many Friends abroad did set about establishing their own Authority by passing the following Decrees 1. That the Sacred Synod of Basil in having been assembled according to the Decrees of the Councils of Constance and Siena and with the Concurrence of the Pope was a lawful General Council 2. That being a lawful General Council all Christians of whatsoever State or Dignity the Papal not excepted were bound to yield Obedience to it in all Matters of Faith the Extirpation of Schism and the general Reformation of the Church in its Head and Members 3. That whosoever of whatsoever State or Dignity the Papal not excepted should deny to yield Obedience to the Statutes of any General Council relating to any of the forementioned Matters deserve to be punished 4. That it should not be lawful for any Member of the Council to absent himself from it or to depart from the City of Basil without leave of the Council From which Decrees they inferred That the Papal nor no other Authority on Earth had Power to prorogue translate or dissolve the General Council of Basil without its own Consent or to hinder any Prelats from repairing to it or to oblige any that assisted at it to withdraw In virtue whereof they admonished Eugenius within the space of three Months by a publick Bull to revoke his pretended Dissolution of them and to come in Person to the Council or being lawfully hindred by his Legats in default whereof they threatned to proceed against him as the Holy Ghost should direct them for the Good of the Church Cardinal Julianus perceiving what a Storm Eugenius was like to raise against himself and the Papacy notwithstanding his Hoarsness called upon him once more telling him in a very loud Note That if he went on opposing the Council he would bring the Indignation of all Europe upon his Back it being plain to every body that the Assembly of Basil was a General Council by the same Authority that he was Pope that is by the Authority of the Synod of Constance concluding his Letter to him thus I have often declared and protested and I do it now again in the sight of God and Men That if your Holiness do not change your Measures you will infallibly be the Cause of a most pernicious Schism Eugenius being taken dangerously sick at this time the Basileans when they heard of it passed a Decree presently That in case of a Vacancy of the Roman See it should not be lawful for the Cardinals to chuse a Pope any where but in the Place where the Council was sitting and fearing lest Eugenius might if he died before his Death have named some Cardinals they decreed likewise That since the multiplying of Cardinals was both prejudicial and chargeable to the Church it should not be lawful for the Pope to create any during the Session of the Council ordering at the same time a Leaden Seal to be made for the Use of the Synod which on the one side was to have the Holy Ghost in the figure of a Dove and on the other The Sacred General Council of Basil and having constituted the Cardinal St. Eustathia Governour and Vicar of the City of Avignion and named Judges and Prosecutors in Matters of Faith and all the other Officers of a Court of Judicature they passed a Decree That no Person belonging to the Council could be called from it to the Court of Rome or to any other Place Eugenius beginning to fear lest the Council which grew every Day stronger and stouter might if he did not do something to mollify them serve him as that of Constance had done John the 23d did much against the grain of his own Nature and the haughty Spirit of his See submit so far as to send three Nuncios to them who having in a publick Audience made long Harangues of the Mischiefs of a Schism and of the great Power Christ had committed to the Pope were answered by the Fathers and dismissed with this Message to their Master that the Sacred Synod could not treat with him until by a publick Bull he had revoked his pretended Dissolution of it and did either come in Person or send his Legats to preside in it And the Prosecutors of the Causes of the Synod after that the Term in the Citation was expired having demanded that Eugenius should be pronounced Contumacious in order to their proceeding farther against him the said Nuncios humbly beseeched the Synod to suspend the passing of that Sentence upon their Master which at the Request of Sigismund was granted and sixty Days more were allowed to him to comply with what was required During which Term Eugenius sent other Nuncios with some Propositions of Accommodation the revoking his late Bull publickly which the Synod insisted on being a thing of so hard digestion that he did not know how to swallow it The Propositions offered by the new Nuncios to the Synod were That Eugenius if they would revoke all the Decrees they had made against him was ready to revoke all in general he had said or done against them and that if they would consent to his having called a Council at Bononia if the Bohemians should refuse to come to that City he was content to allow the Fathers some time to treat with them at Basil on condition that when the Term he had set them was expired they should immediately repair to Bononia Against which City if the Fathers had any just Exception they might name any other City in Italy and if they would not agree to that neither that they should then name twelve of the most moderate Prelats of their own Body in conjunction with the Embassadors to be Judges of the whole Matter who if they should judg it to be most convenient that the Council should sit in Germany should name any City therein for it except Basil The Fathers being extreamly offended with these shuffling Propositions told the Nuncios That they could not sufficiently admire at their Proposals being so involved and clogged with Reservations as if the Matters they came to treat with them were not of a religious Nature and to be handled with Integrity but were Matters of Trade or Commerce and fit only to be treated about by Hucksters A most true Character of all that the Popes did to destroy the Supremacy of Councils Adding That since Eugenius had not by any thing that they had proposed intimated his being ready to revoke his Bull of Dissolution but on the contrary seemed rather to seek to have it confirmed they could not therefore take any notice of their Propositions but must go on with their Proceedings against him as a Contemner of the Authority of General Councils For the farther Security whereof they passed a Decree That no Person should hereafter be capable of being chosen Pope who had not given his Consent and Assent upon Oath to the Doctrine of the Synod of Constance concerning the Supremacy of General Councils and their being
