the first Collectors of the Councils among the Papists I have taken the more liberty to be somewhat copious in them that I may conveniently be more brief in perusing the residue CAP. VII Of Francis Turrian the Jesuite With what Art and Boldness he defendeth the Forgeries NOtwithstanding all the weakness and uncertainty of Isidore Francis Turrian the Famous Jesuite appears in its defence about 40 years after the first publication of it by Merlin The Centuriators of Magdenburg having met with it to his great displeasure he is so Valiant as not only to maintain all the Forgeries therein contained but the whole Body of Forgeries vented abroad by all the Collectors and Compilers following till himself appeared His Book is expresly formed against the Writers of the Centuries and is a sufficient Evidence that as soon as Isidore came abroad by Dr. Merlin's Labour and the Bishop of Paris Command it was sifted by the Protestants It is dedicated to the most Illustrious and most Reverend D. D. Stanissaus Hosius Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church and Bishop of Collein Printed by the Heirs of John Quintel and approved by Authority An. Dom. 1573. He defends all the Canons of the Apostles which are recounted by other Collectors That you may know the Mettal of the Man I will produce but two Instances The last of those Canons which he maintaineth to be the Apostles is this which followeth Qui Libri sunt Canonici c. Let these Books be Venerable and Holy to you all Of the Old Testament five Books of Moses Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy one of Joshua the Son of Nun one of Judges one of Ruth four of Kings two of Chronicles Hester one three of the Macchabees one of Job one Book of Psalmes three of Solomon Proverbs Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs one of the 12 Prophets one of Isaiah one of Jeremiah one of Ezekiel one of Daniel And without let your young men learn the Wisdom of the Learned Syrach But of ours that is of the New Testament there are four Gospels Matthew Mark Luke and John fourteen Epistles of Paul two Epistles of Peter three of John one of James one of Jude two Epistles of Clement and the Ordinations of Me Clement set forth in Eight Books to you Bishops which are not to be published to all because of the Mysteries contained in them and the Acts of our Apostles This is the eighty fourth Canon and in some Accounts the eighty fifth where you see the Episiles of Clement and Eight Books of his Ordinations put into the Body of the Bible As for the difference of the Accounts he sheweth you the way how to reconcile them If this be one of the Apostles Canons then Clement was an Apostle or had 〈◊〉 Power But if it be a Forgery then not only the Apostles Canons but the very Text of the Holy Scriptures is interlined and forged by the same He maintains all the Decretal Epistles and among the rest S. Clement's Whose genuine Epistle to the Corinthians they leave cut as making nothing to their purpose but five Spurious ones they record the two first of them being written to S. James and the last to the Brethren dwelling with him at Jerusalem It is good sport to see how like the shot of a great Gun the Discovery of the Protestants comes in among them Their keenness in detecting the time of S James his Death shatter the 〈◊〉 and whereas before they were all united they now fly several ways every man 〈◊〉 for himself as he is best able Baronius dislikes suen Arts of upholding the Church not as impious and unlawful but as inconvenient and pernicious Bellarmine 〈◊〉 the Epistles to be Old but dares not attest them Isidore Merlin Peter Crabbe Nicolinus Carranza and Surius own them freely without any scruple For saying nothing of the Quarrel they lay them down simply as good Records Binius Labbè and the Collectio Regia confess some of them to be false and in particular that S James was dead seven years before S. Clement could write his first Epistle to him And to salve the sore they say that it was not written to James but to Simeon who was also Bishop of Jerusalem and Brother to our Lord and that the Name of James crept into the Title Mendosè by Errour and Mistake for that of Simeon But honest Turrian maintains plainly that S. Peter and S. Clement knew very well that S. James was dead before they wrote unto him yet nevertheless they did very wisely both S. Peter in ordering the Epistle and S. Clement in writing it And his Reasons as he bringeth the matter about are pretty specious For my part I protest that such a High Piece of Impudence was to me incredible But that you may see the rare Abilities of a Jesuite to argue well for the absurdest Cause turn to his Book and read his Comment on S. Clement's first Epistle and there you shall see Wit and Folly equal in their height Wit in managing but Folly in attempting so mad a business For the sake of those who are not able to read or get the Book I will give you a Glympse of his Demonstrations First he observeth how Reason it self compelleth us especially being confirmed by so many and so great Testimonies of the Ancients to confess the Epistle to be S. Clement's whose it is reported to be He sophistically pretendeth here that there were great Authorities of the Ancient Fathers extant to prove it Whence saith he it began to be had in every mans hand to be read by the Catholicks to be put among the Decretal Epistles and produced and cited in Ecclesiastical Causes and Judgments The latter part of which Clause is true For as we before observed Gratian Ivo and the rest of the Popes Ministers have brought the Decretals into the Body of the Canon-Law which maketh the matter more fatal and abominable for being really cited in their Ecclesiastical Courts and used both in matters of Controversie and in cases of Conscience they are forced either to defend them or to pluck up their Customs by the very Roots and so further expose the Church of Rome to the shame of Levity or Fraud yet for this very cause it is far more impious and wicked to retain them So that not knowing which way is best some of them retain them and some of them renounce them But you must wink at all this and believe what Turrian says for the Authority of the Roman Church which hath seated the Forgeries in the Chair of Judgment is a greater Argument to them that believe her Infallible than any one Doctor can bring against them Neither was blessed Peter ignorant when he commanded to write to the Dead nor Clement saith he when he wrote by the Commandment but that the Readers would presently see the Epistle to be written to him whom all men knew to be dead before S. Peter they being about
