that Jesus Christ was the true Messias the Son of the Living God. And the Fathers understood it no otherwise I do not pretend here to relate all that they have said upon this subject but only some clear passages Origen upon St. Matthew tells us That if we say as Peter did Thou art the Christ c. we are also what St. Peter was and that it shall be also said unto us what follows Thou art Peter For whosoever is the Disciple of Christ the same is also Peter And St. Cyprian shews very well that he did not believe that St. Peter was priviledged beyond the other Apostles when he says that the other Apostles were as considerable as Saint Peter and that they were all equal in authority and power but that our Lord to shew the Unity there ought to be in his Church speaks but to one and that the first place was given to Peter And in another place Our Lord says he gave to all his Apostles the same power after his Resurrection and said to them As the Father hath sent me so send I you And Saint Ambrose Our Lord said to Peter Vpon this Rock c. that is to say upon this Confession of the Catholick Church I ordain that Believers shall have life And in another place What was said to Peter was said to the other Apostles And St. Hierom The Church is the House built upon the firm Rock which is Christ. And in another place She was founded upon a Rock that is to say Christ for this is the only foundation which the Apostle as a good Architect hath laid viz. our Lord Jesus Christ. St. Augustine Our Lord said Vpon this Rock c. because that Peter had said Thou art the Christ c. Vpon this Rock then which thou hast confessed will I build my Church The Rock was Christ upon whose fâ—undation Peter himself was builded for no man can lay any other foundation than that which hath been laid viz. Jesus Christ. Ideo ait Dominus super hanc Petram c. Quia dixerat Petrus tu es Christus c. Super hanc ergo Petram quam confessus es aedificabo Ecclesiam meam Petra erat Christus super quod fundamentum ipse aediâ—icatus est Petrus nam nemo potest ponere aliud fundamentum quam id quod positum est a Christo. The same Author speaks in another place thus Quid est super hanc Petram super id quod dictum est Tu es Christus super Petram quam confessus es super hanc Petram quam agnovisti dicens Tu es Christus super me aedificabo te non me super te Nam volentes homines super homines aedificare dicebant Ego quidem sum Pauli ego autem Apollo ego autem Cephae ipse est Petrus sed alii qui nolebant aedificare super Petrum sed super Petram dicebant Ego sum Christi c. What is this saying Vpon this Rock That is upon this Faith upon what was said That thou art the Christ upon this Rock which thou hast acknowledged saying Thou art the Christ Vpon me will I build thee and not thee upon me for they who would build upon men said I am of Paul and I of Apollos and I of Cephas who is Peter but those who would not build upon Peter but upon the Rock said I am the Disciple of Christ. This Holy Doctor hath a thousand such like sayings which I cannot relate to avoid being tedious Chrysostome says also Vpon this Rock c. That is to say upon this Faith and Confession Super hanc Petram hoc est super hanc fidem confessionem And in another place Super hanc Petram non dixit super Petrum non enim super hominem sed super fidem aedificavit Ecclesiam suam Quae autem erat fides Tu es Christus filius Dei viventis Vpon this Rock he did not say upon Peter for he hath not built his Church upon a man but upon Faith. What then was this Faith Thou art the Christ the Son of the Living God. Gregory Nyssen Non Petrus Johannes Jacobus tantum sunt Ecclesiae columnae sed omnes qui Ecclesiam sustentant Peter James and John are not the only Pillars of the Church but all they who support the Church Methinks there needs no more to perswade every honest minded man that the Fathers did not believe that Jesus Christ founded his Church upon St. Peter in particular much less upon the Popes I could easily produce a thousand other Evidenâ—es from the ancient Fathers and even from many Doctors that lived within the last four or five hundred years tho the truth hath been almost wholly stifled and that by men perfectly sold to the Court of Rome as well as to Iniquity But I must not tire out my Reader The Jesuit Salermont alone is worth a thousand of them for he doth own that the Popes Authority hath no foundation in the Scripture and he placeth it among Traditions not written I demand only the liberty of confuting the abuse of two other places of Scripture whereof we have spoken One would think they were already sufficiently confuted by the passages which I have alledged which prove that the Fathers did not believe that St. Peter had any Prerogative above the other Apostles and here a Reflection may be made which I think necessary to prevent the Cheat which may be put upon us in this matter by producing some passages of the Fathers falsified or maimed or else some Testimonies of the Doctors of the later times who have been for the most part vile slaves to the Popes and the Court of Rome It must be considered that when upon such a subject as this a man shall pretend to alledg any thing of Antiquity which seems to favour the opinion of St. Peter's Primacy that cannot counter-ballance what I have produced in short against that Primacy not only because I can produce an hundred places against one which they shall alledg but principally for this reason that it is never allowable for any man to oppose the Institutions of God nor to misunderstand deny change or diminish them So that if St. Peter had had the Authority over the Apostles and over the whole Church which they pretend and which the Popes at this time do exercise over Bishops Kings and the whole Church the Fathers never could deny it without a crime nor could they ever equal him to the other Apostles without being guilty of Heresie and heinous offence against God. Whereas we may very lawfully speak advantageously of the Ordinances and Institutions of God of Holy things and every thing that conduceth to the true Worship of God and consequently of the Holy Apostles also who were the admirable Organs of his Grace for the conversion of the World. We may I say speak of them with praise and with wonder with respect