frequently to be assembled The last Term of sixty Days being expired the Prosecutors moved again to have Eugenius pronounced Contumacious which the Fathers were hindred from doing by Letters they received from Sigismund assuring them of the Pope's having by a Bull revoked his pretended Dissolution of them and of his having likewise named Legats to go to Basil but who being hindred by some just Impediments had appointed Delegats to supply their place for some time which Bull of Revocation as it pretended to be bore date the 12th of Febr. 1433 and not 32 as it is in Bzovius Wherein Eugenius after having pretended that the Causes why he had formerly dissolved that Council were all ceased he commanded all Patriarchs Arch-Bishops Bishops c. within three Months after the Date of the said Bull to repair to Basil there to celebrate a General Council promising to send his Legats to preside therein in his Name Which Bull notwithstanding it was dispatched some Weeks before the last Nuncios went to Basil was never mentioned by them whose Business was to try if the Fathers would have been satisfied with less who for that Reason knew nothing of the said Bull till they were afterwards acquainted therewith by Sigismund and the Envoys of some German Princes who such as it was had extorted it from Eugenius With which Bull when it was brought to the Synod by some Delegats the Pope not being able it seems to find one Prelat at leisure that was fit to be his Legat on this Occasion the Fathers were more incensed than ever against Eugenius for having offered as if they had been an Assembly of Fools or Children to put an Instrument upon them which by calling a new Council at Basil confirmed his having dissolved the present as a Bull that revoked the Dissolution that it confirmed There was also a Passage in it wherewith the Fathers were highly distasted which was its giving Power to the Presidents and Legats to dispatch the Affairs of the Universal Church with the Advice of the Council this they said destroy'd the Authority of the Council at a blow and of Judges made the Prelats to be only Counsellors to the Presidents whereupon they having declared at large the ill Consequences which must attend its being in the Pope's Power to dissolve or translate General Councils at his Pleasure and that the Belief of such Councils being the Supream Authority of the Church was a Matter of Faith and that Eugenius therefore for having deny'd to hear them deserved to be treated as an Heathen and a Publican they concluded that they would after the Example of their Predecessors die a thousand Deaths rather than betray the Authority of the Church by their Sloth or Cowardise in being satisfied with such an hypocritical Bull or admitting of Presidents with such an Authority as it gave them and so having dismissed the Delegates with their Bull they went on with their Citation of Eugenius with greater Heat than ever And in their twelfth Session which was held on the 13th of July after a long Invective against Eugenius's Obstinacy they had certainly pronounced him contumacious had they not been hindred by Sigismund's Embassadors who desired sixty days more for him by which time they assured the Fathers the Emperor would be with them in Person they decreed nevertheless that at the Expiration of that Term Eugenius if he did not comply with the Synod should be ipso facto suspended But if the Synod was angry with Eugenius for having offered to put such a Trick upon it Eugenius was no less angry with the Synod for having discovered his Trick and by a Bull bearing date the 26th of July after having declared them to be a most seditious Conventicle he voided and nulled all Decrees Citations c. made by them against him and his Cardinals commanding all Christians upon pain of Excommunication not to have any regard to the Basileans or to any thing they did being a pack of factious Spirits set on to disturb the Peace of the World But this angry Bull was so far from terrifying the Council that they had certainly declared him Contumacious on the day of the Expiration of the last Term had not their Protector the Duke of Bavaria obtained 30 days more for him after the granting whereof the Archbishop of Spalato and the Bishop of Cervina the Pope's Nuncios knowing nothing of what had passed came to the Council desiring the Fathers not to pronounce Sentence against their Master the 60 days which had been allowed not being as yet expired The Cardinal Julianus told them thereupon that they had not been acquainted it seem'd with the Council's having granted the Pope 30 days more asking them whether they had brought his Adhesion to the Synod or not to which the Nuncios returned no Answer they having brought only a loose general Proposition of revoking all that had been done by the Pope provided the Synod would do the same as to all that they had done against him but without any particular mention of the Bull of Dissolution which the Pope could not endure to think of revoking by a publick Bull. This Proposition having been rejected with Indignation by the Fathers the Pope was so far provoked thereby that he published another Bull against them bearing date the 2d of September Wherein having taken notice of the Synod's having presumptuously cited him and his Cardinals he commands all Christians under pain of Anathema to look upon the said Citation and all the Effects thereof as void and null he having by these Presents in defence of the Dignity of his Holy See declared them so to be But when the thirty days the Duke of Bavaria had obtained for Eugenius were expired the Synod assembled on the 10th of October with a full purpose to have pronounced him Contumacious which as they were ready to have done News was brought that the Emperor was just alighted and was making himself ready to come to Church to them the Fathers overjoy'd at the News went in a body to wait upon him who after he had received their Congratulations going with them to the Place of their Assembly prevailed with them to suspend their Sentence a Week longer and when that was expired he desired them to adjourn the passing of it till the 8th of November which day being come the 14th Session was held with great Solemnity the Emperor assisting thereat in his Imperial Robes and with all his other Royal Insignia Wherein the Fathers having at the Emperor's Request allowed Eugenius ninety days more they drew up several Forms of Adhesion leaving it to him which of them he would sign requiring him particularly besides the Bull of Dissolution to repeal and void the last three Bulls he had published to their Prejudice Eugenius notwithstanding the Council was thus hard upon him dreading it now that the Emperor was in it much more than he had done before sent his Letters of Adhesion to it which having been presented to
Trent under Paul the 3d and Julius the 3d to have been Assemblies that had nothing of Liberty in them So to satisfy the Reader that it was the same with the Convention which was held at the same Place under Pius the 4th I have added a Letter of Monsieur Lansac who was at that time Embassador to the Council from the Crown of France and one of Monsieur Xainctes a Doctor of Sorbon who assisted at it as a Divine which are both printed in French in the Instructions and Missives c. To conclude tho the Doctrine of the Synods of Constance and Basil of a General Council's being superiour to the Pope has never as yet been condemned by any Roman Council that pretended to be Universal yet through that Doctrine's being discouraged at Rome the great Fountain of Preferment as a thing savouring of Heresy as also through the Power the Popes were suffered to exercise in the Synods of Florence the Lateran and this of Trent such Assemblies are no less in Bondage to the Pope than they could have been had all Councils owned him to be their Absolute Lord and Master Of which the Court of the General Inquisition at Rome was so sensible that in a Decree published by it in a Congregation held before the Pope in the Year 1659 it declared That the deciding of Controversies of Faith or Manners of the Universal Church belonged ONLY to the Judgment of the