And tho' Charles the Great, and his Son, held a great many Councils for correcting thefe Abuses, and publifhed many Capitulars on the fame Design; yet all was to no Purpose: There was neither Knowledge nor Virtue enough left to reform a Corruption that was become univerfal. The Clergy by these Disorders fell under a general Contempt, and out of that rofe the Authority, as well as the Wealth of the Monaftick Orders; and when Riches and Power had corrupted them, the Begging Orders took away the Credit from both; yet even their Reputation, which the outward Severity of their Rule, Habit, and Manner of Life did both establish and maintain long, was at laft fo generally loft, that no Part or Body of the Roman Clergy had Credit enough to stop the Progrefs of the Reformation; which was in a great Measure occafioned by the Scorn and Hatred that fell on them, and which was fo fpread over all Parts of Europe, that to it, even their own Hiftorians do impute the great Advances that Luther's Doctrine made for about Fifty Years together; whole Kingdoms and Provinces embracing it as it were all of the fudden.

It has now for above an Hundred Years made a full Stand, and in moft Places it has rather loft Ground, than gained any. The true Account of this is not easily gi

ven; the Doctrine is the fame; and it has been of late defended with greater Advantages, with more Learning, and better Reafoning than it was at firft; yet not with much lefs Succefs. The true Reafon of the flackning of that Work, must be imputed to the Reformation made in feveral Points with Relation to the Manners and the Labours of the Clergy, by the Church of Rome, and the Depravation under which moft of the Reformed Churches are fallen. For the Manners and the Labours of the Clergy, thefe are real Arguments, which all People do both understand and feel; they have a much more convincing Force, they are more visible, and perfuade more univerfally, than Books can do, which are little read, and lefs confidered: And indeed the Bulk of Mankind is fo made, that there is no working on them, but by moving their Affections, and commanding their Efteem. It cannot be denied, but that the Council of Trent established the Errors of Popery in fuch a manner, as to cut off all Poffibility of ever Treating, or Re-uniting with them; fince thofe Decifions, and their Infallibility, which is their Foundation, are now fo twisted together: Yet they established fuch a Reformation in Discipline, as may make Churches that pretend to a more Glorious Title, juftly afhamed. For tho

there

there are fuch Referves made for the Plenitude of the Papal Authority, that in great Inftances, and for a Favourite, all may be broke through; yet the most notorious Abufes are fo ftruck at, and this has been in many Places fo effectually obferved, chiefly where they knew that their Deportment was looked into, and watched over by Proteftants, that it must be acknowledged, that the Cry of the Scandals of Religious Houfes is much laid: And though there is ftill much Ignorance among their Mass Priests ; yet their Parish-Priefs are generally another Sort of Men: They are well inftructed in their Religion; lead regular Lives, and perform their parochial Duties with a most wonderful Diligence. They do not only fay Mafs, and the other publick Functions daily, but they are almost perpetually employing themselves in the feveral Parts of their Cures: Inftructing the Youth, hear/ing Confeffions, and vifiting the Sick: And befides all this, they are under the constant Obligation of the Breviary: There is no fuch Thing as Non-refidence or Plurality to be heard of in whole Countries of that Communion; and though about Cathedrals, and in greater Cities, the vast Number of Priests gives ftill great and juft Occafion to Cenfure, yet the Parish Priests have almost universally recovered the Esteem of the People: They are no more difpofed to think

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think ill of them, or to hearken to any Thing that may give them a just Cause, or at least a plaufible Colour for departing from them. So that the Reformation that Popery hath been forced to make, has in a great Measure ftopt the Progress of the Reformation of the Doctrine and Worship that did fo long carry every Thing before it.

But this is the leaft melancholy Part of the Account that may be given of this Matter. The Reformers began that bleffed Work with much Zeal; they and their firft Succeffors carried it on with Learning and Spirit: They were active in their Endeavours, and conftant and patient in their Sufferings, and thefe Things turned the Efteem of the World, which was alienated from Popery by the Ignorance and Scandals of the Clergy, all towards them: But when they felt the Warmth of the Protection and Encouragement that Princes and States gave them, they infenfibly flackned: They fell from their first Heat and Love; they began to build Houses for themselves, and their Families, and neglected the House of GOD: They refted fatisfied with their having reformed the Doctrine and Worship; but did not study to reform the Lives and Manners of their People: And while in their Offices they lamented the not having a publick Difcipline

in the Church, as it was in the primitive Times; they have either made no Attempts at all, or at leaft very faint ones for Reftoring it. And thus, while Popery has purified it felf from many former Abuses, Reformed Churches have added new ones to the old, that they ftill retain, and are fond of. Zeal in Devotion, and Diligence in the Paftoral Care, are fallen under too vifible and too fcandalous a Decay. And whereas the Understanding of the Scriptures, and an Application to that facred Study, was at firft the diftinguishing Character of Proteftants, for which they were generally nicknamed Gofpellers: Thefe boly Writings are now fo little ftudied, that fuch as are obliged to look narrowly into the Matter, find great Cause of Regret and Lamentation, from the grofs Ignorance of fuch as are either in Orders, or that pretend to be put in them.

But the most capital and comprehenfive of all Abuses, is, That the falfe Opinion of the worst Ages of Popery, that made the chief, if not the only Obligation of Priests to be the performing Offices; and judged, that if these were done, the chief Part of their Business was alfo done, by which the Paftoral Care came to be in a great Measure neglected, does continue ftill to leaven us: While Men imagine that their whole Work confifts in publick Functions,