Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	bishop_n	pope_n	year_n	2,283	5	4.9862	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33698	An account of the court of Portugal, under the reign of the present king, Dom Pedro II with some discourses on the interests of Portugal, with regard to other sovereigns : containing a relation of the most considerable transactions that have pass'd of late between that court, and those of Rome, Spain, France, Vienna, England, &c.	Colbatch, John, 1664-1748.	1700 (1700)	Wing C4991; ESTC R20800	212,299	370

to his House fills it with Armed Men plants Guns at the Windows But this being the Act of a young Man was of no Consequence But had the Portugueses been so resolute in their own cause there is no doubt but they had soon put an end to this trouble nor did they want being set in a way to free themselves from all fear of ever having the like again For seeing themselves cast off by the Pope in so unworthy a manner they had recourse as 't is affirm'd in a Letter or Remonstrance of the three Estates to the Pope to the most celebrated Universities and Doctors in Europe to know their Opinions concerning that course which was fittest for them to take in this Case the answers they received as they are set down in that Letter are as follow Some were of Opinion that the best way to bring the Pope to Reason was to take care that no Money should go out of the Kingdom to Rome upon any account whatsoever whether for Matrimonial Dispensations or Renunciations of Benefices that all beneficed Portugueses abroad should be called home upon pain of having their Profits sequestred that no Pensions be paid to any Persons residing at Rome whether Subjects or Strangers with other things which the Estates out of their great Respect to the Holy See conceal Of this Advice as they say were some belonging to the Court of Rome it self Others would have had the King call a National Council wherein the Clergy might elect a Patriarch who should govern the Kingdom in Spirituals with the Power to Institute and Consecrate Bishops which belonged to Patriarchs according to the Ancient Canons Others thought that the Bishops nominated by the King and proposed to the Pope who had not rejected them by any express Act of denial might immediately enter upon their Charge and exercise the same since the Pope neglected to confirm them in the ordinary way and yet had no objection against them for he had offered to confirm them de motu proprio A fourth was the opinion of a learned Fryar who thought that in this case of necessity they were obliged to have recourse to the way of choosing Bishops anciently practised and approved of by the Canons and used in the Church as he asserted for a much longer time than any other Method viz. For the Chapter of each Diocess to choose their own Bishop and that the Elect being approved of by the Clergy People and King and consecrated by other Bishops the most ancient of the Order in case of want supplying the place of a Metropolitan might immediately enter upon his Charge without waiting for the Pope's confirmation which in this case was not necessary it being saith the Author of this Advice the truest and most certain Opinion and follow'd by most Authors that Bishops upon their Consecration receive their Authority immediately from God This he affirm'd to be grounded upon the words of St. Paul in the 1st Gal. where the Apostle saith that he had receiv'd his Apostleship from God alone and not from the other Apostles no not from St. Peter the chief of them Paulus Apostolus non ab hominibus neque per hominem sed per Jesum Christum and in the 2 Chap. Mihi nihil contulerunt unt aliquid esse nihil i. e. nullam Jurisdictionem nullam Dignitatem nullam Potestatem They that were of this Opinion said further That it is clearly proved from Christ's words to the Apostles sicut me misit Pater in mundum Ego vos mitto in illum whence say they St. Cyprian and St. Cyril gather that our Lord gave as much Power and Authority to his Apostles when he sent them into the World to Preach as he did to St. Peter when he said Quodcunque ligaveris super Terram erit ligatum in caelis quodcunque solveris super Terram erit solutum in caelis it should be ligaveritis solveritis the words being spoken to all the Apostles in the Plural 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 18. 