See of Rome not fearing ever to be questioned for such high Prerogative Doctrin by any future General Council It is now time to bring an Introduction that has grown already perhaps too long by reason of the variety of the Matter that I thought fit to bring within it tho as short as I could to a Conclusion But before I end it I know it may be expected that I should give an Account of the Letters and Papers that I do now publish in a Translation They are all Originals the Seals of most remain the Subscriptions and Directions shew it beyond the possibility of Contradiction They are writ in Spanish most of them fair enough to be read tho some are very hard to be read They were put in my Hands by that most Eminent Divine Dr. Stillingfleet now the most worthy Bishop of Worcester who upon my return from Portugal finding that I had made my self well acquainted with the Spanish Tongue having staied many Years there desired me to be at the pains to translate them I soon found what a valuable Treasure I had in my Hands and therefore asked him by what Conveyance they came into his Hands He told me they were communicated to him by the Right Honourable Sir William Trumbull one of his Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State to whom they had descended among his Grandfather's Papers who had been Envoy in the Reign of King James the First at Brussels for 15 Years where he had got those Letters It is probable he had them from the Posterity of some of Card. Granvill's Secretaries to whom he had trusted the keeping of them and with whom he had left them when he withdrew from the Netherlands It seems he bought them from them but under absolute Engagements not to publish them during their Lives He himself was a most zealous Protestant which he has derived to all that have descended from him and he came into England from his Foreign Employment about the time that Father Paul's History of the Council of Trent was first printed in London That was the most proper time for publishing these Letters and must have established the Credit of the Celebrated History beyond all Attempts to detract from it There is no Memorial left in his Family of the Reasons why he did not then publish them yet since I understand from one on whom I can well depend who has read the Register of all his Letters during his Ministry that he was full of hearty Zeal for the Protestant Religion which appears in every Letter and in all the Advertisements and Advices offered by him there must have been some very important Reason that restrained a Man so full of Zeal for that Cause from publishing these Papers in the properest and fittest time in which ever they could have appeared It may be supposed that whosoever gave them to that worthy Minister took great care to have it concealed For the putting such things in the Hands of one whom the Court at Brussels esteemed a Heretick and which must have given such a Wound to an Interest to which those Princes were so much devoted must have past for an impardonable Crime and in a severe Government this must have ruined those who were suspected of having done it And since it might have been possible to have traced back a thing that was but threescore Years past it might have been found out who could have had these Papers in their keeping and by consequence have given them to the Envoy of England It is therefore reasonable to believe that whosoever delivered those to him had a Promise of absolute Secrecy during their Lives And this seems to be the Reason why so zealous a Man used so great a Reserve in so important a Matter Since that time the want of practice in Castilian has made them less read and there are so few of the mechanical People of this Nation who understand that Language that I had no encouragement to print them in their Original Language I neither could fall on one to copy them nor hear of a Printer who could compose or a Corrector of the Press to whom I could trust that piece of necessary Labour Therefore tho I know it is a preposterous thing to publish a Translation before the Originals themselves are printed yet since a Spanish Book could have no great vent in this Kingdom and I could not contrive a way how to make the correct printing it practicable I do now publish these not doubting but they will be speedily printed beyond Sea in their Original Language for I have according to the Order I received from that most Learned Prelat from whom I had them returned them back to the Noble Owner of them who will no doubt preserve them with care and shew them to such curious Persons as may desire to see them and who I hear is putting the publishing them as well as the translating them into another Language into a very good Method as well as unto good Hands which is sutable to the great Zeal he expresses for the promoting of Learning in which he is such a Master as well as a Patron and to his Affection to the Protestant Religion of which he has given so many eminent Instances The CONTENTS of Dr. Vargas's LETTERS to the Bishop of Arras and other Papers Of his Letter and Note of the 7th of October 1551. THE Legat behaves himself like a Man distracted he threatens to leave Trent accuseth the Emperor of not being so good as his Word yields at last to the Suspension
their disputing here about things as if the Protestants were present demonstrate that this course ought to be taken for since most of the things have been determined by former Councils were it not on such an occasion as this it would not be lawful for Catholicks to dispute about them so that if this course is not take the Protestants will come hither to little purpose neither can they properly be said to come to a Council but to be brought before a Court. There is one thing that ought to be well consider'd of which is whether it will not be convenient when the Protestants are come not to have the Sessions so thick lest by determining of things wherein they are concerned they may be provok'd to remonstrate out of despair of not being able to do any thing And whether it will not therefore be the best way to hear both them and the Catholicks upon all the Points in Controversie between them and after that is done to have all determined in one Session as was done in the Council of Constance with the Heresies of Wickliff which course as it will make things seem to be maturely considered and digested before they are decreed so it will prevent such miscarriages as have been committed in some Matters Your Lordship may be pleased to consider what is fit to be done in this and all other Points for what-ever you shall judge to be most convenient will certainly be so I have not neglected to speak of this where-ever it was proper to do it and as I have met with several that do approve of it so it appears to me to be a very considerable thing and which may be of some advantage to us in order to defeat the Legate's Designs about the present Suspension which was the cause of my mentioning it at this time As to the French King's Protestation there will no Decree be pronounc'd upon it but the Answer they have sent to the Legate from Rome will be returned to it which I am told is very well framed and is agreeable enough to what his Majesty has writ concerning it being a mean betwixt pronouncing a Decree and being silent tho' in effect it is much the same with a Decree the Synods having thereon declared it self to be universal which to prevent provoking