that thy faith fail not is as good a proof of the Popes infalliblility as is this Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them to prove that Councils are infallible That General Councils came into the world but by accident But if we consult the light of reason and common sense can any one endure to see infallibility ascribed to these Assemblies that they call General Councils things which have either never been at all or rarely and by accident For as to Diocesan Provincial and National Councils the pretence of infallibility reaches not to them Let us then reflect a little that these General Councils were not known in the Church till the conversion of the Roman Emperours Constantine is the first of these Emperours The Council of Nice held in the year 325. is the first of these General Councils that is to say that for three hundred years together the Church had no such thing as an infallible Judge Bellarmine says very well that the Church having continued without General Councils for three hundred years might as well have done so for three hundred more or even for six or for nine hundred Or it may be it was because there was in those days no need of any Council there were then either no Hereticks or none that openly contended with the Church but a spirit of meekness and submission prevailed among all Believers So far from it that Satan did never sight against the truths of the Gospel nor poison Christendom with more or greater Heresies than in those times The works of Tertullian of Irenaeus of St. Austin and of many others of the Fathers do sufficiently shew it Let us know a little where rested this infallible spirit during the three first Centuries if it be true that it is only to be found in General Councils there having been none during all that time But the Church possibly was not then infallible Could it be ever made out that infallibility were one of the priviledges of the Church it were much more tolerable to allow it to a See that hath been constantly supplied with an uninterrupted Succession of Bishops as that of Rome And it falls more readily under our apprehension of things for the Holy Ghost so to inspire and guide some one particular person than a numerous Assembly whereof the greater part of the members that compose it are very often either counterfeit Christians or men of restless and turbulent minds I think it will not be unworthy of our remark that these Assemblies which they are pleased to entitle General Councils have been but by accident introduced into the Church It is the conversion of the Emperours that occasioned them Let us suppose that the Roman Emperours had continued Pagan as it was very possible there had been then no means of assembling the Clergy of the whole Christian world and consequently the Church had been always abandoned to a spirit of Error The Pagan Emperours would never have suffered the Christians from all parts of the Empire and of the world it self to have met together in a body and united in a Council they would have been jealous that the publick safety might have been endangered from such kind of Assemblies It is therefore evident that the conversion of the Emperors gave occasion to them and for that reason that they are but accidental things But this will be yet more clear if we farther suppose what might also very well have hapned that when the Roman Emperours became Converts to the faith of Christ they had lost the greatest part of their Empire and retained no more than Italy or some less considerable Province It is certain that in such case they could not have assembled the Clergy of the whole Christian World For the neighbouring Princes at enmity with them would never have permitted the Bishops subject to them to transport themselves into an enemies Country lest they might there be seduced to revolt and shake off the Dominion of their new Masters From all which it is most apparent that it was very possible that there might never have been any General Council known in the Church and that what hath been is purely by accident But such things as are ordained of God for preservation of the truth cannot be said to have fallen out by accident Besides according to the order of Gods Providence in the Government of the Church Councils were designed to judge infallibly of Controversies why hath it not pleased God to remove those obstructions that hindred the forming of these Councils under the Pagan Emperours For tho it is true that jealousie of State might have proved a powerful obstacle yet it is as true that as great difficulties have been surmounted All time were not alike averse to Christianity There have been among the Heathen Emperours some that were favourable to it and what could not have been done at one time might have been effected at another nevertheless this design of a General Council came never into any mans head till Constantine Was it ever known for the first three hundred years together that the Bishops had any intent of assembling from all parts of the World Or is it so much as read in any Author that they complained for not being able to do it If it be true that these Assemblies are the unerring Guides of the Church the Fathers of the three first Centuries could not be ignorant of it if they knew it it was a most supine and wretched negligence not to use their utmost efforts for the assembling these infallible Judges to have put an end to the many differences that then disquieted the Church or if they found it absolutely impossible for them to convene them it is yet a strange insensibility never so much as to lament the affliction of such an incapacity Tertullian in his Book de Prescriptionibus tells us all the several methods by him conceived most proper for convincing of Hereticks What an astonishing thing is it that he should not speak one word of doing it by General Councils a way so sure so ready so infallible It must certainly be that the Fathers never dreamt of these infallible Judges I conclude therefore that to deal sincerely one must needs confess that the zeal of Constantine did alone occasion that Assembly that is called the first General Council and by the Model of which the rest were formed For the better determining a great Controversie he was desirous to convene as many Bishops as he could even all that were in the large extent of his vast Empire that so their Decision might be the more solemn and efficacious And this is the original of General Councils The Christian Emperours called together the Bishops from all parts of the Roman Empire That Empire was called in the stile not of the Church only but of the Apostles also the whole world and the Councils have taken from thence the name of General or Universal Councils
memory of the Council of Trent was still fresh in Mens Minds so that he may very well pass for a contemporary Author He was a Neighbour to the place where the things he writes of had been transacted He lived in a City full of Curious Persons who had collected Memorials of what had passed in this great Affair and was himself one that kept correspondence with all the Learned Men of Europe Nay he had great intimacy with Oliva Camillo who had been Secretary to the Cardinal of Mantua Legat and President of the Council in the last Convocation and there is no doubt but he drew considerable advantages to his Work from such a Person who had been an Eye-witness of all that had passed Now since this Author was neither Lutheran nor Protestant he is not in reason to be suspected of the Church of Rome and as he was no servile Idolater of the Roman Court he ought not to be suspected of the Protestants There shines indeed throughout his whole Work an Air of sincerity and honesty which happily united to his vast Abilities has made him pass as unquestionably the ablest of his Age in the Art of writing History But in an Age so depraved as ours it is dangerous to be honest The Sincerity of Father Paul hath raised against him a multitude of Enemies The Court of Rome endeavours to make him pass for a Villain an Impostor and the most Profligate of Men and his Work for a malevolent and poisonous Satyr And yet to so many important Truths by him laid open to the World nothing but Scurrilities are opposed till at last after forty years Cardinal Pallavicini it seems bethought himself to publish a new History of the Council of Trent or if you please an Answer to Father Paul for he cites him and refutes him in every Page This Work appeared with all the External Advantages that can well recommend a Book It had Pope Alexander VII to whom it was dedicated for Patron and for Author one of the so called Princes of the Church One that was of a Society well acquainted with the Arts of engaging Mens Minds and one that in this Work defended a Darling Cause favoured and supported by the Number and Quality of its Partisans And yet with all this he has not been able to attract all that applause and approbation that the Court of Rome had hoped Men judged that he came much too late to instruct them in the Transactions of this Council Nor indeed is an Opinion once setled so easily shaken off After having left not be forgotten he takes care to have it repeated in an Epistle Dedicatory that he causes his Bookseller to make to the second Volume Yet all that knew him affirm him to have been one of the most Wise