to do at Rome nor was he ever there as they imagine There is yet somewhat of greater weight then all this That is that St. Paul tells us he withstood St. Peter to his face because he deserved reproof This looks as if St. Paul had had some Authority over St. Peter We hear not that he reproached him for his Arrogance nor that he Excommunicated him It must be acknowledged that here is a great difference between the proceedings of the Pope and those of St. Peter For it is certain that if a Bishop should at this day dare to displease the Majesty of the Pope he should be soon swallowed up and destroyed by his glory I believe that Origen might have an eye to St. Paul's thus correcting St. Peter when he said that St. Paul was the greatest of all the Apostles Paulus Apostolorum maximus or else he might also have regard to the great extent of St. Pauls Ministry or to what he himself says that he took more pains than all the other Apostles And all the Fatheâ—s looked upon him as he who among all the Apostles wrote the most profoundly and with the greatest light This is what St. Augustin says of him St. Chrysostom looks upon him as the first of all the Saints and if there had been any Preheminence among the Apostles he should have been preferred before any other We may say then that the Popes in that Authority which they usuâ—p have nothing common with St. Peter nor can they be compared together but in one thing which is that as St. Peter being come into Pilates-Hall denyed Christ three times the Popes since they have taken upon themselves the Authority of Pilate and of worldly Princes have denyed him not three times but once for all Vna sol volta in Corte di Pilato entro est Petro e tra rinego Christo. Thus we see that in the Holy Scripture there is not one word that can in the least authorize the Popes Supremacy And we may compare those who establish it there to poor Heralds who to get a little money do very frequently make people meanly descended to derive from the Ancient Greek and Roman Emperors because the Cullyes havâ— gotten an Estate and are become rich tho most usually 't is only by Rogueries and Robberies And it is not difficult thus to deceive people who always admire those that are rich and able to do them a kindness They never enquire how they came by it as the Spaniard says Alcansados los honores quedam Borrados los passos pordende se subio a ellos Since then that the new Testament doth not acknowledg this Authority of the Popes but absolutely condemn it it hath no lawful Institution for a Doctrine of that Importance as the Primacy of the Pope is whereon they make the whole Government of the Church Religion it self and the Salvation of all Christians to depend being not to be found in Scripture cannot be but false For though it be true that there are some Customs and Ceremonies in the Church which are not to be found in Scripture and which the Protestants are greatly in the wrong obstinately to reject because that Tradition and the use or practise of the Church have so long since given them sufficient Authority as they themselves acknowledg yet that cannot be said of this Article which according to the Popes and the greatest part of the Doctors is Capital and so Capital they would willingly perswade us that without it the rest signifies nothing It was very impiously said of Cardinal Palavicim in his Third Book of his History of the Council of Trent Chap. the 15. That the Christian Religion hath no more sure and immediate certainty than the Popes Authority Quella Religione i cui Articoli Vnitamente considerati non hanno Altera Certezza prossima immediata che l' Autorita del Pontifice We see clearly that if this Authority were laid aside they would renounce the profession of Christianity as piety hath been already renounced by them CHAP. II. That the Primitive Church knew not the Papacy The Vanity of some Humane Reasons by which for want of the Scriptures and the Fathers they would establish it LET us now see if the Primitive Church did acknowledg a power in the Church like to that of the Popes Altho that which hath been already alledged from the Holy Fathers proves sufficiently that they knew not the Papacy let us however examine the thing a little more particularly We are told then that St. Peter was Head of the Church that he was at Rome that he was a Bishop there that he died there that he resigned that Charge of Head of the Church and of Bishop but not that of an Apostle to a Successor which Successor he either chose or the Church of Rome did it after his death by the power which he had given her which things are all of them very difficult to prove and certainly very false for a thing of this consequence ought not to be founded upon conjectures of meer probabilities but we ought to have as certain and as exact a knowledg of it as of any other Article of our Religion And yet we see that they who have spoken of St. Peter's coming to Rome and of his Death there have said it upon such miserable grounds and say so many contradictory things as well of it as of his pretended Successor that there is nothing more uncertain in all Antiquity But besides this none of them ever believed no