Page:The Present State of Peru.djvu/185

Rh which, in imitation of the councils of Toledo, certain bishops being united to the magistrates of the capital, such provisions as were then required by the critical conjuncture in which the kingdom was placed, were made, both in spiritual and temporal affairs.

Loaysa continued in the discreet governance of the church, and having understood that the council of Trent, by which it was enacted that provincial councils should be holden every three years, had been concluded, confirmed, and published in Spain, he convened one, which may be considered as the second, and which was celebrated in 1567. The fathers of the church who were present at it are not named; but it is presumable that they were the same as on the preceding occasion, in conjunction with the bishop of Chile. This council having completed its deliberations, the a6ts were published throughout the kingdom, and their observance recommended; but having been transmitted to Spain, and thence to Rome, it was not deemed expedient to confirm them, and, still less, to allow them to be printed. Santo Toribio has left us, however, a compendium of them, by which the motive of their not having been confirmed is explained. It appears that certain things were ordained which were without doubt rendered necessary by the circumstances of those times, but which were not in the province of the fathers, whose zeal, in the correction of abuses, had led them, nevertheless, to stamp these acts with the seal of their authority. In reality, both the order and execution, in cases of such a nature, then belonged, as they now do, to a power distinct from the spiritual. Laying aside this consideration, the above assembly of prelates is well deserving of our respect, as well on account of the earnestness which was displayed