and Pious Men of great Moderation in his Passions and very Religious The Proof the Cardinal brings of his Accusation is this that Father Paul having all the Heretical Opinions did yet live in the Communion of the Catholick Church which shewed a setled Contempt of Religion This sure is a rash way of reasoning It is true that by the Principles of the Court of Rome Father Paul was a Heretick for he did not believe that the Pope was absolute Lord of the Church that he had Power to Excommunicate Princes and interdict their Dominions at his pleasure He did not believe there was any Obligation for a blind Obedience to the Pope's Commands He did believe it very possible for the Pope to err and that there is no submission due to his Errors And he highly disapproved that corruption in Discipline and Manners every where prevalent but chiefly in the Papal Court I must confess that according to the Principles of Cardinal Pallavicini and those of his Party this is enough to make him pass at Rome for Impious and an Atheist And yet Father Paul in all his contests with the Pope for the Republick of Venice hath always spoken of what they call the Holy See with the greatest respect imaginable He lived and died in his Religion with the greatest Devotion in the World He was most exact in the observation of all the Ceremonies of his Church And though he was of a nice and tender Constitution yet would he never dispence with himself in the keeping of Lent even to seventy years of Age. In a word he was an Atheist after the same manner that an infinite number of Persons of Vertue and Honour in France Flanders and Germany are so who will not be Slaves to the Court of Rome who wish that several things were reformed in the Church and yet disapprove the Separation of the Protestants It had been a surprizing thing for a Jesuit to write the History of Lutheranism without frequent Blows at Father Paul It is not therefore to be wondered at if Father Maimbourg treats him sometimes a little roughly Though it must yet be said that he does it with less rudeness than the Cardinal As I do not judg it needful to enter into the Particulars of the Accusations of Cardinal Pallavicini for the justification of Father Paul because it would draw me too far so for the same reason I shall not amuse my self to justifie him in certain matters wherein Father Maimbourg accuses him though it were very easie to shew that Father Paul is more in the right than Father Maimbourg But yet I cannot but here take some notice of what a sufficient known Author says in a little Book containing Reflections upon History and upon the Art of writing History This Author judges of the Quality and Merit of Historians methinks after a very Magisterial manner Among others he speaks of Father Paul and says Pag. 125. Never was anything written with greater wit or with less reason and truth He is facetious upon all occasions that he may not be thought angry and is much too airy in a subject so serious If this Author had consulted Thuanus to whom the French owe some respect his History being an honour to their Country he would not have given such a Character of the Historian of the Council of Trent for he would have seen that these two great men do perfectly agree For my part by our modern Authors good leave I shall much rather give credit to M. de Salo a famous Counsellour in the Parliament of Paris Author of the first Journals under the name of the Sieur de Hedouville And thus he speaks in the Journal of 23 of March 1665. As Cardinal Pallavicini has ordered it one cannot read nor understand his Book without also reading Father Paul's And then there is some danger that History being very well done that one may prefer it before the Cardinals which may be truer but is not more probable It is easie to ununderstand the meaning of these words from so prudent a person as M. de Hedouville I am tempted to believe that the Author of the Reflections upon the Art of writing History has never read
Leo X. of the House of Medicis was chosen in his place the eleventh of March 1513 who quickly re-united the separated Cardinals and reconciled the King of France to the holy See Leo X. had many good qualities for a Prince but few of those that are requisite for a good Pope he was liberal generous gentile civil courteous and a lover of men of learning but he was not over Devout nor much addicted to the affairs of Religion He was magnificent and very expensive insomuch that for a supply to this profusion he was soon forced to betake himself to the means often practised by the Court of Rome for raising of Money Leo X. sends Indulgences into Germany I mean the emission and publication of Indulgences Laurence Pucci Cardinal of Santiquatro advised him to this expedient The original of the tribute of Indulgences and it was a kind of Tribute that took its rise in the Church after the eleventh Century and owes its original to the Croisades which were made at that time for the expedition and conquest of the Holy Land Urban II. granted Indulgences to all that would list themselves under the Cross and engage in that expedition In subsequent Croisades the same Indulgences were granted to those who not being able to goe in person did send a Souldier to the Holy War at length those who desired the benefit of the Indulgences but would neither goe nor send to the War purchased their exemption by money In process of time whensoever the Court of Rome stood in need of money they published a distribution of Indulgences in favour of all that would contribute to their necessities Then were Rates set on Sins and he that had a mind to compound knew what he was to pay for the Crime he desired a Pardon for Leo X. caused therefore a Sale of these Pardons to be published in all the Provinces subject to the Church of Rome and gave to his Sister Magdalene married to Francesco Cibo Natural Son to Pope Innocent VIII the profits that did accrue from the distribution of these Indulgences in the Province of Saxony and a great part of Germany Magdalene for raising of this Tribute made use of one Arembold who from a Genoese year 1520 of the Lutherans from the Church of Rome for on the one hand the Universities of Louvain and Cologne burnt the writings of Luther Luther burns the Pope's Bull and the Book of Decretals and on the other Luther assembled the University of Wittemberg and obtained a sentence whereby not onely the Pope's Bull but all the Decretals were condemned to the flames which was accordingly executed At the same time for his own Justification he published a Manifesto wherein he accuses the Pope as a Tyrant for having usurped a Supremacy over Kings and Princes and corrupted the Doctrine of the Church the Pope was thought to have raised this storm by his Precipitance and by an unseasonable and ill weighed Zeal nor indeed could the more moderate approve the Bull of Leo they thought it violent and were amazed that with so little formality he had ventured to decide matters of so great importance And as every one had a lash at that Bull so the Grammarians were pleased to play upon a Period in it consisting of four hundred words inserted betwixt these two inhibentes omnibus and these other nè praefatos errors asserere praesumant The Emperour Charles the Fifth after the Death of his Grandfather Maximilian being in the Year 1520 chosen Emperour next year after held a Diet at Wormes concerning the Affairs of Religion Luther cited to Wormes before the Emperour Charles the Fifth Luther was cited thither came under safe conduct of the Emperour and appeared before him on the 17th of April there he was exhorted to burn his Books and to recant but he answered with the same resolution that brought him thither for his friends had done all they could to divert him from that Journey and had no other answer from him but that if year 1521 all the Devils in Hell had conspired against him yet would he not be hindered from going thither from appearing and maintaining his opinions all that can terrifie a man or daunt a heart was employed against Luther in that Diet but without any success He would neither recant nor condemn his Doctrine for no more could be obtained from him but an acknowledgment that his manner of writing was too eager and violent which he promised to mend for the future they were about to secure his Person notwithstanding the Emperour 's safe conduct according to the procedure of the Council of Constance in relation to John Huss but the Electour Palatine withstood it and Charles the Fifth himself being unwilling either to stain his reputation or violate his promise by such a Treachery sent him home resolving to prosecute him by fair means and to give him his hands full on 't in an open Trial. Accordingly he was the same year and in the same Assembly accused and sentenced by an Edict past the 8th of May whereby Luther's writings were condemned to be burnt The Edict of Wormes against Luther his Person to be seized within twenty days and committed to prison with strict prohibition to all Princes and States to harbour or relieve him but for all this the Electour of Saxony secured him in a Castle where he continued Nine months no man knowing where he was And now did every one reckon it an honour to appear in publick against him the University of Paris condemned his Doctrine Henry the Eighth of England Henry VIII King of England writes against him who had followed his Studies in order to have been Archbishop of Canterbury before the Death of his Elder brother wrote likewise against him for the seven Sacraments and the Authority of the Pope Leo X. was gratefull to that Prince and in recompence gave him the Title of Defender of the Faith which the Kings of England bear to this day Luther answered all these writings not sparing Henry the Eighth whom without any respect to his dignity he answered with much sharpness and severity All Europe was presently full of these writings and the heat of the controversie and quality of those who engaged in the quarrel excited the Curiosity of many every one was willing to know and pry into the matter under debate and that was the reason why many espoused the Party of those who condemned Corruptions and demanded the Reformation of the Church Zurich receives the reformation of Zuinglius At the same time Zuinglius made great Progresses at Zurich The Bishop of Constance having sent thither the Pope's Bull and the Edict of the Emperour exhorted the Senate to banish Zuinglius and to continue in Submission and Obedience to the Church of Rome but Zuinglius wrote back to the Bishop concerning that matter and to all the Cantons of Suisserland The Senate at length appointed an Assembly of