nor so much as suspected that St. Petâ—r was Head of the Universal Church And the contradiction and little certainty that is in these Authors shews sufficiently that in the Primitive times it was not believed that this was necessary to be known nor did they in the least suspect that ever any body would endeavour to lay upon it the foundation of that horrible Authoâ—ity which the Popes do Exercise To give you some Instances of their Contradictions I need only to shew you that some say it was Linus who succeeded Peter others Clement and lastly others say it was Anacletus some will have it that St. Peter founded this Church and was the first that Preached at Rome Others maintain namely Dorotheus that it was Barnabas Barnabas primus Romae praedicavit And St. Paul shews us clearly that it was he himself who founded that Church for he complains that coming to Rome he found that the Jews there who had embraced Christianity were but very little instructed in the Doctrine of the Christian Religion Who can believe that if St. Peter had been there and had founded this Church he would not have instructed them better And what is yet more St. Paul says expresly in another plaâ—e that he would not go and preach whâ—re others had preached before him because he would not build upon the Foundation of others As for the manner of his Death some say he was Crucified with St. Paul Others that he was
plundering the Church they will perceive the Imposture and believe at length that the other Articles of Religion are no more Divine than that of the Papacy So that if it pleased God that this Tyranny were abolished in the Church this villainous Mask taken off from Religion it would be incomparably more loved and respected and the Impiety Ambition and Dissoluteness wherewith the Papacy hath infected all things would be banished from the Church and we should see all the Schismaticks and Hereticks range themselves under the Standard of the Church and even the Pagans and the other Infidels whose Princes are afraid of the Pride of Rome that would make them her Subjects and Tributaries and dispose of them and their States at her pleasure By this means all hopes would be taken away from the Hereticks of ever seeing the Catholick Religion ruined by it for I know their Ministers have from hence all their hopes and would be sorry to see the Papacy abolished without the Catholick Religion Wherefore it is absolutely necessary to fortifie the Catholicks against this danger and to teach them how to distinguish between the Wisdom of God which they ought always to stand firm to and the folly of men which they ought always to abhor and that this last whatever mixture it may seem to have with Truth by the art of men may never make them contemn the other and that the Truth may never make them receive the Inventions of humane Wisdom sharpened by Ambition and Avarice how specious soever they may appear I shall not be at all surprised if some men think I say too much and that there be many who will call me Extravagant for I know how gross and carnal Ideas they who read not the Scripture have of Religion having been one of that number who as well as others believed that the Church could not subsist without the Pope and that there ought to be a Universal and Visible Head of the whole Church But I shall have reason to think it very strange if people have not other Sentiments after the reading of this work All those who will penetrate and enter a little with me into the knowledg of the Disorders which that Authority causes among Christians will find that I have too much reason and that I speak with a great deal of Moderation if they have any zeal and love for the Church For my part I have been in three different tempers in regard of the Papacy When I first knew what it was I did nothing but sigh like another Heraclitus and afflict my self with grief for the Disorders that shook my Faith After this I fell into another frame wherein like Democritus I did nothing but laugh at the folly and vanity of men who under pretence of Religion suffer'd themselves to be so imposed upon Since that as my Understanding encreased I again fell into the Condition of Heraclitus being more perswaded than I was of the Truths of Religion and bearing a greater part in the calamities of the Church and in the salvation of my neighbour than before I did and this it was that moved me to put these my thoughts in writing So go the thoughts of men succeeding one another pro or con according as they are more enlightned Here I think it proper to represent by what Degrees I came to know the Imposture It is now more than 30. years since I was first at Rome There I began to perceive that there was nothing at all in what people had made me believe of the Pope and Cardinals I did never believe that every thing that was told me of them was true for people would have perswaded me that the Pope received news every 24. hours from Paradise and that he sent whomsoever he pleased to Heaven or Hell. But what I believed of him was his great Sanctity Infallibility and Impeccability in every thing he said as indeed it seems necessary it should be so if it be true that Christ hath given him the Employ that he pretends to a vast and almost infinite Knowledge a perfect abstraction from all frail and earthly things with a continual application for the salvation of all mankind And I believed as much in proportion of the Cardinals I found that to be very true which Tacitus says Major e longinquo Reverentia You must not come near a thing to have a value for it I had the leisure to consider the Maxims and Conduct of these people which I soon found to be contrary to all the Ideas I had formed to my self of them and I wanted