was in my Opinion convenient enough I am confident had we sollicited to have had a Decree that was substantial but not rigorous that we should never have been able to have obtain'd it nor to have settled the point with the Pope and his Ministers the Legate having been order'd some Days agoe not to give us any Answer about it and the Answer which is said to have been here four Days was yesterday read and approved of in the Congregation As to the Provisions they are here very busie about them I have formerly writ something concerning them and we shall now see quickly what will be done therein the Wheat is come already which has not been so dear here of late as it was last Year when I wrote to his Majesty and your Lordship about it That of the Guard is a good thing and Don Francisco will write how well it is taken here It was a good Bargain your Lordship made with the King of the Romans about Flesh it being in that and Bread they exact the most and whereof I was the most apprehensive Don Francisco takes care of this as he does of every thing else in which I give him all the assistance I am able which is something the greater by my being so much in my Lord Cardinal's favour I pray God it may succeed Your Lordship does by your daily Favours and Kindnesses and by the particular care you take of my Person and Advancement run me so deep into your debt that I can only say that I do kiss your Lordship's Hands a thousand times for it and do wish to live that I may by my Services discharge the Debt in part I am owing to your Lordship whose I am and will be all the days of my life so that your Lordship in taking care of my Concerns takes care of your own As to the success let God do what he shall judge to be most convenient and if I do not prosper let my own ill fortune or want of Merits and not your Lordship be blamed for it from whom I have already receiv'd that Kindness whose most Illustrious and Reverend Person and Estate may our Lord preserve and prosper for many Years as I desire I kiss your Lordship's Hands Doctor Vargas From Trent the 7th of October 1551. The following Paper is a Note writ with Vargas's own Hand but without his Name or any Date to it DON Francisco I believe must have writ concerning the Copy of a Letter wherewith the Legate endeavour'd with great secresie to have stopp'd his Mouth when he was urging him to give way to a Reformation in which Letter if it is true his Majesty did assure the Pope That nothing should be done in the Council but what he had a mind to have done in it and that he would oblige the Prelates to hold their Tongues and to let things pass without any opposition Don Francisco being astonished at this acquainted me therewith in great Anxiety I immediately told him that I questioned whether what the Legate had said was true or not but supposing it were it signify'd nothing since it was not to be literally understood as the Legate who made a great Secret of it pretended that Letter having been writ by his Majesty before the Pope had granted his Bull for the continuation of the Council when it was writ on purpose to bring the Pope for to grant it and instead of exasperating him to satisfie him with good words that he should run no risk thereby which his Majesty continues still to do the times being such as will not suffer him to act otherwise with him not that ever his Majesty intended thereby that the Pope should be suffered to do such things as would bring all to ruine but only to do such things as are reasonable in leaving as there should be occasion the Reformation of Matters to the Synod Now provided the Pope would do nothing but what is convenient notwithstanding he knows full-well how to do other sort of things and which are no ways profitable his Majesty might very safely offer and promise what he does in that Letter which is undoubtedly to be understood with that condition since neither could his Majesty have any other meaning therein nor could the Pope without forgetting himself desire any thing more of him What I then said I say now again and that without doubting of its truth in the least tho' at the same time I do heartily wish that the Pope may neither by this nor by any other way have any opportunity given him of taking more liberty in such matters than he already useth Quae proculdubio ad mentis aegrotationem animi morbum
and I suppose they are not of much greater force at Rome those People having shut their eyes with a resolution notwithstanding all things should go to wrack not to understand any thing that do's not suit with their interests So that by what I can perceive both God and his Majesty are like to be very much dishonoured by what will be done here and if things should go on thus and be brought to such an issue as the Pope and his Ministers aim at and give out the Church will be left in a much worse condition than she was in before It will therefore be expedient after this Session is over and matters are become more desperate if that is possible than they are at present to set about applying some remedies by taking some other methods I am sensible of the great pains your Lordship is at in doing all good Offices both at Rome and with the Nuncio in order to inform the Pope aright and to bring him to alter his measures I pray God he may be prevailed with to do it though for my own part I shall reckon it a Miracle if he is and shall thank God for it as such In the mean while I shall after your Lordship's Example comfort my self with the thoughts of what God oftentimes useth to do when things are reduced to such a desperate estate that no humane prudence is sufficient for them which we may the rather hope for in this case because God's Honour and the Reformation of the Church are immediately concerned in it But after all God only knows after what manner such a remedy will be apply'd and whether by such ways as we think it will and desire it should As to the Protestants coming hither I do not know what to say to it only if other methods are not taken here their coming will be to no purpose and they will return worse than they came and especially if they should be such persons as your Lordship is informed they are God may nevertheless notwithstanding all their Rebellions and Determinations bring them hither to enlighten both themselves and others as to their duties for which reason as there are several that do wish they were here so there are others who cannot endure to hear of their coming and much less to see it The two Protestants that are here already do pretend to have no other business but to provide Lodgings for the rest though I rather think they are sent before as Spies The Bohemians having taken the same course at the Council of Basil who after a great many Offers would not venture to come before they were advised by two they had sent before Rem agi serio nec subesse dolum The meaning of which may easily be understood It is reported that Melancthon and the rest of them appeared obstinate and resolute in their Errors at the Assembly of Wittemburg if that is true there is but little hopes of reducing them neither will I ever believe they will come before I see them here The Divines continued their Disputations till the last day of the last month and since the second Instant the Bishops have been Voting upon the Articles that have been proposed to them So that according to the course the Legate takes they will have done in five or six days