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previous declaration that they were Christians, and disapproved of the custom they were to attend. They were farther indulged in hanging up the tables of their ancestors in their houses, without any other inscription but the name of the deceased, and a declaration affixed, containing the Christian faith concerning departed souls. And they were allowed to retain such of the ancient funeral rites as were free from superstition and all appearance of it, provided they were first instructed by the bishops and other principal divines, which of those ceremonies might be deemed innocent. These trivial indulgences were insufficient to soften the resentment of the Jesuits at the unexpected decree.

Clement the Eleventh had two years before this, in 1702, appointed a legate, with almost unlimited powers, to visit the new congregations of Papistical Christians in Asia, particularly the Indian and Chinese, and by wholesome laws and regulations to accommodate the differences between them. The person fixed upon was Charles Thomas de Tournon, of an ancient and noble family in Lorraine, a divine who, by his piety and probity, had acquired the general esteem and affection of the court at Rome. The Pope himself, to convey the higher authority to his office, consecrated him Patriarch of Antioch. † It is common at Rome to create patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops, as merely titular, as theatrical emperors and kings; I mean, that they only represent certain patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops. Tournon was one of these nominal patri

See his Commission and further accounts of him in P. Norbert's Memoires

Historiques sur les Missions des Indes Orientales, tom. i. p. 111.

+ Du Halde is much mistaken in calling him Patriarch of India; but this is not his only mistake.

archs, and had not the least jurisdiction in the city, or territory, from which his title was borrowed. He embarked on the 5th of August, 1703, and landed at Pondicherry, on the coast of Coromandel, on the 6th of November in the same year. Here he staid till the 11th of July in the next year, and arrived in China in 1705. The Jesuits received him with all the marks of honour which a legate of the Pope could expect from the subjects of his master. They even exceeded their daty: they procured him access to the great at court, and an audience of the Emperor, permitted the most honourable of their converts to attend him in his public entries, and prevailed with the Emperor to distinguish him by various favours from all other ambassadors. But this respect lasted only whilst they had hopes that he would at least have found out a medium betwixt them and their adversaries. The moment he declared against them, a terrible storm arose against him. Tournou was of that party in the church of Rome who are called the Rigids, and therefore naturally an enemy to the Jesuits and their doctrine, which is more lax and moderate. It might be easily foreseen, that one of this character would not favour them, and their manner of converting: he signified as much soon after his arrival, but for some time kept his zeal within certain bounds. Whilst he was prudent, they continued obliging and respectful. But his prudence failed him as soon as he had an account from Europe of the judgment of the Inquisition against the Jesuits. In the year 1707, he published a strict ordinance in the name of the Pope, agreeably to the decree of the holy office, and under pain of excommunication prohibited all that was prohibited in that decree. This so embittered the Jesuits, that they determined he should

feel the whole weight of their resentment. They and their partizans first appealed from him to the Pope, and thereby evaded the censure of disobedience. Next they represented his procedure to the Emperor, as a violation of his prerogative. Indeed, it is hard to acquit him of a crime like this. Cam-hi, as was related before, had sent a writing under his own hand to Rome to disculpate the Jesuits, and attest, that the Chinese meant by the word Tien, not heaven, but that infinite Spirit, who dwells in heaven, and governs the universe; and that the ceremonies permitted by the Jesuits were not religious, but political, and ancient customs of the empire. And here a stranger, a legate of an European bishop, boldly and publicly opposes the Emperor, and in his own dominions, without his knowledge, makes a law to prohibit the subjects from practices enjoined by the laws of the empire. No sovereign prince would suffer a conduct like this to pass with impunity. It is doubtless that Tournon, pious as his meaning was, far transgressed the bounds of prudence and respect. He was, in truth, not qualified to discharge reputably and usefully the great and important commission he was entrusted with. His good disposition was under the influence of a narrow spirit and weak understanding, of which his writings, letters, and injunctions, printed by Norbert and others, furnish abundant proof they contain dry and insipid thoughts, so swelled, indeed, by pompous expression, that the careless and injudicious reader can hardly distinguish their flatness and impotence. Cam-hi was exceedingly provoked, when the Jesuits informed him, that the European, to whom he had been so gracious, had presumed to withstand him and his edict, and to know more of the religion of his country than himself. He there

