Pongasi mente se verun disconcio arrechi alla felicit à civile che molti beni passino da esser dono del caso nell ' heredità del sangue ad esser distribuzione della giustizia nel riconoscimento del merito So that although all the Goods of the World should actually pass by distribution of the Pope as Victuals do through the Stomach and as of right all the Goods of the World belong to the Pope as a King whose Inheritance is the whole Universe there is no body but may see that the Carnal Felicity of the Church would be thereby more perfect at least no body can deny but that the Pope hath right to levy upon the whole Earth what is necessary to make a Carnal Felicity sutable to his Royalty to make him the richest the most glorious and the most happy even according to the Flesh of all the Kings and of all the Emperors of the Earth ARTICLE XIV It is sutable to the Pope to have his Kingdom and State apart and a Princes Court equal to other Kings superior to all Princes The Pope's Courtiers be called the Glorious Cardinals They be the splendor of the Roman Court. SUpposing then as it hath already appeared That 't is necessary for the Unity and Majesty of Church-Government that there be one Supream Head and Soveraign Ruler 't is convenient to the end he may be the common Father and not held suspected by any one as partial that he reside not in the States of other Princes but in his own That he have a Court and Courtiers such as the Grandeur of his Administration require l. 1. c. 25. or supposto che per l'unità del governo per la Maestà debba esser un Capo supremo e un supremo Rettor della Chiesa convien ch'egli affine di poter esser Padre commune non diffidente à veruno non habiti nello Stato d'alcuno degli altri Principi mà che habbia Stato proprio Corte propria Ministri proprii e quali richiedonsi alla grandezza della sua amministrazione If a man had regard but only to the Grandeur of this Administration and to its infinite power the whole Universe and all the Kingdoms of the whole Universe should necessarily appertain to the Pope immediately in demean only if the Pope were immediate Lord of all Kingdoms without any other King upon Earth but him or that Kings in their Temporal concerns were as the Popes Vicars men would be ready to attribute Faith and the Conversion of the World to a humane awe that Folks had of this same King of the World and not to an affection for Religion See here then an admirable providence that the Pope hath a State little enough to give no place for any evil judgment that some might be ready to make disadvantageous to Religion on the other side if this State had been lesser the Pope would have been too openly exposed to Temporal Princes assaults wherefore he had one bestowed upon him big enough to defend himself in l. 1. c. 1. non è si grande che il culto del Christianesimo si possa ascriver ad umano timor e non ad affetto di religione non è si picciolo che possa di leggieri il suo possessore venir violentato dalla potenza di principi secolari There 's the reason then why the Pope is not immediate sole King of the whole Universe but this does not hinder but that he may be so in quality of Soveraign Lord Paramount as one may so say of whom all Kings are Tributaries and Tenants as hath been already been seen by the right he hath to compel them to pay him contribution for his maintenance suting the Grandeur of his administration questi rittratti si cavan da tutti i regni del Christiâ—nesimo l. 1. c. 25. Therefore they ought also to maintain him Courtiers in such State as may befit the Grandeur of their Elevation and these be the Glorious Cardinals Gloriosi Cardinali l. 6. c. 4. l. 9. c. 10. to whom all Bishops are Inferiors Prelati loro inferiori 't is clear that their Riches their Honours and their Pleasures their Glory their Splendor and in one word their Felicity according to the Flesh secondo la carne ought to be incomparably greater than that of the richest Bishops who in comparison of Cardinals are but little Prelats piccioli Vescovi This Degree of Cardinalship is the principal Splendor of the Roman Church and of its Popes l. 21. quella dignità ch' è il precipuo splendor della Chiesa Romana e de' suoi Pontefici and in effect 't is a great Glory for a Pope to be able to create Senators who in Priviledge and Honour are before all the Creatures of other Monarchs so that even the Children of the greatest Princes aspire to this Dignity mentre possono crear Senatori che in privilegii ed onoranze molto avanzino quelli d'ogni Monarca terreno l. 21. c. 4. si che aspirino à tal grado i figliuoli de' sommi principi Also at Rome one reckons that Cardinals are above all Princes that be not Kings Cardinali che si stimano in Roma superiori ad ogni principe minor de' Rè l 9. c. 9. l. 13. c. 14. predecessero com' era stato fin all' ora il costume à Principi del sangue reggio and in all parts of the Christian World men render to them the same Honours as they do to Kings l. 1. c. 8. tanti altri gran ' Senatori venerati con Reali onoranze du si grande e nobil parte del mondo Thus is it manifest That Cardinals being equal to Kings in Honour 't is sutable that they should be like unto them in Riches Pleasures and Voluptuousness according to the Flesh secondo la carne and by consequence that the Pope may take out of all Christendom all necessary Tributes amply to recompence his Cardinals which could not be if the piety of Christians did not furnish out his huge expence l. 1. c. 25. ciò senza dubio non seguirebbe se la pietà de' Christiani non somministrasse à lui la commodità di remunerarli altamente ARTICLE XV. Besides the Glorious Cardinals the Court of Rome ought to be filled with an infinite number of small Prelates that are to be equal with Bishops and these be to lead no sad nor poor life but to be jocund and live in plenty OLtre alle innumerabili Prelature Ibid. dignità e prebende che in quella si compariscono il che fà godere molti con l'effetto e tutti con la speranza laquâ—â— forse in questa vita è da maggior godimento che l'istesso effetto Here is the Glory the Splendor and the Voluptuousness of the Roman Court according to the Flesh which consists in the actual possession of an Earthly Felicity
but Sin or only Fortune who on this score may be accused as the Enemy of Virtue poter ' accusar la Fortuna come nemica della virtù In the Fifth will be related the Twelve most ordinary Means to enrich the Court of Rome and to maintain the Splendor thereof according to this World which is the most important and the most pious action of all the Religious Policy The Twelfth and most effectual of these Means is the establishing of Colleges of Jesuites to teach the New Gospel and this same Religious Policy all according to the Doctrine of Aristotle with power for them to set up the Inquisition and to be High Commissioners in that Holy Court making out Process against all them who shall differ from the Sentiments of that Philosopher And over and besides with a general Concession to them of all the Priviledges granted to the other Religious Orders although found fault with by S. Bernard Non sodisfece pienamente à San ' Bernardo because on the other side they are approved by Machiavel per Confessione dello stesso Nicolo Machiavelli In the Sixth will be discoursed the Interests and the different Sentiments of the Catholick Christian Crowns and Republicks in relation to this same Religious Policy according as they are more or less favourable or opposite thereunto it will be made apparent that there is none of them more opposite than those of the Crown and of the Church of France la qual tendeva ad abbatre la Monarchia e levar lo splendore e l' imperio della Corte Romana The Conclusion will be That the Council of Trent ought to be taken and interpreted after the sense and meaning of this same Religious Policy according to the Flesh that makes men happy in this world and in the other not in the sense and meaning of those zealous Ignorants who would have all observed that is ordain'd by that Council would thereby establish their Ideal Reformation But in the sense and meaning of those who would follow the Doctrine of this our Cardinal according to which by leaving to the Pope full and whole power in the Shop or Office of Dispensations Sopra la bottega di dispensazioni to grant them as he pleases and even to derogate from the Canons it will clearly be seen that that Council brings incomparably more advantages to the Church than the Heresie either of Luther or Calvin have caused Losses or Mischiefs to it maggior accresimento di bontà per mezzo del Concilio che non fù scemato dell ' istessa Eresia because being taken in that sense it teaches men a Policy and a Gospel according to the Flesh with the means to be happy in this World and in the other This will be henceforward as our Cardinal promises to himself an invincible Defence of the Catholick Religion against all the Hereticks Infidels and Atheists who may have the presumption to write against it or against the Council of Trent For it can be no longer doubted but that the Holy Ghost assisted in a special manner at that Council to hinder that it should ordain nothing but what might be profitable to the Church the Hereticks themselves having taken up and owned those words of Monsieur de Lansac the French Ambassador which are since become so famous throughout the World That the Pope sent every day from Rome the Holy Ghost to Trent in a Cloak-bag Lo Spirito Santo venia portato nella valigia For though at first blush these words seem impious yet by means of the Scholastick interpretation that this Cardinal bestows upon them he makes subtilly to appear that their sense is exactly true solid Catholick and that there are no longer any but Ideots that are able to perceive in those words any shadow or appearance capable to startle their weak and ignorant Devotion Lo how it hath steaded the Cardinal to have passed a Master in School-Divinity and Aristotle's Philosophy and Lo wherein this Philosophy is profitable to the Church for he that knows well how to handle it turns against the Hereticks themselves the Shot which they thought to discharge against her And in fine from what they say that the Holy Ghost was sent by the Pope in a Cloak-bag to that Council one proves the assistance of the Holy Ghost in that Council so then the Hereticks must own they are overcome And whoso does not approve the Government of the Church such as it is this day under the Pope's Royalty according to the Rules of this our Cardinal's Policy must manifestly be either a Fool or a Seducer Chi per approvare una forma di Republica non si contenta di questo ò è insano ò è seduttore And so all good religious Politick Christians ought to pray God quoth the Cardinal that it would please him to cause the Spirit of S. Peter to live still in all his Successors as it lives now at this day in him that reigns Preghino Iddio che faccia vivere stabilmente com' oggi vive lo Spirito di San ' Piedro * Alexand. VII ne ' successori CHAP. I. The Necessity the Utility and Excellency of Religious Policy It renders men happy in this world and in the other ARTICLE I. According to our Cardinal there is nothing more important for a Christian than to be a good Polititian and it was to instruct Christians in the Maxims of the True Policy that the Cardinal undertook his History of the Council of Trent This Policy is that of the worldly wise for the establishing of which Jesus Christ preached the Gospel that he might teach men to be happy in this World and in the other ARistotle saith That a man who sins and commits for example Murder or Adultery believing that those Actions are good does more mischief to humane Society by his Error than if he knew those Actions to be ill and yet would not leave off committing them Histor del Conc. di Tr. l. 14. c. 13. Secondo Aristotele sarebbe più nocivo al commercio umano chi uccidesse e adulterasse persuaso tali attioni esser buone che consapevole della loro malizia Which makes one perceive that there is nothing of greater import than to instruct the understandings of men and cure their Errors but chiefly those Errors opposite to true Policy because Policy is the first and supream of all the Moral Virtues l. 5. c. 16. la quale è la suprema delle virtù morali the reason of this Virtues excellency is for that it hath for Object the common Good which is the noblest of all Goods Ibid. Essendo ella uno studio del ben ' commune ch' è il più nobile di tutti beni Hence according to the same Aristotle it being so that the corruption of the greatest Good brings forth the greatest Evil Il peggior Vileno risulta dalla corruzione dell ' ottimo it follows l. 1. c. 13. l. 7. c. 2. that
also he taken of a Policy simple sincere and without mask as was his which had not been refined in any famous Court such as be those of Italy l. 8. c. 17. senz ' affinarsi nell ' excellente scuola della frequenza As this is a point of the utmost import so ought the general Maxims of those zealous Spirits to be related that a man may keep from them as a pernicious poison of the publick Tranquility l. 17. c. 14. concetti stravaganti veleni della publica tranquilità CHAP. II. ARTICLE I. Five Errors and poisoned Maxims of the scrupulous Policy of the zealous Ignorants according to the Flesh THe first pernicious Error of the zealous Ignorants is to pretend that one should live in the Church as one ought to live according to God and that the Laws of the Church were regulated and formed by that Principle The contrary Maxim is that the Laws of the Church ought to guide men according to the Flesh and commodiously having regard to the corrupt inclinations of their Nature The Second pernicious Error is That that which is best to be done is best also to be commanded The opposite Maxim is That the best to be commanded is that which can be done commodiously according to the Flesh and not that which should be the best to be done according to God The Third pernicious Error of the zealous Ignorants is That the Church ought to be governed according to the Rules of Antiquity The opposite Maxim is That the Church ought not to be governed according to the Rules of Antiquity The Fourth pernicious Error is That the Church ought to be governed by the way of Councils The opposite Maxim is That the Church ought not to be governed by the way of Councils The Fifth Error is That the Church ought to be governed by every Bishop in particular according to the portion of the Episcopacy fallen to him which makes in all the Bishops but one and the same Unity of Episcopacy in solidum The Fifth opposite Maxim is That this Opinion is seditious and that the Church ought to be governed by one only Bishop King and Monarch of all others 'T is true quoth the Cardinal if one would take the measure of Good from the Idea of what it ought to be the Church in the condition wherein we see her would appear most dreadfully deformed Introd c. 8. vero è che se vogliamo prendere la misura del buono dall ' idea di quello che doverebbe essere la difformità senza dubio rimane grandissima Now it is from the Idea of what ought to be that the Zealous take the measures of their Policy and they would fain have Laws made to oblige the Church to live as it ought to live for example that Charity should be regulated by that which Gods Love requires and as the hope or fear of an eternity of Heaven or Hell requireth Introd c. 8. daciò che merita un Diò e un eternità di paradiso ò d'inferno They will not by any means that things should rather be regulated according to that which one man can in reason no more but expect in the times wherein we are who are as it were the Dregs of Adam's corruption where our Republick to be governed is not composed of any that be perfect but of so many Millions of the imperfect Believing of the old and new world Ibid. e non più tosto da quello che può sperarsi in questa feccia d'Adamo The true Religious Policy according to this Cardinal doth lay it then for a general Maxim that for to make Laws one should be guided by the disposition of the people who being imperfect ought to be regulated according as God and Nature hath set them into the world in these our times dovendo governare gli huomini quali Iddio e la natura gli producono al mondo l. 9. c. 9. and a Form must be proposed proportionate to the dispositions of the Matter that is to say propose Laws accommodated to peoples humors and not introduce Idea's founded upon what ought to be having relation to God dignè Deo as S. Paul speaks From hence this Cardinal leaves it to be concluded that the Laws of the Church ought not to be such as they should be for example if one were obliged to love God by an Act of Love as a Divine Virtue if one were obliged to tend to the perfection of that Love if one were cursed doing the work of the Lord negligently This is ignorant Folks Zeal Intr. l. 10. zelo imperito d'alcuni to confound what 's best to be done with what 's best to be ordained as if one was the other Ibid. che confondono l'ottimo à farsi con l'ottimo à commandarsi not perceiving that Laws are then worst when they prescribe what 's most excellent that is to say a perfection impossible l. 1. c. 25. le leggi tal ora son ' pessime quando prescrivono l'ottimo ciò è una perfezion inosservabile Thus to make Laws according to the true carnal Policy one must take great care if one would bring it to good to cause that they be observed Intr. c. 10. che poi successe looking out first to see if there be any likelihood of success in the Reformation pretended riformation riuscibile for on the contrary if Laws be made where there is no apparence they will bring in the Reformation proposed those Laws become a poison in the Policy 'T is important then that one be instructed how to take well his measures to make Church-Laws that the success thereof may be infallible for one ought not to imagine with the Zealous Ignorants that Antiquity must be followed l. 21. c. 6. Vsaronsi per l'antichi tempi adunque deonsi rimettere in uso Antiquity ought not to serve for a rule to the present Church neither ought she to be governed by Councils and Bishops assembled on the contrary there is no conjunction of Stars whose influence can be more perillous to the Church than that of Councils is non si può imaginar congiunzione di più pericolosainfluenza che un synodo generale l. 16. c. 10. The Church ought not to be governed by Bishops every one according to his share of Episcopacy as if it were all but one Episcopacy in it self common to the Bishops and the Pope it is a seditious Doctrine to pretend this solidity quella sediz sosa dottrina Ibid. This Cardinal busies himself in the following course of his History to confute these Errors and to establish the opposite Maxims to purge the poison of these Errors out of the Religious Policy of the Church and he concludes very well from thence the necessity of a Monarch that may be the Head of the Church Emperor and King of the whole Universe who is as the Soul and the Form of the Church to inform