18. the reason is because the words are absolute and will admit of no interpretation from whence it was infer'd that Bishops succeeding the Apostles in their ordinary Office succeed them likewise in the ordinary Jurisdiction annext to that Office and since it cannot be denied but that the Apostles received their Authority immediately from Christ it must be acknowledged that Bishops upon their Consecration do so receive it likewise and therefore have no need that any other should invest them with the Authority they are possess'd of already Two other Opinions were Printed and sent into Portugal upon this occasion both concurring in one conclusion though different ways were taken to it that which both agreed in was that Portugal might and was in duty bound to proceed to the Consecration of the Bishops nominated by the King One of the Authors of this Conclusion asserted that according to the Divine appointment the Right of Election was in the Clergy and People after the same manner as it was practised in the Primitive Church and a long time after which Right he said was afterwards transferred to the Emperors and Princes who had Authority in Ecclesiastical Affairs in order to the good Government of the Common-wealth Ecclesiastical and Civil matters having that mutual Dependence upon each other that they are inseparable That the Popes have acquired the Right of naming Bishops by the Tacit consent and liberality of Princes and this was permitted the rather because Ecclesiastical Discipline was much slack'ned partly by the remisness of Seculars partly by their being taken up in Military Affairs But in case the Pope should become guilty of the like failure the same Right devolved again to the Princes as given up and abandoned by the Pope It was affirm'd likewise that this Right had actually been put in practice on some occasions even in these later times particularly in Castille where in the Year 1399. Bishops were chosen and Consecrated without any Confirmation from the Pope King Henry the 3d. during the great Schism having renounced the Authority of Benedict the 13th and committed the Administration of Ecclesiastical Affairs to the Archbishops and Bishops willing them to make the same Provisions as had been used to come from the Pope Others who were for the same things in effect asserted That according to the ancient Canons it belonged to the Prelates of each Kingdom to institute and consecrate Bishops before the Popes had reserv'd that Power to themselves and undertook to prove that the same thing ought de Jure Divino to be done in the present Case To have Bishops in the Church was they said de Jure Divino Naturali since they are Shepherds of the Souls which cannot all be taken care of by the Pope but their being to be confirm'd by the Pope before their Consecration is only de Jure Humano the Obligation whereof ceases not only in cases of extreme

Quality were Executed for this Plot yet the Inquisitor General was spared for fear of violating the Ecclesiastical Immunities yet it was as much as His Majesty could do to preserve him and some others of the Conspirators from being torn to pieces by the Rabble For these reasons I am perswaded that some other considerations might concur with the authority of the Inquisition to with hold the King from with drawing his Obedience from the Pope what they were I shall not pretend to guess at It is certain that this Prince was so ill advised that neglecting the Counsels of Wise and Learned Men he would never make use of any other remedy but Supplications and most humble submissions to his Holiness and he was ever after despised and slighted at Rome accordingly For this great Deference of his to the Holy See made those he had to deal with there presume the more upon his Patience and reject with the greater contempt all the Petitions that were offered up in his behalf The Portugueses do not use to grow tame under Indignities one would think therefore that Nation should begin to resent this barbarous Usage of their King and themselves And its true they shew'd themselves to be not altogether insensible on this occasion for in the Year 1653. six years after the King's Remonstrance had been given to the Pope the three Estates of the Realm publish a kind of Manifest Entituled The Bleatings Balidos of the Churches of Portugal after the Sovereign Pastor the Pope wherein they give a most lamentable account of their Grievances and how rigorously the Holy Father had dealt with them and to make their Patience appear the more meritorious they let his Holiness understand that they might have remedied themselves if they had a mind to it setting forth at large the opinions of the Learned on their Case and the reasons they were grounded on which yet instead of making a right use of them they set themselves after their manner to confute and afterwards enter'd a solemn Protest which since it contains the substance of their answers to the advice their Friends had given them I shall here set down that the World may see upon what solid grounds the three Estates of a Kingdom thought fit to intail the most intolerable Yoke of Bondage upon themselves and their Posterity They declare That they hold it for an infallible Truth that the Pope as he is Christ's Vicar on Earth Universal Pastor of the Church and the lawful Successor of