Pope that all the Mischief sprung from the Court of Rome and that therefore before any violent course could be used against the Lutherans it was necessary to attempt the Reformation of the Ecclesiasticks they demanded that the Annates which had been formerly appointed for carrying on the War against the Turks might be no more sent to Rome but that they should remain in the Empire in the hands of a Receiver to be named for which he should be accountable In a word they solicited the Pope speedily to call a free Council in Germany where all as well Seculars as Church-men might have free liberty to speak their opinions This discourse did not at all please the Nuncio and therefore he addressed himself in a manner not very satisfactory to the Diet for his answer tended onely to let them know that Germany ought to suffer with patience and expect the Reformation from the holy See and withall told them that he took it ill that in demanding a Council the Diet had added these words with the Consent of his Imperial Majesty The secular Princes who felt the oppression stopt not there they met by themselves and formed that famous writing which they called centum gravamina the hundred Grievances the Nuncio had notice of it but he departed before it was drawn up fair and therefore they themselves sent it to the Pope These hundred Grievances related chiefly to the oppression that the Seculars suffered from the Church-men the Usurpation of their Estates by the Clergy the means practised by the Church-men and Court of Rome to pillage the People the Annates Reservations abuse of Commendums the selling of the Sacraments and Burying the Exemptions of the Clergy and the manner of transferring Causes from Civil to Ecclesiastick Courts And because the Emperour Charles the V. was then in Spain the Diet that was held in his absence did both act and speak with greater Liberty so the Recess that is to year 1523 say the Decree of the Diet past sixth of March 1523. and immediately thereafter all the Memoires of it were printed to wit the Pope's Brief the Nuncio's instructions the Diets answer and the hundred Grievances Those that were engaged in the Interests of the Court of Rome were not well pleased to find in the Brief the frank and ingenuous Confession of Adrian that the original of the Mischief proceeded from the Corruption of his Court and the looseness of the Discipline and Manners of the Church This Diet did certainly much forward the Affairs of the Lutherans but Adrian lived not long after the Return of his Nuncio for he died the 13th of September 1523. without being much lamented by the Court of Rome who stood in awe of his Probity and the sincere Intentions which he still retained in his Heart of reforming the Abuses of that Court. CLEM. VII Adrian dies without any thing done Julius of Medicis is chosen in his place by the name of Clement VII On the nineteenth of November Julius of Medicis Cosin to Leo X. was chosen Pope who took the name of Clement VII he was certainly a man of less vertue than Adrian but of more wit greater politick cunning and address and more skill in the true interests of the Court of Rome He took a course quite opposite to that of Adrian and was not of opinion to acknowledge so frankly the disorders which he intended not to meddle with Nevertheless seeing he observed in the centum gravamina He sends another Legate into Germany to the Diet at Nuremberg that most of the Articles referred to the German Clergy he thought fit in some things to satisfie the Germans He therefore sent Laurence Campeggio Cardinal of St. Anastase to the Diet at Nuremberg which was held in the year 1524. year 1524 he gave him his instructions to act and speak in that Diet as if he had been wholly ignorant of what had past the year before under Adrian for the Cardinal spoke not a word of the hundred Grievances but onely offered a Reformation of the inferiour Clergy The Diet made answer that they were in the same mind as they had been the year before and that they had given in writing what they demanded and what they thought necessary for composing the troubles of Religion The Cardinal answered that neither the Pope nor he had ever heard of any Writings being presented to the College of Cardinals that indeed some Copies of the centum gravamina had been seen at Rome but that it was not believed that that Writing had been framed by the Princes of the Empire but was rather looked upon as the work of some private person a great enemy to the Court of Rome He added that the Pope was ready to satisfie the Germans touching the Reformation and that he himself had a full power to set about it The Diet built no great hopes upon these fair promises however they deputed some Princes to confer with the Cardinal but these conferences produced nothing at all for the Princes persisted in demanding the Reformation of the Court of Rome and the Cardinal refused it nor would he engage any farther than in reforming the Clergy of Germany In that he was as good as his word for he made a kind of Reformation which reached onely the puny Clergy but it was rejected by the Diet who perceived that it made onely for raising the power and greatness of the Prelates by lessening their inferiours The 18. of April the Diet pass'd their Edict the Emperour being absent as he was the year before Amongst other things it was concluded in that Recess that a free Council should by the Pope and consent of the Emperour with all expedition be convened in Germany that the States of the Empire should assemble at Spire to examine Luther's Books and to advise about the measures that ought to be taken concerning matters of Religion till that Council were called and in the mean time that the Magistrates should take care that the Gospel should be preached according to the Doctrine of Authours approved by the Church and that no Pamphlets or Books injurious to the Court of Rome should be published The Legate assembles the Catholick Princes at Ratisbonne and obtains a Decree against Luther The Legate being altogether dissatisfied with these resolutions prevailed with the Catholick Princes to assemble at Ratisbonne where in presence of Ferdinand the Emperour's Brother he got a Decree past against the Lutherans which commanded that the Edict of Wormes should in all points be put in execution against Luther He did more for he perswaded those Princes to admit of that gentle Reformation of the Clergy whereof he had proposed the Scheme and in a word got these Catholick Princes to enter into a League defensive for the preservation of their Estates and Religion The rest of the Princes and States of Germany without whom this Assembly at Ratisbonne was held complained loudly against it but the Cardinal Legate did not much