Nicholas the Pope seemed to abstain from it on purpose for though he was often ingaged in these Controversies concerning Appeals to the Apostolick Chair and there were in it many and those most powerful Testimonies of most holy Popes and they Martyrs too whose Authority might be of highest force in the Church yet he wholly abstained from them which that he knew to be doubtful at least is not to be doubted using only those concerning which there was never any doubt in the Church of God because the Church did not want those adventitious and late invented Evidences because it might receive them abundantly from other places but Benedictus Levita himself also though as you have heard from Hincmarus and as he himself testifies in the Preface before his books he took many things out of that same Collection of Isidore yet being conscious in himself that the Authority of those Epistles was not so sure but that it nodded exceedingly he never cited any Author of them as he did in the other Epistles of the Roman Bishops Innocent Leo Gelasius Symmachus and Gregory naming the Authors of those whose Faith was clear and certain But further yet with great caution because he knew the Evidences taken from them not to be so firm he took care as he testifies in the end to have them confirmed by the Apostolick Authority Is not here a merry passage Benedictus Levita knew the Decretal Epistles to be false and therefore he got them to be made true by the Popes Authority at least to be confirmed as true whereas they were doubtful before It is the manner of sometimes to get others to propose the matters which they themselves design to be done that the business springing from the request of others might appear more graceful in the eye of the people We may justly enquire whether Benedictus Levita were not ordered what to Petition by private instructions from his Holiness before he made his motion to the Chair for it had otherwise been an extravagant impudence to have assaulted the Chair with such a request as that is of craving a Confirmation of new-found Records so feeble and suspected Whatever the Intrigue was the event is clear Benedictus Levita got them confirmed and so they were adopted for his Holiness Children though Pope Nicholas was shy a little out of shame and modesty and blushed to acknowledge his poor Kindred It is further observable that these counterfeit Epistles were first brought in into the Records of the Franks without naming their Authors and that a little after their quiet publication some Favourite of the Chair grew more bold and added their names unto them this of Clement that of Anacletus c. And that the work was thus perfected by degrees Baronius shews us in the following passage But he who first published the Decrees extracted out of those Epistles with the Title of the Roman Bishops in whose names they are recorded was that Hincmarus we mentioned the Bishop of Laon as appears by an Epistle or book written against him by Hincmarus of Rhemes who receiving that work of the Bishop of Laon read it not without indignation and in very many things reprovedit But others have followed the Bishop of Laon as Burchardus who writ in the following Age and others after him who prefixed the names of the very Roman Bishops before all the Chapters which Gratian also did the last of all But that those Epistles are rendered suspitious by many things which we have said in the second Tome of our Annals while we mentioned each in particular is sufficiently demonstrated Where we shewed withal that the holy Roman Church did not need them so as if they should be detected of falsity to be bereaved of its Rights and Priviledges since though she wanteth them she is abundantly strengthened and confirmed by the Legitimate and Genuine Decretal Epistles of other Popes But that the Chapters taken out of them by Benedictus Levita were at first approved as agreeable to the Canons as himself testifies by the Authority of the Roman Bishops which was done also by the latter Collectors it happened rather by long use than for any strength or firmness in themselves Thus Baronius in his Annals An. 865. nu 5 6 7 8. all together In Notis Martyrol ad 4. April he saith Vasaeus is convicted to have erred who thought this Isidore Pacensis that Isidore who collected the Epistles of the Roman Bishops and the Councils c. Hincmarus Laudunensis also and Trithemius and others err who ascribe that collection to Isidore of Hispalis That Opinion is refelled first because Brauleus and Ildephonsus who lived in those times drawing up a Catalogue of his Writings make not the least mention of that work But further all doubt is taken away concerning this matter while the Author of that work speaking there concerning the manner of holding a Council recites the words of the first Canon of the eleventh Council of Toledo and mentions Agatho the Pope in his Preface since Isidore of Hispalis departed this life long before the times of that Council and Pope Agatho Had we time we might make many curious reflexions upon these passages of Baronius He afterwards talks of another Isidore called sometimes Mercator and sometimes Peccator but of what Parents what Calling what City or what Country he was he mentioneth nothing So that this Child among all those Isidores and Fathers that are found out for it must rest at last in one that is unknown All that can be gathered from this whole discourse of Baronius is this That a new Book of Councils richly fraught with Evidences for the Roman Church and Religion came abroad under the name of Isidore containing Decrees and Decretal Epistles that were never before heard of in the world that this Book was falsly Fathered upon Isidore of Hispalis and that all those ancient Epistles of the Roman Bishops from S. Peter down to Siricius are justly suspected Nay he confesses them to be insirm adventitions and lately invented or newly found and to nod exceedingly He opposeth them to those Records which are Legitimate and Genuine though they are of late magnified and followed by all the Collectors of the Decrees and Councils being though waved by some cited and approved by other Popes as well as Doctors Jesuites Cardinals c. This is the last and best Story that can be made on the behalf of that Book the Counterfeits in which as we observed before were because they extol and magnifie the Popes Chair received for good and Authentick Laws in the Church of Rome For Baronius died not long since about the year 1607. in this last Century and when he had seen the truth of those Arguments that are urged against the Forgeries endeavours so to handle this matter in his History as to clear the Church of Rome from the imputation Bellarmine that saw not into this Mystery so clearly takes another course which when we have intimated one or