St. Peter is the Sovereign Monarch of the Church all the Authority and Power of other Ministers being derived wholly from him which he may suspend and limit in what form and manner he thinks convenient it being unlawful for any other Potentate to intermeddle with his Government secular Princes having nothing to do in the Affairs belonging to the Church any further than contributing to her Defence and Prosperity That though various methods have been used for the Election and Confirmation of Bishops yet it is an undoubted Truth that it hath always been with the express or at least the Tacit Approbation of the Pope who has appointed and consented to those several ways according to the different circumstances of the Times nor hath it been ever proved say they that there were Bishops at any time without this confirmation Particularly they confess and hold for certain that in the Primitive Church after the Apostles times this Power returned to and remained in the Pope That if Bishops were afterwards chosen by the Clergy and People it was by the Pope's Permission if secular Princes in those times intermeddled in these Elections either by concession from the Pope or by their own Authority with an Usurpative Right yet they had never any true Right of their own to do it and for this reason the Apostles in the very beginning of the Church forbad them to concern themselves in these matters and if any Princes pretended to it the Popes severely censured and checked them for it and they coming to understand from whence they had this Right were brought at last to lay it aside and by this means it came to pass that no Respect was had to Princes or the consent of the People but the Power of Elections remained by the Pope's Authority in the Clergy and Fryars of the Diocess and at last in the Chapters alone And thus it continued to the Pontificate of Boniface the 8th and Clement the 5th who began to reserve the Power of instituting Bishops to themselves in some Cases and after that Innocent the 4th by a Rule in Chancery reserved it wholly to the Apostolical See So that say they This Prerogative and Right to create Bishops was always in the Pope as 't is at present they acknowledge indeed that even after the Rule in Chancery came to be in force many Princes continued to nominate Bishops for their own Kingdoms and Dominions but this was by Concession from the Pope or upon Presumption of a Privilege arising by Custom approv'd of by the Apostolical See But that it was in the Pope's breast to receive or reject their Nomination which did no more than capacitate the Person named to procure the Pope's Confirmation and sue out the Apostolical Bulls It is likewise say they An undoubted Truth that the Power of Election which hath formerly been in the Chapter is now wholly extinguished by means of the Reservation made by the Rule in Chancery so that at this time the Pope's Creation or Institution of Bishops cannot properly be called a Confirmation because Confirmation supposeth a preceding Election but Elections are now wholly abolished by reason and virtue of the aforesaid Rule in Chancery and lastly they hold for certain that notwithstanding there was a time when Patriarchs Metropolitans and National Councils had power to confirm Bishops they have now no such Power nor can they exercise it in any case since they enjoy'd it only by the Pope's permission and while there was place for Confirmation before Elections were abolished when the Power to appoint Bishops had not been yet reserved by the Pope to himself viz. by the aforesaid Rule in Chancery Had an Agent from Rome or an Inquisitor argued after this manner it had been no wonder since daily experience shows how far Interest and Passion will blind a Man's Reason and what silly Arguments shall serve the turn for want of better when one is prepossest with hopes of some vast Advantage by gaining the cause but for the three Estates of a Nation after what had been demonstrated to them from Scripture and Fathers from the constant Tradition and uniform practice of the Catholick Church thus to renounce their Sense and Reason in order only to enslave themselves when Liberty was offer'd them is such a Prodigy that I believe no History can furnish us with a like Instance Here we have People exposing their Church and Nation to ruin because a Negative was never proved it having never