were to be followed Besides these there was a fifth Article proposed to be examined to wit if these matters should be condemned with Anathema's There waited on the Council about thirty Divines most part Monks who till then had been of no use but in making some Sermons in praise of the Pope and Council but now there is work cut out for them for they were employed to open the matters and to make the first inquiry into the controversies and hereupon they discoursed in Congregations appointed for that purpose in presence of the Prelates who afterward gave their Judgment upon what they had learnt in the Congregations of the Divines But the Divines had no Vote in consulting and forming the Decrees The heads above mentioned were therefore stated in the Congregation and left to the disputations of the Divines As to the first head that concerned traditions they were almost all very well agreed that they ought to be received as a part of the revelation of God's Will Antony Marinier is not of opinion that the necessity of Traditions should be made a point of faith But Antony Marinier a Carmelite Monk started a considerable opinion he did not think it pertinent to make that a point of Faith because for asserting the absolute necessity of Traditions one of these two things must be granted Either that God had forbidden to write the whole revelation of his will or that the Prophets and Apostles had written their books at random without design of transmitting that revelation by Scripture and that hence it was that part of that revelation had been written and the rest unwritten he urged that the first could not be proved to wit that God had for bidden to commit all his revelation to writing and that the second was injurious to providence which guided both the Conduct and Pen of these holy Writers He gave therefore his opinion that they should follow the Course of the Fathers who had made use of Traditions when there was occasion without making their necessity a matter of Faith This opinion was not at all like and Cardinal Pool one of the Legates censured it severely saying that it had been sitter to have been started in a Conference of Lutherans in Germany than in a Council Four opinions about the Canonical Books Upon the Article of the Canonical Books there were four opinions some were for ranking them into two Classes that in the first should be placed the Books which had never been contested and in the second those which had this was the Opinion of Luigi di Catanea a Jacobin who grounded it upon the Authorities of St. Jerome and Cardinal Cajetan who had both done so some were for having them divided into three Orders the first of those whereof no doubt was ever made the second of those which had been heretofore questioned but which now are received and the third of those of which no perfect Certainty was ever pretended to The third opinion was for reducing them into a Catalogue without any distinction and in a word some were for naming expresly those Books that had been controverted to the end they might be declared Canonical The Book of Baruch gave them more trouble than the rest because no Pope nor Council had ever cited it for Canonical but a certain Person made a shamefull remark that the Church read part of it in the Desk and that was enough to canonize it By the Eighth of March the Divines had made an end of their Conferences about the Articles proposed to them and next day the Prelates assembled in Congregation to consult conclude and form the Decrees They past the Article of Traditions ordaining the same Authority to be given to them Vergerio drawn over by the Lutherans at length openly declares himself as to the written word and referred to another time the point concerning Canonical Books some days after Don Francisco de Toledo the second of the Emperour's Ambassadours Collegue to Don Diego de Mendoza came to Trent and the same time Vergerio who had a Bishoprick bordering on Germany arrived there also This man was famous for many Nunciatures that he performed in Germany and several Conferences which he had with Luther and the Lutherans by Commission from the Pope But instead of convincing the Lutherans in these Conferences the Lutherans had convinced him and Vergerio had not so well disguised his Sentiments but that he had raised himself an Enemy one Fryar Hannibal an Inquisitour who stirred up a Sedition of the People of his Diocess against him He came therefore to the Council to justifie himself but was ill received and referred to the Pope Instead of going to Rome he resolved to return to his Bishoprick hoping to find the Tumult quieted But the Nuncio that was at Venice sent him orders to the contrary and was preparing to proceed against him by order of the Court of Rome In sine Vergerio took the Course of declaring himself openly and retreating into a place of safety he fled into the Countrey of the Grisons where he made a publick Profession of the Lutheran Doctrine and afterward wrote many things against the Pope and Church of Rome In the Congregation of the 15th of March it was ordained that all the Canonical Books of Scripture should be equally approved of and no distinction made amongst them but there happened great Debates about the vulgar Translation Luigi di Catanea a Jacobin was of opinion that the method of Cardinal Cajetan ought to be followed who had recourse to the Greek and Hebrew texts and had them interpreted to him word for word because he understood not the Languages This Cardinal was wont in his last days to say that they who contented themselves with the Latin text had not the word of God pure and without mixture of errours this Jacobin stood stiff for the Originals against Translations but the Plurality of Votes were for the vulgar Latin and for having its Authority to be absolutely established without any reserve And some were even for having it declared that the Authour of that Translation was guided by a Spirit of Prophecy One reason that influenced the Patrons of the vulgar Translation was that if they re-established the original Greek and Hebrew in their ancient Authority the Grammarians would for the future be the Masters of Theology and the Divines and Inquisitours be obliged to learn the Languages But there were some learned men in that Assembly who could not endure to have it said that the Latin interpreter had a Spirit of Prophecy Isidorus Clarius a Bressian Abbot of St. Benet an able man and versed in the knowledge of Languages refuted that opinion he gave a History of that version and shew'd it to be made up of an ancient Latin Translation which was called the Italick and the version of St. Jerome he endeavoured to prove that it was not the work of one man but of many and that it being made up of pieces patcht together
he concluded that it was not at all likely that all who had laboured therein were inspired adding withall that it was evident enough that these different Authours were not infallible since many faults were to be found in that Translation It was nevertheless still his opinion that it ought to be preferred before all other versions provided it were first corrected Andreas de Vega was of the same mind that there were faults in the vulgar Translation but was notwithstanding of the opinion that it should be declared Authentick without prejudice to any to consult the Originals They proceeded next to the Article of the sense and interpretation of Scripture It was thought that the liberty that men had taken to themselves in these later years of interpreting Scripture was the cause of the Heresies in Germany And therefore the Council purposed to remedy that by barring private men from expounding the Scriptures according to their fancy Some were for admitting all modern interpretation provided it were not contrary to the Faith and that opinion Cajetan had maintained Others thought that some liberty might be allowed to diversity of interpretation provided they did not clash and contradict one another and these last approved the remark of Cardinal di Cusa who heretofore said that Scripture ought to be interpreted variously according to the times and the Heresies that are to be confuted But most part were of a contrary opinion and judged it necessary to confine Expositours to the Interpretations of the Fathers and not to admit of any new expositions A Cordelier of Mons called Richard went a little farther and said that the Holy Scripture was not now any longer necessary for teaching Divinity which is sufficiently to be found in the Books of the School-men and that at present Scripture was not to be read for the instruction of the People but onely for Devotion The conclusion at length of all these disputes was that the vulgar Translation was declared Authentick with a proviso that it should be corrected and Deputies were appointed to make the amendments But sometime after the Pope put a stop to that work which was begun and caused it to be differred untill new orders in fine all liberty of broaching any new sense of Scripture different from that of the Fathers was taken away In the Congregation of the 29th of March the question was debated whether Canons and Anathema's were to pass upon these points some there were that thought it very hard to declare Hereticks and pronounce Anathema's against those who might question the supreme Authority of the vulgar Translation and take the liberty to observe faults in it but an expedient was found which was to make a Canon touching the necessity of Traditions and the number of Canonical books with Anathema's and to refer the vulgar Translation and what concerned the interpretation of Scripture to the Chapter of Reformation where none were to be used In consequence of this it was moved that means ought to be found to put a stop to the bad use that Libertines and profane People make of the Holy Scriptures some in Magical operations and others in defamatory Libels where they pervert texts of Scripture by wicked and impious Applications The Cardinal di Monte was very hot about this being much concerned at the Pasquinades of Rome by reason of the Disorders of his Life At length it was resolved that a Decree should be made whereby without descending to particulars such kinds of abuses should be Prohibited in general terms and all Printers forbid to print them session 4 On the Eighth of April the day appointed for the fourth Session forty eight Bishops and five Cardinals went in the usual order and with the accustomed Ceremonies to the Cathedral Church after which the Decrees were published declaring Traditions