so many did 〈◊〉 use in 〈◊〉 the Apocryphal from Cennine Books and this Sentence was Desinitive by a Pope in his Council So that 2. A Pope in his Council is not 〈◊〉 3. If Einius be right Gelasius and fourscore Bishops did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in condemning the Code 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Canons which S. Clement wrote from the mouth of the Apostles 4. The Church of Rome is divided the New and the Old Church of Rome are against each other The New is all for Additions and the very Apostles Canons allowed in Gelasius his time which was 1260 years ago are not sufficient unless more be added But let us now consider Binius his reasons Quia tamen ex his posterioribus ferè omnes praeter praedictos duos c. But because all these latter almost besides the two forementioned are either by the Authority of the Roman Bishops or by the Decrees of other Councils or by the Sentences of some Fathers confirmed and approved as is manifest by these our Marginals and Annotations So that it may not lightly or rashly he doubted whether they were taken hence by the Bishops Councils and Fathers or rather translated hither and put here out of their Writings Hereupon they may and ought rightly and deservedly all except the two excepted to be taken for Authentick How perplexed his discourse is I suppose you see His courage fails in the midst and it becomes thereupon so rough and difficult that it is scarce intelligible The occasion of its Incoherence is that Parenthesis thrust into the middle For Binius foreseeing a strong Obiection to the Discourse he was going to make claps it Sophistically into the midst of his Argument hoping thereupon that it would never more be retorted upon him Which you may easily see both by the Nature of his Argument and by the resolution of his words For his Argument is this which if you lay aside the Answer to it runs smoothly Almost all these latter Canons besides the two forementioned are either by the Authority of Roman Bishops or the Decrees of other Councils or the Sentences of some Fathers confirmed and approved hereupon they may and ought rightly and deservedly all except the two excepted to be taken for Authentick Now the Answer is the Parenthesis in the midst Certain Sentences like to these Canons are in the Fathers writings but so contained there that it may not lightly or rashly be doubted whether they were taken hence by the Bishops Councils and Fathers or rather translated hither and put here out of their Writings To doubt a thing rashly is nonsense but it may justly be feared that these Canons are Sentences pickt out of other Books and packt into a Body bearing the name of the Apostles Canons His Conscience did convict him and he replieth not a word though it be an important consideration in the case But there is a worse fault in his Logick he argues from Particulars to Vniversals for having said Fere omnes praeter praedictos duos he comes to conclude Omnes praeter praedictos duos Almost all except two are approved therefore all except two are Authentick Such Tricks as these he hath often And sometimes affects an obscure kind of speaking on purpose to blind the Reader especially when he is intangled with some difficult Argument He then Clouds himself like the Cuttle in his own Ink that he might vomit up the Hook in the dark and scape away He might have produced a General Council if he pleased to confirm all the 84 Canons and that under the Name of the Apostles too which had been more to the purpose but then he must have confessed the last Canon of Clement to be true and consequently that his eight Books of Constitutions and his two Epistles are part of the Bible or else that the Decree of the Council confirming these was Spurious or else of necessity that the Pope and Council did err But he had more kindness for the Pope than so and therefore perhaps let the Council alone He would inure you by his words to believe that Popes are equal to Councils Because they are saith he either by the Authority of Roman Bishops or other Councils or some Fathers confirmed they may and ought to be taken for Authentick Some Fathers is a dwindling expression He very well knows that 217 were rejected together in the sixth Council of Carthage Roman Bishops and other Councils are words of some weight But what can other Councils do if the Roman Bishops please to reject them The Roman Bishops and other Councils are so put in contradistinction that the Authority of Roman Bishops is set before that of other Councils And perhaps the proportion being observed the Roman Bishops must be thought as far above other Councils as other Councils above some Fathers In other places they affirm a Pope with his Council to be Infallible Here that the Roman Bishop is a Council Otherwise it is nonsense to say The Roman Bishops or other Councils The Roman Bishop hath a Council in himself And indeed it is requisite that he of all other should be the greatest Council when standing alone he is to judge of a Council and to determine even whether an 〈◊〉 Council shall be approved or disapproved This is a Tast of Binius an Elephants Clee a Scrap of five large Volumes full of the same integrity and perverseness The swelling words which they talk of approved and disapproved Councils are all to be understood of Councils approved or disapproved by the Roman Bishop From his Canons we proceed to his Council for Binius hath a Council of Apostles too on a Prodigious Theme the setting up of Images It is but a short one and hath but one Canon and that is the eighth It is set forth in this form ANTIOCHENA SYNODUS 〈◊〉 Canon 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Salvati ob Idola sed pingant 〈◊〉 Opposite Divinam Humanamque manufactam 〈◊〉 Effigiem Dei veri ac Salvatoris nosire Jesu Christi ipsiusque Servorum contra Idola 〈◊〉 Neque errent in Idolis neque similes siant Judaeis This is all and sure it is old for the Latine is very bare If you construe it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thus but hath no Greek Copy A COUNCIL of the APOSTLES at ANTIOCH Canon 3. Let not the Saved be deceived for Idols but let them paint on the Opposite the Divine and Humane unmingled Image of the true God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ made with hands and of his Servants Neither let them err in Idols nor be made like the Jews The first Authority he hath to prove it is the 2 Nicene Council 800 years almost after the Apostles And he collecteth it thence by a blind conjecture not by any evident Assertion of theirs Besides this he citeth one Pamphilus who testifieth that he found it in Origen's Study as Turrian saith against the Writers of Magdenburg So that all this resteth upon Turrian an impudent Corrupter as the World hath any Where we first observe that Origen