and after that the time that remains will be spent in forming the Decrees which being done the Bishops will return to give their Votes to them and pass them into Doctrines Your Lordship may see by this how they intend to employ the time that is behind though nothing is more certain than that thorough the artifices and methods that are used to ingage people and thorough the Council's having no strength left it being totally deprived of its authority and freedom by the Legate who has taken it all entirely into his own hand if a Session were to last half a year it would be the same thing as it is now so that we shall have no cause to wonder at any thing that shall be done here but shall have great cause to be thankfull for what they shall leave undone Dr. Malvenda had been very ill of a Catarrh but is now pretty well again he has not deserved to be sick and is a person for whom I have a very great kindness I kiss your Lordship's hands a thousand times for what you have done in relation to my particular affairs and I do rely so much on your friendship that I take but little care of them my self I have not as yet been able to recover the Money which was assigned me at Naples towards the defraying of my Charges the Goods which used to be remitted to me having been hindred from coming by reason of the Ways being stopt by the War so that I am and have been much pinched with want I have writ to Secretary Vargas concerning it and that he would be pleased to send me such a Dispatch as that which was sent to Don Francisco de Toledo for the recovery of his eight thousand Ducats I must beg it of your Lordship to promote this as also to write to the Viceroy to remit that Money to me immediately which tho' a small thing for him to do would be of great importance to me considering how the Times are and the Charge I live at here The Lord prosper and preserve your most Illustrious and Reverend Person and State for many years as I desire I kiss your Lordship's Hands Doctor Vargas From Trent the 12th of November 1551. Dr. Vargas's Letter of the 26th of November 1551 to the Bishop of Arras Most Illustrious and most Reverend Lord I Have already writ to your Lordship at large as I do now again our affairs requiring I should do so His Majesty's Dispatches which were very proper and such as I wished them being arrived Don Francisco has been to speak with the Legate It would be a tedious business to Relate all that passed between them for which Reason and because Don Francisco himself must have writ an account of it I shall only tell you that the Legate behaved himself on this as he has done on all other occasions and as we expected of him Perfricuit nempe frontem insigniter Your Lordship may be satisfy'd that there are not words to Express the pride disrespect and shamelesness wherewith he proceeds in these affairs for being persuaded that we act timorously and that his Majesty will be cautious how he do's any thing that may Minister occasion to any alteration or that may disgust the Pope he says and do's things that astonish the World treating the Prelates that are here as so many Slaves protesting and swearing when he is displeased that he will be gone immediately by which means he carries whatever he has a mind to And as there is no likelihood of his ever changing his behaviour so the success and end of this Synod if God by a Miracle do's not prevent it will be such as I
the same purpose and by what I hear commonly discoursed among them it is not unlikely that the Prelates may at some time or other come to break with the Legate for I am told they say already that there is no more of a Council than the Legate is pleased to allow By what I have said in this and my former it is easie to perceive how necessary it is that his Majesty should apply himself with all possible warmth and expedition to oblige the Pope and his Ministers to take other Measures and to mind a Reformation as they ought to do that so the tricks which we may otherwise expect to meet with in the next Session may be prevented and that what has cost his Majesty so much to support may not come to nothing which his Majesty through the Iniquity of the Times the Heat of the War and for the sake of the Pope's Friendship and several other causes is deeply concerned to look after It is really a matter of amazement to see how things appertaining to God are handled here and that there should not be one to contend for him or that hath the Courage to speak in his behalf but that we should be all Canes muti non valentes latrare and look on and suffer the Miseries of the Church to become incurable and Germany to be quite lost Abuses to be authorized and his Majesty to be thus dishonoured after he has been at so much pains and has made use of all his Power and has made promises to procure a Reformation by a free Council whereas the Authority not only of this but of all Councils for the future is utterly destroy'd If I should not complain of this and take care frequently to represent it I should neither be a Christian nor do my Duty to my Prince I thanks be to God for it and the whole World being sensible of the Sincerity of his Majesty's Endeavours in this affair and of his not having been wanting on his part to reduce all people to their Duties to the Publick I pray God prosper his Endeavours that so this blind Generation of people may be brought to repent and to be wise at last When any thing more shall offer and I shall be satisfy'd that there is no remedy to be expected here I shall then advise what I shall judge to be most convenient which I shall deferr till that time Affairs do look so very ill here that for the future I could wish that his Majesty's Name and Authority might be made use of in this place as sparingly as it is possible and that it be never done but when there is an extream necessity for it For there do not want other ways whereby his Ministers may oblige the Legate and Prelates that are here to do what is convenient without telling them that his Majesty commands it I leave this with your Lordship to judge whether there is not something in it As to the Reformation they are now hammering upon all that I shall say of it is That in being extreamly prejudicial to and unhappy for us it will be much for the advantage of the Court of Rome which will be sure to value it self upon tricks so that nothing shall be done but what shall serve to create Law-suits and to confirm Abuses Such as the continuing of Titular Bishops whom they ought to abolish for besides the mischiefs they do the creation of such is contrary to the Canons they being much the same with the Choro-episcopi who were anciently taken away by Pope Damasus as also the continuing of Conservatories which are the bane of the World and which do so much disturb the Peace of the Common-wealth by occasioning frequent Disputes about Jurisdictions to the spending of vast Summs of Money But for the same Reasons for which Abuses ought to be abolished they take care to establish them and after such a manner as is most for their advantage I do pray heartily that our Lord would be pleased to remove these and all other such Abuses since we are fallen into such Times that though we had some hopes given us of having them redressed yet through the Legate's carrying what-ever he has a mind to those hopes are now all vanished The Article of Reserved Cases in matters of Doctrine is a thing I could say a great