against the Maxims of Reformation that the Spirit of the Devil according to them inspires into those which have governed it since the Council of Basil's time and now again since the Council of Trent which all tend to nothing but to the overthrow of the Roman Empire of the whole splendour of it's Court and of it's Carnal felecity Secondly It concerns the Roman Court to deal in such sort that the reputation and the Doctrine of Aristotle may subsist with approbation in France for the project of Felicity according to the Flesh and of the Universal Monarchy of the World which are the two cardinal points of the new Policy of our Historian being particularly established and upheld upon the Doctrine of that Philosopher and that Prince of Philosophers having already bestowed a many Articles of Faith upon the Church the last effect of his Doctrine ought to be to make these Articles be received in their full extent as Articles of Faith Viz. That of the Universal Monarchy as our Cardinal hath explained it and that other of Felicity according to the Flesh necessary to the Church for then one might well approve those words of our Cardinal di ciò si doveva in gran parte l'obligazione ad Aristotele l. 8. c. 19. il quale se non si fosse adoperato in distinguer accuratamente i generi delle cagioni noi mancavamo di molti Articoli di Fede For if once one could but come to make in the Church Articles of Faith out of the Maxims of our Cardinals Policy which have been related and are approved even by Nicholas Machiavel then one might well say with our Cardinal That the Councils of Ephesus of Calcedon and all those which have followed as well as all the Fathers which assisted thereat had never been able to make their Decisions if they had not imbibed Graecian Philosophy and that 't is easy to see among their Oracles how much of the Stagyrite and of Athens they have mingled with them because that if Aristotle or Philosophy had not given us common notions of things we could not have been able by the aid of Divine Revelation to apply them to supernatural objects l. 8. c. 19. The Conclusion of the Work BY all that hath been said it appears That Religious Policy is the most excellent of all moral vertues and the most necessary to Salvation That all this Policy is reduced to two principal points the First is the Royalty of the Pope over the whole World the Second is the carnal felicity of his reign because it serves to bring Christian Religion in Reputation amongst imperfect and carnal men which have no pure Love toward God per conservarla in estimazione anche presso gli impertetti l. 23. c. 3. which set their affections more upon what they see then upon what is believed maggiormente s'affezzionano à quel che si vede ch'à quel che si crede From whence it comes that the carnal felicity of the Church is a Vocation to Faith for all the World and to the Clergyship for Lords and Gentlemen who make the Churches Glory and her to be signal over all the World 'T was this temporal glory of the Pope's Royalty that Jesus Christ came to establish and did merit by the effusion of his bloud and to set up which he came down from Heaven upon Earth l. 2. c. 10. Vfficio istituito da Dio quando scese in terra per salute del Mondo 'T is the spirit of this camal Monarchy which he shed forth upon the whole Church according to our Cardinal the fulness whereof was in St. Peter and he hath derived it since as from a source unto his Successors proportionably according to the progress of their studies in the science of Policy as it appears at this day that this Spirit of St. Peter is liveing quoth the Cardinal in his Successor Alexander VII comme hoggi vive lo spirito di san ' Pietro ne successori l. 4. c. 5. Wherefore having at the beginning of his work an Example of an ordinary Pope viz. Adrian VI. who by consequence according to him had not the Spirit of St. Peter though he had all his Apostolical vertues because that according to our Cardinal he had not his fine policy He now on the contrary for the conclusion of his work represents Pope Alexander VII as one of the perfect Copies of this great Apostle according to the maxime of this same refined Policy You are quoth our Cardinal speaking as to Alexander VII l. 24. c. ult The Sun that bears rule in the Hemisphere of the Church Light cannot suffer any darkness to obscure it You have been created Pope according to the desire and the Heart of the Holy Ghost alla voglia del Spirito Sancto the Hereticks themselves have born witness thereof Other men are oft-times praised for their success in which fortune did more then they but you deserve a Praise no wise equivocal The actions of your life are all yours and fortune hath no part therein si piglia da fatti che tutti son suoi e niente della fortuna Whereby it does yet again appear that our Cardinal does admit a Fortune distinct from divine Providence as it hath been explained to us in the Politick consideration upon Fortune For he would not say that divine Providence had no share in the actions of Pope Alexander VII He goes on in these Terms The pontifical officiatings which your Holiness hath performed at Seasons with so much order and Devotion have made the most lively image of Paradise to appear upon earth that ever can be seen But what shall I say of your Holinesses Nephews and near kindred which you have left a whole year together at a distance from you to try them before you called them to the Participation which they ought to have in the government and the carnal Felicity of his reign To be absented a whole year together from the top of the perfection and the carnal felicity of the Church what a tryal What a long time for a principal Nephew so learned of so ripe a Wit and of an integrety of life so worthy of all the Ecclesiastical and religious voluptuousness of the Roman Court so known as was then the life of Cardinal Chigi your Holinesse's principal Nephew which you called to you for the solace rather then the burthen of the people I am of a Religion that does not permit me to lye mi ritrae dal mentire Introd c. 8. but though that were not so yet if what I say could be satisfied by the publick knowledge would not it be for me my self to destroy my own reputation to lye so openly sarebbe infamator da se stesso chi narrasse dal suo principe vivente fatti particolari smentiti dalla notizia commune Those magnificences which your Holiness caused to be represented in the shows which you gave the people to
this is to err on the safer side THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. THe Necessity the Utility and Excellency of Religious Policy It renders men happy in this World and in the other CHAP. II. The Errors and poisoned Maxims of the scrupulous Policy of the zealous Ignorants according to the Flesh CHAP. III. The only Rule of the Politick Church Government is its Felicity according to the Flesh in this World and in the other under the Authority of one sole Monarch of the Universe who is the Pope to whom all Christian Kings are Tributaries and Subjects and who hath or ought to have for his Inheritance or Demean the Riches of all the World whose Honours and carnal Pleasures make the Churches Splendor and Felicity Jesus Christ hath merited them for her by the effusion of his Blood to render her Visible Perpetual and Remarkable as the most happy according to the Flesh of all other Republicks that are that shall be or that ever were upon Earth CHAP. IV. Twenty Reasons that prove the Necessity of the Riches Honours Voluptuousness of the Church to make thereof a Gospel according to the Flesh the Vocation of all the World to Faith and a part of that World to the Ecclesiastick Life without which Riches Honours and Voluptuousness the Church having no Reputation among them who fancy those things would perish not being able to subsist happy according to the Flesh if her Ministers were poor as formerly and if they had not vast Riches as the Glorious Cardinals who are at this day the Pope's Courtiers Here also shall be shewn the unluckiness the shamefulness and even the Vice of Poverty whereof God in his Providence is no Author but Sin or only Fortune which on this score may be accused as the Enemy of Virtue CHAP. V. Here are related the Twelve ordinary means inriching the Court of Rome and maintaining the splendor thereof according to the flesh which is the act of all Religious Policy the most pious and the most important The Twelfth and most efficacious of those means to teach every where the Gospel according to the Flesh and this Religious Policy according to the Doctrine of Aristotle to whom the Church is beholden for many Articles of Faith is to establish Colleges of Jesuites with power to set up the Inquisition and to be high Commissioners in that Holy Office to make out process against all them who shall differ from the sentiments of that Philosopher And that these Jesuites shall have a general grant of all Privileges granted to the other Monastical Orders although St. Bernard hath blamed those privileges for on the other hand they be approved by Nicholas Machiavel CHAP. VI. Here be related the Interests and different Sentiments of the Catholick Christian Crowns and Republicks according as they are more or less favourable to this Religious Policy according to the Flesh and 't is made appear that there 's none more opposite than those of the Crown and of the Church of France which proposed no less at the Council of Trent than to throw down the Churches Monarchy and Empire and to take away the splendor of the Court of Rome THE NEW POLITICK LIGHTS OF Modern Rome 's CHURCH-GOVERNMENT OR The New Gospel according to Cardinal Palavicini Revealed by him in his History of the Council of Trent The Design and Partition of the Work THis Work is divided into six Chapters In the first by the Cardinal 's own Words will appear the Necessity the Utility the Nature and the Excellency of that same Religious Policy which renders men happy in this world and in the other This Policy to be true ought to be according to Aristotle and according to the Flesh which distinguishes it from the false Policy of Mahomet that 's pure Tyranny and from the indiscreet and scrupulous Policy of certain zealous and weak Ignorants who not believing that one may be happy in this world and in the other carry the Virtue Policy into the excess of an ideal and extravagant Reformation as Pope Adrian the 6th would fain have done who in sooth was a most special Priest but a very ordinary Pope Ottimo Ecclesiastico Pontifice mediocre In the Second Chapter are related and refuted five general Maxims of those zealous and scrupulous Ignorants who pretend that Religious Policy ought to found the Rules of its governing upon that which should be according to God and not upon that which may be agreeable to the Flesh in the state of corrupt Nature and who believe that what is best to be done is also best to be commanded following Antiquity Councils and the Vote of a Commonalty of private Bishops which these zealous people regard as little Kings Il volgo de' Rè and as so many small Popes in their Diocesses à guisa di Papi whereas by Rules of the Policy indeed the Pope cannot consider them otherwise than as little Bishops piccioli Vescovi Babies Fanciulli indiscreet Zealots per indiscrezione di zelo Impertinents impertinenti Insolent insolenti Buffoons i Buffoneschi in a word unruly headstrong Coach-horses still ready to run away with the Coach Vna Carozza trata da Cavalli che volino Ignorants who cannot skill the manage of the Roman Court inesperti di maneggio all as these Qualities may belong to them some or others respectively In the Third will be made evident that the only Rule for politickly Governing the Church is its felicity according to the Flesh in this World and in the other under the Authority all-puissant of a King sole Monarch of the whole Universe who is the Pope Signore del Mondo of whom all his Christian Kings are Tributaries and Subjects Molti Regni al loro Monarcao whose Revenue is made up of the riches of the Universe avendo per patrimonio le sustanze de' sudditi whose Honours and Pleasures make the splendor carnal Felicity of the Church That Jesus Christ hath merited this Church by the effusion of his Blood to render it visible perperual and remarkable as the most happy according to the Flesh of all other Republicks that are that shall be or ever have been upon Earth questo governo disegnato da ' Christo più felice che sia in terra In the Fourth will be alledged Twenty Reasons proving the necessity of the Riches Honours and Voluptuousnes of this Church to make thereof a Gospel according to the Flesh and a Vocation of all the World to her Faith and part of that World to the Ecclesiastick State Without which Riches Honours and Voluptuousness the Church having no reputation among them who fancy those things would perish not being able to subsist happy according to the Flesh if her Ministers were poor as formerly and if they had not vast Riches as the glorious Cardinals who at this day are the Pope's Courtiers Gloriosi Cardinali Here also shall be shewn the unluckiness the shamefulness yea and even the Vice of Poverty whereof God in his Providence is no Author