but very little of running stark mad I was as full of indignation against those who gave me these impressions as against those who scandalized me I saw nothing throughout but an horrible Licentiousness both in the Court and in the Town without any appearance of the true Worship of God as I had observed in many honest people of France I heard of nothing any where but Horrors and Abominations of all kinds comparing this with the Sentiments that had been instilled into me in France I often cried out O quantum est in Rebus Inane O how the World is abused The mind of man is but vanity and I wished with all my heart that our poor French-men had but seen it that so they might be undeceived The greatest part of the men here pass half the day in the Churches to hear the Musick and the other half among the Curtesans and that was it which they at first commended to me the fine Churches and the fine Curtesans This Nation as well as the Spaniards hath found the secret of Associating their Devotion with a habit of the most enormous vices In one hand they shall hold a long Bead-roll and stick a Dagger into a mans body with the other or else commit the most horrible Impurities nor is there any justice for this nor for Sodomy which is more common there than simple Fornication in our Country nor for poysoning And from all these things the Cardinals and Court of Rome are no more free than others For the Popes their Age ordinarily frees them from these things I reasoned oftentimes thus with my self Is it possible that this here should be the man whom they call His Holiness who gives Pardons and Indulgences to others and who Canonizes Saints Is it possible that these should be the men and this the Court that gives Laws for Religion to the whole Earth I confess that my Respect for Religion sensibly diminished every day that I was tempted to believe that the Christian Religion was made only for them and that I doubted of its Divinity seeing and hearing nothing but inconceivable Dissoluteness every where even in the very Cloisters an Ambition and an excessive Vanity in all the Prelates who were promoted for no other merit than that of a Machiavillian Policy wherein the Disciples out-do their Master I knew not where I was Sometimes I cast my eye upon a person of
Reputation and of Merit as people told me and I believed so seeing his Air and his Behaviour In a matter of 8 days I should hear the secret History of him which was a horrible one The Heros of this Court are as Tacitus says of Mucian people compounded of great Vertues and great Vices Mucianus Luxuria Arrogantia Comitate Industria bonis malisque artibus mixtus These are brave worldly men but for Religion most certainly they have none at all I am of the Opinion That staying in this place is very dangerous for an honest man and people do complain both in Germany and in England that their young people that travel come back from thence lost in Debauchery and Impiety That which preserved me from the Contagion of this place was that I went with an honest and a simple mind however not very ignorant for I had finished my studies This it was that disgusted me at all the disorders and licentiousness I saw there and gave me a horror for all their pleasures Perhaps I should have done like other people if I had not been so stiff and resolute To free my self from the perplexity I was in about Religion through the disorder and irregularity of this Court that is esteemed the Center of Religion from whence according to this supposition there ought to shine forth nothing but Sanctity Purity Humility Charity and Zeal for the salvation of men Contempt of the Grandeurs and Riches of the World with a continual application to the instruction of the people and where I saw nevertheless nothing in the stead of these Vertues but Licentiousness Ambition and Superstition with a horrible Ignorance in the people I then formed a Design to instruct my self and to know a little better the Principles of the Christian Religion And I desired for that end a French Abbot with whom I lodged to lend me a Latin New Testament which he had and which he read but seldom I read it with attention twice over from one end to the other which set my mind in better condition than it was before The more I read the more I was inwardly comforted but I was the more enraged against what I saw without being able to find the least solution to the impossibility that there appeared to me to be in the Popes being the Universal Vicar of Jesus Christ upon Earth and Head of the Church Catholick I there quickly found the principal Articles of Religion established in many places and often in express terms one only Head of the Church Jesus Christ of whom the Church is the Body and Believers the Members one only Spouse of the Church one only Bishop of Bishops but not one word neither far nor near of the Pope and Cardinals nor any thing that had any relation to them Besides all places there were full of Examples and Exhortations to Humility to Piety to Chastity and to Charity The Master and Disciples there spoke continually of renouncing the World its Grandeurs Vanities Pleasures Riches and above all against the Spirit of Domination But in the Popes and in their Court I found Maxims that were quite contrary I sometimes entertained the Abbot who was an honest man and very sociable with the trouble that this Authority of the Popes gave me He laughed at it and gave me pleasing Answers owning one part of what I objected and for the rest he gave me Reasons which to me were not very sufficient One day when I pressed him a little more than ordinary not knowing what to answer me he told me That if I would read Bellarmin I should there find many Reasons that would