deal more of than I am willing to write May God remedy things and preserve and prosper your most Illustrious Person and State for many years as I desire I kiss your Lordship's Hands Doctor Vargas From Trent the 26th of November 1551. Dr. Vargas's Letter of the 28th of November 1551 to the Bishop of Arras Most Illustrious and Reverend Lord IN a Letter I writ to your Lordship two days ago I gave you an account of what had passed here concerning some Matters of Doctrine with the Divines of Lovain and Cologne that business has put all things here into a terrible Confusion The Legate though he do's all he can to dissemble it being in great disorder about it for he must have no Eyes if he do's not see what he has done and into how great a Confusion he has brought things by his Violence which very well deserves to be called by another name This as I intimated in my last was the Cause why he would not consent to the giving out of any Copies of those Doctrines and Canons having been advised by Don Francisco not to do it untill such time as the business was made up and quieted and the Legate himself now wisheth that they were corrected as to some particulars both which things are worth observing Yesterday and the day before the Legate sent for the Divines to satisfie them and to put an End to this business I am of opinion it will be patched up though not so but that a scarr will still remain neither will it be possible to prevent its taking Air so far as not to furnish the Hereticks with a great deal of discourse This as indeed every thing else that is done here furnisheth his Majesty in my judgment with a fair opportunity of representing Matters nakedly and as they are to the Pope together with the great Inconveniencies which must necessarily attend their not taking other Courses in all matters than they have done hitherto For if he be governed by Reason it is not possible but that this business must have had some effect upon him and I am apt to think that God permitted this on purpose to make them ashamed in order to the opening of their Eyes according to what is said in the Psalms Imple facies eorum ignominiâ ut quaerant nomen tuum I pray God they may once begin to understand though for my own part as I have always said it is more than I expect if it is not done by a Miracle His Majesty must by no means lose such an opportunity as this which if closely and warmly pursued may be of great advantage The Legate being sensible
least not him of Cologne For if there should be no persuading them to stay to the last when they might all return home together they may very well go one after another from hence There is another Article that ought to be maturely considered which is how to prevent the Councils being closed or which will be the same from being suspended for an hour Which is an affair wherein both his Majesty's interest and honour are deeply engaged they are here very intent upon some other things that they do not speak of I do heartily wish that these Affairs may not disturb his Majesty to the increasing of his distemper May God put his hand to all and preserve your Lordship's most Illustrious and Reverend Person and encrease your State for many years as I desire I kiss your Lordship's Hands Doctor Vargas From Trent the 18th of December 1551. P. S. Your Lordship's Letters have been delivered to those to whom they were addressed who do all kiss your Lordship's Hands but particularly the Archbishop of Sazar who desired me to acquaint your Lordship with the sense he has of the favour your Lordship did him therein Dr. Vargas's Letter of the 24th of December 1551 to the Bishop of Arras Most Illustrious and Reverend Lord GOD give your Lordship many happy Christmasses I should have been glad to have done this in Person but since that cannot be your Lordship will I hope accept of my Will which is the same your Lordship has for several years known it to be than which I can say nothing that can endear it more I kiss your Lordship's Hands for the favour of your Letter of the 20th Instant and for having acquainted me with your being in Health which was the best News I could receive May God preserve it to your Lordship as I desire which is a necessary Prayer considering how your Lordship is overwhelmed with Business neither can your Lordship be otherwise than surfeited with these Affairs for I am sure I am abundantly The Electors have taken a better Resolution not to make any change without his Majesty's License which though they do still insist to have we shall nevertheless have the more time to answer them and to receive Orders from Court Concerning which Affair since Don Francisco has writ at large there is no need of my repeating it Nevertheless being informed that he has writ so to his Majesty and has given his Opinion in an Affair of so great moment though I cannot do it by this Currier I will in a little time acquaint your Lordship with my Thoughts of it though considering the perplexity thereof and the conveniencies there are on both sides it were much more advisable to hear than to speak concerning it Don Francisco being a Man of Integrity and Prudence and withall very Zealous for his Majesty's Service cannot but speak well in all that he writes Nevertheless this is an affair of that importance that he had need look narrowly into it that treats about it that so God's Service and his Majesty's Honour which go hand in hand may not suffer thereby and especially considering to what terms things are brought May God direct and ordain what is most expedient for his own Service and preserve and prosper your Lordship's most Illustrious and Reverend Person and State for many years as I desire I kiss your Lordship's Hands Doctor Vargas From Trent the 28th of December 1551. Dr. Vargas's Letter of the 29th of December 1551 to the Bishop of Arras Most Illustrious and Reverend Lord I Do here perform what I promised your Lordship in mine of the 24th Instant which was to write to you concerning the Suspension of the Council which is now so hotly talked of here desiring that what I write may be communicated to his Majesty Now though considering in what forwardness things are here it is possible I may have little to say that will be of any importance and considering how your Lordship keeps up with all business I may have nothing to offer that will be new to you Nevertheless I shall as in duty bound acquaint your Lordship with my Thoughts thereof which though at present they may not may hereafter signifie something I do not know whether by reason of the copiousness of the Subject I shall be able to be so short as I desire The Pope as your Lordship very well knows has all along pretended to two Things The first and chief is to have the Council suspended and in case he failed of that then to make all the haste he could to bring it to an end thereby to free himself from such a Yoke I formerly acquainted your Lordship with the Pope and his Ministers being hard at work to bring this about the Legate having publickly declared that the Council might end by May Nevertheless the Suspension if feasible is the thing they chiefly desire and are labouring hard at this time to compass and that for the following Reasons 1. Because if they should prosecute and put an end to the Council they will not then be able to avoid the encountring of one of these two Dangers either of being obliged to consent to such a Reformation as is necessary which