we had been agreed before that of these Hermes at least was a Forgerie It seems by Pope Pius his Letter that Hermes was a Doctor and not a Shepherd for in these Days he saith Hermes a Doctor of the faith and of the H. scriptures shined among us Not of old but in these Days Yet it is pretended that the Book of old was by some order from on high to be delivered to Clement the Pope by whom it was to be sent to forreign Cities Notwithstanding all their Contrivance there Wit failes them sometimes that are so accustomed to Lying They have so many Irons in the fire that some of them miscarry whether they will or no. Nevertheless that Hermes received this Commandment from the Angel Tertullian witnesseth in his third Book of verses against Mareion saith Binius I have not heard much of Tertullian's Poetrie I have his Works put forth with the Notes of Beatus Rhenanus and cannot find any such verses among them If he hath all that Binius pretendeth out of them is that Hermes spake Angelical Words Therefore he saw the Angel Pius in his Decretal Epistle applieth this Scripture Not holding the Head from which all the body by joynts and bands having nourishment ministred and knit together increaseth with the increase of God to the Pope of Rome Whereupon he saith We instruct you all by our Apostolical authority that you ought to observe the same Commandments because we also observe the same And ye ought not by any means to divide from the Head The Commandment was given to Hermes by an Angel Whereupon Pope Pius after the first complement beginneth very unluckily with forbidding the Religion or worshipping of Angels Whereas upon this occasion some eminent matter ought to have been spoken concerning Angels But because of the words following he puts them together Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility of worshipping Angels c. Not holding the Head from which all the body by joynts and bands c. Where he taketh off the Eternal Head and puts a New one on the Churches shoulders For in these dayes Hermes a Doctor of the Faith and of the Holy Scriptures shined among us And though we observed Easter on the foresaid day yet because some doubted for the confirming of their Souls an Angel of the Lord appeared to the same Hermes in the shape of a Shepheard and commanded him that the Passeover should be celebrated by all on the Lords day Whereupon we also instruct you all by our Apostolical authority that you ought to observe the same Commandments Not because an Angel brought them or GOD sent him but Because we also observe the same and ye ought not by any means to divide from the Head And because the business is to promote the Apostolical Authority above all the Angels instead of extolling and magnifying them which had been the natural method on such a Topick as if he would enervate the evidence of the Angel he biddeth them take heed and that diligently least any one seduce you by any Astrology or Philosophy or vain Fallacy according to the tradition of men after the Rudiments of this World and not after Christ's and true Tradition As if no more heed were to be given to an Angel than to an Asse unless the Pope first approved the Vision Nor is Philosophy nor the Tradition of men nor any thing else to be valued in opposition to him and his true Tradition for in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily that ye may be repleat in him who is the Head of all Principality and Power and who bath commanded this Apostolical See to be the Head of all Churches saying to the Prince of the Apostles Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church What it is to walk after Christ and true Tradition you may see Cleerly by this Glos upon our Saviours Text. They that do not hold the Head from which all the Body by Joynts and Bands having nourishment ministered and knit together increaseth with the increase of God are in extream peril of damnation And our Saviour who is the Head of all Principality and Power hath commanded this Apostolical See to be the Head of all Churches Therefore Whosoever holdeth not to this Head is in extream peril of damnation For the Pope is not the Head of all Principality and Power in himself but only by Derivation he is made the Head c. And consequently 't is as necessary to cleave unto him as to Christ himself Since he in whom all the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth Bodily dwelleth in his Vicar even as S. Peter does in like manner So that all Angels and 〈◊〉 of men Reason Philosophy c. 〈◊〉 but feeble Threeds for him that hath 〈◊〉 Potestatis the fulness of Power and may open the Kingdom of Heaven to whom he will It is a Cross Observation to note the little Authority of the Popes Custome For though it it was the Practice of all the Roman Church to Keep Easter in such a manner before yet some doubted that is all the Eastern Churches were of another Opinion till an Angel came to teach them otherwise Yet when he came he must not be believed for his own sake but the Popes nor be obeyed for himself so jealous was the Pope of his Apostolical Authority How weak both the Popes Authority and the Angels were which thus mutually needed each others assistance appeareth by the Event for notwithstanding the Testimony of Pius and the Angel this Controversy was left undetermined till the Nicene Council It continued above 150 years after Pope Pius his days Yet through all that considerable Tract of time this Testimony of the Angel was cited by no Body Only as Ovid makes use of the 〈◊〉 and his Crowing in the Morning to introduce the fable of Alector this wicked Pius maketh use of this Controversy for the fable of the Angel But it was a little Suspicious that the Angel should appear to no body but the Popes Brother and the matter be published by no body but the Pope himself It smelleth of the Forge out of which it came being proved by the Pontifical of Pope Damasus CAP. XVIII A Letter fathered on Cornelius Bishop of Rome in the year 254. concerning the Removal of the Apostles Bones giving Evidence to the Antiquity of many Popish Doctrines but is it self a Forgery THe forgery made in the Name of Pius is fitted to the year 158. You shall now see one made in the Name of Cornelius Bishop of Rome in the year 〈◊〉 54. 100. years after the former excepting four Not as if there were no forgeries between this and that there is scarce a year upon which they have not fastned something but should we trace them all through the weary Length of so many Ages our Travail would be Endless We have chosen one or two as Exemplars of the residue THE FIRST EPISTLE Of Cornelius