fore, immediately, published a strict mandate, by which all Romish ecclesiastics in China were forbid, under severe penalties, to teach any thing contrary to the laws of the empire, and to the ancient traditions of the Chinese. Most of them obeyed. The few who paid greater regard to the Patriarch's injunction were imprisoned, treated with great severity, and banished the empire. Tournon himself was ordered immediately to quit the country, or to be punished as a traitor. He did not wait for a repetition of this order, but hastened to Macao, there to embark, and avoid the fury of the Emperor, or rather of the Jesuits. But whilst he was preparing for his departure, it was recollected at the court of Pekin, that if he was suffered to return to Rome, he would certainly make heavy complaints of his persecutors. A fresh order was issued to secure his person and detain him a prisoner at Macao, till the return of two Jesuits, whom the Emperor despatched to Rome. The unfortunate Tournon forced to change his character of an apostolical legate and lawgiver for that of a state-prisoner, and to pass four years in great trouble and anxiety, under a strong guard, in the house of the Bishop of Macao. His enemies the Jesuits were his keepers, and they doubtless were not negligent of their charge. It is possible that their adversaries have considerably aggravated his distresses and indignities in prison. They did not probably so far forget the prudence essential to their order, as to treat a legate of the Pope like a common malefactor. And they could never have been pardoned at Rome, had they been entirely unmindful of their duty to the Pope and him. But thus much is certain, that whatever little respect they may have shewn him, was mixed with various in

was

stances of bitterness, contempt, and mortification. Clement the Eleventh was amazed when he heard of the fate of his legate, and thought the best method of alleviating his misery was to raise him to the highest dignity next to his own. He honoured the prisoner with a cardinal's hat, in hopes that his merciless keepers would treat a cardinal with more civility and respect than a patriarch. But the new cardinal, and the authority he affected, were subject of ridicule at Macao. His troubles continued till a severe fit of sickness put an end to his life, on the 8th day of June, 1711. The adversaries of the Jesuits pretended all over Europe that he had been poisoned, and that the poison was administered to him at Pekin by Pereyra, a Jesuit. † But this rumour has rather the air of calumny. To what purpose can they be sup

Clement the Eleventh, in the bull of excommunication he published against the Bishop of Macao, who was among the most bitter of Tournon's enemies, describes his sufferings in the following words: "Innotuit nobis quod Carolus Thomas Tournonius-tametsi tunc tem

poris in civitate Macaonensi, non quidem à paganis, sed ab officialibus et ministris Christianis-multorum militum diurna nocturnaque custodia, ut captivus detineretur, aliisque acerbissimis et plane incredibilibus injuriis et contumeliis, ipsis exhorrescentibus ethnicis, afflictus reperiretur-nihilominus, &c. See Norbert's Memoires, Tom. I. p. 304.

+ Anecdotes de la Chine, Tom. I. p. 88.

posed to have imprisoned him at Macao, and prevented his voyage, if they were assured that he carried death in his bosom? The motion of the ship, and other inconveniences of so long a passage, must have hastened the effect of the poison, and soon put an end to his miserable life. It is reproach sufficient to the Jesuits, that they cannot clear themselves of the imputation of extreme injustice and violence exercised upon a legate of the Pope, a cardinal, and a man of piety. The body of the deceased cardinal was, after some years, conveyed to Europe, and his funeral obsequies were performed at Rome, amidst the tears and lamentation of the Pope and all his court. Clement the Eleventh, in a celebrated panegyrical oration, which he spoke in memory of him, in a full congregation of cardinals, extols him as a saint and a martyr. And if the Jesuits had less power at the court of Rome than they have, he would probably before now have been admitted into the calendar of that church. Their enemies are waiting for a convenient opportunity to solicit the canonization of this great sacrifice to their resentment and to his own indiscretion.