rather than yield to they will suffer all to go to wrack or else they must give over pretending any longer that it belongs to the Pope to reduce Germany and reform the Church Whereby they will justifie Princes in applying proper Remedies to their own Kingdoms by all just and holy Ways which they reckon will be prevented by not putting an end to the Council because till that is done they will still be able to gull the World with their having an intention to do great matters and will according to their common practice go on imposing upon People with fair words and false colours 2. By suspending the Council the Pope may hope to gratifie the King of France and procure his friendship so far as to make an advantageous Peace with him whereby his Court will hope to draw the same Profits from that Kingdom as they did before the Breach 3. What-ever is done therein they will be sure to lay it all at his Majesty's door and will give it out that they were not the Cause of it This they are at this time labouring hard to bring about by reducing matters to such terms as may give some colour to that pretence 4. By suspending the Council they will hinder the Protestants from coming to it Which is a thing the Pope and his Ministers cannot endure to think of being sensible to what straits they will be reduced thereby Since the Presence of those people will oblige them either to carry things after another manner than they have done hitherto or will make them infamous to the whole World neither was it any thing but this that occasioned the Council's having met so frequently as it has done So that we may very well have People coming hither when the Council is drawing near its End
the Eve of the Session before we came to an agreement how it was to be the Legate having insisted upon having the words quantum in nobis est added to the Clause of Security which we got by pure dint of Reason to be left out This is all that relates to the safe Conduct which in point of security and other things is as full as the Protestants can desire to have it unless to justifie their pretences they are for finding flaws in every thing Don Francisco has taken a great deal of pains to satisfie Duke Maurice's Envoys but to little purpose who do still insist on this That they cannot exceed their Commission in yielding to the change of one Title in the safe Conduct of Basil His Majesty must be pleased to concern himself in this and not for to suffer all to depend on those to whom he gave but little safe Conduct for what they did yesterday in the General Congregation in which they proposed all that they had given in before to our Embassadors with the addition of some other bold things In the Congregation that was held yesterday and in that of this morning the Envoys of Wirtembourg having presented their Powers deliver'd in therewith a Book of their Confession and certain Heads of their Pretensions a Copy whereof I do here send your Lordship It would be a large History to relate all that has passed with the Legate before we could get him to admit these people of which Don Francisco who did and is still doing all that is possible must have writ at large for the truth is we had a very hard tug of it As for the Legate since his having heard the Propositions which were made and spoke to by the Envoys he do's things that are astonishing for besides that he made the Synod before they were heard for to enter a Protestation of which I here send your Lordship a Copy he would needs have had it repeated again at the publick Session till I convinced him of the inconveniency thereof as I did also of several other things by telling him that it would be much better to let the doing of it after such a manner alone and not to add any Clause to it that was odious which I obtained of him and so it passed as it is With this I do reckon the War is actually begun for that after the granting of this safe Conduct and the security it promiseth Melancthon and his Companions will have nothing to plead in excuse for their not coming hither and that speedily too the next Session being ordered to be held on the 15th of March after which time I believe it will be impossible for us without breaking with the Pope to obtain a longer term he and his Ministers being in a terrible fright thorow their imagining that our aim in these delays is to procure a Reformation But as I was always satisfy'd of what was his Majesty's intentions therein I was much more so by his last Letters concerning this delay and the next Session On the 20th Instant I acquainted your Lordship with what had passed here in reference to the Doctrine of Order and with some Clauses being therein that are extreamly prejudicial to the Church in general and in particular to the Rights of Bishops Provisions of Benefices and the Dignities and Patronages that belong to Princes in Cathedral Churches and above all to his Majesty The Clause which destroys all these and both condemns the Primitive Church and obstructs all Remedies for the future I do here send your Lordship as I do also the whole Doctrine which has several such pernicious Clauses in it to all which I have set a mark Now as I do not think there is any thing of greater importance than this is so it is visible the Legate has set his heart extreamly upon it and is very angry with the Prelates for being aware thereof and who for that reason finding that he should not be able to pass it in the hurry of a Session he has ordered the Doctrines to be put to the Vote the next day after to morrow his Soul being ready to leap out of his Body to carry this Point with all its pernicious consequences whereof the chief is That all Power will be given to the Pope I have already advertised Don Francisco thereof who is prepared to do all that he is able to hinder it Nevertheless I am still afraid that the Legate may carry this point he having boasted already that he has given more to the Apostolical See than was ever given to it by any that were before him But besides what has been said of the importance of these matters their having never been discussed or proposed must be insisted on to put a stop to the Legate who if suffered to do it in this may take the same course in all other things for since these matters have been suspended till such time as the Protestants have been heard there is no reason why they should be concluded and agreed on by the Synod before that has been done since that must defeat the Suspension and the Protestants will be heard in a Cause that is pre-judged Now all that can be done here serves only to gain time the Remedy being to be had no-where but at Rome where his Majesty must do all he can with the Pope to put a stop to this business God grant he may succeed in it For I can see such things preparing that unless we will be content to suffer great Mischiefs to be done both to the Church and his Majesty this Synod must end in a Tragedy And what a miserable thing is this that in such a Prince's time such things as these should be suffered to be carried on with so great Violence by the Legate who affronts and threatens all that have the courage to oppose him in any thing and who the other day called the Bishop of Oren an Heretick For my own part I cannot imagine how such Excesses as these come to be endured unless it be for our greater confusion It would be a long work to lay open the Reasons and Ground of all these Matters but your Lordship who has so quick an insight into things will from what I have writ here and on other occasions understand what my Thoughts are of them and will see that a short and speedy Remedy is absolutely necessary to the things we are here toiling about For the obtaining whereof and that I might give your Lordship an account of all that passeth here was what disposed me to write so much at this time when a multitude of Troubles and Business do so oppress me as will scarce allow me time to breathe in to the endangering of my health I forgot to tell you that the Legate being obliged to it by the great noise it made has so far quitted the Clause which would have given to the Pope a superiority over Councils as to temper it by putting only