there is no Error more pernicious nor no Crime rendring men greater Villains than false and corrupt Policy La quale è il piu scelerato de vizii because 't is contrary to the greatest of all Goods l. 5. c. 16. Si come contraria à quel prestantissimo Bene So that there is nothing more important than well to distinguish between Policy taken in the vulgar sense di huomini volgari and the true Policy of Knowing and Learned men Ibid. Ibid. Trà la politica vera intesa da ' scienziati for false and corrupt Policy is accursed Ibid. Questa Politica essecranda The reason is That that Policy instead of proposing for its End the Good of all men and how to render them happy in this World and in the other either proposes to it self but the welfare of one single man only whom it makes all men beside to serve rendring them miserable to hatch out of their Misery the Felicity of that one man like the Turks Policy throughout the whole Extent of his Dominion l. 5. c. 16. Qual è la Politica del Dominio Turchescho Or else in proposing to it self the the welfare and felicity of all Particulars it sets awork to arrive thereunto nothing but extravagant Conceits Introd c. 10. Concetti stravaganti such as are the Thinkings of some zealous and scrupulous Ignorants without Experience l. 16. c. 10. Personne zelanti mà inesperte Therefore there is nothing more imports than to enlighten the Understanding of man Introd c. 1. which alone makes up the man che solo e l' huomo and to make him better by giving him knowledge of the most important Truths that is to say those Truths which compose the Policy of the Learned Per migliorare l'intelletto co'lla notizia d'importantissime verità per ammaestrare il lettore nella Politica Proem By the Learned or Knowing I mean quoth the Cardinal those who skill the World l. 1. c. 5. Periti del Mondo The Design then that the Cardinal hath proposed to himself by setting forth this History of the Council of Trent is to defend and maintain the Catholick Religion by the Policy and according to the Policy of those who skill the World l. 22. c. 5. Quest opera ch' è una diffesa della Catolica Religione and to make you see that the Policy of the Catholick Religion according to the World is that which is true because that by following its Maximâ— a man is happy here below and in the other Life Wherefore quoth he I do undertake to defend the Judgments given by all the Earth Assembled in the Council of Trent Introd c. 2. Però diffendendo io nel giudicio del Mondo and therein I maintain goes he on the Cause not of one private Client but of the whole Catholick Church Non un privato Cliente mà tutta la Chiesa Catolica So he pretends to make you see in the Proceedings and in the Decrees of the Council of Trent that the present Government of the Church being formed according to the Rules of wordly Policy and being the most profitable to the true common Good that one can imagine according to the Flesh in this world and in the other is that Government which Jesus Christ himself who is the Wisdom Incarnate came to establish upon the Earth and for which he hath shed his precious Blood Questo governo disignato da Christo l. 1. c. 25 ARTICLE II. The Church may be considered in two manners according to the Flesh and according to the Spirit and so these are two sorts of Felicity or welfare of the Church Jesus Christ had them both in view TO comprehend perfectly the Mystery of this Religious Policy of the worldly wise know ye that the Church may be considered in two manners quoth Father Diego Lainez Second General of the Jesuits the first according to the Flesh the second according to the Spirit secondo la Carne secondo lo Spirito according to the Spirit l. 23. c. 3. quoth he the Church is the Temple of Charity Stanza di Carità according to the Flesh she is the Fountain-head of all temporal profit Fonte di utilità temporale Ibid. So that according to these two Considerations of the Church a man may conceive two sorts of common Good and Felicity the first according to the Spirit the second according to the Flesh The Felicity after the Flesh is that of the World which consists in Riches Honours Pleasures Glory Splendor and carnal Delights The Felicity after the Spirit is Divine and works a supernatural course of Life La vita supraumana l. 8. c. 17. This Felicity is the Object of Heroick Virtues Vertù eroiâ—a l. 1. c. 25. The Felicity according to the Flesh is humane civil and temporal Felicità civile l. 24. c. 8 10. l. 1. c. 25. l. 8. c. 17. l'umana felicità de fideli che rendono felice la Republica in terra and the hope of this Felicity makes all civil and humane Virtues to bud and spring out fa gergmogliare le insigni virtù Ibid. and renders man happy according to the Flesh in this world Whereupon it follows that true Religious Policy ought also to be carnal because it ought to have for Object the making the Church happy not only according to the Spirit but according to the Flesh and to bestow on her a Felicity not only Divine and of the other Life but humane temporal and earthly in this world now there be none that can better judge what that true Felicity is than those that be Sages after the Flesh that is to say worldly wise periti del mondo secondo la Carne and so for to know well what is the true Policy of Jesus Christ one needs but to know what that is of the People of the world not of the Vulgar but of the knowing and enlightned World whose Maxims our Learned Cardinal goes on here to teach us ARTICLE III. Jesus Christ came to establish the most commodious kind of Government for the Humane and Temporal Felicity of the Believing yea and that is the most Religious which is the most Commodious LEt us suppose quoth the Legate Alexander sent by Pope Leo the Xth to the Diet at Worms That Jesus Christ were ready to change the Government of the Church and to fit it to our convenience Fingiamo che Christo sâ—a pronto di mutar ' la sua chiesa a commodo nostro do ye think he should change it from that which we see it at present Surely no So then we ought to conclude that Jesus Christ hath fitted his Church with such a Government that there can be none imagined more conform to humane Felicity after the wish of the worldly wise and after the Flesh Now it is certain that the desire of all after the Flesh is to be happy in this world as well as in
the other so then conformably to this Wish hath Jesus Christ formed his Church Che Christo hà formata la sua Chiesa in quel modo eti ' è più conforme eziandio all' umana felicità l. 1. c. 25. Also the same Pope Leo to extinguish Luther's Heresie gave in charge to his Nuncio's to represent to the Emperour Charles V. That it was necessary to destroy that Heresie for Three Reasons First In regard of the eternal Salvation of the Flock of Christ There 's the Divine Reason that respects the Life to come Per l' eterna salute del grege Christiano The Second For the Quiet of the Politick Government Per la Tranquilità del Governo Politico There 's the Humane Reason and the Humane Interest of this Life The Third For the Preservation of the Apostolical Principality l. 1. c. 23. Per la Conservazione del Principato Apostolico There 's a midling Reason betwixt Divine and Humane for that the Pope is Mediator betwixt God and Man betwixt Heaven and Earth Il mezzano frà il Cielo la Terra l. 1. c. 1. that is to say a Mediator that knows perfectly well how to make agree together the two Wisdoms that of God and that of the World that which is spiritual and that which is temporal and 't is even in this that the perfection of Religion consists and which by consequence makes up the height or top of Religious Policy which tends to make men happy in this World here and in the other ARTICLE IV. The Measures and Rules of the Churches Government according to the Wisdom of God ought to be taken from the Publick Good that is the End that Jesus Christ had in view 'T Is certain that the Common Good being the End and Object of Policy is the Measure of all the Judgments of all the Laws and of all the Actions of that Policy for example to judge wherein consists true Honour even temporal and according to the times we must fall to examine what is profitable for the Publick Good for there is no other true Honour So that the Common Good is the measure of all Politick Judgment Il vero onore di cui è misura il ben publica l. 1. c. 26. And the Policy that is guided by this End is that of the truly Learned and Knowing men Politica vera intesa da scienziati l. 5. c. 16. On the contrary 't is Popular Judgment that is not guided by the Common Good but forms its Conclusions upon another Principle The good which popular judgment proposes to it self either for Principle or End is not a true Good but an Idol l. 1. c. 16. that witless and unruly Heads forge and work up according to their Fancy Onore popolare ch' è un Idolo fabricato da ingegni stolidamente feroci l. 1. c. 26. Now for to discern well what is the true common Good of the Church there needs no more but to mark what is the common Good that Jesus Christ had in view when he instituted the Government of his Church for the end is the measure whereby we judge what is good and fit to be done in all actions l. 2. c. 2. fine ch' è la misura dell ' opportuno in tutte le azioni through knowledge of the true common Good a man ought to judge of true or false policy The true is founded upon Virtue and upon Zeal the false upon Fraud and private Interest Ibid. i fondamenti nella virtù e nel zelo ò nella fraude e nell ' interesse By means of these politick Virtues a man arrives to the politick Felicity of this Life which is the recompence of them and which consist in Riches Honours and Pleasures ARTICLE V. For to know well the Common Good which Jesus Christ had in view a man should judge thereof by the Doctrine of Aristotle and other wise Heathens Luther's Heresie had never happened but through his slighting of Aristotle IF Jesus Christ had taken for the End of his Policy only the common Good after the Spirit and not according to the Flesh and temporal Convenience without doubt it would not have been safe to consult Aristotle and the wise Heathens to know the Nature of that common Good which Jesus Christ had in view and the Qualities thereof but Jesus Christ having it in view to fit up the Government of his Church on humane Felicity whereof it is capable in the judgment of the worldly wise 't is not possible that he should teach contrary to the Teachings of Aristotle and the Heathen Sages come si la chiesa di Christo predicasse ch' e contrario non dico à l'insegnamenti d' Aristotele mà d'ogni tolerabil ' republica de' gentili l. 7. c. 9. Jesus Christ was the Wisdom Incarnate the Source of all true Wisdom be it never so Paganish so then he did establish the Government of the Church the best that could be in the judgment of the worldly wise though Pagans He never prescribed her a Government to be changed for a better for can any body be perswaded that Jesus Christ did form a Government that was not the best of all l. 8. c. 7. dovremo noi persuadere che la sapienza incarnata istituisse la sua chiesa con un governó il qual non fosse de' megliori To judge then what 's the Government that Jesus Christ established one needs only to judge what is the best of all Governments according to those that be Sages of this World for one Wisdom never opposes another Wisdom the Fountain is no enemy to its own Streams The Philosophers were Sages according to Sense according to Flesh according to humane Reason thereafter they knew the common humane Good and what was best for Common-wealths it is not possible then that Jesus Christ having the same Good in view should lesson us contrary to the Teachings of the Philosophers And in effect there is no doubt but if Plato and Aristotle lived in our dayes they would experience that there was never Commonwealth more civil more politick better improved more noble and more virtuous than the Catholick l. 12. c. 3. se Platone ò Aristotele vivessero à nostri giorni esperimentassero che nessuna Republiqua è ò fù maì più culta più nobile più virtuosa che la â—atolica It follows then that the common Good of the Church considered according to the Flesh hath nothing that is contrary and which is not extreamly conform to the Publick Good such as the Philosophers set it forth All the Difficulty that they had in their times was to find out means to establish that publick Good and to make it practicable and this is that which Jesus Christ hath done in a manner which the Philosopher would have been very capable of and very much satisfied with It chanced that Luther not being willing in his Doctrine
and Practice to follow the Maxims of Aristotle slighting that Philosopher through that slight his Heresie gained ground which as it was contrary to the Principles of Aristotle so did Luther endeavour to destroy the reputation of that Prince of Philosophers l. 1. c. 8. mà perche sì fatta doctrina appariva contraria à principii dellà retta filosofia insegnatasi da Aristotele procurò d' estinguer la stima di questo filosofo come d' huomo che scrivesse molti errori contro alla fede Slighting of Aristotle hath also caused that Luther's Sect never had any Writers of a much elevated Genius l. 1. c. 17. il disprezzo à ' Aristotele fece che frà sui sequaci appena può annoverarsi scrittori di relevato intendimento Those Hereticks laught at that Philosophers Arguments so full of Learning reducing all they taught to the understanding of the Greek and Hebrew Tongues ridendosi degli argomenti scietifici l. 1. c. 23. diquanto insegnavo Aristotele il tutto reducevano all' intendimento della lingua greca dell ' ebrea Carlstad cursed Aristotle whose Doctrine said he corrupted Divinity l. 3. c. 13. Carlostadio malediceva Aristotele la cui dottrina havesse corotta la Teologia and as for Luther he plotted to ruine that Philosophers Reputation machinava d'abastere Aristotele nella filosofia l. 1. c. 3. Here was that then which destroyed them they did not know how to piece the Policy of Jesus Christ and that of Aristotle together for at last let them say what they will it is certain that if Aristotle had not writ and so taught the Church to distinguish well she would have lacked at this day a many Articles of Faith for which she is beholden to that Prince of Philosophers di ciò si doveva in gran parte l'obligazione ad Aristotele l. 8. c. 19. id quale sè non si sosse adopcrato in distinguer accuratamente i generi delle ragioni noi mancavamo di molti articoli di fede Paul Soave thinks Aristotle to be jeered by this Discourse but our Cardinal-Historian doth indeed approve of Aristotle and not jeer him and makes the Truths of Aristotle admirably to appear ARTICLE VI. Through the slighting of Aristotle Luther would not endure that Interest Humane and according to the Flesh should have its share in Government of the Church he is followed by certain zealous Ignorants One ought to shun that their Excess 'T Is neither permitted nor expedient said Martin Luther to regulate Divine things by Humane Interests non esser nè lecito nè spediente regolar le cose di Dio congli umani interessi l. 1. c. 27. He rejected not this conduct of Affairs but only because it did plainly shew that Kings might be stirred up by the Motive of humane respects as well as by that of God's Interests to set themselves against that Heresie che per rispetti così divini comè umani possono muovere i Rè i Regni Christiani à perseguitar Peresia l. 1. c. 25. Now Humane respects be those we call Humane Reasons which have for Object humane Felicity according to the Flesh Jesus Christ had in view this Felicity as well as Aristotle and their Sentiments make up a judgment the most humane imaginable and opposite to that Censure forsooth of those same zealous ones which is a Resolve Ideal and impossible in the Practice contrary to Experience and which doth not proceed but from Ignorance of the things of the world This Censure or Opinon cries nothing but Reformation Reformation which is nothing but Idea and Extravagance Iutr c. 10. quella riformatione ideale per cui gravada il zelo imperito di persone per lo più non esperte concetti stravaganti Thus 't is plain that the Government of the Church ought not to be regulated by the judgment of those who have not experience of the World 'T is properly this Experience that makes up that which is called Knowledge of the World after the which also Jesus Christ did form the Government of his Church ARTICLE VII The Discernment of zealous and scrupulous Ignorants is very different from that of persons that have experience of the World and knowledge of the Times 'T Is certain there be such zealous persons without experience of Civil Affairs and the present course of the Politick world l. 16. c. 10. personne zelanti mà inesperte negli affari civili e nel corso del presente mondo politico who have none of those Lights which afford that experience l. 1. c. 23. niente illuminato da peritia This sort of zealous Folk have their minds enslayed to vulgar Opinions l. 1. c. 25. intelletto schiavo delle opinioni volgari on the contrary there be that skill the world l. 1. c. 4. l. 1. c. 24. periti del mondo able for practice un huomo pratichissimo negli assari del mondo which are none of your retired people that are wont to feed themselves with Idea's and Speculations Ibid. un ideale ritirato speculativo These People being no strangers to the Court-breeding at Rome have thoughts exalted above those vulgar ones of others concetti non volgari prattiche della corte Romana Introd c. 6. these be persons of business and intelligence persone prattiche ed intendenti Their eyes are vers'd in and used to the affairs of the world l. 21. c. 4. occhi periti delle facende civili l. 17. c. 10. The difference that is between the sights of these two sorts of persons is that the first are still on all occasions poring on Idea's and are ravished in contemplation of abstracted forms and Universals which have not any proportion with the dispositions of the matter and which by consequence are incapable to come to good But the others give close heed to those particular circumstances which are wont to meet in the success of things and to make them take effect the first propose nothing but speculative regulations and ideal reformations the success whereof is impossible riformatione ideale non riuscibile Intr. c. 10. the others propose regulations and reformations discreet possible and likely to come to good Introd c. 9. l. 1. c. 25. riformatione discretta che poi successe e che la prudenza de' padri stimò riuscibile Censura umana e non ideale Whereupon the Cardinal concludes in these terms Let 's leave them to Plato his Idea's and let 's go upon practice lasciamo à Platone l' idea l. 12. c. 13. veniamo alla prattica But in fine the better to make it be comprehended what one ought to understand by those Idea's that a zealous indiscreet and ignorant person would have to be followed in Government One cannot tell how to give a better Example on 't than that of Pope Adrian VI. related by this Cardinal-Historian ARTICLE