resolve my Doubts So that I hired one which I read over and over upon this Subject without finding any thing that gave me the least satisfaction There were passages of Scripture wrested with great violence which touched not the question or else were contrary to it and the forc'd sense that he gave them was always directly contrary to the Genius of the Gospel and opposite to other passages of Scripture whereof I had made a great Collection and agreed not at all with the Maxims and with the Example of Jesus Christ and of his Apostles It is true there were some Humane Reasons which at first might seem plausible but besides that they had not that weight which those had which the Scripture furnished with against him they tended to establish a Worldly and Temporal Dominion in the Church and renewed the Error of those Jews who believed that the Reign of the Messias ought to be accompanied with worldly Pomp and Splendor and to be exercised with great Authority and with fleshly Arms for this was the Sum of what he endeavoured to prove That Monarchical Government is the most advantagious in the World and by consequence that the Church ought to be governed by the Soveraign Orders of only one man who is the Pope who hath the power to exterminate Kings and all those who will not submit themselves to him This confirmed me in the Opinion I had before seeing that so subtil a Wit as Bellarmin a man so well versed in Antiquity and that had so much interest in the thing could find out nothing at all to maintain this Opinion At length I went into Germany where after Eight or Nine Months travelling I came to Cologne where I had a great desire to inform my self farther and to know if the Papacy had a great while ruled in the Church and how long since Whether or no the Ancient Doctors of the Church had heard it spoken of and what they thought of it I applied my self then to examine some of the Fathers upon this Article and that I might the sooner have done I consulted them upon those places of Scripture which the Popes make use of to see if the Fathers understood them as they do I found in examining them that they explained them in a manner quite contrary to the Pope's Pretensions This made me certainly conclude that the Papacy must have been set up in the Church by some violent stroke or else by small beginnings and by degrees as it ordinarily falls out in Usurpations which are made either altogether by a greater force or else by little and little and that this Usurpation had been seconded and favoured by people who saw there was not like to be any great resistance and they made their advantage of it through mens ignorance After that another thing that gave me a great deal of trouble was how to separate the Article of the Papacy from the Verities of the Catholick Faith so that the Infallibility of the Church as I understood it might not be prejudiced Thinking on this then often in my unquiet mind I resolved farther to consult the Scripture and the Fathers upon the passages ordinarily alledged to prove the Infallibility of the Church and I found that they did not understand them as I did But because I knew what made the Cardinals and other people employ the utmost
that is to say We read that the three first Patriarchs who sat in the Chair of Peter were he of Rome he of Alexandria and he of Antioch and with them all the Bishops who were under them Let a man read the Writings of Gregory of Gelasius and of Leo who were all Popes and he shall see that they all acknowledg that all good Bishops are Successors of St. Peter and altho they sometimes failed not to demonstrate suffiently their Ambition and the desire they had to make the other Bishops their subjects yet it was not in quality of Heads of the Church much less by vertue of any Text of Scripture And we find not that for the first six Centuries any man dared to bring so much as one passage of Scripture to establish the Primacy of the Bishoprick of Rome St. Ambrose is not at all favourable to them when he says Primatus Petri Confessionis erat non Honoris fidei non ordinis That the Primacy of Peter was a Primacy of Confession and not of Honourâ— of Faith and not of place St. Cyprian whom we have already mention'd says farthermore in another place Neque enim quisquam nostrum se Episcopum Episcoporum constituit ut Tyrannico tâ—rrore ad Obsequendi necessitatem collegas suos adigat cum habeat omnis Episcopus pro licentia libertatis Potestatis suae Arbitrium proprium tanquam judicari ab alio non possit cum nec ipse possit Alterum judicare sed expectamus Vniversi Judicium Dâ—mini nostri Jesu Christi qui unus solus habet potestatem praeponendi nos in Ecclesiae suae Gubernatione de Acâ—u nostro judicandi There is nâ—ne among us who pretendeth to be a Bishop of Bishops that by a Tyrannical power he may oblige any of his Colleagues to the necessity of being subject to him since that every Bishop being his own Master and independent on any other cannot be judged by another nor can he judg another but we ought all to expect the judgment of our Lord Jesus Christ who only hath the power of establishing us over his Church and of judging of our behaviour in it The same St. Cyprian calleth Stephen Bishop of Rome his Colleague Stephanum Collegam nostrum ut Cornelium nostrum co-Episcopum And Cornelius our Fellow-Bishop He speaks of two Bishops of Rome And in another place he shews that he thought he had as great a share in the Government of the whole Church as the Bishop of Rome Omnes enim says he deâ—et pro corpore totius Ecclesiae cujus per varias quasque Provincias membra digesta sunt excubare And in another place Divina Paterna Pietas in nobis Apostolatus ducatum contulit Vicariam Domini sedem coelesti