to be of equal Authority with the Holy Scripture the Catalogue of the Canonical Books were regulated the vulgar Translation made Authentick and the licentiousness of Libertines and Printers repressed In the same Session Don Francisco de Toledo the Emperour's Ambassadour caused the Emperour's Commission for Don Diego de Mendoza who was sick at Venice and for himself to be publickly read and then made his Master's Complements to the Council which were returned There first Decrees of the Council were ill relished by the Germans and they did not take it well that so small a number of men should take upon them in quality of a General Council to judge of so important a matter But the Pope was extremely well satisfied with their proceedings and that made him intimately concerned for the affairs of the Council fortifying the Congregation of Cardinals at Rome to whom these affairs were particularly committed he dispatcht three Orders to the Legates who presided in the Council of Trent first that they should publish no Decree without first acquainting him with it secondly that they should not spend time about matters that were not controverted and lastly that they should not suffer the Authority of the Pope to be called in question About the same time the Pope excommunicated the Archbishop of Cologne at the instance of the Bishops of Utrecht Liege and of the Clergy of Cologne The Pope excommunicates Herman Archbishop of Cologne he declared him deposed from his Archbishoprick and absolved his Subjects from their Oath of Allegiance to him as being an Heretick and an Abettour of Hereticks ordained them to submit to the Count of Shawembourg his Coadjutour as to their Archbishop The Emperour who valued not the Ordinances of Rome but as they made for his interest did not immediately upon this excommunication break with the Archbishop but for sometime continued to treat with him as Archbishop of Cologne because he was afraid that if he put him too hard to it he might join in War with the Confederates against him whereas till then he had persevered in his Obedience So that that Sentence did no great harm to the Archbishop but wrought pernicious effects in the minds of the Protestants and those that favoured them This does evidently demonstrate say they that the Council signifies no more than a formal Convocation seeing People are excommunicated for Doctrines which ought to remain undecided untill the Council have pronounced a definitive Sentence Nevertheless sometime after Herman was obliged to resign his Archbishoprick The Synodal actions were again renewed in the Council that the matters might be prepared which were to be Judged in the next Session The Pope had enjoyned his Legates to set on foot the question of original sin but the Germans opposed it and would have them to fall upon the matter of Reformation Don Francisco de Toledo insisted so much thereupon in the Emperour's name that the Legates were forced to tell him in plain terms that they had express orders from the Pope not to meddle with the matter of Reformation and because the Ambassadour was not satisfied with that answer but continued his Instances the Legates wrote about it to
those religious Preachers when they offered to Preach in other Churches than those of their Order and that the Monks before they could Preach even in their own Churches should be obliged to receive the Bishops Benediction and in short that the Bishops might punish the religious Preachers and suspend them from Preaching in case of Heresie and Scandal The Generals of the Orders were not over well satisfied with these regulations but the Legates found means to appease them The Council enters upon the matter of Original sin notwithstanding the opposition of the Germans And now the Legates having received new orders from the Pope to handle the matter of Original sin set about the execution of that Commission Cardinal Pacieco a Spaniard and all the Imperialists withstood it again but all to no purpose for the matter must be so The first thing they did was to propose the errours that were to be condemned distributed into nine Articles But for the convenience of Dispute before these nine Articles were condemned it was thought fit to reduce the whole matter to four principal heads the first what was Adam's sin the second what is it that is derived from him to his posterity the third in what manner that sin is transmitted to his descendants and the last how it is pardoned and forgiven As to the first head it was agreed that Adam by his sin lost his original righteousness and innocence that by the loss of that innocence came the disobedience of the affections and the rebellion of the members which the Scripture calls Concupiscence They likewise agreed that these evils could not properly be called the sin of Adam because they are the effects and punishments of his sin rather than the sin it self So that they defined that the sin of Adam consisted properly in the action which he had committed against tho command of God and here they gave themselves the liberty to enlarge and dispute about the nature and kind of that action to wit whether it was pride or infidelity gluttony or simple disobedience They found more difficulty about the second head to wit what it is that is derived from the first man unto his posterity Hereupon many different opinions arose some followed the sentiment of St. Austin who will have concupiscence to be the original sin derived from Adam The Cordeliers were of the opinion of Anselme and Scotus who say that the privation of original Righteousness is truly original Sin and not Concupiscence because Concupiscence remains after Baptism which purgeth away original Sin Most part of the Jacobins were of the Judgment of their own St. Thomas who thinks that the privation of original Righteousness and Concupiscence made up original Sin so that the privation of original Righteousness is as the form and Concupiscence as the matter As to the third head that relates to the manner how that Sin is transmitted to the Descendents of the first Man as the matter is more obscure so the Divines found themselves more puzled about it all the various opinions of the School-men were offered and each of them had its adherents but that occasioned no great Debates no more than the fourth head which respected the manner how original Sin is pardoned and forgiven They all agreed that it is fully blotted out by Baptism and that thereby the Soul becomes as pure as the Soul of Adam was in the State of Innocence there was nevertheless some dispute betwixt Ambrosio Catarino and Dominico à Soto about the Nature of original Sin Catarino maintained that the privation of original Righteousness and Concupiscence could not be the true original Sin because these are rather the Punishments of Sin than the Sin it self and therefore he pretended that the Action of Adam was solely and properly original Sin and that that Action was transmitted to his Posterity by imputation by virtue of the Covenant that God had made with Adam at that time when he represented all Mankind and acted in the Name of all his Posterity he moreover denied that the Corruption of Sin could either be transmitted by the Soul or by the Body because the Body according to the supposition of that Divine can neither act upon the Soul nor the Soul upon the Body Dominico à Soto defended the opinion of St. Thomas and said that after the Commission of Sin there remains a stain and inherent quality and that that stain and that corrupt quality descends from Parents to their Children Whilst they were disputing about these four heads the Council at the same time were upon the censuring of the nine Articles that had been proposed in the beginning according to the relation they stood in to the four heads that were under examination The two first Articles that were proposed to be censured denied original Sin or made it onely to be derived to Children by way of imitation The Council censures the nine Articles of Doctrine which are imputed to Protestants about original Sin and were without difficulty condemned as heretical Not that they were found in the Writings of Luther but they thought that they had found in the Writings of Zuinglius that he believed not original Sin However the more intelligent and less passionate having well examined his expressions were of opinion that his design was not to deny the propagation of that Corruption nor the depravation of Nature but that he onely denied that that original Corruption could be referred to that kind of beings which are called actions reckoning them to be onely dispositions to action which is the Sentiment of the whole Church Erasmus was accused of maintaining some opinions contrary to those of the Church touching original Sin and of believing that it past from Parents to Children onely by example and imitation In one of the Articles taken out of the Books of Luther they made him say that original Sin consists in ignorance in the contempt of God and in the privation of the fear affiance in and love of God which they looked upon to be an extremity opposite to that opinion of the Pelagians So that Luther was not accused of denying original Sin but rather of making it consist in actions onely to be found in men grown up because Infants can neither contemn nor hate God this difficulty being often proposed to the Lutherans in the Conferences of Germany they made answer that by these expressions they meant inclinations to the contempt and hatred of God which shews that they onely offended in the manner of expression but because the Council was resolved to make every thing a Crime these harsh expressions were reckoned amongst their Errours The most important question that was discussed about that matter was whether original Sin remains after Baptism and nevertheless it is hardly any thing but a contest about words for all Divines are agreed that Concupiscence remains after Baptism and the question onely is then whether or no that Concupiscence be original Sin for if that be the remaining