Chair And together with the Credit of Rome to take away an Empire Besides the Spiritual Right of being the Rock there are ample Territories and Cities claimed with a Temporal Kingdom Let him therefore pretend what he will the Authority of such Instruments is very convenient And because he knows it well enough he produces the Diplomata or the Patents of other Kings and Emperours to confirm the Churches Secular Right extant as he saith in the Original with their Imperial Seals as particularly those of the Most Christian Princes of France restoring those things which the Longobards took away But he does not tell you by what Arts they got possession of those Territories at first nor by what Ancient Evidences Seals or Patents they held them before the Longobards touched them And because a Kingdom is of much Moment in the Church of Rome he further saith As for the Dominion of things temporal given to the Church herself proves them by the Broad Seals of the very Emperours giving them yet extant in the Originals and she quietly enjoyeth them How quiet her injoyment is you may see by that stir and opposition she meeteth and by all the clamour throughout the Christian World that followeth her Usurpations Which she defendeth here by the Seals of Emperours in general Terms but what Seals they are she scorneth as it were to mention in particular Which argueth her cause to be as Bad as her pretence is Bold But as for the Rights granted to the same Roman Church S. Leo Faelix Romanus Gelasius Hormisda Gregorius and other their Successors that flourished famously from the times of Constantine have defended them saith he not by the Authority of this Constantinian Edict but rather by Divine and Evangelical Authority against all the Impugners of them The man is warily to be understood for some of these whom he pronounceth as Defenders violently oppose their claim as Gregory in particular who for himself and all his Predecessors renounceth that Blasphemons Title which John of Constantinople first arrogated but the Bishops of Rome acquired afterwards by the Gift of Phocas the bloody Emperour So that all these are Mummers brought in as it were in a Masque to shew their vizars and say nothing For of all these Roman Bishops mentioned by Binius Gregory was the last who testifieth that none of his Predecessors ever claimed such a Title We may further note that he speak here with much Confusion because he speaks of the Rights granted to the Roman Church but does not distinguish between the Divine and Humane Rights of which he is treating For the Business he is now upon is the Temporal Klngdom in desending of which these Popes down to Gregory did forbear to use the Authority of this Constantinian Edict as he calleth it by way of scorn not because they had it not but rather as he pretends because they had no need of it having enough to shew by Divine and Evangelical Authority for the same Which is another pretence as bold and impudent as the former For I think none of his own Party will aver that the Bishop of Rome can claim a Temporal Kingdom by the Holy Scripture As for any other Claim by this Constantinian Edict or any Donation else of Emperours before the Longobards he slighteth all especially the Authority of this Constantinian Edict conceruing which he saith None of all those who sate over the Church before the year 1000. many of which saw the genuine Acts of Sylvester recited concerning which we spake above is read to have made any mention of this Edict For as much as the Counterfeit Edict was not yet added to the Acts by the Greek Impostors He does not tell us how he came to know that many of the Roman Bishops saw the genuine Acts of Sylvester before the year 1000. that being an Artifice or Color only as if there were two divers Books of Sylvesters Acts and the one a true one He tells us not a word of the Contents that were in them but he before told us plainly that the Acts of Sylvester the Pope were falsly written in Greek under the name of Eusebius Bishop of Caesarea that they were not known till 1000. years after Christ coming then forth in Eusebius his Name And now he telleth us as plainly that the Counterfeit Edict was not yet added to the Acts by the Greek 〈◊〉 The poor Greeks on whom he layes all the Load of Imposture never injoyed the benefit of these Acts nor ever pleaded the Imposture as the Latines did And in all likelyhood they made it that laid Claim and Title to the Supremacy by it Since therefore the Question is come to this Who were the Impostors we must define against him that the Counterfeit Edict was added to the forged Acts not by the Greek but Latine Impostors For how Counterfeit to ever he will have it Pope Adrian in his Epistle to Constantine and Irene which remains inserted in the Nicene Council recites this whole History almost in the same manner and so confirmes it by the Truth of this Edict As Binius himself telleth us on the words Ipse enim So that the Edict was pleaded long before the Greeks added it to the Acts of Sylvester For Pope Adrian died in the year 795 and the Acts of Sylvester were unknown till the year 1000. Yet this Adrian founded his Epistle to the Emperour and Empress in the second 〈◊〉 Council upon the truth of this 〈◊〉 And in very truth the Story he telleth is the same of Constantine's Leprosie c. contained in the Donation Which if 〈◊〉 had been pleased to remember was published by the Latines in Isidore Mercator's Collection of the Councils about the year 800. Where the Greeks in all probability first found it and were cheated as many Wiser men have since been with the appearance of it there So that searching it up to the Fountain Head it rests still among the Romans By the way to shew you that Binius is his Crafts-Master over against these words concerning Adrian before mentioned he putteth down that Famous Marginal Note Donatio Constantini confirmatur The Donation of Constantine is confirmed not by Binius as the simple Reader would suppose but by Adrian's Epistle recorded in the 2 Nicene Council and expresly containing the whole Fable of Constantine's Leprosie Vision and Baptism So that the first that ever knew it in the World for ought I can yet perceive was this Adrian of whom we have spoken somewhat before Now he comes to shew how greedily the Popes received this Cheat of the Greeks Among those who received the Acts of Sylvcster in good seoth corrupted thus with the addition of this counterfeit Edict by an evil Art and by the sorry faith of the Grecians carried out of the East into the West and that earnestly defended them as Legitimate and Genuine and pure from all fraud and Imposture the first is found saith he to be Pope Leo