it animate it and direct it according to the Laws of true Policy which is that according to the Flesh secondo la carne ARTICLE II. The first Errour of the Zealous Ignorants refuted which is That by the Laws of the Church men ought to be obliged to live as God's Love requires and the Hope of Paradise and the Fear of Hell there ought to be grateful Laws made and commodious for corrupted Nature LAws are corrected and change according as they are approved by the People who make the trial of them l. 23. c. 11. non è stato mai al mondo alcun senato ne sacro nè profano le cui leggi non habbiano in qualche parte ricevuta la correzzione dalla proua Wherefore though even one should have hope enough of success yet before Laws be stablished 't is prudence first to try and see what may be grateful to the generality of the World in case ones Laws should take effect talora è prudenza il tentare eziandio con dubio dell ' evento chiò che se riuscisse sarebbe grato al commune Ibid. So that the Rule to be given for making of Laws is the disposition of the people to receive them otherwise if they be not grateful to them it would be Ignorance and indiscreet Zeal to offer violence to corrupted Nature Now to judge of the inclinations of people we ought not to consider those which they would have had if their nature had remained sound but those which they have their nature being corrupted by Adam's sin in questa feccia d' Adamo Introd c. 8. For God will not tear out of our hearts those inclinations we brought into the world when we were born non vuole Iddio sveller da gli animi le innate inclinazioni l. 1. c. 25. for example men in the corruption of their nature have a dread of Poverty and of taking pains which doth accompany Poverty the poor being forced to labour to get their living men in their corrupt state love Idleness the dread then that they have of poverty ought to be kept up in the spirits of men l. 9. c. 9. in tal ' manniera si mantiene l'horrore verso la povertà come compagna dello stento Look ye here is the inclination that the Religious Policy according to the Flesh ought for to nourish whence one ought to conclude that Riches making one part of mans Felicity 't is a sin not to seek to enrich ones self Likewise corrupted Nature is ashamed of Poverty she finds it a shameful thing this thought makes one afraid either for ones self or for ones posterity turpis egestas Ibid. temuta da lui ò in se stesso ò nella discendenza what should Religious Policy according to the Flesh then do should it disabuse men of these thoughts No on the contrary it ought to cherish these thoughts going along after them and accommodating Laws thereunto This is the very Cardinal's consequence If one would seek the reason of it 't is visible there can be no other but that corrupted nature in pursuance of this same horror this same shame and this same dread of Poverty will seek for to enrich it self and such seeking is a great virtue for that every Act that serves to a man's Felicity is an act of Virtue so that corrupted Nature will shun Idleness which is a sin contrary to the carnal Felicity of the Christian Republik which causes even the rich to fall into poverty which is opposite to their Felicity whereas if Religion on the contrary should teach people that labour and pains-taking far off from being dreaded is a thing enjoined even to be done by the rich that poverty far off from being a state of it self shameful is the first of the Christian Beatitudes as our Lord hath preached in his Gospel this same Belief would at least render the man indifferent both in regard of Riches and of Poverty and falling into poverty he would believe himself happy in that state of Humiliation that Jesus Christ chose for himself so that fear horror and shame would not oblige him any more to labour to shun poverty and get riches that Christian and Spiritual indifferency would make him less eager to work as well as to get more quiet and less careful of the Morrow which would not be profitable for the carnal Felicity of the Christian Republick nor by consequence conformable to Virtue The same would come to pass if the greatest portion of the Goods of the Church were employed for relief of the poor and not to enrich Priests and Church-men for what a thing would that be that Nature-corrupted-men as the poor be as well as others should find when they came to be poor such great Estates and abundance â—eâ—led upon them l. 9. c. 9. che charebbe quando vedessero una provisione abondante e sicura per tutti i poveri This supposed then pursuant to the inclinations of Nature corrupted shall the Religious and Carnal Policy which is the true establish for Law that the best and biggest portion of Church-Revenues be employed for relief of the poor Nay but to enrich Church-men and make their Felicity according to the Flesh If the Zealous maintain that the best and biggest share of Ecclesiastical Revenues ought to be employed for relief of the poor Ibid. che la prima e principal parte delle Ecclesiastiche entrate doverebbe applicarsâ—â— Ã poveri e non à ministranti the Religious and Carnal Policy will condemn that Maxim as directly contrary to the happy estate of that Republick to the Institution of God and of Nature Ibid. ed io affermo che ciò sarebbe un costume dirimpetto contrario al felice stato della republica ed à gl'istituti di Dio e della natura So too corrupted Nature loves Voluptuousness yea and she invites men to all their Actions by the Motive of some pleasure as for example to eat and drink to the end to taste what 's delicious in those Aliments la natura medesima c'ensignò questa prudenza invitando gli huomini à mantener la propria vita col diletto del cibo l. 9. c. 9. Corrupted Nature hates all that is less commodious and less delectable than that which she is wont to taste or enjoy in the life one uses to lead Intr. c. 10. all' orecchie loro suonera sempre molesta la vita men ' commoda e man dilettevole della passata and this affection is so natural to man that one may observe it practised even in Communities the most mortified and holy Ibid. e questo affetto è si naturale dell ' huomo che suole sperimentarsi in ogni communità eziandio più mortificata e più santa What shall the Religious and Carnal Policy do then Shall it root out those inclinations of corrupted Nature to pleasure God does not will it l. 1.
c. 25. Non vuole Iddio svellere dagli animi le innate inclinazioni Shall it teach a man that he is obliged in usage of things to have no more but what 's precisely necessary for him to do a virtuous action and not to do that virtuous action by the alone Motive to find pleasure therein according to carnal sense 'T is visible that if Christian Religion should establish these Maxims Christians Lives would be a continual Mortification and all that eagerness which makes men bustle to advance themselves enrich themselves and enjoy humane Felicity according to the Flesh would be deadned This would be the ruine of our Carnal Policy which is the most excellent of all Moral Virtues whose Object is carnal Felicity Riches Honours and Voluptuousness what ought this Religious Policy then to do See ye here what it ought to do according to our Cardinal The Heathen then they set before corrupt Nature Voluptuousness which nourishes Vices which are ever linked to Idolatry the Church ought to set before Christians such pleasures as may serve for remedy against Idolatry and as pleasure for pleasure if it were equal on both sides so corrupted is Nature that she would prefer Idolatry before the Worship of the true God The Church ought in such sort to deal that in the voluptuousness which she presents to the people there may be more and greater Dainties and of that which tickles the Appetite and Senses than in that which is tasted out of her Communion that the pleasure may be greater in what she makes use of to cure Vices than in any voluptuousness which Paganism or Heresie can make use of to nourish them ed è conforme non solo alla pietà ma eziando alla politica l. 1. c. 23. il far che i teatri più sontuosi e più dilettevoli sian quelli dove il vizio si medica non dove si nutre for example quoth Nuntio Alexander the People will have Stage-plays and Sights they love the pleasure thereof vuole il populo i teatri shall the Church then make Laws against Stage-plays Comedies and the love of Pleasure No she will accommodate her self to that natural inclination of the people and bring it so to pass that there shall be more pleasure in the Shews she sets forth for Christians than ever were in the Pagan Shews Here is that called true Religious Policy according to the Flesh to cure the love of Pleasure by bestowing more carnal pleasure upon a man within the Church than one should have had remaining out of its Communion This is the Religious Policy that Jesus Christ came to establish in his Church quoth this our Cardinal to signalize his people upon Earth by the Prerogatives of their pleasures questo governo dissegnato da Christo per signalare in terra con manifesta prerogativa il suo popolo l. 1. c. 25. 't was for the establishing of this Policy that he died Here look ye the felicity and common Good of the Church according to the Flesh is the Object of this Virtue the first and most excellent of all the moral Virtues 'T is through this Religious Policy that the Church of her great Revenues of her Honours and of her carnal Pleasures even makes the vocation of all men to her Faith and a vocation to the Clergy-ship of as many as she pleases to call it as shall be seen by and by Instead of amusing her self to make Laws contrary to the esteem of Riches of Honours and of carnal Pleasures she establishes that Maxim of true worldly Policy to guide men according to the Inclinations of their Natures dovendo governare gli huomini l. 9. c. 9. quali Iddio e la natura gli producono al mondo for God and Nature bringing them forth such as they be there 's no more to do but so for to govern them ARTICLE III. The Second Errour of the Zealous Ignorants That the best to be done is the best to be commanded 't is better to command that which is according to Nature than that which would be better to be done according to God IT would be better to observe the Laws that are made for Law is a Rule which in the time it was made was esteemed the very best to govern well by la legge l. 7. c. 2. il che vuol ' dire la regola riputata la migliore per buon governo and the Zealous Ignorants would have that a general Law which enjoyns the observation of the Laws already made because it is the best thing that can be done This was also one of the Demands which the French Ambassadors made at the Council of Trent to wit That that and former Councils Orders might exactly be observed without being infringed by Dispensations This was a request quoth the Cardinal that tended to no less than to undermine the Churches Monarchy l. 19. c. 11. che le costitutioni fatte da Concilii non cadessero sotto dispensazioni la qual domanda tendeua ad abbattere la Monarchia This in effect was the 28th of the 34 Articles of Reformation which the Ambassadors proposed to the Council That there might be no dispensing with the Canons which forbid Marriage within the Degrees prohibited unless in favour of Kings and Princes for the publick Good 'T is very easie to make the Poison of this Error manifest That what is the best to be done is the best to be commanded whether one considers it in relation to Divine Laws that direct the inward affections of the heart or whether one considers it in relation to the Humane Laws of the Church which can but direct exterior actions it is wholly throughout pernicious As for the inward Affections God being the great invisible Good of man it is certain that to love him by an act of Love as a Virtue Divine would be the best as also to set ones affection more upon that invisible Good than upon that which is seen but is it best to say that God hath thus commanded it No because that that Command would not be accommodate to the condition of the most part of men which are within the Church who set their affections more upon what is seen than upon what is not seen molti maggiormente i s' affezzionano à quel che si vede che à quel che si crede l. 9. c. 9. This same Law of Love would not be grateful to them being corrupt as they are Likewise to be willing and endeavour to arrive to a perfect actual Love of God would assuredly be best but would it be best to preach that men are thereunto obliged by Commandment No without doubt by the same reason of this same Cardinal so to say that he which does the work of God negligently is cursed one sees clearly the venom of such like Doctrine and how many persons it would cast into despair here 's what regards the Divine Laws which regulate the
motions and affections of the inward man As to the humane Laws of the Church which can regulate but outward actions suppose one should make a Law obliging Christians to observe all the Canons indistinctly as the Council of Trent hath done in these terms Sciant Vniversi sacratissimos Canones exactè ab omnibus quoad ejus fieri poterit indistinctè observandos Sess 25. c. 18. There is no doubt but it is best to observe all the Canons but is it best to command it No because that that Law would take away from the Princes of the Church the power to derogate from those Canons and to shew favour therein to those whom they should judge fit l. 7. c. 2. derogando per ordinario alla lege prima de due qualità che massimamente son ' bramate del principe Now to derogate from Canons or Laws in favour of those which one would gratifie is the prime of those two Qualities desirable in a Prince and this Quality is one of the most effectual that he can have to vitiate and ruine this Quality by taking that power from him is most pernicious il pessimo suole essere una corruzione dell ' ottimo so that it is also manifest in this respect that it is a most pernicious Error That the best to be done is the best to be commanded This may be remarked in the Laws made by the Council of Trent for if the Pope should observe them and not shew favour when he judges it fit the Spring of at least half his Graces and Benefits would be at a stop Intr. c. 10. se'l Papa vuol ' osservare quelle leggi il fonte della sua benefizenza asoiugasi per metà Now the power to do good is one of the two Hinges whereupon Veneration for Powers moves and is upheld l. 23. c. 3. la facoltà di benefacere e un de' due cardini sopra cui sostiensi la venerazione de Principati The respect that men have for Princes is the firmest Basis of their Empire and of their Authority quella venerazione ch' è la base del loro Imperio The Popes Authority is the Ground-work of the Church and of its Government according to the Flesh as according to the Spirit del qual governo la base è l' authorità del Pontefice l. 1. c. 25. So to follow the order of all these Truths and to conclude from first to last 't is manifest that to lay this Maxim that the best to be done is also the best to be commanded is to lay a Principle that destroyes the foundation of the Church and see here of what importance it is to disabuse humane understanding concerning the false Maximes of Zealous Ignorant men's Policy Vulgar Souls Slaves of Common Opinion That which is the best to be done is desirable must be agreed but more desirable than possible più desiderabili che possibili l. 19. c. 11. It is more desirable than commodious for mens conditions Nature it self hath a regard to what is convenient for the state of men and avoids that which is not sutable for them according to Tempers and Times wherein one is and with whom one lives non adattate alle condizioni degli huomini come fà la natura ed allo stato del mondo che portavano ì tempi Ibid. 'T is then very evident that the Laws of the Church ought to be grateful and accommodated to the inclinations of corrupt Natures such as they are and not such as they ought to be with relation to God To well govern the Church there needs but to observe how the present times go and after what fashion men live for if the Law hath man for its Object and as it were its Matter yet he also is as it were Agent in regard of the Law and upholds himself in all the inclinations which he hath brought into the world and in all the habitudes wherein he hath been engaged l. 6. c. 4. i quali hanno per attori e per soggetto gli huomini che sono di fatto al mondo e con l'inclinazioni e con l' usanza che di fatto hanno This is a reason why Right must be regulated by Fact and not Fact by Right Right is immoveable in its nature and he that would stay there should never do any thing and this is again one of the pernicious Errors of the Zealous Ignorants which we are a going to refute ARTICLE IV. The Third Errour of the Zealous Ignorants That Antiquity ought to serve for a Rule to guide the present Church This Errour comes from the Instinct of the Devil 't is a folly to believe that what is Ancient is best the ancient Laws were in the Churches Infancy THe Reverend Father Diego Lainer in that Famous Discourse which he made in the Council of Trent touching the Reformation of the Church l. 18. c. 15. voto famoso speaking of re-establishing Elections according to the ancient manner practised in the Church says That they which would renew those Usages and other like ancient Customs were moved thereunto by the instinct of the Devil l. 21. c. 6. Coloro che volevano rinovare tali usi antichi muoversi per l'instinto del diavolo That the French were instant to have that old Usage re-established but he doubted the miseries of that Kingdom were a chastisement from God upon that Nation for having in some sort separated themselves since the time of the Council of Basil dubitar egli de Francesi come di tali che forsè erano gastigati da Dio ne ' presenti infortunii per qualche loro separazione fin dal tempo di Concilio di Basilea l. 21. c. 6. Their Reason quoth he is that it was wont to be thus done in the first Ages of the Church so that those Elections ought to be brought into use again vsaronsi per gli antichi tempi adunque deonsi rimettere in usu And I Ibid. replies that Father say the contrary it hath been wont to be so used therefore one ought not to set it up again più tosto seguirne il contrario This is the reason of it since it was wont to be so used it had never been left off if there had not been inconveniences observed in that Custom such there were observed to be in it and for that reason it was left off and by the same reason it ought not to be revived Ibid. percioche s'erano sperimentati loro inconvenienti e pero elle dimesse For why would the Church have quitted her ancient Customs of discipline if she had not perceived that Discipline followed with inconveniencies Is the World at this day less wise than it was at the beginning it would be a great folly to believe it 'T is in effect a great one quoth this our Cardinal to imagine that all that is old is best l. 23. c. 10. è
