neither to possess nor to read the forbidden books, under pain of the greater excommunication; and those who, having them, do not give notice of them within ninety days, are to be proceeded against with all the rigour of the law. Dated, Madrid, July 29, 1631. The Brief of the Pope follows, very much resembling that of Paul V. in the preceding Spanish Index. Terrified at the abuse of existing licences, it revokes them allrevocamus, cassamus, irritamus, et anullamus, ac viribus penitus evacuamus, et pro revocatis, &c. &c. -then come the penalties spiritual, and temporal, for the disobedient, and for the concealers of their knowledge of the books. Authority is then given to the Cardinal presbyter to put these decrees in execution, and, if necessary, to call for the assistance of the secular arm. Aug. 17, 1627. The Inquisitor then resumes, and in virtue of these powers, announces the revocation of all the licences previously given, Feb. 21, 1628. The document following is a Licence to the licentiate, Sebastian de Huerta, to chuse his own printer of the Index, which was to be signed with his own hand, (as is the case with the copy before me,) or with that of Juan de Pineda, a Jesuit, who assisted in the composition of the work. The Notice to the Reader announces a kind of liberality, in not altogether prohibiting, but allowing with expurgation, some heretical writings. It states, as the result of various reading, that here was added some account of the country, age, sect, and profession of the writers. And, for the construction of the Index, it observes, that the Prohibitory and Expurgatory Parts were now embodied, the triple division being retained; and that an Universal Index was prefixed for the greater ease of reference. The Reglas, Mandatos, &c. vary but little, although they do vary, both in number and position, from those in the former edition of 1612. The pages amount to nine hundred and ninety numbered. More than fifty are unnumbered. There is one article in the body of the work worthy of particular consideration, the result, no doubt, of deep and accurate research. MARTINUS LUTHERUS. Islebii natus in Saxonia, an. 1483. prædicat contra indulgentias 1517. ab Ordine Religioso et a Fide Catholica Apostata, et Heresiarcha. 1517. reperitur in lecto misere exanimis 1546*. All that need be * In the work of the Sicilian Inquisitor, PARAMO, de Origine, &c. Inquis. 1598, which we shall find another opportunity of noticing, is a very curious and mysterious passage to the same effect, Tit. 3, cap. 6. § 33. He is enumerating the miserable deaths of heretics; and Luther, of course, finds his place. Verum his missis, ad autores hæresum nostri temporis descendamus. Ex quibus primus occurrit Martinus Lutherus, cujus infelicem obitum, data opera prætermitto, quod de eo in tit. 8. cap. 1. fusam fecimus mentionem. Now the reference is either mistaken or false; for no such account as is referred to exists. And in the Index, which has copious references to Martin Luther, in that which indicates his infelix ex said concerning this recondite article is, that it never re-appeared in any future edition. The officious communicativeness of this Index, met the same rebuke in the case of half its note subjoined to the mention of HENRICUS Boxhornius, as has already been observed. LLORENTE has itus, the place and passage above adduced is the only one pointed out. Are we then to suppose, that the fusa mentio was expunged in the MS., or what are we to suppose? The edition in my hands is the first, and therefore the passage could not exist in a prior one. If, however, after all, it can be produced, it will be welcomed as a curiosity. These authors certainly tell us what we should not otherwise know. There is, naturally, and with reason, no limit to the arrowy shower' issuing from the phalanxes of Rome against the person of the Saxon Reformer. In his own language, in a letter to Melancthon, it was the practice of the whole herd of Rome to rage against his person without any notice of the cause in which he was engaged,' in personam meam furere, causa relicta quam agerem. Luth. Epist. p. 25, edit. Ranneri. The Colloquia Mensalia of the Reformer have been a copious treasury for his calumniators. The smooth but intolerant bigot, Dr. TREVERN, now Bishop of Strasbourg, not unknown to the English reader by the triumphant answers of Mr. FABER, has thought proper to refer to a French translation, of all things, for a particular calumny, which has been so much valued as to be frequently repeated. The Colloquia itself was printed and published, for the first time, twenty years after the death of Luther, in German, in direct violation of an anticipatory prohibition in his preface, to what are entitled Conciunculæ, and which are inserted in the Jena edition of his works, tom. ii., coll. 522, et seq. The passage objected to is, a penitential confession of a particular sin in inclination. If, in sufficient parallelism, we suppose the admirer of any reverend Romanist, twenty years after the death of the latter, to report to his intended honour the confession-I am full of anger and resentment against Luther and Protestants in general, and make use of every means, lawful and unlawful, to injure their reputation and obstruct their influence -would all future professors of Romanism feel themselves bound by the report, or, if they did, consider it much to the discredit of his Reverence? observed, that this is the first Index issued by the Inquisitor of Spain, in his own name and by his own authority, But it was certainly the fact, so early as in the edition of 1583. Had not a writer quoted in JUGLER's edition of STRUVIUS'S Bibliotheca, thought it necessary to vindicate the genuineness of the Spanish Index of 1612, which, on inspection, he declares to exhibit every possible evidence of its origin, besides the autographs of many inquisitors, in the copy at Oxford, I should scarcely have considered it requisite to add my own testimony, on inspection likewise, to the same fact, as relating, not only to that edition, but likewise to the edition which has just been examined, and which no one conversant with books can for a moment doubt to be a genuine production of the Spanish press. It certainly does indicate the lowest confidence in a cause, when palpably groundless suspicions are seized to uphold it. Now we approach a Roman production, printed at Rome, in 1632. ELENCHUS Librorum omnium tum in Tridentino, Clementinoque Indice, tum in aliis omnibus sacræ Indicis Congregnis. particularibus Decretis hactenus prohibitorum; Ordine uno Alphabetico, Per Fr. FRANCISCUM MAGDALENUM CAPIFERREUM Ordinis Prædicatorum dicta Congregationis Secretarium digestus. Romæ, M.DC.XXXII. Ex Typographia Cameræ Apostolicæ. Superiorum permissu, 8vo. There is something peculiar and worthy of attention in the Imprimatur on the verso of the title-page. Imprimatur, Si videbitur Reverendiss. P. Mag. Sac. Palatii Apostolici. A. Episcopus Bellicastren. Vicesg. Qui Libri non reperientur in hoc Elencho, aut in Collectione Postindicis de quibus aliqua dubitatio merito moveri possit, non propterea approbati censeantur, sed judicentur ad communes regulas in Indice præscriptas. Imprimatur Fr. Nicolaus Riccardius S. Palatii Apost. Mag. The dedication of the work URBANO VIII. Pont. Opt. Max. (a blasphemous title, being the same as the divine, but common in papal dedications and on papal medals,) is full of profane adulation. It can hardly be considered as a work of authority, although doubtless allowed by authority; and chiefly intended, as the preface imports, to facilitate reference, by uniting the divisions of the original Indexes under one alphabet, and giving surnames as well as Christian. In that respect it has its value still. That it is considered, indeed, simply as a private work, will appear from the |
