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1209 The works of Aristotle brought 1345 A council at Constantinople

from Constantinople.

1210 The order of Franciscans approved

at Rome.

1212 The order of St. Claire (the se

cond order of Franciscans)
instituted.

1216 The order of Dominicans founded.
1221 The third order of Franciscans.
1225 The difference between the Pope

and the emperor Frederic.

1236 Cordova taken from the Moors. 1248 St. Louis sets out on the crusade. 1250 The college of Sorbonne founded

by Robert Sorbon, the chaplain of Louis. 1255 Christianity makes great progress in Prussia.

1258 The Tartars take Bagdad, and put an end to the caliphate. 1261 The Greeks retake Constantinople. 1265 Thomas Aquinas writes his Summa.

1274 The Pope holds a council at

against the errors of G. Pa-
lamas.

1347 Rienzi master of Rome.
1348 The greatest plague of which
there is any account.

1353 Cardinal Albornos sent to Italy
to recover towns usurped from
the holy see.

1377 Gregory XI. goes to reside at
Rome. He publishes a bull
against the Wickliffites.
1378 On the election of Urban VÍ.
the great schism commences.
Clement VII., the anti-pope,
went to reside at Avignon.
1387 Christianity received in Lithuania.
1394 Benedict XIII. succeeds Clement
VII. at Avignon.

1402 John Hus began to preach in
Bohemia.

1407 Louis duke of Orleans assassinated by the duke of Burgundy.

Lyons, when the multiplica- 1409 A council at Pisa on account of

tion of religious orders was
forbidden.

1293 Acre taken from the crusaders,
the last place held by them in
the East.
1298 Ottoman the first emperor of the
Turks.

the schism.

1413 Somogitia receives Christianity. 1414 The council of Constance opened. 1415 John Hus burned at Constance. 1416 Jerome of Prague burned there. 1418 The termination of the council of Constance, and of the schism.

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A. D.

1512 A council at Lateran by the Pope.

1517 M.Luther begins to preach against indulgences.

1518 The Concordat between Francis I. and Leo. X.

1527 Rome taken by the army of Charles X.

1531 The league of the Protestants at Smalcald.

Henry VIII. made head of the church of England.

1533 The Anabaptists excite troubles in Germany.

1540 The institution of the order of Jesuits.

1541 Xavier goes on his mission to the Indies.

1542 The council of Trent opened. 1545 A great persecution of the Waldenses.

1546 The death of Luther.

1548 Charles V. reduces the Protestants in Germany, and publishes the Interim. 1552 Charles V. narrowly escapes to Inspruck.

1553 Servetus burned at Geneva. 1559 The peace of Cambray between France, Spain, England, and the empire.

1561 The conference at Passy between the Catholics and the Pro

testants.

1562 The beginning of the civil wars in France.

1563 The termination of the council of Trent.

Universal liberty of conscience granted in Poland.

1564 The origin of the priests of the oratory by Philip de Neri.

1565 The conferences between the Socinians, and other Reformed in Poland, and their consequent separation.

A. D.

1566 The beginning of the war in the Netherlands.

Valentine Gentilis put to death at Berne as an Unitarian.

1571 The sea fight at Lepanto.

The Turks conquer Cyprus. 1572 The massacre of the Protestants

in France on the Eve of St. Bartholomew.

1579 Faustus Socinus arrives in Poland.

A. D.

about the tenets of Jansenius, who died in A. D. 1638.

1645 The dispute between the Dominicans and the Jesuits about the Chinese ceremonies.

1648 The peace of Westphalia, by which the Protestants gained

much.

1656 The Bibliotheca Fratrum Polonorum published.

1582 The new style fixed by Gregory 1659 The Unitarians form a settlement

XIII.

1586 Mary queen of Scots beheaded. 1588 The Spanish Armada dispersed. 1593 Henry IV. becomes a Catholic. 1598 The Edict of Nantes in favour of

the Protestants.

1599 The council of Diamper in the East Indies, by Menezez, archbishop of Goa.

1602 The examination of the book of Molina.

1604 F. Socinus dies in Poland.

1605 The differences between the Pope

and the Venetians.

at Racow, where they publish many works.

The peace of the Pyrennees. 1660 The dissidents in Poland excluded the senate.

1661 The Unitarians banished from Poland.

1662 Christians persecuted in China. 1668 The peace of Aix la Chapelle. 1669 Candia taken by the Turks. 1670 Spinoza publishes his Tractatus Theologico Politicus.

1685 The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.

1608 A revolt by the Protestants against 1686 A cruel persecution of the Vau

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dois.