il commercio civile l. 6. c. 4. è convenuto che à proporzione di quello si mutino ancora le maniere di trattar gli affari Ecclesiastici In good deed men at present have their inclinations conform to the present times and not to the times past Why should they not have their Usages and Customs in Ecclesiastical affairs conform to the present times and why should they be obliged to follow the old Customs of their Grandsires gli huomini con l'inclinazione e con l'usanza che di fatto hanno Ibid. e non quelli e non quali furono à tempi andati Let no body say the World is at present worse than it was formerly such Discourse is the old Tune and the old Proverb of the Country these be complaints and lamentations of the Ignorant Vulgar Introd c. 8. il dire che'l mondo presente sia peggiore dell ' antico sono proverbii delle comedie e querele del volgo to be surpriz'd thereat is a sign one is but meanly bred privo di erudizione che ciò credesse To hearken to these sorts of common Proverbs is to have ones mind enslaved as they call it with the Opinions of the Vulgar 'T is not true then that the later Ages are more corrupt than the former 't is true the number of the wicked is increased but that of the good is so also because the Church extends further than it did then And if any body says The Church had formerly more holy men one may answer again and say That at this day the present Church hath a greater number of believing saved Catholicks though not so holy indeed as formerly se questa più feconda di santi l. 1. c. 25. quella è più abondante di salvi These Truths being so evident though the reading of my Book quoth our Cardial produce no other fruit at least I assure my self it will disabuse the world of these kind of popular Errors l. 16. c. 10. Io mi confido che la lezione di questa mia istoria ove non partorisse altro frutto levarà uno scandalo assai commune da persone zelanti ma inesperte negli affari civili e nel corso del presente mondo politico ciò e perche i Papi non usino à nostra ot à di raunare i concilii come usavasi per altri tempi come persuadono i canoni for the Error of ruling the Church according to Antiquity is one of those Errors of the Zealous Ignorant of the same nature as is that of Government by way of Councils whereof we are going to examine the extravagancy ARTICLE VI. The Fourth Error of the Zealous Ignorants refuted That the Church ought to be governed by way of Councils as She was Fifteen Hundred Years together The Provincial Councils are hard to assemble the National have always been abhorred by the Popes and the General have none but malign Influences on the Church THe Reverend Father Diego Lainez in the Famous Discourse he made in the Council of Trent upon the Business concerning Reformation of the Church speaks thus of Councils As for Provincial Councils they cannot be assembled but with great difficulties Sinodi Provinciali congregherebbonsi difficilmente l. 23. c. 10. But that which ought to make them to be apprehended is that they may easily degenerate into National Councils which would not be without great peril to the Church mà ben sì ne seeguerebbono ì Nazionali con grave rischio della chiesa The Popes also have alwayes abhorred all National Councils l. 14. c. 12. Concilio Nazionale sempre aborrito da Pontefici because that those sort of Councils are not proper but to excite Novelties among the Catholicks atto fra Catolici à suscitarne novità Ibid. Now although Novelties as we have seen ought not to be rejected and that Ancient things are not all good the Novelties that National Councils may produce are all bad and of all the Ancient Customs that of having National Councils ought above all to be looked upon as ill and that is a laudable Novelty no more to call any of them Now to discern well in Policy the good Novelties from the bad one needs but to observe the Rules which we have already laid down to accommodate ones self to Times Places Humors of Persons in a word to fit the Form to the Dispositions of the Matter But to come back to General Councils 'T is not fit quoth Father Diego Lainez that the precedent Council do set the time when another should follow as did the Council of Constance because that would give advantage to the stubborn to appeal from the Popes Sentences to the future Council and that would be to take away from the Church Obedience and Unity percie cio sarebbe data occasione a'contumaci d'appellar delle sentenze del Papa al futuro Concilio l. 24. c. 3. togliendosi l'ubidienza e l'unità del Christianesimo Moreover the Influences of a General Council could be no other but lamentable to the Church nel Cielo mistico della chiesa non si può imaginar conjunzione di più periculosa influenza che un Sinodo generale l. 16. c. 10. 'T is with the Mystical Heaven of the Church as with the Visible and Material Heaven where God hath placed that great number of Stars which we see but all far off and separate one from the other by considerable spaces If he should assemble them all in the same place would it not be to destroy all Nature and to confound it so in the Heaven Mystick of the Church The Prelates are as the Stars of different greatness all would be lost in the times wherein we are if they were assembled and it cannot be undertaken without manifestly tempting of God Ibid. sarebbe appunto un tentare Dio. It is good to see the particular Reasons thereof The First Politick Reason against the holding of Councils Where-ever the greatest Number be assembled there be many Opinions as well as many Heads and there be always differing Votes and Sentiments which produces Division Intr. c. 10. Dove sono più teste e più cuori ivi sempre è qualche discordia di pareri e di voleri Discordance in Sentiments and Councils is the Origine of Disputes and Contestations la discordia è l'origine del contrasto and as in the humors of the Body Intr. c. 10. so in the motions of the Spirit contrast is a cause of corruption e ' contrasto così negli umori del corpo come dell ' animo è origine della corruzione Ibid. Councils then are but a Spring of Divisions Reason II. Every numerous Body of men how holy and sublime soever the order of them may be contains a deal of Ignorance and is a source abounding with a spawning of passions Introd c. 9. mi è noto che in ogni ordine
Question being discussed on both sides it appeared to some That all the Dispute was nothing but a pure Logomachia and disputing about Terms but the more subtil i più sottili and scrupulous i più scrupulosi judged quite otherwise thereof and made it manifest That if the Bishops Pretensions took place it would follow that the Pope could not without cause dispose of things belonging to the Jurisdictions of Bishops senza cagione for example l. 19. c. 6. he could not of absolute authority reserve to himself the Collation of a Benefice in another Bishop's Diocess he could not send Prohibitions to the Ordinary or exempt an Inferior from the Jurisdiction of his Bishop or even translate a Bishop from one Diocess to another unless for Reasons contained in the Canons Ibid. ò trasferir un vescovo da una catredrale all' altra These Reasons hindred the Question from being decided questi risguardi facevan◠che molti ne consentissero à diachiarare ch' i vescovi fossero immediate da Christo Ibid. Which makes it evident how important it is in the Church when one would think there is no more but a Question about Terms or Words to take good heed if the Question be not about something indeed and not to think that Questions which appear to be only about Terms be of such slight Importance especially in Matter of Church-government Reason IV. There is a deal of difference between the largeness of the Pope's Power and the Power of Bishops The Pope who is chosen is ordinarily pious and sage ordinariamente suole eleggersi pio e savio he has remorse of Conscience ha i rimorsi della coscienza he has Sentiments of honour e dell ' honore which being so 't is a less evil as it may sometimes happen though some of his commands be unreasonable which is seldom and his Subjects be obliged to obey them possa tal ' ora obligare i soggetti exandio con qualche irragionevole ordinazione than that he not being Prince and Monarch as he is of all Bishops who are his Subjects should be made subject to their over-looking and to their passionate Votes and Judgments to which they are so subject Reason V. But the great Reason which decides the Question beyond Reply and makes the Juggle of the contrary Opinion appear is That in effect if the Bishop's Jurisdiction were of Divine Right they are obliged not to obey the Pope when his Decrees are not grounded upon just cause they could not use the Dispensations which he gives them when they are not granted after the manner prescribed by the Canons for the Canons do forbid plurality of Benefices it confounds quoth the Council of Trent the Church-Order that one person alone should take upon him the Offices of many persons All are obliged to observe the Sacred Canons without any distinction indistinctè Sess 25. c. 19. unless they be dispensed therewith for just and urgent cause and which may redound to the Churches greater profit and that the Dispensation be granted cost-free in default whereof 't is to be reckoned surreptitious Now almost all the Bishops have plurality of Benefices and they have the Pope's Dispensation for it which is not grounded upon any urgent or just cause nor given to them cost-free they make use of these Dispensations they be conformable to these Decrees the Pope then has a right to rule over them even without reason and since they obey him they acknowledge that their Jurisdiction is not of Divine Right otherwise they could not in conscience possess a many Benefices they could not in conscience be translated from one Bishoprick to another the Dispensation that is granted them is by right null according to the Canons in maniera qualora volesse trasferir un vescovo da una Catedrale all' altra l. 19. c. 6. gli potesse muovere sempre questione di nullità con allegare il difetto della sufficiente cagione But if it be so that the Pope has no power to dispense without a cause where be the Bishops for either they have Consciences or they have none if they have none and that being transported with passion for a Benefice or Bishoprick more fat or honourable they will needs be translated thereunto l. 23. c. 8. accade che la violenza della passione accenda talmente gli affetti che ove non si dispensasse cadderebbono in grave peccato and that they will frame false and coloured causes to obtain their Dispensations which is rather to get by stealth than to obtain such Dispensations granted upon false considerations are null rubando per questo mezzo le concessioni mille and so they will continue even unto their Death in a sort of sacrilegious incestuous Marriage with their Churches Ibid. continuando poscia in maritaggi sacrileghi fin ' alla morte unless they had rather keep all their life-time in one condition against their minds and lead a miserable kind of life con repugnanza di cuore con infelicità di vita If they have any Conscience then if that Conscience be in the least tender it will never let them be quiet while they reflect upon those just and reasonable causes allowed only by the Canons non quietarsi interiormente mai thereupon a thousand scruples either concerning Substance or Circumstances will be still returning upon them ripullulando loro sempre n'el cuore varii scrupoli intorno alla verità ò nella sustanza ò nelle circonstanze della ragione esposita which will keep them in perpetual torture without any Remedy il che gli fà stare in un perpetuo tormento senza rimedio and will make them in danger to commit many sins through an erroneous Conscience e con pericolo che per coscienza erronea tommettano molti peccati that in fine they will fall into despair of their salvation l. 23. c. 8. e cadano in desperazione della salute Now to avoid such terrible and dangerous extremities which might put all the Bishops into a damnable condition a man sees there 's nothing safer than the Doctrine that maintains against the Zealous Ignorant That Bishop's Jurisdiction is not of Divine Right ARTICLE X. From these Reasons it results That these Bishops Jurisdiction comes to them only from the Pope The Opinion that Episcopacy is but one and the same thing in all Bishops is nothing but a Platonick Idea FRom all before alledged 't is easie to conclude That there 's an infinite difference between Episcopacy in the Pope and Episcopacy in Bishops because the Bishops not holding their Jurisdiction but of the Pope he shares out to them no more thereof than he pleases they being the Inferior Order l. 18. c. 13. di cui egli fa parte à minori Prelati as Father Diego Lainez said but it is wholly in him as the Source because he is the Soveraign Vicar of Jesus Christ tutta come in suo fonte