the Nineth Who in an Epistle to Michael of Constantinople and Leo of Acridanum Bishops in the year of our Redemption 1054. makes mention of the Donation of this Constantinian Edict made to Sylvester From whence I believe it was that much Faith and Authority being hereby added unto it very many of the Gravest and most Learned Doctors without any suspition of Fraud or Imposture with good Faith did read and receive it He makes a large Confession here wherein three things are fit to be noted The first that ever used this Edict was a Pope Pope Leo 9. 2. He used it immediately after it came forth For Sylvesters Acts came forth about the year 1060. being afterwards increased with the Addition of this Edict of Constantine and some 54 years after the Pope made use of the Donation in it Wherein he is followed by many very many of the Gravest and most Learned Popish Doctors which is the third thing to be noted This fault of the Popish Doctors who did read and receive this Donation of Constantine without any suspition of Fraud and Imposture being by Binius charged upon the Pope The Shepherd went out of the way and the Sheep followed him The Captain and the Herd did all stray and miscarry Leo 9. being somewhat like the Dragon in the Revelation that threw down the third part of the Stars with his Tail Binius his Cure is but the shift of a Mountebank to save his Credit There are Errours and Heresies in the Donation of Constantine which whosoever receiveth the Donation he receiveth them in like manner And to say that the Head and its Members in the Church of Rome were deceived by the Evil Art and sorry Faith of the Grecians while they licked up this Vomit of Balsamon for the Popes advantage is but a sorry shift a Corrosive that eats like a Canker For it shews how the Holy Catholick Roman Church may be deceived Head and Members Pope and Doctors Priests and People They were imposed on by an Evil Art it seems and swallowed down Heresie in Constantine's Donation But that Binius lyes in his prevarication about the Greeks and that the Greeks were not the Authors of the Donation and that it did not intend to hurt the Popes Chair is evident by this The Donation was made not to overthrow but confirm the Divine Right of the Popes Supremacy point blank against what Binius pretends He that made it had an eye both to the Temporal and Spiritual Priviledges of the Roman Chair For the Donation applieth those Scriptures on which the Popes build their Right to S. Peter's Successors and makes the Empercur to note that the Will of our Saviour was the Root of all his Kindness to the Chair nay it expresly throws all on our Saviours Institution For it is just that the Holy Law should retain the Head of the Principality there where our Saviour the Instituter of H. Laws commanded the blessed Peter to undertake the Chair of the Apostleship Where you may note another fetch of the Papists Lest what our Saviour did to S. Peter should seem too remote to concern Rome that they might make the Channel of Conveyance clear these old Counterfeits record that S. Peter did not come to Rome by chance but being invested in so great an Hereditary power our Saviour chose the place where it should rest and that Peter came to Rome and there undertook the Chair of his Apostleship by our Saviours Commandment Which if they could make the World believe their work would be half done So that it utterly destroys the Interest of the Greeks and the Donation is Root and Branch altogether Roman Neither did the Greeks ever use it to disgrace the Roman Church for ought I can find though the Romans used it to magnifie their Church above all other Churches CAP. XXIII Melchiades counterfeited Isidore Mercator confessed to be a Forgery The Council of Laodicea corrupted both by a Fraud in the Text and by the False Glosses of the Papists THe Forgery put out at first in the name of Melchiades concerning the Primitive Church and the Munificence of the Emperour Constantine hath now gotten a clause added to the Title viz. Falsly ascribed to Melchiades In Binius Labbé and the Collectio Regia Upon those words Falsly ascribed to Melchiades Binius speaketh thus That this Epistle was ascribed to Melchiades appeareth Can. Futuram 12. q. 1. Can. Decrevit Dist. 88. which bearing the name of Melchiades contain for the most part the things which are written here It appeareth from hence also that hitherto it was commonly put in the former Edition of the Councils just after the Decrees of Melchiades the Pope Thus was this counterfeit Epistle placed among their Laws and Councils But that it was noted with the false Title and name of Melchiades appeareth from hence saith he because it maketh mention of the Nicene Council which by the consent of all men happened after the death of Melchiades and after the Baptism of the Emperour not under Melchiades but under Sylvester in the year of Christ 325. being the 20 year of Constantine as almost all Historians unanimously do testifie Perhaps therefore it is more true that Isidore himself being a Compiler rather than a Collector was the Author of this Epistle Which it is certain was made out of the third Canon of the Council of Chalcedon and a certain fragment of the 24 Epistle in the 1. Book of Pope Gregory and the History of the Nicene Council Baron An. 312. Nu. 80. Here we come to know the manner how Decretal Epistles were made Good passages stoln out of the Fathers are clapt Artificially together and a Grain or two of Interest thrust neatly in makes up an Epistle This of Binius is plain dealing Isidore is confessed to be a Compiler that is a Forger rather than a Collector or Recorder of the Councils * Note this well because Isidore is the Fountain a muddy dirty one out of which they drink their waters This acknowledgment is the more considerable because Baronius Labbè and Cossartius and the Collectio Regia herein do keep Binius Company Confessing it to be stoln out of S. Gregory he acknowledgeth it to be made almost 300 years after it was pretended Which draws near to the time of Hadrian the First and sheds another Ray of Light on the Original of these Impostures In the time of Sylvester there happened many Councils One Feather is finely thrust in into that at Arles to adorn the Papacy The Pope is set before the Emperour In that of Ancyra the Marriage of Deacons is permitted Can. 〈◊〉 Priests also were not compelled to leave their Wives unless they were taken in Adultery Can. 8. The Cup and the Bread were both given to the People Can. 13. In the Council of Laodicea it is determined that the Scriptures should be read on the Sabbath days Can. 16. And that we ought not to leave the