of July was put off till the thirteenth of January following These seven Months were spent in Disputes for the Legates loosed the Reins to the Divines and left them to that humour of jangling and contradiction to which they are most commonly too much addicted Next day after the Session that had been held the seventeenth of June the Legates called a Congregation wherein they consulted of the matter which was to be decided in the next Session The Pope's Divines presented a writing to prove that after the business of Original sin which had been then decided The subject of Grace and Justification is chosen for the next Session the next thing the Council ought to treat of was the matter of Justification and Grace because it is natural to speak of the remedy after one hath discovered the evil that Grace is the remedy of Original sin and that that was likewise the method observed in the confession of Ausbourg On the other side the Emperour's Ambassadours persisted to urge that they should not pursue the examination of Doctrine but proceed in the matter of Reformation The Legates told the Ambassadours that it was always profitable to examine matters of Doctrine that it was good to be instructed and that that examination should not engage them in a decision of controversies but that they might afterwards be delayed as long as should be desired and that whilst the Divines should examine the matter of Justification the Bishops and Canonists should consult about Reformation They concluded upon this and ordained a search to be made into the Books of Luther and other Protestants to pick out of them the Heretical propositions that ought to be condemned In the next Congregation the Legates that they might be as good as their word moved that they might consult about Reformation Residence is proposed as a point of Reformation The Cardinal of Monte proposed the point of Residence and pressed the necessity of it affirming that all the present troubles and disorders of the Church sprung from the non-residence of Bishops because the vices of the Clergy and Heresies were occasioned faith working by Charity But the Jacobins and Cordeliers that were united against him carried it nevertheless they all agreed to condemn the opinion of Justification by faith alone A Debate about the nature of works that precede Grace Ambrosio Catarino maintains the opinion of St. Austin and the Protestants Afterwards the Divines disputed of the nature of works that precede Grace and most of the Votes were against the opinion of the Protestants who affirm that all works done without faith are sins But Ambrosio Catarino undertook the defence of that opinion he maintained that it was the judgment of St. Austin and St. Thomas He confessed that he had been heretofore of the sentiment of the School-men but that he had renounced it after that he had read the Scriptures and the Fathers and proceeding he censured the vain subtilty of the School-Divines who abandoning the Scripture and the Fathers suffered themselves to be guided by the false light of Philosophy He backed his assertion with the words of our Saviour a bad tree cannot bring forth good fruit and with those of St. Paul who says To be unclean all things are unclean Dominico à Soto a great Enemy of the Doctrine of Grace opposed Catarino with so much Passion that he called him Heretick and accused him of denying free will as the Lutherans did For his part he maintained that Infidels might fulfill all the Law that is to say that they might doe all the good works that are commanded though they did them not for the ends for which they have been commanded to wit the glory of God and eternal Salvation but he maintained that it was sufficient for doing an action without sin to observe the substance of the commandment He therefore asserted that without Grace one might avoid all sins and that he might a little correct the expression which seemed Pelagian he added that without Grace one might very well avoid every sin considered separately but not all sins taken together Just said he as one may stop all the holes of a leaky Ship in a hundred places if you consider them separately yet not be able to stop them all when you take them all together because one cannot be in all places and whilst one is busied in stopping of one the water gets in by the rest The Pelagianism of the School had taken such deep rooting in the minds of many that they did not even approve that exception of Soto's they would have had it allowed without distinction that men without the assistance of Grace are able to shun all sins In the next place they examined the question A dispute about the preparations to grace and the merit of congruity if works performed without Grace are preparations for Justification If Dominico à Soto durst have stuck to his principles having with so much vehemence asserted the goodness of such works he could not but have affirmed that they were immediate preparations for Grace but he durst not because of St. Austin and especially because of St. Thomas of whose Doctrine he made profession And therefore he fell off and said for justification But the Cordeliers who preferred their own Scotus before St. Austin and St. Thomas advanced a step and maintained that they were immediate dispositions and even merited justification Scotus was the great Champion for this Merit of Congruity according to whom the School-men said that it was suitable to the justice and goodness of God to assist him that does all he can according to the Maxime facienti quod in se est Deus non deest since that time they have restrained this Merit of Congruity to works that are performed by preventing grace before the infusion of justifying grace but before the Council of Trent the School was more than Demi-pelagian and maintained that men without grace might doe all kinds of good works even love God above all things and that these works were true preparations for Justification The Jacobins would have been very willing that there had been no mention made of that Merit de congruo because St. Thomas grew out of conceit with it especially in his old age Afterwards they came to dispute of those Motions which are wrought in the hearts of men by the first inspirations of preventing grace before the infusion of habitual Righteousness Luther was accused of saying that all these motions such as the fear of Punishment and an abhorrence of sin were real sins that opinion was condemned as heretical because they had agreed that those first motions of conversions are good works The Carmelite Antony Marinier maintained that this was but a dispute about words saying that these actions done out of the state of grace were like Lukewarmness betwixt heat and cold that they were in a mean betwixt actions done without grace which are real sins and those which are performed in the
which the Briefs and Bulls of the Pope were read wherein besides a Command to hold and open the Council there were several Regulations about the forms that ought to be observed in it and one particularly relating to Precedence which did appoint that the Patriarchs having taken their place after the Cardinals the Archbishops should sit next and after them the Bishops but for avoiding of all Debates which have been occasioned upon account of the Dignities and Privileges of Sees the Prelates should be placed according to their Seniority in promotion without any respect to Dignities enjoying Primacy Bartholomeo di Martiri Archbishop of Braganza in Portugal vigorously opposed this Order and could not endure to think that a Pettie Archbishop of Rosano who has not one Suffragan or of Nissia a little Isle in the Archipelago or of Antivari in Sclavonia who have not so much as one Christian under their Jurisdiction and never reside in their Sees should take place of Archbishops of Churches having Primacy considerable in Dignity and Privileges for no other reason but that of Seniority in Promotion However he must bear with that and be satisfied with a Declaration in writing importing that it was not the intention of the Pope nor Council to derogate from any man's rights but that after the Council was over all men might enjoy their several Privileges In the same Congregation the Spaniards urged that the Council might be reckoned a Continuation of the former and so declared in the first Act of the Session The Bishop of Zante in compliance with the Interests of the Emperour and King of France who desired the contrary opposed it but though the Legates of Mantua and Warmia seconded the opinion of the Bishop of Zante yet the matter past according as it