dignatione ornavit That is to say The Goodness of God hath conferred upon us the conduct of the Apostleship and hath adorned by his Heavenly Grace the deputed See of the Lord which we hold And furthermore Christus dicit ad Apostolos ac per hos ad omnes praepositos qui Apostolis Vicaria Ordinatione succedunt Qui vos audit me audit Jesus Christ saith to all the Apostles and in the persons of them to all Bishops who succeed the Apostles being their Substitutes by Ordination Whosoever heareth you heareth me He shews in these places that he pretended that his Church was an Apostolick See and that he was the Vicar of Jesus Christ as well as the other Bishops In his 55 Epistle he says that a man must be a fool or a mad man to believe that the Authority of the Bishops of Africa was less than that of the Bishop of Rome to whom abundance of profligate wretches did resort that so they might avoid the giving an account of their actions to the Bishops of Africa and the being punisht for their crimes After his death a Council assembled at Carthage did ordain Vt prima sedis Episcopus non appelletur princeps Sacerdotum aut primus Sacerdos sed tantum primae sedis Episcopus That the Bishop of the first See ought not to be called Prince or chief of the Priests or any thing of this kind but only the Bishop of the first See. And the Council of Nice marking out the bounds of the extent of each Patriarchal See says thus There is an ancient custom whereby the Bishop of Alexandria doth govern all the Diocesses of Egypt of Lybia and of Pentapolis as also it is a long time since that the Bishop of Rome hath presided over those which he now governeth and so likewise the Bishop of Antioch Upon which Cardinal Cusan makes this reflexion We see says he hâ—w much the Bishop â—f Rome haâ—h gotten against the Holy Constitutions by the long use of a submission which hath been given him and which was not due to him This Decree of the Council of Nice was since confirmed by the Councils of Antioch of Calcedon and of Constantinople Theodoret produceth a Letter of the Council of Constantinople which sufficiently shews the place which the Bishops of Rome held at that time it begins thus To our most Reverend and dear Brethren and Colleagues Damasus Ambrose Brillo Valerian and all the other Holy Bishops assembled together in the Great City Eusebius also relates to us another Letter which the Council of Antioch assembled against the Heresie of Paulus of Samosatenus writes to the Bishop of Rome which begins thus To Dionysius to Maximus and to all those who are Ministers with us Com-Ministris nostris throughout the whole world Bishops Priests Deacons and all the Church under Heaven Would a man now in good earnest in this corrupt age write thus to our Holy Father the Pope Theodoret relates to us in his Ecclesiastical History that the Emperour Constantius was very urgent with the Bishop of Rome Liberius to embrace the Communion of the other Churches which shews that he also knew not that Rome was the Mother of the other Churches The Emperors Gratian Valentinian and Theodosius in the year 380 proposed Rome and Alexandria for Models of the Orthodox Faith. Ordaining that all the world should follow the Faith of Damasus Bishop of Rome and of Peter Bishop of Alexandria And after the first Council of Constantinople as tho they would have the Center of Christian Communion in the East only they order without mentioning Rome that all Churches should be conferred upon those who joyned in Communion with Nectarius Bishop of Laodicea and Diodorus Bishop of Tarsus in the Diocess of the East with Amphilochus Bishop of Iconium c. If the Bishops of Asia of Cilicia and of Mesopotamia had believed that the Communion of the Bishop of Rome had been necessary for their Churches they would never all have been excluded from its Communion during 140 years as they were after that Victor Bishop of Rome had Excommunicated them for a Trifle for if they
Subjectionalis Obedientiae And he maintains with good reason in another place Si per possibile Treverinus Archiepiscopus per Ecclesiam Congregatam pro Praeside Capite Eligeretur Ille proprie plus Successor esset Beati Petri in Principatu quam Romanus Episcopus That if it were possible that the Arch Bishop of Treves could be chosen Head of the Church by a General Council he would be a more lawful Successor of St. Peter than the Bishop of Rome which shews that in his time no Council had declared the Bishop of Rome as such Besides these words if it were possible shew that he belioved not that the Church could dispose of such a thing Gerson was also of this Opinion for he acknowledgeth very ingeniously that the Papal Authority cannot be conferred by the Church Papalis Authoritas si non a Deo esset immediate instituta a tota Ecclesia institui non poterat If the Papal Authority were not from God immediately it could not be instituted by the whole Church And though it were true that the Church had established it as Pope Innocent the Third pretends when he says Ecclesia non nupsit vacua sed Dotem mihi tribuit absque pretio pretiâ—sam spiritualium plenitudinem latitudinem temporalium illius me constituit vicarium qui habet in vestimento suo scriptum Rex Regum Dominus Dominantium The Church hath not married me without a Fortune but hath given me the invaluable dowry of God the fulness of Spirituals and the latitude of Temporals hath made me the Vicar of him who hath written on his garment King of Kings and Lord of Lords Although that I say were true it would not be less necessary to abolish this power which is the cause of so many disorders because the Church in those days might have created it for the good of the Church as she then thought And having