means were adopted to indicate the sense of the
church on the massacre. Medals were struck to commemorate the event. On
the one side was a representation of the slaughter, an angel cutting
down the heretics, and on the other, the head of the pope, Gregory XIII.
On these medals, was this inscription, _"Ugonottorum Strages, 1572."_
The slaughter was also deemed worthy of being commemorated on tapestry,
which was placed in the pope's chapel. In the paintings which were
executed, the slaughter of the Huguenots was depicted, _"Colignii et
Sociorum caedes;"_ and in another part, _"Rex Colignii caedam probat."_

Let it be remembered that the principles of the church of Rome are
unchanged, and, as the Romanists themselves aver, unchangeable. The
circumstances of Europe are widely different from what they were in the
sixteenth century; and Romanists themselves are under the restraint of
wholesome laws and public opinion; but were the popes of modern days to
be supported by sovereigns like Charles IX. of France, or were they
possessed of the same power as was once enjoyed by their predecessors,
is it reasonable to suppose, that the principles which are still
retained, would not be carried out into practice; or that the same
scenes, which then disgraced the civilized world, would not again be
enacted in every country, in which the jesuits and other active
emissaries of the papacy could obtain a footing?

Is it not clear from the preceding facts, that the murderers of Henry
III. and IV. and the actors in the massacre of St. Bartholomew
considered that they were acting a meritorious part? They were taught
that the pope could depose kings and grant their kingdoms to others; and
they knew that the pope had often exercised that power. The Gunpowder
conspirators were men of the same class and influenced by the same
views. Knowing that all heretics are annually excommunicated, they
believed that they were authorized to carry the sentence into effect;
and having been taught that heretical princes might lawfully be deposed,
they considered themselves at liberty to attempt their destruction. The
assassins of the French monarchs and the Gunpowder traitors, being
encouraged by the authority of the church, as explained by their
spiritual directors, entered upon their deeds of darkness, with an
assurance, that they were merely obeying the commands of their ghostly
fathers.

The pope endeavoured to clear himself from the guilt of being privy t