims its unaltered, because unalterable, state. The germ of intolerance ex, ists within its bosom, ready to shoot forth, and to expand, whenever circumstances will admit of its display. Were this not the case, surely, the silence of the Vatican on the subject would not have been inviolably preserved for more than four centuries. If the offensive Decree be obsolete, as has been affirmed, why is it not abrogated by a power co-ordinate with that, which enacted it? Finally, if it be obsolete, why is it RECEIVED by the Romish Clergy as among the ordinances declared, defined and laid down in the General Councils, without exception or

limitation; and that too under the solemn sanction of their oaths. No; that decree can never become obsolete, so long as it remains unrepealed. But more particularly, it is not obsolete; because it bears the impress of Infallibility, which high and holy sanction must make it of everlasting obligation!

He

The number of Sessions held by the Constantian Fathers amounted to forty-four, and their principal discussions related to the rival pretensions of the Antipopes, the methods necessary to enforce their submission and resignations, and the election of a Successor. DUPIN is more than usually brief, in his notice of John Huss and Jerome of Prague. dismisses his account of the fifteenth and twenty-first Sessions, with merely observing; that the former was spent in drawing up a process against Huss, and the latter in condemning Jerome! In the two last Sessions; viz. the 43rd and 44th, MARTIN V. appears to act for the first time, in his pontifical capacity.

THE

SYNODAL AGE, OR FIFTEENTH

CENTURY.

CHAPTER XXV.

COUNCIL OF BASIL, A. D. 1431.

As this Council, like that of Constance, is * partly acknowledged by the Church of Rome, and as its history is so interwoven with the proceedings of the General Council of Florence, that it cannot properly be suppressed; a brief sketch of it becomes indispensably necessary.

A plague, which raged at Pavia having interfered with the design of a Council being held there, agreeably to a Resolution passed at the Council of Constance; Martin V., the newly elected Pope, assembled one at Sienne, which had for its object the union of the Greek and Latin Churches, and the Reformation of

* "Basiliensis Concilii, quædam dispositiones circa beneficia ecclesiastica sunt ratæ."-BELLARMINE, Oper. vol. i. cap. 7, p. 12.

the Church, both in its Head and members. One of the few decrees, made by this Synod was directed against the Hussites, Wickliffites, and other dissentients from the Church of Rome; inasmuch as it * granted Indulgences to such as extirpated heretics; all exemptions, and safeconducts by whatsoever persons vouchsafed to the contrary, notwithstanding. After some other business of trifling import was transacted; Martin, apprehensive that the subject of Reformation would be mooted, and that its discussion would be prejudicial to his interests, contrived to have the assembly transferred to BASIL. This event occurred in the year 1431, and may be said to have been the only transaction in which he was engaged before his death; with the exception of the negociation, which he opened with the Greek Emperor, and the Patriarch of Constantinople, in order to put an end to existing differences between the two Churches.

Eugenius IV. assumed, with the papal tiara, the same feelings and views of his predecessor with respect to the proposed Reformation, and the union of the Eastern and Western Churches; being as anxious to retard the one, as he was to promote the other. The Basilian Fathers, however, pressed on both objects; and declared, that the Pope himself was amenable to the ju

risdiction of a General Council. They further declared his incompetency to create Cardinals, while the Council was sitting, and even pronounced him contumacious for not appearing in compliance with their citation. Eugenius, on his part, decreed the dissolution of the Council, which produced a counter-decree from the Fathers, calling on him to revoke his ordinance. Each side was firm in its opposition for some time, until the Pope, wearied with the conflict, and no other alternative being now left him but submission, he allowed his policy to overcome his pride; and accordingly revoked the Bull of dissolution, which he issued against the Council, ratified its Acts, and permitted the incorporation of his Legates and Cardinals with that venerable body. He even with a seeming sincerity, authorized his deputies to acknowledge in his name the sole Supremacy of a General Council, as had been ruled at the Council of Constance.

The preliminaries of peace being now adjusted between the Council and Eugenius, an invitation was sent to the Emperor and Patriarch of Constantinople to solicit their co-operation in bringing about the proposed union between the Churches; an offer was besides made to them of defraying the attendant expenses of their journey. Pending the correspondence, that ensued; the Council determined to act on