Dom Nuno Alvarez Pereira upon the account of his Quality he being then as he is still the only Duke in the Kingdom was chosen Spokesman and he at the Head of the rest in the Name of the Queen the King's Brother and Sister the Court and the whole Kingdom admonish'd His Majesty to change the whole Course of his Life and not to expose as he did himself and the Nation to ruine Another time she assembled together the Officers of the Crown the Courts of Justice the Nobility and Gentlemen about the Court and the Magistrates of Lisbon The Design of this great Assembly was to make a more solemn Remonstrance to the King and withal to remove one Antonio Conti from about his Person this Conti had been one of those Boys that had had the good hap to get into the King's Favour by distinguishing himself at the Exercises aforementioned and by this means from serving in a Pedling Shop in the Capella a small Cloyster within the Palace he grew to be a considerable Person at Court becoming the King 's constant Companion in his Extravagancies and he was thought to contribute more to the corrupting of him than any other Person whatsoever The seizing of this Conti was the first thing to be put in Execution and therefore whilst the Queen Mother entertain'd the King in private the Duke of Cadaval with some other Lords took him violently out of the Palace it self where he had shut himself up in the King 's own Apartment which the Duke was ready to force and had done it had not Conti opened to him he having caus'd instruments to be brought in order to break down the Doors resolving to kill Conti upon the Place in case he refus'd to surrender himself Conti taken and with some others of the like Stamp convey'd on Board a Ship then under Sail for Brazil the whole Company came and presented themselves before the King and in the Name of them all the Secretary of State read a Remonstrance to him that had been drawn up by general Consent it contain'd an account of the Queens Complaints the Grievances of the Nation the King 's ill Conduct and the Exorbitancies of his Favourites The King was mightily surpriz'd to see himself thus unexpectedly attack'd by so great a Crowd of People for he had not the least Warning given him of their coming was so little prepared to receive and answer their Address that it was some time after the Company was gone before he knew what Business brought them thither and this makes it look as if there was some further Design in hand than barely the King's Amendment 'T is plain that in case the Queen had a Design to create a mutual Distrust between her Son and all the most Considerable Persons in the Kingdom in order to keep him out and secure her self in the Government she could not have taken a more effectual Course to gain her Ends. She might be sure that those she employ'd in such ungrateful Offices would be very unwilling to see Alfonso in a condition to call them to account the Portuguese Nation is as little addicted to Forgiveness as any perhaps in Europe and such as are apt to revenge Injuries themselves do of course expect the like Returns from those they have offended Alfonso was a Prince violent of his Nature had not been bred to restrain or dissemble his Resentments so that these who had thus violated the Palace of their King and had laid open his Infirmities to the World in so publick and solemn a manner as they had wounded him in his most sensible part could never think themselves seeure while it was in his power to revenge the Affronts And this seems to me to have been the Rise of that powerful Party which the New Queen found so ready to stand by her to prosecute her Quarrels and which enabled her at last to finish what the Queen Mother contrary to her intentions no doubt had begun that is the Ruine of the Unfortunate Alfonso This great Assembly dissolv'd the King coming to understand upon what account they had been with him and what they had been doing about his Palace after he had given way to the first Transports of his Passion began to think it was high time for him to assert his Authority and to secure himself from the like Insults or rather to beware of a Third Admonition His Mother by using him so like a Minor at the end of Five Years that had past since the time of his Majority did not a little confirm him in his suspicions that he was never like to come of Age while she liv'd nor perhaps enjoy the Crown at her Death for he had been for some time perswaded that her intention was to set up the Infante his Brother in his place wherefore he resolv'd once for all to withdraw himself from under her Jurisdiction by wresting if it were possible the power out of her hands 't is hard to tell whether these and the like thoughts were suggested to him or confirm'd by Dom Luis de Vascomcellos Sousa Conde de Castelmelhor but 't is not doubted that the Project of putting them in execution was form'd presently after the Queen Mother and her Party were withdrawn when the King shut himself up for some time with the Conde This Nobleman was of the First Quality and one of the best Families in Portugal but of Fortunes not equal to his Birth or at least not to his aspiring mind for tho' he was then but young yet he had for some time been entertaining great Designs in his Head which an occasion now offering it self he made appear that he wanted