found out that it is to her ruine she ought to destroy it for the Chair of Peter is for the Church and not the Church for the Chair of Peter Petri Cathedra propter Ecclesiam non Ecclesia propter Petri Cathedram Quod propter Charitatem fit non debet contra Charitatem Militare And since that our Faith according to Thomas Aquinas ought to be founded upon the Word of God only and not upon the Eshablishments of the Church as he says Fides nostra innititur Revelationibus Prophetis Apostolis Factis Ecclesia non statuit nisi de non necessariis ad Salutem According to this Truth we are not obliged to believe the Extravagant of Pope Boniface who says That it is necessary to Salvation to submit to the Pope And if the Church according to these People dared to change the Aristocratical Government instituted by Jesus Christ under which the Kingdom of God spread it self so far Piety flourished Idolatry was confounded shall it not be allowable for the Church and for Princes who are its natural Protectors to redeem it out of that Slavery into which the Enemy of Mankind hath reduced it to its first Purity and Simplicity Methinks if Men had any sense of Religion they ought to sigh continually for the deplorable condition of the Church and of the Greeks and Protestants whom we have cast headlong into the Evil they now labour under Some people will have it That because the Greek Patriarchs among themselves hold that Place which the Council of Nice and the Emperor Constantine gave to all Patriarchs he of Rome who had the first Place ought still to keep it and as in Place he was the first Bishop and the only Patriarch in the West he ought still to enjoy these Prerogatives But first of all none of the Greek Patriarchs unless it were that John of Constantinople against whom St. Gregory wrote so vehemently ever pretended to bear Rule over the other Bishops nor over the Church much less over Christian Princes as the Popes do and the Patriarch of Rome for above Three Hundred Years after his Institution never attempted it Secondly The Place which the Bishop of Rome held was Propter Principalitatem Vrbis in regard of the Dignity of the City which now hath no weight at all Rome being no longer the Seat of the Empire but the Sink and Common-shore of all filthy Iniquity a Den of Thieves and a Nest of Satan Nido di Satanazzo and the very Habitation of Sloth Laziness and Beggary Paris or London do at this time deserve this Honour a thousand times better Besides it was in a time when there were but very few Christians in the West These great States were not yet converted to the Faith France Germany Poland part of Spain and all the Northern Countries knew not what Christianity was so that one Patriarch might more easily have the inspection of this small number of Christians who resorted also to Rome for their civil Affairs as to the capital City where the Emperor resided How are they now able to govern all the Churches they who cannot govern that at Rome and which is worse that trouble not their Heads about it Add to this a fourth Reason which is That in those days they were not Temporal Princes as they are become since and had not innumerable Legions of Monks and Beneficiaries at their command as now they have which renders this Power the most formidable of any upon Earth among the Catholicks If because Rome had heretofore the first Place for the Spirituality before other Cities she should pretend still to have it it will thence follow that she hath it for the Temporality over these same Cities since the Spiritual Authority of this City as I have already proved was founded upon the Temporal and Civil which she enjoyed as the Seat of the Empire and so in pretending to the Regency of Religion in France Flanders and other Catholick Countries they pretend also to have a Right of treating these States as they please and they have effectually made them their Subjects and Tributaries even to the disposing 〈◊〉 the Crowns of Kings as their fancy leads them There are others who believe they have hit on the right when they say that the Pope is Primus inter Pares and that so he is the first of all Bishops But I ask by what Authority It is true he was so among the Patriarchs whilst that Rome as I have said already was the Seat of the Empire but now I maintain that he is Vltimus inter Pares and unworthy of the Name of either Priest or Bishop being the Tyrant of the Church and of Christian Princes and a Temporal Prince himself Were he not a Temporal Prince all he could lawfully pretend to would be to be the first Bishop of Italy I know it will be said That I ask too much to obtain any thing and I know that it will be neither better nor worse but I will discharge my mind and tell the Truth God Almighty may raise up Princes
means strengthned I acknowledg that Preachers do instruct the people That to make themselves acceptable unto God and to have a share in the Kingdom of Heaven they must refrain from these evil Passions and they build this Obligation upon the Precepts of the Gospel but men acting exceedingly more by the hope and fear of present good or evil than of that which is future the efficacy of all the loveliness of a God who gave this Precept of the hope of Paradice and fear of Hell becomes extreamly weakened in them by the ill Example of those who by their Habit and Condition seem and ought to make profession of a Life more pure and disengaged from the Interests of this World. For altho they embrace not formally this Opinion That there is neither God nor Heaven nor Hell and that on the contrary they hold these Doctrines to be very true yet nevertheless this ill Example makes them act as if they did wholly reject them this damnable Example having so mortal