has a Mystery in it but above all from the clause they have inserted into the Canons of Reformation which is Salva semper in omnibus sedis Apostolicae authoritate which is telling the World in plain terms that what the Pope does not like shall signifie nothing for notwithstanding the Power of dispensing when there is just cause is always excepted yet the Legates knowing it would be more for their advantage to have it expressed they had it done but this being notorious to every Body and having formerly had occasion to speak of it I shall prosecute it no farther 2. Whereas the Design of the Legates was so to manage all matters that nothing but what they had a mind to and was in their secret Commission should be able to pass they erected three Classes one for each Legate in which such of the Prelates as were most in their favour were to report matters now these three Classes meeting in sundry places at the same time to treat of the same Subject the Legates did manage that to their advantage with an Artifice beyond what is to be imagined their Design therein being to pump the Prelates so before hand as to find how they intended to vote and having discovered that the three Legates did according to their Custom cabal together at Night and having conferred Notes took their measures accordingly in either going on or in sending advice to Rome or in negotiating with People by certain methods that they have to change their minds and this they have done so often that it is now taken notice of by every body neither can there be any course more pernicious or more destructive of the liberty of the Council and what makes it the worse is that it is done forsooth under a pretence of Religion and that things may be the better examined Quia falli labi decipi humanum est sed sub specie Religionis turpissimum atque execrabile Farthermore The Legates by the help of the discoveries they make in their several Classes do learn what things they may propose in the General Congregations and when it is best to do it and so when they judge it to be most for their purpose they have Matters disputed in a particular Congregation by the Divines to have them ready when they shall think fit to propose them in a General Congregation which they do commonly suspend upon some pretence or other till they have consulted Rome which being done the Legates do very artificially conduct Matters as they have ordered them that is such Matters as they have a mind to have determined For as to those that are not approved of they are by some means or other stifled notwithstanding the whole Council is for their being passed Farthermore There are several Inconveniencies in their way of Voting for the Legates when they judge it to be for their advantage that every one should declare his Opinion at large do permit them to do it but when it is most for their purpose that they should only say placet or non placet to any thing they have proposed they then oblige them to Vote so In the ancient Roman Courts as Aulus Gellius tells us in the 7th Chapter of his 14th Book there were two ways of making Laws either per discessionem or per sententias singulorum exquisitas of which the last was most in use and is certainly the best way The way of Voting in former Councils was That every one was permitted to speak his mind freely and notwithstanding they who have writ thereof do observe that the Synods did many times answer to what was proposed to them with placet or non placet it is nevertheless to be considered that when nothing is to be done in a Session but only to pronounce the Decrees which are already agreed on in that case there is no inconvenience in answering with placet which prevents the Action being spun out to an unnecessary length though at the same time the Prelates were left to their liberty to Vote otherwise if they pleased and to approve or contradict as they thought good which is all we know of the way of Voting used in the ancient Councils our Writers being silent as to that which is of greatest moment which are the Congregations that were antecedent to the Sessions and wherein Matters were examined and concluded and whereon indeed the whole stress of the business lay all that was done in the Sessions being only to publish what was before agreed on In which Congregations if every Prelate was not permitted to Vote singly and to speak his Mind freely it was an imposition upon them and the Fathers who were there as Judges must have appeared only as Parties in being compelled to answer to what was proposed with credit or non credit As to which Point there have been here so great prejudices and so little liberty that it would be a long business to set down the whole thereof Farthermore The Legates formerly contented themselves with an honorary Presidency in Voting first and delivering their Opinions of things as the other Fathers did whereas having now usurped an authoritative and coercive Presidency they ought not to Vote in any case nor to deliver their Opinion but to propose only and suffer every one to Vote freely to act otherwise being an imposition and a pre-judging of the Cause and a means of Terror in which as in every thing else great Excesses have been committed the Legates having many times when they have proposed a thing declared their Opinion of it giving their non placet to things before the Fathers could give their placet nay in the middle of Voting when they have observed any Prelate not to Vote as they would have him they have taken upon themselves to speak to it before another was suffered to Vote doing it sometimes with soft Words and at other-times with harsh letting others to understand thereby how they would have them Vote many times railing at the Prelates and exposing them to scorn and using such methods as would make one's heart bleed to hear of and much more to see So there was one who in the face of a General Congregation called all the Prelates Vulpeculas who were for having the Clause Universalem ecclesiam repraesentans added which could not be obtained to the great detriment of the Council and the great reproach of those who were called so all which notwithstanding the Legates go on still with their dicant Patres libere which considering how they carry things I wonder with what face or conscience they can pronounce those words Farthermore Passions and hard Words are not wanting here and that among some of the Cardinals from which no less than from their agreement the Legates derive advantage the honour of the Apostolical See and the Pope's pleasure and displeasure being daily set before the Prelates to intimidate them Farthermore In the ordering of the Decrees which they were to pronounce in the Sessions