tonbury, not to wear his crown for seven years, to which he was
compelled to submit. Henry II. was forced to walk barefooted three miles
to visit Becket's shrine, and there to receive fourscore lashes from the
monks on his bare back. King John was compelled to resign his crown to
the pope's legate, and take it back on condition of paying a yearly sum
of a thousand marks to the pope.

The pages of history are pregnant with proofs that, from the period of
the Reformation, down to the time when the papacy became shorn of much
of its strength, the practices of the church have exactly corresponded
with the principles asserted in the canons already specified, in the
canon law, and in the works of their eminent writers. I have alluded to
the bulls issued against Elizabeth, and to the attempts of nations, and
of individuals, to enforce them. Elizabeth escaped; but several
continental sovereigns fell a sacrifice to the fury of the church of
Rome. Henry III., of France, was murdered in 1589, by a Dominican
friar, who was encouraged to the commission of the act by the prior of
his convent. Henry was a member of the church of Rome; but he was not so
zealous as the pope wished, in executing the laws against heretics. On
account, therefore, of his supposed want of zeal, he was devoted to
destruction by the church. The deed was lauded in sermons and in books,
throughout the French territories; while the murderer, who was destroyed
on the spot, was deemed a martyr in the cause of the church. At Rome,
the fact was applauded by the pope in a set speech to the cardinals. The
act was contrasted by his holiness, with those of Eleazar and Judith,
and the palm was given to the friar. Nay, it was compared in greatness
to the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. I give the following
extract from this most blasphemous speech:--

"Considering seriously with myself, and applying myself to these things
which are now come to pass, I may use the words of the prophet Habbakuk:
'Behold, ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously; for
I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be
told you;' i. 5. The French king is slain by the hands of a friar. For
unto this it may be compared, though the prophet spake of our Lord's
incarnation. This is a memorable and almost incredible thing, not
accomplished without the particular providence of God. A friar has
killed a king. That the king is dead, is credible; but that he