neither Courage nor Abilities to go through with He had improved his natural Endowments by Travel an advantage not common to those of his Rank in Portugal and he himself had been obliged to it by Necessity rather than Choice he having had the Misfortune to be engag'd with several other Noble-men in a Quarrel wherein one of them was kill'd It is reported of him that while he was in Italy in the time of his Flight he took occasion to declare That he must needs go home for his mind gave him that it would be his Fortune one day to become the greatest Man in Portugal The late King having granted him his Pardon and upon his Death-Bed reconciled the Parties he came again to Court and when Alfonso's Houshold was settled he by means of his Countesses Relations got in to be a Gentleman of the Bed-Chamber 'T was his Week when this great Stir was made about the Court but the Queen had not thought fit to make him of the Party and his Enemies give the World to understand that it was for this and no other reason that he dis-approv'd of the action But he appear'd a little too warm while the business was transacting to let one think he was so very indifferent for meeting with the Duke in a Gallery while he was in pursuit of

Philip the Second was then possess'd of Portugal It was received by the Spaniards with great Satisfaction for in truth it seem'd to give them a Divine Right to the Crown of Portugal For who could think otherwise but that Philip was the Person design'd in the Promise that it was he who had been pitch'd upon by Providence so many Ages before to supply the Default of Alfonso Henriquez's Off-spring which in his time had suffered so great a Diminution that Sebastian the 16th was the last of the Male-Line he was surviv'd indeed and succeeded by his old decrepid great Uncle Henry the Cardinal who was the 16th King excluding Alfonso Henriquez but he did nothing else in his short Reign than secure the Crown to Philip. And this diminution of the Royal Family was the more remarkable for that of the nine Sons of King Emanuel whereof six lived to be Men there was no lawful Issue of the Male-Line remaining at Henry's Death So that this Paper made so much for Philip's Purpose that none question'd its Authority among the Spaniards their Writers whereof a considerable Number might be cited look'd upon it as unquestionable and great use was made of it in the great Controversie about Precedency between the Catholick and the French Kings insomuch that Valdes who by Command from the former wrote the Treatise De Dignitate Regum which was presented to the Pope lays a mighty stress upon his Master's being King of Portugal which in his Opinion ought to give him the Right of Precedency since that Kingdom was as he asserts of a Divine Foundation proving his Assertion from the Authority of this Paper whereof he produces a Copy But when the Portugueses in the Year 1640 revolted from the Spaniards and began to turn the Prediction against them finding that John Duke of Bragança was the Person design'd by it they then changed their Note and question'd the Authority of the Piece yet having so often allowed of its Antiquity they did not flatly deny but it might be as ancient as the Date but thought it was a Device of Alfonso Henriquez upon whose bare Word or Oath the Credit of the Vision relies for it is not pretended that any saw it but himself and that this Prince might feign the Story to establish his Authority and make himself more reverenc'd by the People Should I pursue this Matter ae far as it would go it would engage me in a long History of the Sebastianists and Fifth Monarchists of Portugal for which I have now neither time nor room But my present Business is with the great Vieira Upon the Revolution in 1640 the Portugueses almost to a Man the Sebastianists excepted saw clearly that the Duke of Bragança was the Person in whom the new Empire should have its Rise For tho' Sebastian was the 16th King yet this Duke was of the 16th Generation and therefore his Pretensions were more agreeable to the Letter of the Prediction but yet to make him of the 16th Generation they were fain to include Alfonso Henriquez for one which the Spaniards thought a very material Objection However Vieira shews how that it was ordain'd by Providence that the Dukes of Bragança should supply the defect of the Male Line For he proves that a like Method was follow'd in the Kingdom of Judah the only Kingdom of Divine Foundation besides that of Portugal his Argument is drawn from these Words of Jacob Non auferetur Sceptrum de Judah Dux de femore ejus donec veniat qui mittendus est Here he would have us mark well that the word Sceptrum signifies Kings and the word Dux Dukes and so the Text declares that there should be no Failure of Kings and Dukes of the Descendants of Judah and accordingly after the Kings had fail'd in