Zozimus and Boniface About 100 years after Eulabius sate in the Chair at Alexandria some call him Eulalius Between him and Boniface 2. there are two Epistles extant out of which it is gathered that after the sixth Council of Carthage the African Churches were Excommunicated by the Roman for 100 years and reconciled at last upon the Submission of Eulalius Archbishop of Carthage accursing S. Augustine and his own Predecessors Concerning these two Epistles Cardinal Bellarmine giveth his Opinion thus Valdè mihieas Epistolas esse suspectas c. I have a mighty suspition of these Epistles For first they seem to be repugnant to those things which we have spoken concerning the Union of S. Augustine Eugenius Fulgentius and other Africans with the Roman Church And again either there was no Eulabius of Alexandria to whom Boniface seemeth to write or at least there was none at that time as is evident out of the Chronology of Nicephorus of Constantinople Besides Boniface intimates in his Epistle that he wrote at the Commandment of Justinus the Emperour But Justinus was dead before Boniface began to sit as is manifest out of all Histories Moreover the Epistle which is ascribed to Boniface consists all of it almost of two fragments of which the one is taken out of the Epistle of Pope Hormisda to John the other out of the Epistle of S. Gregory to the Bishops of France even the 52 Epistle of his fourth Book Now S. Gregory was not born at that time nor is it credible that Gregory took those words out of Boniface since the Stile is altogether Gregorian In the Epistle also which is Fathered upon Eulabius the Carthaginian there is a Sentence of S. Gregories inserted out of the 36 Epistle of his fourth Book and the rest of that Epistle is nothing but a sragment of au Epistle of John the Bishop of Constantinople to Pope Hormisda Notwithstanding all these reasons Bellarmine is afraid to damn the Epistles but Cardinal Baronius is a little more bold He judges it inconvenient for the Church of Rome that any such Forgeries were ever made And upon the occasion of these two Epistles utterly disgraces Isidore Mercator for a meer Impostor Whether in so doing he salves the Sores of the Roman Church that hath been guilty of vending them the experience of Ages yet to come will hereafter evidence In the mean time let us fee what he saith In Not. Martyrol ad 16. Octobr. he layeth down these words Scias falsam adulterinam Epistolam illam quae fertur nomine Bonifacii 2. c. Know that the Epistle which is carried abroad in the name of Boniface 2. to Eulalius Bishop of Alexandria which is extant and published in the second 〈◊〉 of the Councils of the latter Edition is false and adulterate And speaking concerning the Schism Excommunication and Re-union of the African Churches he saith Sihaec vera sunt c. If these things are true certainly then all the Martyrs and Confessors which were at that very time crowned with Martyrdom in the African Church or otherwise waxed famous by the Merits of their Eminent Sanctity must be blotted out of the List of Saints which THE HOYL ROMAN CHURCH it self hath in its Martyrology numbred among the Martyrs or reckoned among the Confessors Since it is most manifest by a thousand Sentences of Cyprian Augustine and all the Fathers that out of the Church there can be no Martyrdom nor any kind of Sanctity If Lyes were always consistent Truth would be amazed God doth infatuate the Counsels of his Enemies and turn their Wisdom into Foolishness They run into inconveniences sometimes so great that they cannot be remedied Could a Lye shun all inconvenience and see to its Interest on every side it would be as wife and perfect as Truth itself Quin amplius ex Collegis Aurelii c. But yet further among other Companions of Aurelius the most holy Father S. Augustine the most glorious Beam of the Catholick Church was accused in that Epistle Who being clouded with the same 〈◊〉 of Schism must if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be true be blotted out of the Class of the Doctors of Holy Church out of the number of Saints nay out of the Martyrology nor only so but out of the Kalender of the HOLY ROMAN CHURCH For it is most certain that after the aforesaid Aurelius he departed this life within the space of the time before-mentioned What should I reckon the Fulgentiuses the Eugeniuses and others almost innumerable men most Famous for Holiness and Learning to be accounted in the same condition It is a common Artifice in the Church of Rome to propagate these Forgeries as far as they are able by them to possess the minds of men with great apprehensions of the Popes high and Infallible Power and if at at any time they are detected to cast the blame on private persons while the Church is free they pretend from such Abominations I desire you to note therefore that the HOLY ROMAN CHURCH it self is the Author of Her Martyrologies and Kalendars and that the HOLY ROMAN CHURCH her self hath Canonized her Saints and made Holy-days and put them into her Breviaries And it was this very HOLY ROMAN CHUCH that put the counterfeit Council of Sinuessa into her Martyrologies the Lying Legend of Sylvester into the Roman Breviary Authorized by three Popes and the Council of Trent and her counterfeit Decretals among her Laws in all her Consistories and Ecclesiastical Courts of Highest Judicature So that if Baronius do not 〈◊〉 the ROMAN CHURCH is liable to the Charge of these Bastard-Antiquities For which cause he might well break out into that angry 〈◊〉 Eccè in quod Diserimen Vnus isidorus Mercator illarum Epistolarum Collector res nostras adduxit ut ex 〈◊〉 parte periclitari videatur Ecclesia c. Behold into what peril one Isidore Mercator the Collector of those Epistles hath brought out Affairs So that the CHURCH seemeth on that side to be endangered if we shall say those things which he hath collected or rather 〈◊〉 be 〈◊〉 and certain If the Roman Church be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 in Baronius his judgment 〈◊〉 is utterly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Importance did he only 〈◊〉 the things to be feigned rather than 〈◊〉 which their great 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Isidore their first Author But his acknowledgment of the hazard which the Roman Church runneth is more For they have so many Subterfuges about the Roman Church that it is more difficult to find it than to vanquish it It was not the Pope in a formal Council that Excommunicated the Church of Africa or that put her Saints first into the Roman 〈◊〉 yet it was the 〈◊〉 Roman Church And indeed if the Holy Roman Church and her Authority be not to be found in her Mass books and Breviaries her Courts and Consistories her Laws and 〈◊〉 her Martyrologies and Kalenders her Popes and Doctors I know not where to meet