had been resolved at Rome and ordered in the Bull. When the Congregation was ended the Legates drew up and framed the Decree of Commencement into which these words were cunningly inserted proponentibus Legatis whereby it was ordained that no proposal should be made but by the Legates This was a great fetch of Roman Court-policy to exclude the French and Spanish Bishops who as the Pope well foresaw had Proposals to make which tended to the diminution of his Authority and the enlarging of Episcopal Dignity They were apprehensive likewise of Princes who by their Ambassadours might make Overtures disadvantageous to the Holy See and contrary to its Interests and therefore it was thought fit that they who had any thing to propose should apply themselves to the Legates without whose consent nothing could be examined in the Council By this means the Court of Rome was secure from the attempts of those that had no great kindness for it session 17 Session 17. the first of the third Convocation The Session was held January the eighteenth wherein the Decree was read and the question put Fathers are ye pleased that from this day forward all suspension being taken off the General Council of Trent be Celebrated for handling in order the matters which the Legates shall think fit to propose to the Council The Answer was placet But four Spanish Prelates the Archbishop of Granada the Bishops of Orense Leon and Almeria objected against the clause proponentibus legatis and desired an Instrument of their Protestation but they went on for all that and the Legates having written to the Pope about it he would by no means have that clause omitted This business made a great deal of noise in the Sequel but at present the Spaniards bore the brunt alone The next Session was assigned to be the twenty sixth of February At the same time they held an Assembly in France at St. Germain en Laye The Assembly of St. Germain which makes the Edict of January in favour of the Protestants It began the seventeenth of January and the Affairs of the Protestants who encreased mightily were taken into consideration The Queen of Navarre the Prince of Conde and Admiral Coligny with many other great Men and Persons of Quality made powerfull instances in favour of the Protestants that they might have liberty to exercise their Religion which they already did without permission To this Assembly was called a select number of Presidents and able Judges from all the Parliaments in France and the Chancellour made a Judicious and Pithy Speech at the opening of it for the mitigation of Rigour To those who stood stiff for the severity of the Penal Edicts he applied that saying of Cicero that Cato behav'd himself among the Dregs of Romulus as if he had been in the Imaginary Commonwealth of Plato concluding thence that it was necessary to accommodate themselves to the times This Opinion prevailed notwithstanding all the opposition of the Persecutors and the Edict of January past which allowed Liberty to Protestants to assemble out of Towns and to live in the exercise of their Religion under the Kings Permission provided they taught nothing contrary to the Council of Nice and the Old and New-Testament The Parliament of Paris strongly opposed the Confirmation of this Edict but the King commanded it to be done declaring however that the Edict was but granted in provision untill the holding of the General Council The Protestants by this Edict took Courage to shew themselves and it is reported that at that time there were two thousand one hundred and fifty Congregations which they called Churches in France The Council begins with Books to be prohibited and the Indices Expurgatorii the Original of these Indices Expurgatorii They began now to fall to business at Trent and the Legates held a Congregation the seven and twentieth of January wherein three Proposals were made the first concerning the Examination of Books that had been written since the breaking out of Heresie which were to be suppressed Secondly whether it was necessary to cite all those who were concerned in such Books to appear before the Council and thirdly whether it was necessary to invite the Hereticks to Council and grant them a Safe-conduct The first point which related to the discharging of Heretical Books to be read deserved to be well weighed because the matter was new It is true that in the ancient Church they who read the Books of Authours who were Enemies of the truth were censured The Enemies of St. Jerome objected it to him as a Crime that he read and perused the Books of Pagan Writers and he blames himself for it saying that he was one day lasht before the Tribunal of Jesus Christ for his Curiosity in having read too much of the Works of Cicero However they made no Catalogue of the Books of Hereticks or Pagans that they might forbid the reading of them The Emperours indeed did sometimes prohibit the Books of Hereticks Constantine prohibited the Arian Arcadius the Eunomian and Manichean Theodosius the Nestorian and Martian the Eutychian Books but the Bishops medled not with them or at least did not take that Authority upon
to the Pope had owned him for his Sovereign and had received from him the Pallium and Confirmation in his Patriarchship that he had assured his Holiness that the Religion of his People was in all things agreeable to that of the Roman Church that it used the same Ceremonies and that they had Books as old as the days of the Apostles At length he concluded that the People under the Jurisdiction of that Prelate were so numerous that they reached beyond the River of Ganges and that they were partly under the Dominion of the Turk and Sophie of Persia and partly under the King of Portugal At this last word the Portugal Ambassadour starred up and in his Master's name protested that the Oriental Bishops subjects to his Master acknowledged to Patriarch for their Superiour Afterward they read the Confession of Faith of that Patriarch and the Letter which he wrote to the Council wherein he excused himself that he could not be there because of the great Journey he had already made and was still to make but promised to submit to all that should be Decreed therein The Protestation of the Portugal Ambassadour made the truth of this story to be much doubted The Council came now to their Synodal Actions and first was read the Decree of Doctrine containing nine Chapters and as many Canons with Anathema's establishing the necessity of a perpetual Sacrifice and the truth of the Sacrifice of the Mass as being really Propitiatory They confirmed the Ceremonies of that Sacrifice the Purity of the Canon of the Mass the use of the Latin Tongue in the celebration of that Sacrifice the Masses without Communicants the Masses in honour of the Saints and the mingling of Water with the Wine To this Decree the Fathers gave their consent by a Placet except two or three and twenty who persisted to oppose that Clause which says that Jesus Christ offered up himself in Sacrifice in the first Eucharist The Archbishop of Granada the chief of those who disliked that Clause came not to the Session that he might not have the trouble to see a Doctrine pass for an Article of Faith which in his opinion was so repugnant to Truth But the Legates sent thrice for him and at last forced him to come This constraint put him into such a fret that he had a good mind to renew his opposition that he might be revenged for the Contempt that was put upon him in undervaluing his opinion and it is somewhat strange if he and so many Prelates who brought along with them a spirit of contradiction even to the Session should all of a sudden lay it aside and cloth themselves with a spirit of humility and submission So that it is clear that these Bishops The Bishops apparently ill satisfied with the Infallibility of the Council most of them Spaniards and strict Catholicks were notwithstanding very ill satisfied with the Infallibility of the Council Immediately after the Bishop who did officiate read the Decree of Reformation against the Abuses committed in the Mass which prohibited all treating and bargaining for saying of Masses the suffering of vagabond Priests who were unknown or notoriously infamous to celebrate the saying of Mass in private houses to be present at Service in an undecent habit the using of lascivious Musick in singing of Mass the making of noise speaking or walking in time of Service the celebrating of Mass out of the hours appointed for it the celebrating with unusual Ceremonies the having a certain limited number of Candles at Mass and for conclusion it contain'd an exhortation to the People to repair to Mass in their own Parish Churches at least on Holy days and Sundays In the next place the Decree of general Reformation was read consisting of eleven Chapters containing hardly any thing worth the naming onely some petty Regulations to hinder undeserving Persons from being promoted to Bishopricks It is true that in some places the Decree seems to enlarge the Power of Bishops allowing them the Privilege to enquire into the nature of Dispensations to wit whether they have not been obtained by surreption or obreption stealth or wheadling to visit Hospitals Colleges Fraternities Publick Stocks for rellef of the Poor and to have the direction and oversight of all Pious Houses and