1687 The opinions of Molinos condemned at Rome.

1688 The persecution of the Christians at Siam.

1688 The Revolution in England. 1706 Frederick IV., king of Denmark, sends missionaries to India. 1712 The peace of Utretcht. 1713 The bull Unigenitus published by Clement XI.

1725 Pope Benedict XIV. appoints a council for the reformation of

the church. 1736 The dissidents in Poland excluded from all public offices.

1767 The government of Milan lays several restraints on the papal power.

2 E

A. D.

1767 The Jesuits suppressed in Portugal, and not long after in all other Catholic states.

1768 The Duke of Parma forbids his subjects to appeal to Rome. The king of France seizes Avig

non.

A. D.

1782 The Pope makes a journey to Vienna.

1789 The national assembly of France decrees the estates of the church to be national property.

1790 The Protestants in France have certain privileges granted them.

1772 The first partition of Poland by 1791 The revenues of the bishops re

empress

the
of Russia, the em-
peror of Germany, and the
king of Prussia.

1773 The pope consents to abolish the order of Jesuits.

1774 The inquisition in Spain deprived of much of its power.

The grand duke of Tuscany makes many regulations towards suppressing monasteries.

1775 The privileges of the dissidents in Poland restored by the influence of the empress of Russia. The beginning of the American war, which terminated in the independence of the United States.

1782 The emperor Joseph suppresses most of the religious orders.

duced in France.

1793 The Christian æra abolished, and a new method of computing time introduced. The church establishment entirely abolished.

The partition of what remained of Poland.

1798 The Papal power abolished, and the Roman republic set up.

A national council of the Catholics in France.

1799 Pius VII. succeeds Pius VI., and the ecclesiastical states, with some diminution, restored.

1802 The Catholics re-established in France, with privileges to the Lutherans and the Reformed, and a toleration of all other sects.

N. XII.

SOME CONSIDERATIONS ON THE STATE OF THE POOR IN GENERAL, PREFIXED TO "AN ACCOUNT OF A SOCIETY FOR ENCOURAGING THE INDUSTRIOUS POOR." Birmingham, 1787.

THERE are few things in this country that more particularly call for the attention of intelligent citizens than the present state of the poor, and that of the criminals among us. The former are become the burden, and the latter may soon become the terror of the country. But it appears to me, that a few sensible regulations would prevent, or greatly alleviate both these evils. On this occasion I shall only suggest a few considerations relating to the state of the poor.

On the dissolution of the monasteries, the funds and administra

tion of which were well calculated to afford much relief to the more necessitous and deserving of the poor, it was thought proper to provide for their maintenance by a tax upon every parish, which made their relief no longer an act of charity, but an obligation, giving all the poor, without distinction, a legal claim to a sub

sistence.

The inconveniences of this plan were not then foreseen, nor did they appear very soon, but they are now severely felt. For a considerable time it was generally thought disgraceful to be maintained at the expense of the public, so that a sense of shame prevented any abuse of the institution; and this principle still operates very strongly in some parts of the country, where many persons are found to starve rather than have recourse to the parish for relief: but in most other places this sense of shame, and with it the spirit of frugality and industry, is almost extinct. The poor, certain in all events of a maintenance, and having no prospect of ever gaining any thing more, have no sufficient motive to exert themselves; and whatever they do get by their labour more than is sufficient for their immediate occasions, they too often waste in the most extravagant manner, without ever thinking of reserving any part of it for a time of future want. It is well known in all manufacturing places, that if the greater part of workmen can earn enough in three or four days to maintain themselves and their families for a week, they will never work any more; or if they do make any extraordinary gain, it is spent in alehouses, where they contract the worst habits, and often encourage one another in every kind of vice and licentiousness; and it very frequently happens, that having spent all their money, and exhausted their credit, they decamp, and leave their families upon the parish.

This has been the too natural consequence of making it unnecessary for man to have forethought, and to look beyond the present day. Our measures, (proceeding from humanity, but from a weak and ill-directed policy) having in effect debased the very nature of man, have defeated the purposes of Providence with respect to him, and have reduced him to a condition below that of any of the brutes, who, without having the capacity of man, never fail to provide for their real wants; and if they cannot labour or sleep in the winter, always lay up provision enough to carry them through it, and who never desert the charge of their mates and of their young. Man also would not fail to do his duty in these respects were he left to himself, as we see in the savages of North America, and others, the most uncivilised of our race. There are no examples among them of men neglecting to do what is really necessary to supply the wants of their families, or of their deserting them, except in such extremes of unavoidable famine as are found to extinguish all feeling for others.

The folly of our present system is now but too manifest; and it cannot be doubted but that, were the provision for our poor twice as much as it now is, we should soon find twice the number of poor that we now have. It would be like making a greater demand for a commodity which is sure to increase in proportion to it. Men will always live without labour, or upon the labour of others, if they

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