nel summo Vicario di Christo per cui descendesse negl ' inferiori Prelati l. 24. c. 12. in effect their Rank and their State is a State inferior l. 2. c. 27. minore stato Prelati minori vescovi minori quoth S. Charles they be small Bishops and small Prelates for which reason the name of Vicar of Jesus Christ hath not continued to them l. 19. c. 12. non essersi lasciato il nome di Vicario di Christo à vescovi minori they are nothing but a great multitude of petty Bishops l. 1. c. 21. una moltitudine immensa di piccioli vescovi Now for a small Bishop small Power and small Business Wherefore the Pope hath reserved to himself all the great Affairs of consequence leaving to the Bishops only the small ones as to grant Licenses for ordinary Marriages to issue out some sorts of Monitories to visit Nunneries or the like or many times to avoid contest he permits them to act as Delegates of the Holy See For the Pope being distracted with the great affairs of the whole Universe he cannot tend to muse on trifling petty matters l. 5. c. 16. quella giurisdizione à particulari Prelati la qual è profitevole che sia in loro per non costrigner i Christiani d'andare à Roma in ogni mediocre affare e perche alcuni negozii meglio son terminati da chi gli vede con occhio occupato in que pochi soli che da chi gli ode con orecchio distratto ad una immensità d'altrè cure The Bishops have not the power to dispense with plurality of Benefices because it was not fit to trust their discretion with so imimportant a part of the Government of their Dioceses as that was l. 23. c. 11 al cui giudicio non era convenevole il permetter And as for the chusing of Parish-Priests the Council hath not given the Bishops liberty to do that for it obliges them to follow the judgment of certain Examiners appointed thereunto l. 23. c. 3. sono obligati à seguir le sentence degli esaminatori and the Council enacts That those Examiners be approved by the Clergy of the Diocese at a Synod qui Synodo satisfaciant ab ea approbentur Sess 24. c. 18. Which makes it appear that even those small affairs which the Bishops have left them were by the Councils Order not to be done but in a Synod and with the Synod's advice So that no man which hath not a mind to feed himself with Fancies will ever approve that opinion of an entire Episcopacy being one and the same in all Bishops but will look upon it as a Chimera impossible in practice ogni huomo capaci d'affari civili auvisera per impossibile in prattica questa l. 6. c. 3. per così dire ideal Republica di Platone dove tutta la giurisdizione fosse di ciascun ' presidente Aristotle hath confuted this imaginary Government by Reasons very evident Ibid. e pure una tal Republica con evidentissime raggioni vien rifutata da Aristotele Now that which is contrary to most evident Reasons of Aristotle cannot be conformable to the Institution of Jesus Christ l. 9. c. 9. come si la chiesa di Christo predicasse ch' è contrario à l'insegnamenti d' Aristotele 'T is a very Chimera una chimera impossibile l. 6. c. 3. a false and fraudulent invention una invenzione bugiarda a Chaos of confusion Ibid. un caos di confusioni a right Babylon l. 1. c. 15. con verità Babylonia CHAP. III. The only Rule of the Politick Church Government is its Felicity according to the Flesh in this World and in the other under the Authority of one sole Monarch of the Universe who is the Pope of whom all his Christian Kings are Tributaries and Subjects and who hath or ought to have for his Inheritance or Demean the Riches of all the World whose Honours and carnal Pleasures make the Churches Splendor and Felicity Jesus Christ hath merited them for her by the effusion of his Blood to render her Visible Perpetual and Remarkable as the most happy according to the Flesh of all other Republicks that are that shall be or that ever were upon Earth ARTICLE I. Jesus Christ hath instituted in his Church the most excellent kind of Government Monarchical Government is the most excellent A Man should not doubt that the Wisdom Incarnate did not institute in his Church the most excellent kind of Government l. 8. c. 17. dovremo noi persuadere che la sapienza incarnata istituisse la sua Chiesa â—on un governo il qual non fosse migliore Now Monarchical Government is the best of all even among Christians essendo l'ottima forma del governo spirituale fra' Christiani l. 1. c. 25. la monarchia l. 5. c. 16. So that it must needs be that the Pope was instituted by Jesus Christ King of the Church and Monarch of the whole World adunque la necessità del governo monarchico si palesò per esperienza l. 8. c. 7. 17. Therefore it is that the Popes do reign at Rome l. 2. c. 9. regnare in Roma and their Kingdom is call'd the Kingdom of the Vatican regno di Vaticano l. 2. c. 7. and the Pope is called God's Viceroy and our Cardinal-Historian calls Pope Alexander VII l. 24. c. ult Vicerè d' istraordinario valore He hath the Seignory of all the world l. 6. c. 4. il dominio de l'intero mondo Christiano He is the Monarch and Lord thereof l. 6. c. 3. Monarca e Segnor del mondo Insomuch that the whole World is the Empire whereof he is the Emperor whose puissance is upheld by the veneration of Emperors and all other Kings who be his Subjects Intr. c. 16. quella venerazione ch' è la base del loro Imperio ARTICLE II. That Emperors and Kings have acknowledged the Pope 'T Is this Soveraign Puissance Ecclesiastick of Popes superior to the Secular that the Kings and Emperors of the Earth have acknowledged by kneeling down before them l. 12. c. 3. l'Ecclesiastica è suprema in authorità perche ad essa i Principi secolari s'ingenocchiano Monarchs do not only kneel before the Pope but they kiss his Feet in token they acknowledge his Soveraign Authority as Vicar of Jesus Christ Ibid. inducendo tutti Principi à riconoscerli come vicarii di Christo basciando i loro piedi They acknowledge him as the chief Magistrate over all men Magistrato supremo umano l. 7. c. 14. They adore him as most holy in that quality and too as Mediator between Heaven and Earth l. 1. c. 15. chi dev'essere adorato con sopranome di santissimo e mezzano frà il cielo e la terra and as Mediator between themselves and Arbitrator of their
make Parts of his Body to pay him the Tributes due to him sutable to the Grandeur of his Administration l. 1. c. 25. quali richiedonsi alla grandezza di sua amministratione 'T is for their own Good that he may oblige them to it for one must do good to Communities as one does to Children even against their wills qual più tritto proverbio che quello l. 17. c. 10. à fanciulli e à communi convien fare il bene contra lor voglia He that hath power to bring to the End hath power to levy the means as for example the Church hath power to constrain people to receive the Sacraments 't is necessary then that she should have power to compel those things which be necessary to that end l. 17. p. 10. se la chiesa può costringere i fedeli à pigliar i Sacramènti li può costringere à tutto il necessario per l'amministrazione di essi Now the prime thing that is necessary for the Administration of the Sacraments is a competent maintenance for the Ministers com' è in primo luogo la sostentazione de' Ministri Ibid. So the Pope being prime Minister of the Sacraments and of the Government Ecclesiastick there 's nothing more plain than the power he has to constrain the whole Catholick Christian World to pay him Tribute this Demonstration is most clear Ibid. questa chiarissima dimostratione This supposed who is it that can deny it to be Treason to say one ought not to pay to a Prince the Tributes which be due to him si come verrebbe accusato di lesa Maestà chi affirmasse doversi levare à Principi secolari i loro tributi l. 23. c. 3. In greater Reason then it must be a greater crime for him that would take away from the Prince of the Church and Vicar of Jesus Christ the Fruits that are due to him from particular Churches according to Reason Ibid. Equity and Custom così di molti più grave delitto è reo chi vuol ' torre al principe della chiesa e Vicario di Christo li frutti che à lui son ' debiti dalle chiese particolari secondo la ragione l'equità e la consuetudine For the Revenues for example which come of Indulgences and other like Graces are as his Gables il medesimo in tutte le Gabelle l. 9. c. 3. Imposts being necessary in all sorts of Government in ogni principato essendo necessarie le imposizioni l. 16. c. 8. ARTICLE VI. The Pope's Authority is conformable to Nature according to Aristotle the Pope ought not to give reason for the using of his Power it hath no other Limit nor other Reason but Such is our Pleasure VVE have seen how the Union and Submission of the whole Body of the Church to its Head and its Soul which is forsooth the Pope makes the perfect Band of the Life Politick and that the end of this Life is the common Good of the whole Compound to which it is natural according to Aristotle that all the Members do contribute This Philosopher hath made no difficulty to say That as a Hand which doth not serve the Interest of the Body from whose good estate the good even of every particular Member derives it self could not be called a Hand unless in an equivocal sence so the man which serves not the common Good of the whole Body of the Commonwealth but hath his particular Interests for his Ends cannot be called a man unless in an equivocal sense l. 3. c. 10. la qual congiunzione è sì naturale che Aristotele hebbe à dire che si come la mano che non serve à l'intero corpo dal cui buono stato ridonda il bene di ciascuno membro dicesi equivocamente mano cosil ' huomo che habbia per fine il privato suo prò e non il commune dal quale deriva ogni ben privato chiamarsi equivocamente huomo Now he that is but a man in an equivocal sense cannot be a faithful Christian Prince nor King but in an equivocal sense and no other this is the essential Reason that all Princes and People have to be the Pope's Subjects if they will remain true Princes or true Christians he is not obliged to give you the reason for his power having power in quality of Soveraign to dispose according to his liking of persons and of Goods l. 6. c. 3. as he thinks fit con autorità di commandare alle persone e di maneggiare le robe per raggion propria ed eziandio con altrui repugnanza If it were otherwise a man might upon every occasion contest all his Orders and Commands as null under pretence that they were not reasonable l. 19. c. 6. gli si potesse muover sempre questione di nullità con allegare difetto della sufficiente ragione and of Prince as the Pope is he would be made subject to his Subjects Orders Ibid. che sarebbe costituirlo di principe ch'egli è soggetto al giudicio de' suoi soggetti For avoiding then all these kinds of contradictions he may order it and every one is obliged to pay him all that he demands senza esprimer veruna ragione l. 23. c. 8. there 's no need for him to alledge any other cause unless Such is Our Pleasure 'T is Pleasure that is the Rule of all Natural Equity and all that is done against this good Pleasure is but Violence violento facendosi contra il gusto del Papa In fine l. 3. c. 13. the Pope himself is his own Law il Pontefice esser legge à se stesso for example l. 20. c. 5. suppose that the Pope had no other reason for granting his Pardons but the Money he gains thereby and the Income which rises thereof this only Reason is sufficient to justifie all his Orders essere in verità gran ragione quella grossa multa l. 23. c. 8. Nevertheless this is said with respect to his boundless power and in it self independent illimitata ed independente taking it abstracted from honest Decorum and other Circumstances which do moderate the Pope in the usage of his Power and causes that one needs not to fear he will commit any abuses in the execution thereof for setting these aside he may do all through the plenitude of his Power l. 14. c. 14. è libero con la pienezza dell ' autorità but honest decorum hinders him from doing sometimes things he could and might l'onestà richiede che non facesse da se medesimo Ibid. These were the Sentiments of Pope Pius IV. writing to the Emperor Ferdinand in which he was contrary to Pope Paul IV. Caraffa who was perswaded that his Wisdom had no other Rules for acting but those forsooth of his infinite power che tutta l'ampiezza del suo potere fosse anche la misura di
Superiors and when all those hands unite they make a power that renders its self Mistress of the World l. 9. c. 9. perche hanno più mani le quali quando s'accordano sono le padrone del mondo The Ecclesiastical Superiors ought above all to be perswaded of this Politick Maxim That all their power as to its effect and execution is upheld by the Peoples Veneration l. 12. c. 3. questo sapersi da Presidenti Ecclesiastici che il loro potere quanto all' effetto è tutto appoggiato alla venerazione de' popoli which is a warning to them to keep up this Veneration by an exemplary Life abstaining from all which hath the looks of excess Ibid. gli ammonisce à conservarsela con la vita esemplare e ad astenersi da ciò che habbia dell ' immoderato ò del violento ARTICLE X. An Example of the Peoples Power in the Church in what passed at Milan and at the Council of Pisa under Louis XII THe Soveraign Authority of the People which renders it self Arbitrator even between Popes and Kings appeared in the People of Pisa and those of Milan under Pope Julius II and the King of France Louis XII Some Cardinals having a mind out of Ambition to be Popes under pretence of reforming the Church as well in Head as Members met in Council at Pisa The Inhabitants of that Town being Subjects of the Commonwealth of Florence were constrained through its Authority to receive into their Town these Cardinals and those of their Party but nevertheless they detested the Assembly of them as Sacrilegious come sacrilega they could not hold from giving them all possible marks of Slight and Abhorrency so that the Council was transferred to Milan The Cardinals of the Faction were received by the People in that Town not as Cardinals whose Dignity is in most great veneration in Christendom but as men infected with the Plague and as Cut-Throats mà come huomini pestiferi e scelerati and as boding Comets which foretel and cause Mischiefs to the Countries over which they appear The French at that time got the Famous Victory at Ravenna against Pope Julius and his Confederates The Popes Nuntio John de Medicis which afterwards succceded Julius by the Name of Leo X was brought Prisoner to Milan In this condition a wonderful thing even the Souldiers of the French side could not chuse but yield to their Prisoner as the Legate of the Vicar of Jesus Christ Marks of their utmost Veneration asking Absolution of him for having fought against the Church such power hath the force of Religion over the Spirits of Christian people tanta nel popolo Christiano è la forza della Religione l. 1. c. 1. Mean time what kind of man was this Pope Julius He was fierce-natur'd Ibid. una tal ferocia in whom the Vapors of adust Choler reigned so violently that they carried him out to Feats of War little agreeing with the Holiness of his Degree Ibid. eccesso militare non convenevole alla santità di grado da qualche vampa men regolata di bile accesa He had to do with Louis XII that good King sirnamed The Father of the People which is to say All yet the Subjects of such a King favoured such a Pope what would they have done then if this Popes Virtue had been as sublime as was requisite for him who ought to be adored by the Sirname of most Holy as Mediator between Heaven and Earth This only Example makes it at once to be seen how puissant a Pope is that 's revered by the People and how puissant the People is that is animated by a Spirit of Religion tanta nel popolo Christiano è la forza delle religione But on the other side this Example ought to teach Popes what they are to fear when they abuse their supernatural and divine Authority and do injury to the Secular Power for then the People changing their Veneration into Abomination they abandon his Holiness's Interest and in stead of remaining Superior he becomes slighted See here then the different Interests of Popes and Kings and the politick Reasons that these Powers which are superior of Right and by Authority have to conserve to themselves the succors of that of the People which is always at last the Soveraign by way of Fact and as to the execution and that same which obliges all these Powers to abide within terms of moderation the just temperament whereof makes the Politick Felicity according to the Flesh even in respect of the Christian Republick under the Monarchy of the Soveraign Pontife for to preserve which all the world by consequence is equally obliged through very Natural Love seeing that doth embrace the whole World for its Felicity ARTICLE XI The Pope is not Master of his Authority he is but the Depositary thereof and obliged to preserve it The most pious action of christian people is to uphold it THe Popes do not reckon themselves Masters of the Apostolical power which is intrusted them they do not believe that they can release the Rights thereof of which they are nothing but Depositaries to hold them and keep them up together and not to permit the diminution of them Thus spoke Pope Clement VII of it Primato Apostolico di cui non era signore mà custode l. 3. c. 12. The Pope may dispose on good consideration of the Things and Persons whereof he is Lord though may be he cannot do it lawfully setting aside Honesty or other Virtues but for what concerns the Rights of the Holy See he cannot permit the diminution thereof neither lawfully nor upon any consideration whatsoever which is so true that Paul IV who thought he might do any thing and that all which he did by virtue of his Authority without having respect to Honesty or other Virtues became honest and lawful l. 14. c. 13. che tutta l'ampiezza del suo potero fosse anche la misura di saggiamente esercitarlo Nevertheless as to the Rights of the Holy See he made no difficulty to acknowledge that he was not absolute Master of them but only Depositary l. 13. c. 15. di quella dignità della quale non era padrone mà custode And the reason is That the Pope's power in all the extent of it which we have been speaking of is the Publick Good and Felicity of the Church even according to the Flesh secondo la carne now the Publick Good of the Church even according to the Flesh is the greatest of all visible Goods and the most noble Object of all the Virtues and so the most noble action not only of Policy but of Piety that the Pope and Christian people can do is to uphold the Soveraign power of the Pope in the extent of his All-puissantness independant and infinite and to maintain it with vigilance and stoutness il custodir con intrepidezza e con vigilanza