(To be continued.)

It may be found among the other speeches of this Pope in P. Norbert's Memoires sur les Missions Orientales, Tom. II. p. 6.

MEMOIR OF THE REV. AARON WICKENS, PASTOR OF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, GREAT DUNMOW, ESSEX. (Concluded from page 115.)

THE mental character of Mr. Wickens was much less distinguished by vigour of thought, and by sprightliness of imagination, than by soundness of understanding, and by correctness of judg

ment.

N. S. No. 29.

As a Christian he was very eminent. It was the testimony of the excellent individual who preached his funeral sermon-" I have been acquainted with Mr. Wickens from his childhood: there are foibles in every man; but a single spot 2 H

in his character I have never known."

As a preacher, Mr. Wickens was distinguished by the excellencies which a sound and sanctified intellect never fails to secure; but he suffered in the popular opinion, by an inability, or an indisposition, to conform himself to the taste for lively preaching, which in his day was beginning to revive amongst regular nonconformists. In the latter part of life, he delivered his sermons without the use of notes: but habit and infirmity denied him the liveliness which generally results from an unfettered utterance, but which is very far from always attending it. Such, however, of his hearers as went to public worship to be instructed and influenced as reasonable creatures, and who consequently, instead of leaving a concern for their improvement entirely to the preacher, endeavoured to obtain edification, were richly rewarded; and the survivors of them retain a high veneration for the character and instructions of their departed

teacher.

As a divine, the sentiments of Mr. Wickens were decidedly of the description which is usually called Calvinistic. But he was too good a Christian, and too faithful a minister, to "call any man his father upon the earth." His religious views were drawn from an accurate and a familiar knowledge of the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures. The following passage, extracted from a letter to a friend, who had inquired of him, "what are the weakest evidences of a true and saving faith in Christ?" will at once afford a view of his sentiments, and of his mode of communicating them.

"But why inquire after the weakest evidences! Can any thing satisfy you, my dear friend, short of plain, full, and conclusive evidence in this matter? I hope not; but perhaps you

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will tell me, that if you had such evi" dence as effectually removes all uncertainty and doubt, you would not have proposed this inquiry. Perhaps you are almost ready to conclude that you have not this faith; at most, you do not expect at present to find any thing more than the least, the weakest evidences that are discernible. These may be your thoughts; and in this case, though it would give me great pleasure to give you the least assistance in discerning the weakest evidences of a divine and saving faith, yet I cannot flatter myself with the hope of affording you much help in this case. I am not sufficiently acquainted with the state of your mind, your views, your hopes, and fears. Í know not what evidences you can discern, or what particular circumstances may lead whether you have this faith or not; and you to question and doubt without some knowledge of this kind, it is difficult to say any thing peculiarly suited to the particular case of an individual. It is not, indeed, difficult to mention some of the first evidences of faith; it is not difficult to mention such

evidences as may be commonly found with the weakest Christians; but the mind of one that is weak in the faith will often be unable to discern such evidences, or will have innumerable difficulties in the way, and therefore does ficulties were known, how can I remove not admit them; and unless these difthem? And as those who have a true but weak faith are generally of all others the most afraid of being deceived, so they are often exceedingly scrupulous and cautious what they admit as evidence in this matter; while others, who often content themselves without this have only the form of godliness, can scrupulous caution. In this case, therefore, for want of a better acquaintance with the state of your mind, I am at a loss: but convinced of my sincere desire to serve your views, and promote your best interest to the utmost of my Power, you will, I hope, excuse one, if the mark. what I offer here should appear wide of