with Her And if nothing else be the Roman Church but a Pope and Council 〈◊〉 the Roman Church is but a blinking 〈◊〉 There is no Roman Church upon this account sometimes for two or three Ages together for she always vanishes upon the 〈◊〉 of the Council The Roman Church is in a great 〈◊〉 but she may thank herself She threw her self into this Peril by making her self a Schismatick an 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 She first breaks the Rule and if the Pope and his Doctors about him be the Roman Church as they certainly must needs 〈◊〉 for all that depart from 〈◊〉 shall be Schifmaticks if the Head of the Church and all the Members that cleave unto it be the Roman Church she first brake the Rule and then forged Ancient Canons in the Name of the Nicene Council to defend her Exorbitancy she cut her self off from the true Church in the sixth Council of Carthage by a perverse inveterate obstinacy and to acquit her self afterwards laid the Curse and Scandal upon others She pretends at least that the most Holy Churches were Excommunicated that 217 Bishops in a Sacred Council Alypius S. Augustine Aurelius and all his Collegues were puffed up with pride by the Instigation of the Devil and accursed by a Dreadful Excommunication for so it is in the Epistle of Bonifaee 2. to Eulalius And now she hath nothing left to support her Enormity but that Greatness alone which by these Forgeries she hath acquired and maintained These Thorns are never to be pulled out but the Veins and Sinews will follow after For in rejecting these Thorns in her sides all her Authority Infallibility Antiquity Tradition Vnity Succession Credit and Veracity is gone As for Baronius and the way he takes a man may safely throw away the Sword when he has killed the Enemy but the Church of Rome is not arrived to such an happiness Politicians pull down the Ladder by which they have gotten up to the Top of their desires But the case is altered here They are undone if the Ladder be removed To acknowledge these Helps to be Forgeries is their apparent Ruine Some Papists use these Counterfeits by vertue of which their Predecessors acquired and established their Empire as Vsurpers do Traytors by whose villanous help they are seated in the Throne But they can never wash off the Guilt they have contracted nor make the Act or the Crime committed once to be again undone After 700 years enjoyment of the Benefit they begin to slight the means of acquiring it But it is because they cannot help it The Cheat is detected and they would sain perswade the World they are Innocent of it All of them either hold these things to be Forgeries or if Forgeries to be none of their The Confession is not Genning like 〈◊〉 of S. Peter rather it is awkward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like that of Apiarius 〈◊〉 Confession the sixth Council of Carthage observes to be sorced For after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 obstinately persisted as long as possible in an impudent denial reviled his Judges abused the Roman Chair disordered the Church and inflamed the World when God had brought him into so vast a strait that he could do no otherwise then the Fraudulent Dissembler as they call him fled to Confession but the Root of his Malevolence he retained in him Some Papists confess these Forgeries but deny them to be theirs They confess the things but justifie themselves The things they say are Forgeries but themselves no Forgers And whether of the two be the greater Impudence is hard to define They confess the Fraud but make no Restitution All their Drift is to save their Skin when one pretence is broken they fly to another nay they go on to quote these things even now they confess them where they are not detected they still do quote them and wish still they were as able to conceal and defend them as ever For for one that knows them they meet with a thousand that are ignorant of those devices There they dissemble their Conviction and hide their Confession with the Ignorant and before such make shew of these Frauds as of great and glorious Antiquities though like Proteus they transform themselves into other shapes before the more Learned They find it meet and necessary to fail with every Wind and to adapt themselves fitly in their discourses both to them that know them and to them that know them not with them that know them they seem to decry the Impostures These things I speak not to the poor simple seduced Papists who did they believe and know these things would abhor them to the Death but to the Seducers themselves who so delude the Ignorant and are by all Methods ever busie in carrying on the Cause of the Temporal Kingdom of the Church of Rome as by their obstinate practises is most apparent Baronius himself bewrayeth his Confession to be without any purpose of amendment even by the Defence he maketh for his good Old Friend the Bastard Isidore A Jerom of Frague or a John Huss a Latimer or a Ridley though never so holy and pure in other things were to be cursed with Bell Book and Candle if the least Errour appeared in them that reflected on the Popes Security Though never so Innocent they were with all violent fury pursued to the Fire But if a man have this one Vertue of maintaining the Popes Interest he may lye and cog and cheat and forge abuse Apostles Councils Fathers and be followed by an Army of Popes and Doctors becoming a Zealous and Venerable Saint notwithstanding Hincmarus of Rhemes could hardly escape for offering to mutter against Isidere But Isidore himself because he did the Pope Service though he be a Sacrilegious person and deserves all that can be called Bad for the incomparable height and depth of his Villany yet he is received to fair Quarters and well esteemed of by Cardinal Baronius Testimonium illi perhibeo utar verbis Apostoli saith he quod Zelum habuit sed non secundùm Scientiam c. I will give him this Testimony and here I will use the words of the Apostle He had a Zeal but not according to knowledge For because the contention of Aurelius Bishop of Carthage Augustine and other African Bishops seemed to him a little more hot than it should be with Boniface and Celestine the Roman Popes in the Cause of Apiarius the Priest he supposed it expedient in that Epistle which he feigned in the name of Boniface to patch up what was cut away But away with these things The Church of God is not founded nor does it lean upon Chaff it self being the Pillar and Ground of Truth Baron Martyrol Octob. 16. I will not note how he abuseth the Scriptures nor how he wresteth the words of the H. Apostle to cover a filthy piece of Knavery nor yet in what sense he maketh the last words which he uttereth to sound concerning the Roman Churches being her self the Pillar and Ground of Truth