la sovranità del Pontificato l. 5. c. 16. è per mio aviso la più commendabile operazione che possa fare la Politica virtuosa perciò che di nessun ' popolo si procura con maggior lodevolezza il prò universale che del popolo più diletto da dio e sedele à dio It remains then to make it evident what it is that is sutable for the Grandeur of the Pope according to that Degree of Soveraignty which he is advanced to in the Church in quality of Vicar of Jesus Christ Viceroy of God Emperor of the whole Universe Lord and Monarch of the World King of Kings and Lord of Lords Vice-God and a God himself by the most excellent participation of God that is visible upon Earth ARTICLE XII The Pope must have Means and an Estate suting with all these Qualities To deny this Truth is a Treasonable Crime Humane Felicity according to the Flesh ought to be found in him as its Source THe Pope being King of Kings and of the whole Universe the Estates and Goods of all Kings and of the whole Universe are his Inheritance otherwise if the Temporalities of Kings were not the Pope's Inheritance the Subjects Estates would not be the Inheritance of their Kings 'T is the part of Kings to consider if they will renounce this new Right which the Religious and Carnal Policy of our Cardinal-Historian doth offer them but as for the Pope he is not Master of his he is but Depositary wherefore in quality of King and for that very reason it is unlawful quoth the Cardinal to abate the Pope his Rights or any of that which is fit or sutable to the support and maintenance of his infinite and unlimited Grandeur l. 23. c. 3. non essendo lecito di sostrare i suoi diretti e ciò che richiedesi per la sua convenevole sostentazione al Pastor universale de tutta la Chiesa So you see that to stop his Revenue or force him from it is a crime more treasonable than that of those who would deny to those Kings who are the Pope's Subjects to pay them Gabels It is a General Order established of God That all things should be conveniently ordered convenevole according to the Degree and Rank which they hold in the Universe for example That a Cardinal have the Authority that is sutable to his Purple and not that pitiful little power that sutes only with an ordinary Bishop l. 20. c. 3. tal bassezza d'autorità qual convenisse ad un ordinario Vescovo e non ad un nobilissimo porporato And generally speaking The Church hath power to exact from her Believing Ones whatever is necessary for the maintenance of her Ministers li può costringere à tutto il necessario com' è in primo luogo la sostentazione de Ministri l. 17. c. 10. So that she hath power to levy from the whole Universe Contributions necessary and proportionable to the Grandeur of her Ministry quali richiedonsi alla grandezza della sua amministrazione .... l. 1. c. 25. questi tributi raccolti da ogni paese Christiano l. 2. c. 6. queste contribuzieni di tutto illo mondo Christiano Now that which sutes the Grandeur of the Apostolick Principality sutes it as it is the Source of all Temporal Profit and Felicity l. 23. c. 3 even according to the Flesh fonte d' utilità temporale secondo la carne in quel l. 1. c. 25. modo ch' è più conforme eziandio all' umana felicità then must needs this humane felicity be found in the Pope as in its source Now Felicity according to the Flesh consists in Riches Honours Pleasures and in all besides which the World loves esteems and admires to the end that the Pope may afterwards convey it as it were in several streams or veins all the World over wherefore the Pope is compared not only to the Soul or Head from whom the Body derives Being and all the Felicity it is capable of but he is also compared to the Stomach ARTICLE XIII The Pope is the Stomach of the Churches Body which disperses shares of Nourishment to all his believing ones that be Members of his Body 'T Is true that all the Tribute which the Pope levies upon the World seems to tend to enrich only the Vassals of his Temporal Domain or his home-born Subjects questi tributi raccolti da ogni paese Christiano paian colare ad arrichir solo i vassali del dominio temporale l. 2. c. 26. nevertheless in truth it is not so in verità non è poi così But to make the thing better understood we must use the Fable which whilom Menenius Agrippa made use of when the people of Rome revolted against the Senate and refused to fight for it This sage Polititian told them that one day the Members made a revolt against the Stomach and refused to contribute towards its nourishment but incontinently they perceived that they all fell to languish One may say 't is the same thing with the Pope who as the Stomach does not digest for himself only the Goods which he possesses but to distribute out to those Believing Ones that be his Members That which ought then to be so much the more stronger in application of this Similitude concerning that of the Body Natural is this The other Members which labour for the Stomach can never be the Stomach so they have not that particular reason to maintain the Stomach's Interests but in the Mystick Body of the Church there is no Member but that may one day become Stomach no faithful Catholick but may hope to become Pope l. 3. c. 10. habbiamo un corpo dove ogn ' altro membro si può convertire in stomaco si come chilo in sangue e poi questo in carne So that all these faithful Catholicks have a particular Interest to contribute to the Pope's Felicity according to the Flesh because this Felicity returns back again to them according to the share they have in the distribution made by him after his having digested it as the Stomach of the Church and besides they or some of theirs may one day arrive to this quality of Stomach and then shall they too digest all the Goods of the World first for themselves and afterwards for others It should follow from hence may some say that in time all the Riches of the World will flow to Rome to enrich the Pope's Court but though it should be so l. 24. c. 10. fingiamo che con longo giro di secoli questi beni colassero nella corte what hurt would there be in it that all the Goods of the Earth that now pass from one to the other by way of Inheritance at a venture without regard to merit should be distributed by the Pope to every one according to Justice and according to their Merits Ibid.
the Piety of Christians ought to furnish for maintenance of the Royal Court of the Monarch of the Universe whose Court is the Soul that re-unites under one and the same Unity so many Kingdoms and which of all Countries of his obedience constitutes one Body Politick the most Formidable the most Virtuous the most Learned and the most Happy that is upon Earth l. 3. c. 10. una Corte la quale è l'anima che tiene in unità tanti regni e costituisce i paesi à lei ubbedienti un corpo politico il più Formidabile il più Virtuoso il più Litterato il più felice che fia in terra Such is then the Fidelity and Glory of the Court of Rome according to the Flesh and such is the Temporal Felicity of that Church for this same Felicity according to the Flesh is a means most gentle and at the same time most efficacious to form the Temporal Greatness of the Church as will be seen in the following Chapter CHAP. IV. Twenty Reasons that prove the necessity of the Riches Honours and Voluptuousness of the Church to make thereof a Gospel according to the Flesh the Vocation of all the World to Faith and a part of that World to the Ecclesiastick Life without which Riches Honours and Voluptuousness the Church having no Reputation among them who fancy those things would perish not being able to subsist happy according to the Flesh if her Ministers were poor as formerly and if they had not vast Riches as the Glorious Cardinals who are at this day the Pope's Courtiers Here also shall be shewn the unluckiness the shamefulness and even the Vice of Poverty whereof God in his Providence is no Author but Sin or only Fortune which on this score may be accused as the Enemy of Virtue ARTICLE I. Corrupt Nature loves Riches Honours and carnal Pleasures if the Church had not of them to propose and bestow there would be but few Christians The Church is composed of three sorts of Persons The Magnificence and Stateliness of Rome is able to work the Conversion of the Mahometan Princes The Popes must have somewhat else to be for them beside God THe Pope's power being without Armed Forces cannot make Infidels to believe or to list themselves in the Churches Communion but through fair and gentle means but still efficacious by accommodating it self to Natures corrupted inclinations as hath been said for man seeing he does Idolize himself would never be ruled if he were not ticed and wheadled on by promises and recompences l. 1. c. 2◠l'huomo ch' è l'idolo di se stesso non si coudurrebbe mai senon allettato dal premio Therefore it is that the Romanists are at so much costs for Stages or Theatres and in Shows or Spectacles of Devotion because people do naturally love Voluptuousness and will do any thing for its sake after the inclinations of corrupt Nature this corruption is such that if the Church had not the greatest of all Voluptuousness according to the Flesh to set before and propose to those which She calls to Her Faith the greatest part of Christians would go seek their Fortune out of the Church the Church would lose her Reputation and all her esteem which is the Basis that holds up all the Engines of her Policy l. 5. c. 10. la stima ch' è la base di questo machine The better to conceive this kind of Verity we must make a distinction of Three sorts of people which make Three kinds of vocation to this Faith the first are those who live in the Faith only out of pure zeal di purissimo zelo l. 9. c. 9. and which serve the Church out of pure spirit and courage servon la Chiesa per solo spirito Ibid. and these be those which are the purely spiritual that would love God though there were no Temporal Goods to be hoped for because they slight all temporal things l. 8. c. 17. dispreggiatrici d'ogni cosa terrena The second be those which are made up of Flesh and Spirit and which are willing to enjoy besides God as much of the goods of the world as Law will permit Ibid. composti di Carne di Spirito desiderano per quanto la legge di Dio permette anche i beni di questa vita so they must have a Felicity composed of Spirit and of Flesh and they would not be so in love as they are with Religion if they did not give them hopes of worldly Goods l. 9. c. 9. non si nutrirebbe così universalmente l'affetto alla Religione The Third sort be those who are stark carnal and which are taken up more with those things that are seen than with those which are not seen these be the greatest number of all Ibid. molti ancora maggiormente s'affez zionano à quel che si vede che à quel che si crede Now though this be an ill Quality the wicked being wicked only because they prefer the Goods of the Body before those of the Soul and Spirit l. 6. c. 12. i malvaggi sono malvaggi per che antepongono i beni del corpo à quei dello spirito nevertheless this disposition of theirs is in some sort not so bad then if having such a mind as they have after worldly Goods they should spend them in the Service of Jupiter and Mars rather than in the Service of Jesus Christ and his Church so that the Church accommodating itself to their corrupt inclination calls them to its Faith and its Communion by setting before them and proposing to them greater worldly Goods and greater Voluptuousnesses even according to the Flesh than they could have if they abode in the Service of Jupiter and Mars Ibid. ma pur servono al culto di Christo dove prima servivasi à quel di Giove e di Marte Look ye there then what it is that keeps the Church up in esteem even amongst people stark carnal l. 23. c. 3 per conservarla in estimazione anche presso gl'imperfetti Now this Esteem brings forth Veneration and Veneration is the Basis of the Churches Empire Introd c. 6. quella venerazione ch' è la base del loro imperio for without this great Veneration that the Carnal Ones have for the Church it were not possible to keep the people in nor to tame them and make them keep on the Yoke richiedendosi grand aiuto di venerazione per ch' egli si contenti di ricevere in bocca il freno l. 2. c. 3. the Veneration that these Imperfect Ones have for the Church being founded upon the Carnal Felicity which she puts them in hope of there 's no body but may see how greatly this Felicity is needful to make a Catholick and Universal Vocation of all the World to the Churches Faith without this Felicity the Church having but a small concourse
of these Faithful Ones l. 15. c. 5. would fall into contempt povero di concorso vile d'autorità but on the contrary the alone Magnificence of the Buildings at Rome since Two Hundred Years agon is able to strike admiration into all Infidel and Mahometan Princes and to convert them to this Faith l. 8. c. 17. tanto che tali opere pie fatte in Roma in solo due secoli bastarebbono per render venerabile ed ammirabile la nostra religione alli sguardi di tutti i Monarchi Maometani è Gentili And if instead of this Felicity of the Church which appears to them so they did but know how often all goes contrary against the Popes who have none for them but the Holy Spirit quoth our Cardinal they could not chuse but have Sentiments of Pity and no Disdain to enter into the Pope's Communion l. 5. c. 13. Non ho potuto d' hora non compassionare i Pontefici conventi frà loro contrarii e tutti infesti al corso di lei eccetto l'aura dello Spirito santo Now if the Pope's having only God on their side make our Jesuit-Cardinal to pity them and should appear thus to be miserable in the eyes of others how should they ever be able to convert Mahometans there must needs be something else then besides the Spirit they speak of for Popes to work such like conversions and it would be great pity if a Pope should have but only that for him ARTICLE II. The hope of sharing the Riches Honours and Pleasures which belong to the Ecclesiastick state to be Pope and to possess by Resignation ones Kinsfolks Benefices these things do make a great and substantial Vocation for People to become Church-men EVery one knows how much the Ecclesiastick State is glorious to God the Splendor and Glory of this State is due to the Carnal Felicity wherewith it is invested l. 1. c. 25. se veramente vogliamo che la Regia spirituale sia frequentata da persone d'ingegno di lettere di valore di nobilità lasciando le patrie sottoponendosi al celibato ed all altre gravezze le quali induce la vita Ecclesiastica fà mestieri che possano sperare onori ed entrate for would there be found so many persons of Wit of Learning of Worthiness of Noble Birth that would betake themselves to a single Life and other toilsomnesses which the Ecclesiastical Life obliges them to if they had not hopes by that means to gain Honours and Temporal Revenues Without doubt they ought to promise this to themselves and be content with their condition partly out of affection for Religion and partly through joy to see themselves reverenced and had in veneration as Church-men especially amongst their Kindred l. 17. c. 5. vivano contenti parte per affetto di religione parte per godimento di quella reverenza che in ogni famiglia sì suol portare alla toga Let a man consider what Glory it is for this Faith to see so many Noblemens and Princes Sons enter into Orders and consecrate themselves to the Service of God in quality of the Pope's Courtiers Should this be seen if the Church were poor and if the Piety of Christians had not afforded Means to the Pope to recompence magnificently all this Gang l. 1. c. 25. ciò senza dubio non seguirebbe la pietà de' Christiani non somministrasse à lui la commodità di rimunerarli altamente For in fine there is no private man that gives himself to serve the Pope and Court of Rome but may hope to become one day a Cardinal that is to say above Bishops and all Princes and an Equal for Kings that may not even hope himself or some of his to be one day Pope without doubt this thought cannot be but most pleasing to all people l. 1. c. 8. era giocondo oggetto al cuore di ciascuno ... habbiamo una Republica dove ogni plebeo puè divenir senatore l. 3. c. 10. ogni suddito principe The Court of Rome is a Court composed of persons of all Nations of the World where there is none of them but may through his Learning and Deserving be advanced to the most sublime Dignities and arrive either at the Soveraignty or to a participation of the Government and Revenues of the Church l. 3. c. 10. è una Corte composta di tutti i paesi Catolici nella quale ogn'uno con la dottrina e co'l merito può salire alle dignità più sublimi ed havere ò la sovranità ò la participazione del governo e del patrimonio Ecclesiastico But without flying so high may not every Nephew easily hope for the Benefice of his Uncle upon his Resignation And is it not a great comfort that an Uncle may hope one day to leave his Benefice to his Nephew or to some other of his Kin or to his Friend How many young men have been and are daily educated virtuously for the sake of this same carnal Expectance molti giovani sono educati nella virtù con la speranza d'haver sì fatte risegne l. 23. c. 12. di qualche vecchio sacerdote di loro parentado Even this same hope according to the Flesh makes the Incumbents more willing and careful to repair or beautifie their Churches out of the confidence they may be able to substitute in their places such persons as they bear a kindness to i beneficiati più s'affezionano al ristoro della Chiesa confidandosi di surrogarvi persona loro gradita Ibid. On the contrary take away these Expectations and Hopes from the Roman Court and leave her only the Spirit eccetto l'aura dello Spirito Santo it will be a great Pity and no Contentment she must have a better kind of Suckle to suck miglior sugo that is to say a Carnal Felicity so that there is none but may see that all these Reasons be puissant and yet mild means to make the Vocations either to this Faith or to this Clergyship efficacious and which is no impediment to the perfection of that State or Order ARTICLE III. The Hope of Carnal Felicity which the Church promises hinders neither its Perfection nor the perfection of the Ecclesiastick Order The Vices of Ambition and Worldly Glory are glistering bright and taking Vices These same Hopes of Carnal Felicity make all Virtues to bud come forth and grow up even to the perfection of the Contemplative Life THE Church setting before all the World an hope of possessing either the Royalty of the World or the Glory and Felicity of the Cardinalship of the Episcopacy or other Prelateship there is no question but the greatest part of them who do enjoy these Honours made their way thither through all the Virtues which this same carnal Hope made to spring up in them l. 8. c. 17. il far germogliare le insigni virtù se premii fossero pronti This was it