"It will not be improper to observe, that there is not one kind of evidence for the strong believer, and another kind of evidence for the weak believer. No; the kind of evidence is the same to both: only one may discern them more plainly than the other. Both have a love to Christ; both have a sense of the authority of Christ on their hearts, which bows them to a willing subjection and

obedience to Christ; but these may be much more plain, much less doubtful in the one than in the other. Again,

"The strong Christian may sometimes discern more evidences of his faith than the weak Christian. The strong Christian may sometimes discern a hatred to sin, a love to Christ, a strong confidence in him, and a larger measure of heavenly-mindedness, and these together may afford him a large measure of peace and joy; while the weak Christian has some hatred to sin, some love to Christ; and if he has the hope of heaven, it is founded on the atonement of Christ: but it may be so with him, that he can scarce discern any confidence in Christ, and finds little or almost nothing of heavenly-mindedness. Thus the evidences of the strong Christian may be more numerous, as well as more clear, than those of the weak Christian. But as the weakest Christian knows something of the work of salvation, and knows how intimately salvation is connected with faith, he cannot find solid satisfaction and spiritual peace any further than he can find either the exercise or the evidence of this faith. It is not the plainest evidence laid before him, nor the utmost confidence of others concerning his faith, that can afford any solid and just satisfaction, unless he can find the witness in himself.

"What I would principally recommend here, therefore, is prayer and selfexamination. Take frequent opportunities, on the Lord's-day evenings, or such seasons as are most convenient, to retire, undisturbed: spend some time in prayer for the divine assistance and blessing: endeavour, by reading or meditation, to compose your mind into a serious frame consider the great importance of the matter into which you are going to inquire, that is, whether you have or have not a true and saving faith in Christ: endeavour, as far as possible, to guard against all partiality, sincerely desiring to know the truth, whether you have or have not this faith in Christ: and then, with this preparation, with this view, enter upon the inquiry, in such order and manner as you may judge to be best. Perhaps something like the following plan may not be unsuitable. Your own judgment will assist you to enlarge it, and branch it out into such more particular inquiries as may be proper.

"1. I read, Eccl. vii. 20, There is not a just man upon earth that doeth

good and sinneth not.' James ii. 10, Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.' James iii. 2, In many things we offend all.' Rom. iii. 10, There is none righteous, no not one.' Ver. 19,

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What things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.' Rom. v. 18, By the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation.' Thus the holy Scriptures teach me that all are sinners; that by reason of the sin of our first father, and by reason of our own personal want of conformity to the moral law, all are involved in guilt and condemnation. But what have I known of my own interest in this awful truth? Have I seen the depravity and blindness of my own understanding? What have I seen of the earthliness, corruption, deceit, enmity, and desperate wickedness of my own heart? What have I known of the vanity of my mind, the sinfulness of my thoughts, words, and actions? my sins against God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit-my sins against my own soul, against my fellow-creatures-my sins in respect to the truths, ordinances, and duties of religion-my sins in respect to my daily temper and deportment-and my sins in respect to the things of this world? Will not innumerable witnesses rise up against me? Has not God seen all my sinfulness? What have I seen of it?

"What do I understand of the circumstances, nature, and fruits of the first transgression? Has it not sunk the whole human nature in corruption and condemnation? What have I known of my own concern in that sin, and its consequences? Is not the moral law binding on all the human race? Does it not condemn to everlasting punishment every one that is a sinner? Am not I a sinner? Are not the proofs of it innumerable? Am not I a guilty condemned creature? Am I not unable to deliver myself? Am I not ruined and lost? Have I been brought to a full, settled, and abiding conviction that I am a sinful, guilty, condemned creature, and that it is not in my own power, nor in the power of creatures to save me? Is this the settled judgment I

form of myself, that if God does not help me, I must be miserable for ever? Does a settled and abiding sense of my miserable state fill me with earnest desires after salvation? Do I desire to be saved from sin, made holy, and recon.

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