the time of the Captivity the Dukes succeeded such were Zerubbabel and the Maccabees And in the same manner when the direct Line of Portugal fail'd the Kingdom was to be supply'd by the Dukes viz. the Dukes of Bragança But he thinks that what was said concerning the Diminution or Attenuation of the Royal Off-spring was to be accomplish'd in the Sons of John the Fourth As First By the Death of Dom Theodosio the Eldest and next in Alfonso and that partly by the Sickness he had in his Childhood for the Father had been a great Stickler for the Party which held Alfonso to be lame and maim'd all over his Right-side and was one of the first that were banished at that Prince's taking upon him the Government being suspected to have drawn up the Remonstrance read to him by the Secretaty of State and yet he tells his Auditors by the way That one half of a Portuguese King should be able to beat the greatest Monarch in the World But the Diminution was compleated at Alfonso's Death for then the Royal Family was reduced to one single Male viz. his present Majesty Dom Pedro whom he makes to be the Proles attenuata of the 16th Generation upon whom the words Ipse respiciet videbit were to be fulfilled Now he asserts that Respicere videre in the Prediction signifies to give a Son because Hannah saith 1 Reg. 1 Cap. Si respicieNs videris afflictionem famulae tuae dederisque sexum virilem Adding that it is not to give one but many Male-Children For we read in the same Chapter Donec sterilis peperit plurimos But during the time of the King's Marriage with his first Queen this Prophecy was like to come to nothing since in all that time he had but one Daughter whereas Respicere videre plainly signifies to give a great many Sons and the King's want of Male-Issue could not be supply'd by the Infanta's Marriage with the Duke of Savoy For the King being the Off-spring of the 16th Generation was himself the 17th Generation and the Infanta the 18th so that the Promise could not reach to her Issue And if the Crown had been settled as 't was intended upon her the Prophecy could never be fulfilled Hence as the Father thinks it was that the Match with Savoy was broken off in so surprizing a manner and that his Majesty's first Queen died to make way for his Second Marriage by which he had this Son to whom we are now to return Upon the Birth of this Child the Father mounts the Chair and takes for his Text these words Respexit vidit proves by Arguments not worth repeating That Xavier was the shining Ray that was seen by Alfonso Henriquez before the Crucifix appear'd to him shews how Xavier procured the Kingdom for John the Fourth and this Son for the present King He demonstrates that since King Peter is the diminish'd Off-spring of the 16th Generation This must be the Child promised by Ipse respiciet videbit He then goes on to shew how that the Child was to be an Emperor because the Crucifix in the beginning of his Discourse spoke only of a Kingdom and the Title of a

necessity but in that which is called Gravissima That it could not be denied but the Necessity of the Churches of Portugal for Bishops at that time was Gravissima and that of the Dominions thereof in other parts of the World Extreme This grand Arcanum of the Papal Empire that Bishops may be made out of Rome and without the Pope's concurrence being thus happily discovered the Portugueses were now put in a fair way to restore the Ancient Discipline to their Church and with it prosperity to their Nation it being evident that the Miseries they labour under as well as the horrible Corruptions in their Religion are no other than the necessary Effects of the Papal Usurpation and Tyranny and it appears that King John did for some time approve of the good Advice that had been given him at least that he would have it thought so at Rome for he ordered his Agent there to get a Remonstrance to be put into the Pope's hands wherein among other things he declares That he had been assured by very learned Men that when access and recourse to the Holy See could not be had it belonged to the Chapters to choose their Bishops upon his Nomination according as it had formerly been practised in Spain and was still observed in some places that his Holiness had no reason to be dissatisfi'd if he took up with this Resolution after he had suffered himself to be so much slighted while he had the Remedy in his own hands that if his Holiness were finally resolved to prefer the Interests of Castille to his just Rights he for his part would justifie himself before all Christian Princes so that the blame of what followed should never be laid on him Had the King proceeded so far as to convince the Pope that he was in earnest he had brought him no doubt to his own terms or else might have done that for which his Posterity and Country would have the greatest cause to bless