Foundations but still with this Clause of Limitation as Delegates of the Holy See The eleventh Chapter decrees that whosoever shall seize the Goods of Churches Benefices or publick Stocks of Charity let him be King or Emperour shall be excommunicated untill he have made restitution and that he may not be absolved but by the Pope Lastly the Decree of referring the matter of the Cup to the Pope was read and seeing it was a Decree that related to a Point of Faith it ought in course to have come after the Decree of the Mass but it was otherways because they could not get votes enough to make it pass as a Point of Doctrine it was an order of the Council that no Point of Doctrine could be established if a considerable Party opposed it though it had been carried by Plurality of Votes but that some casting Votes were sufficient for a Point of Reformation And the Legates who were resolved upon any terms that the matter of the Cup should be referred to the Pope finding that they could not have Votes enough to make it pass for a Point of Doctrine thought it the best way to propose it as a matter of Reformation and therefore it is placed in the Acts amongst the Chapters of Reformation This Maxime that we have been speaking of that a Point of Doctrine is not to be lookt upon as decided when a considerable Party oppose the Decision occasioned some Debates and Scruples as to that Clause of the Decree which asserts that Jesus Christ offered himself in the Eucharist because it had been contradicted by a considerable Party for though there were but three and twenty Prelates that opposed it in the Session yet it had been refuted by a great many in the Congregations and not one of them had changed his opinion The Decrees of this Session gave but small content to any the German Ambassadours indeed were pretty well pleased that the Affair of the Cup was remitted to the Pope but the Emperour himself was not at all satisfied with it because his great aim was to please the German People who had no liking to the Pope's Jurisdiction They would have much rather accepted a favour from the Council a name they did not quarel with than from the Pope whom they could not endure But the People were far more dissatisfied for besides the Emperour's reason they thought they were abused in being remov'd from one Judicature to another seeing the Pope had referred the matter to the Council and that the Council sent it back again to the Pope It was taken very ill also that in the Decree of Reformation the Power of Bishops was extended to Pious Foundations which had been
of the peace by the necessity of the times which admits of no Law But these excuses satisfied not the Council and particularly the Bishops could not digest that the King in the Preface of the Edict of that Pacification did say that he had hopes that either a General or National Council would speedily compose all the publick troubles for that did insinuate as if he distrusted the success of the Council of Trent and tacitely threatned the calling of a National Assembly The two and twentieth of April had been pitcht upon for holding of the Session and the day before a General Congregation was called wherein the Legates were of opinion that it should be deferred untill the third of June But the Cardinal of Lorrain objected that it was a shame to assign so often the day of the Session and never to hold it that therefore it was not fit any more to prefix a day but that the twentieth of May following the Council might meet and consider of a day when it could be held This advice carried it by unanimous consent and though it seemed to be a deliberation of very little consequence nevertheless the Bishops of the Pope's Party conceived Jealousies because the opinion of the Cardinal had been so generally followed They said that the Pope had a great deal of reason to call him the Head of a Party that he alone obstructed the expedition of affairs in Council and the Translation of it to Bologna But as to the prolongation of the Council and delay of the Session the Legates concurred in that as freely as any in hopes that the more Zealous would either be gone or abate their fervour During this intermission of Synodal actions the Spanish Bishops were not negligent in their affairs Their heads ran still upon the design of having Residence and the Institution of Bishops declared to be of Divine Right and at the same time an accident happened that confirmed them in this fond opinion A Jacobin called Peter Soto died at Trent upon his death-bed be wrote a Letter to the Pope by way of Confession and therein as a dying than took the freedom to solicite the Pope that he would sufâ—er Residence and the Institution of Bishops to be declared of Divine Right Another Monk of the same Order and in all likelihood his Kinsman since his name was Louis Soto dispersed Copies of that Letter for the Credit and Reputation of the Deceased One would think that the Authority of a single man and a simple Monk should not be of very great weight but the words of dying men are armed with a Natural Authority that cannot be resisted because they are lookt upon as the Sentiments of a Conscience stript of all Hypocrisie discharging it self towards men that it may be able to appear and render a faithfull account before the Tribunal of God And the Spaniards reckoned them so for that Letter of Soto's revived their Zeal They used all means to gain the Count de Luna the Archbishop of Granada informed him of all that was done in the Council and made him sensible of the slavery it lay under Discoursing one day of the Bishops of Liria and Palti both Spaniards who had fallen over to the Party of the Court of Rome he said they are naughty men who suffer themselves to be loaded like beasts and are good of force and eloquence He succeeded very well in his design of netling the Pope's Party and they on the other hand did not spare him for Cardinal Morone set him off in his Colours and laboured to perswade the Emperour that Lorrain and his French were the Cause of all the Disorders of the Council This Intrigue came to the Cardinal's Knowledge and encreased his Discontents Cardinal Morone comes back to Trent from Inspruck and the Emperour consents to the Conclusion of the Council without any thing dome about Reformation At length Cardinal Morone was dispatched by the Emperour and had no more from him but some general answers The Emperour told him that he would defend the Pope's Authority against Hereticks if need required that he would not goe beyond Inspruck that the Translation of the Council to Bologna was impossible that he could not take his Coronation from the Pope without consulting the Diet that he wished a Reformation might be made at Trent and that all might have liberty to propose there This was the answer that was published but they who knew better the Secret Transactions of that Conference affirmed for a certain that Cardinal Morone had brought the Emperour and King of the Romans to consent to the separation of the Council He made them sensible that it was impossible to obtain any Reformation because every thing that could be proposed would always find some whose interests would oblige them to oppose it and hinder all resolutions because all men are willing to continue in the Condition they are in It was therefore said that there Princes yielded to his reasons and consented that the Council might have an honourable Funeral that is that it should be suffered to disperse it self by little and little for avoiding a scandalous Rupture And indeed it is more than probable that they lost all hopes of obtaining any thing in that Council for their instances ceased or at least diminished and if they made any it was onely because they thought it not prudent by falling off all of a sudden to give occasion of being taken notice of They chose rather to retreat without noise because they were somewhat ashamed that they had not believed that noted Saying of St. Gregory Nazianzen That the troubles of the Church are always encreased by the Assemblies of Bishops and they were unwilling to make open Confession that they were deceived in the Hopes that they had conceived of a Reformation THE HISTORY OF THE Council of TRENT BOOK VIII PIUS IV. CArdinal Morone Legate nominated by the Pope to succeed the Cardinal of Mantua returned from Inspruck where he had been to confer with the Emperour about the affairs of the Council and came to Trent the seventeenth of May. The twentieth of the same Month being appointed for prefixing the day of the following Session they began to treat about that but because nothing was yet in a readiness and that differences were still in fermentation the Legates perceived that it was not convenient to appoint a certain day for the Session Therefore in the Congregation of the nineteenth it was resolved to defer the choice of the day till the tenth of June The Count de Luna Ambassadour of Spain had his publick reception in the Congregation of the one and twentieth of May and them broke out to purpose the difference betwixt the Ambassadours of France and Spain A Contest betwixt the French and Spaniards about Precedence in relation to Precedence the Spaniards upon the most unjust pretensions in the World challenging place before the French Charles the fifth and his Predecessours as well by Father