Gold had not yet found the way to _Rome_, because there was no hand that would receive it, no Treasurer to keep it, and all its glittering was much below that vertue, which did so eminently shine in those that were the Guardians of _Rome_. Woe would have been to that man, who should have opened himself a door to preferment in the Church with a golden Key; the Excommunications, the Laws, the pains of this and the next world, were fulminated against Simony, which was as much abhorred by all the Church-men ther, as it is now practised. In one thing alone old _Rome_ did not agree in its beginnings with the new; for one promoted to its highest honours, those Citizens who had shed their blood, and could produce noble scars received in the defence of their Country; but the other bestowed Offices and Ecclesiastical Dignities upon those, who in consideration of another world did despise this, and mortified their flesh and affections. The _Roman_ Empire rise by Valours, the _Roman_ Church by Holiness. The Actions of those, that pretended to any place of publick employment in old _Rome_, were examined by the Senate; and the services, which the State had received from these Candidates, were as it were ballanced with the honour they ambitioned, and the weight of the place they stood for: and if those services were such, as to be able to weigh down these scales of equity, the Candidate was sure to obtain his desires; if they proved too light, he was forced to stay, and with new Endeavours encrease the obligation the publick had to him already. Just in the same manner did the Popes at first proceed in the distribution of the charges of the Church; for having ballanced the holiness of life, and excellency of parts of him who was to be admitted, with the weightiness of the place; if the goodness of life was so eminent, as to surpass the exigency of the Office, the Demandant was without delay preferred, otherwise he was sent away with shame and confusion. The Conquests of Kingdoms, and the subduing of Provinces, were the Keys, with which the _Romans_ opened to themselves the door of honour, and an entrance into the Senate; but in new _Rome_, persecutions, martyrdoms, and mortifications, were the fore-runners of Christian Dignities, and the only way to Bishopricks and Popedoms. While the Popes lived thus, and that this age of holiness lasted, it was with a great deal of reason, that the rest of the world called their _Rome_, _Roma la Santa_, _Rome_ the holy: The Popes were looked upon to be more like Angels then Men, not only because their actions were altogether heavenly, but because that living in this world, without owning any of their kindred, they seemed rather sent from Heaven, then taken from the midst of mankind.