his Memory that is have shaken off that intolerable Yoke under which they are now sinking The very mention of having Bishops chosen by the Chapters upon the King's Nomination put Innocent into a terrible Fright he had nothing to say against the practice or the necessity of it in the present case But here the Inquisition of Portugal interpos'd its Authority and delivered the Pope from the Agony he was in by condemning the two last Opinions and that for a reason which comprehends the rest they declaring the Pope as Universal Head of the Roman Church to have all Monarchical Power and to be the Fountain of all Spiritual Jurisdiction which cannot be derived to Ecclesiastical Ministers without his express Concession and Will This peremptory sentence of the Inquisition put a stop to all further Proceedings in this Affair The Pope reassumed new Courage and continued as Insolent as ever after the King's Declaration had brought him to his Wits-end for as the Conde da Ericeyra in his Portugal Restaurado tells the World his Holiness did not stick to declare That the Holy Office had delivered him out of the greatest Perplexity by cutting a knot which of himself he durst not meddle with The same noble Author tell us That the King desisted from his Resolution for no other reason but because the Inquisition did not approve of it while there were as he saith a great number of learned Men both within and without the Kingdom ready to justifie and maintain it so that according to the Conde it is to the Inquisitors that the Portugueses owe the continuance of their Bondage and there is no question but they did their utmost to obstruct the King's Design supposing that he had a real intention to shake off the Roman Yoke for should the Church of Portugal recover her Liberty and have her Bishops restored to their just Authority the Holy Office must fall of course were the design of that Office no other than is pretended it is at best but an encroachment upon the Episcopal Jurisdiction for to the Bishops it belongs of right to give Judgment in matters of Religion and superintend the Discipline of the Church and they all along exercised this Jurisdiction which they derive through the Apostles from Christ with that Gentleness Tenderness and Charity as became the true Fathers of the Church till the Popes began to usurp the whole Power to themselves or impart it to Creatures of their own and among the rest to these Wolves of Inquisitors whom in the heighth of their Tyranny they let loose upon the Church to dispossess the Shepherds and ravage the Flock but should an end be put to the Papal Usurpations there would be no further occasion for Inquisitors and therefore it had been no wonder if of their own heads they made this desperate Effort to preserve their Master and themselves But in Truth had King John been fully bent to break with Rome it is much to be question'd whether all the Power of the Inquisition as great as it is suppos'd to be could have frustrated his design for in reality this Tribunal since its last establishment in Portugal hath had its chief support from the Kings who on several occasions have maintain'd it in spight of the Court of Rome it self Had the King withdrawn his Protection it is not unlikely but the Bishops of themselves might have made their Party good For the People doubtless would prefer their Government to that of the Inquisitors as chusing rather to be under the Discipline of a Father than in the hands of those barbarous Executioners Besides it was an easie matter for the King to hinder the Inquisitors from giving him any trouble some of the chief of them ow'd their lives to his Mercy the Inquisitor General for one who stood convicted as a Principal of the most horrible Treason that ever Traitor was charg'd with it was for no less a Crime than a design to murther the King fire the City and betray his Country to the Spaniards It is said that in order to the Execution of this Treason the Holy House had been fill'd with Arms and that which made the Plot the more remarkable the undermanagers of it were some of the leading Men among the New Christians against whom the Inquisition was erected and upon whom the Inquisitors for the most part exercise their Barbarities and thereby gain what favour they have with the People for the rest of the Portuguses bear a mortal hatred against those among them that go by the Name of New Christians whom these Impostors represent as Jews in their hearts pretending that their Jewish blood makes them such whether they will or no. But on this occasion it was observed That the Inquisition and the Synagogue were of accord together to destroy their Country and it is very likely that the King had he pleased might have rendered the one as odious to the people as the other was But he took other measures and though several Noble Men of the first