a poison in it that it makes them believe that their Teachers being able men would themselves live conformable to these Instructions if they thought them Divine and they themselves leading not this life 't is probable that they do not believe what they preach and teach The Scripture also in many places highly enveigheth against Pastors of an ill Life the disorder of their manners being a stumbling-block to those whom they have the care of But tho the Irregularities of Pastors did not make so ill an impression upon the minds of the people whilst persons who desire to be saved and are humbled when they perceive within themselves a repugnancy to follow those ways which the Gospel hath marked out hear speak of able men and of almost whole Orders whom for instance the Gospel enjoyns to be charitable know that no more is employed that way than what remains to him who spares no cost to appear Great and to keep up his Port according to the Custom of the World and other such like Interpretations of all the Precepts of Jesus Christ do not they find themselves inclined to embrace these Explications thereby satisfying their desires and thinking to quiet their Consciences Those who favour the Papacy shall tell you That the Pope is so far from ordering such pernicious Maxims to be taught that he doth abhor them and wish with all his heart that they would teach and promote contrary ones Besides that many Popes have themselves entertained ill Opinions I will grant it for the present but the Pope who pretendeth to be the only Head of the Church and that it belongs to him alone to judge absolutely of Eâ—clesiastical things and persons not reproving them nay oftentimes shutting the mouths of those who would oppose them who sow and spread abroad such dangerous Maxims doth uphold these pernicious Opinâ—ons which we have the greater reason to believe because he withdraws the Monks and many of the Clergy from the Jurisdiction of the Bishops If it be said That he cannot silence them by reason of their too great Authority it is then manifest that the Papacy such as it is doth suffer the ill Example and these pernicious Opinions and is not able to hinder them unless it be in matters of very small importance And thus far it is an Obstacle unto Piety since no body can apply a Remedy whilst the Pope shall be acknowledged the Head and Master of the Church The Second Argument which sheweth That the Papacy is an Obstacle unto true Virtue is that it makes use of such practices as promote a false and only seeming instead of true Piety Some Catholicks do teach That Contrition is necessary to make Confession valid But this Doctrine is not much followed That which hath the Vogue and reigns most in the World is that Attrition is sufficient which is only a simple Sorrow for having sinned and that too occasioned but by the fear of Hell. The people who are instructed in this Opinion believe readily that it is an easie matter to be justified before God and so think that after having sinned a great while they shall at their Death receive Absolution of their sins by saying a Peccavi For what man is there who is not afraid of being Damned The great multitude of Plenary Indulgences and others which are as common as Water doth also marvellously contribute to the casting men into Impenitence and to make them at the same time believe that their Consciences are in safety under pretence of observing those Exercises which pass for Pious tho they are not so I could produce many other Reasons to demonstrate the Truth of what I say but let these suffice The Pope pretending to be the only Soveraign Judge of Religion not silencing these false and pernicious Teachers nay not being able to do it if he would Is not then the Papacy an Obstacle unto true Piety since it introduces a false one in its place There are good people among the Catholicks I confess but the Papacy contributes nothing to that On the contrary those who believe and live well it is God and not the Pope who is the Author of their Piety as well as of their Profession which is rather destroyed than maintained by the usual Pride and Impiety of the Popes from whence it comes that no man now a days believes but what he will so that the whole World is full of Deists Socinians Libertines and impious persons But they say That at least the Papacy doth maintain the External Vnity and that is a great Advantage Yet I deny that For what does it contribute to this outward Unity But besides that it serves only to cheat the World whilst there is no inward Unity If they mean the Unity in Ceremonies First of all this would be no great matter for Ceremonies make not the Essence of Religion but are only the out-side of it and besides they are very different according to the several Countries and the Popes are not the Authors of them If they were it were enough to condemn them Besides all this there are fewer Sects and Factions less Divisions and by consequence more Unity among the Greeks who have many Patriarchs than among us I acknowledge indeed that it is rather Ignorance that unites them than Reason or Piety Bâ—t they tell us that the Popes spare nothing for the Conversion of the Greeks and Protestants they bestow on them both Money and Benefices To that may be added That they have not spared even the Blood of Hereticks for their Conversion as History informs us But if it be their Conversion which they do heartily desire why do not they renounce the Authority which they have usurped in the Church and in the World Why do not they re-establish things in a Christian manner in the same State they were in in the days of the Apostles and of the Primitive Church Why do not they condemn the Blasphemies which are spoken in favour of