which rendred the Cardinal of Mantoue so admirable in the time of the Council of Trent he did not desire or at least appear to desire as all others the Crown nor the Diadem of the Soveraign Pontificat l. 2. c. 6. illustrò lo Pontificato non desiderato ò almeno così temperamente nell ' interno che nulla apparisse di ciò nell ' esterno This is a rare Example for Ambition is so glistering bright a Vice that it loves to appear abroad and it is a Vice which is universally in great men Ibid. vizio splendido ed universale à grandi We must be fain then to conclude that these bright Vices which are universally found in Grandees are not opposite to that Soveraign degree of perfection which their Rank altogether Divine doth require quel grado che richiede il sommo della perfezione l. 1. c. 2. for otherwise one must be forced to say that the Vocation to the Popedom and other Ecclesiastical Dignities were vicious and corrupt and by consequence not of God which would be quite against all apparence for as to the State of Holy Father the Pope's perfection in as much as he must be adored by the Sirname of Most Holy the sublimeness of Virtue suting his Degree is so great that those imperfections which be nothing in other men become Monsters in the Sereneship of his Divine State l. 1. c. 1. è tanta la sublimità di quella virtù la qual si richiede in chi dev ' essere adorato con sopranome di santissimo e come il mezzano frà il Cielo e la Terra che le imperfezioni insensibili negli altri huomini in quella luce divengono monstruose From whence it follows That if the Hope and ambitious Desire of coming to the Popedom and the Gladness when one is arrived thereat which are just like those bright Vices which be in all Grandees were monstrous Vices in Popes as 't is rare to see any come to the Popedom by any other way according to our Cardinal-Historian since the Church as he makes it out calls them to her Offices through this way it would follow a man may say That as often as one beholds Popes one should behold Monsters of Pride and Ambition which had no Piety coming near that which is requisite to an Order that is as it were altogether Divine l. 1. c. 2. pietà quanta si richideva da quello stato quasi divino Divino principato debitore d'una virtù così alta d'una bontà sempre ammirata condizion del Ponteficato As to the state of Perfection of the Cardinals in as much as by their Duty and the Functions of their Charges they are the Reformers of Christendom they are obliged in their Lives to give a perfect Example of all Virtues l. 6. c. 13. dov ' esser più tosto i riformatori del Christianesimo dar ' esempio d'ogni virtù The Cardinal's Order is the Mirror and Rule of all others which are inferior to it ordine Cardinalizio il qual doveva essere specchio e norma degli altri inferiori l. 1. c. 2. l. 4. c. 5. On the Actions and Examples of the Cardinals as well as on their Reputation depends the Good and Honour of the Church l. 20. c. 8. dall ' opera dal esempio e dalla riputazione di essi pendesse il bene e l'onor della Chiesa And as it is the Roman Court which is the principal Reformer it is that also which ought to be the first reformed l. 23. c. 7. che la principal reformatrice fosse anche la prima riformata for the Government of the Church Universal being upheld by the Councils of the Cardinals it would be unhandsom if the Course and the Virtue of their Lives should not be so conspicuous and regular as to draw the eyes of all the World upon it al cui consiglio presso al Pontefice essendo apoggiata l'amministrazione della Chiesa universale l. 24. c. 7. è deforme cosa ch'essi non risplendano con tali ornamenti di virtù e di disciplina nel la lor vita onde traggano gli occhi di ciascheduno From whence it must be concluded according to the Principles of our Cardinal-Historian that the bright and glistering Vices of Ambition of Desire and Hope of Riches and Honours and of Pleasures according to the Flesh which are found universally in all Grandees are not those monstrous things that be opposite to the State of Perfection nor to the Reputation of the Order of Cardinals As concerning the state of Perfection of the Bishops one needs only to read the Decrees of the Council of Trent to know what belongs to their Rank which is so exalted that all men are not and there be very few which are found able to reach it poco emiâ—ente sarebbe la perfezione convenevole alla â—ignità Episcopale se fosse in tal grado che vi iungnessero ò tutti ò molti l. 2. c. 3. And thus too forasmuch as they as well â—s others have their share of these bright â—ake-shew Vices of Ambition and the Love â—f Felicity according to the Flesh one is alâ—o fain of necessity to conclude That â—hat these kind of vain-glorious Vices are â—ot so monstrously opposite to their Calling â—or to their state of Perfection otherwise â—hey would be all Monsters which fill all the Chairs and Thrones of the Ecclesiastical â—tate for in fine if it be true That the Hopes of the Worldly Means of the Church â—ake all Virtue to sprout it is certain â—hat that Hope in the Church adds such spurs â—o Virtue as there be not the like in any Republick in the World l. 12. c. 3. il quale stimolo â—lla virtù non è ò fù maì si forte in verun â—ltro principato dopo la creazione del mondo Then also is it true too That the abundance of these very Goods is the Dug which nouâ—ishes these Virtues after they are brought â—orth l. 8. c. 17. adunque l' abondanza di questi beni è â—ammella per nutrir la virtù nella Chiesa Who is it for example that would â—ubmit himself to be under the Rules of a Single Life and yield if one may say so â—hat Pension to God which is so difficult a matter to pay truly if there were no conâ—ideration for it but only Hopes in the Air of invisible Benefices and Preferments hereafrer but that the Church hath here in this Life those other to give whose Revenues are in present and more solid according to the Flesh l. 8. c. 7. una garvissima pensione a' beneficiati ed è peso tanto grave consiglio difficillimo della continenza No doubt on 't but if the Hopes of the Temporal Goods of the Church were taken away a man should not see so many Noblemen and Gentlemen engage themselves in the Ecclesiastick
Life harebbe ritenuti molti nobili dalla vita Ecclesiastica l. 23. c. 3. Mean time every one knows how much the Single Life serves to put a man upon Contemplation of the things of Heaven il che riesce di tanto prò ad applicar gli huomini alla contemplazione celeste Ibid. so that it is clear That all those Barons which post after Benefices would never have applied themselves to the same Contemplative Life if they had not caught the Benefices which makes it appear That these splendid Vices be not so opposite to this Contemplative Life and yet at the same time a happy Life according to the Flesh and that the Church would be deprived of an infinite many of these blessed Contemplative men if she had not an infinite many fat Benefices to make thereof for them a corporal Beatitude for if the Church had been poor humane frailty is so great that she would never have had the Glory to have seen these Contemplative Barons invested in her Offices and in her Dignities whom she calls thither through the Hope which she gives them thereof l. 1. c. 25. il che per l'umana debolezza non così auvarebbe nella povertà della Chiesa From whence it appears That this Politick Prudence is not opposite to Piety l. 15. c. 6. la Prudenza politica non ripugna così alla Pietà Christiana The First of the Twenty Reasons why the Church makes use of the promise of Temporal Goods to call Lay-men into Orders The Excellency of the Angels is to have no need of Lackies that of Men to have a great many of them The perfection of a Magnificent Work is to have a deal more about it than it needs to the end it may appear more splendid for example the Magnificence of a Palace upheld by rich Columns is to have a many more of them than needs precisely to uphold it l. 13. c. 3. si come appunto ad un magnifico edificio si pone maggior numero di colonne ch' è sofficiente à sostentarlo Unto this marvellous neat Example the Reverend Father John Baptist Giatino the Jesuit who translated into Latin this same History of our Cardinal Printed at Antwerp in 1670 addeth another surprizing Example which is that of Lackeys A Great Lord quoth he hath need of some Lackeys there 's no doubt on 't then 't is for his honour to have a great many of them yea a many more than the number precisely necessary but on the contrary the Angels having no need of Lackeys 't is their excellency to have none at all Angelorum est praestantia qui famulis non indigent famulis carere sed hominum quibus sunt opus praestantia est supra quam indigeant iis abundare From whence that Father takes occasion to make this general Proposition That as for those things which have no need of supports their perfection is to have none at all but as for those which have need of support their excellency and their perfection is to have more of them than needs ita universè rebus quae fulcimentis non egent praestantiae vertitur fulcimentis vacare sed rebus quae fulcris indigent eis plus quam indigent abundare Now the Felicity according to the Flesh hath need of some Riches of some Honours and of some carnal Pleasures and by consequence the excellency and the perfection of that Felicity is to have a superfluous abundance of Riches of Honours and of Pleasures even according to the Flesh The Zealous will be ready to object That in the present Life 't is man's imperfection to stand in need of things and that it is a perfection to have no need of them The Cardinal-Historian answers them according to the Principles of the Religious Policy that Aristotle teaches the contrary for he says That the Arts which serve to help our necessities were first invented in the World and afterwards the Wit of man applied it self to those Arts which serve to the Felicity of Life l. 8. c. 17. insegna il filosofo prima essersi ritrovate le arti che sovengono alle necessità e dipoi rivoltò l'ingegno all' invention di quelle che servono alla felicità della vita So that according to Aristotle there is a carnal Felicity in the Christian Life and upon this Politick Rule of Aristotle the Church did presently in the first Ages provide things of Necessity afterwards she took care to get her self a Court-Royal-Universal which might have without impoverishing it self wherewithal to recompense a great number of Excellent persons that were to serve this Republick and consecrate themselves to God specially in that kind of Life which is led in the Pope's Court where their Virtues suck abundance of Milk out of her Breasts that is to say out of that Court 's Temporal Felicity according to the Flesh which cannot subsist but through abundance of Riches and Temporal Goods Ibid. dapoi che s' è supplito si ampiamente al bisogno non era forse oportuno di provedere anche ad una Corte e ad una Reggia universale laqual potesse alimentare e rimunerare gran ' numero d' huomini i quali servissero à quella Republica e si dedicassero specialmente à Dio in questa vita adunque l'abondanza di questi beneficii simplici è la mammella per nutrir la virtù nella Chiesa So that the abundance of Riches of Honours and of Pleasures making a Felicity whereof the Church is the Source and the Hope whereof makes the Vocation of the Ecclesiastical Estate yea and even their Vocation to the Faith the more one hath of these Goods the more one is happy with an Ecclesiastical Christian Felicity Now the more happy one is the more perfect one is yea one is the more perfect according as he hath more of this sort of the forementioned Felicity and ones Virtues are kept by it so much the more in better plight and are better bred Virtues if the Church then had remained poor should one have seen her Offices and her Dignities filled with so many Virtuoso's as now there be Great Wits and well-bred men no never for humane Frailty is so great that all this Glory of the Church would never have appeared if she had remained poor che per l'umana debolezza non così auverrebbe nella povertà della Chiesa l. 1. c. 25. If the Church had remained poor she would have remained unhappy according to the Flesh without Joyfulness Splendor or Honour and by consequence imperfect as well as unhappy and deprived of the Felicity of Aristotle Now Jesus Christ did not preach a Felicity contrary to the Doctrines of Aristotle so that this Felicity hath nothing contrary to Jesus Christ's it hath no thing which is not conformable with it but that therewith the Church may serve it self to make her vocation of the World in general unto this
worser than if it were an evil in its own Nature Ibid. con divenir fondamento del male riesce peggior che se di natura sua fosse male What must be done then according to right Policy Why set this same kind of goodness forth of the Church which is only for proposing Piety for the Motive to bring men to the service of God and would be for imploying Church riches for to relieve the Poor rather than to make carnal felicity for Churchmen this heroical felicity must be absolutely destroyed convien tolora levar un bene qund ' egli con divenir fondamento del male riesce peggiore che se di natura sua fosse male Ibid. In such case poverty is vice and poverty in Churchmen would be worse in them than sin peggiore che se di natura sua fosse male So that although it were an evil in the Church to propose carnal felicity and the enjoyment of carnal pleasures to those she would bring into her Bosom yet in respect of Politick prudence this false Faith being the lesser evil it becomes stark honesty and hath all the qualitys of goodness which render it laudable l. 2. c. 6. il minor male in risguardo alla prudente elezione hà onestà è lode volezza di bene Reason IV. A government is not to be blamed if through hope of Booty the Souldiers be stirred up to forrage a Country to conquer it and kill their Enemies capi militari con speranza della preda e del sacco stimolano gli eserciti á l' espugnazione del paese nemico Booty and pillage are the pincipal ends that Souldiers purpose to themselves Ibid. il principale nelguerra rispetto al Soldato è il botino Should a man do evil to exhort Souldiers by this hope Now then do but suppose that Clergy-men may have for the principal Motive of their functions carnal felicity which is the recompence thereof Ibid. il principale nè ' Ministerii sacri sia il temporale non lo spirituale Can the Church be blamed to set before them the carnal Motive of this same felicity and to offer fat benefices to those which she invites to the toilsomness of the single life and to be Clergymen to make the condition more desirable and more supportable The Zealous will object here that the Church should teach Clergy-men that carnal pleasure is not right humane felicity and that if they believe that riches be able to make their felicity the right even as to their flesh which is baptized their faith is false aswel as their pretended felicity they renounced that pretended felicity when they received Baptism for that which may be the cause of Eternal damnation can never be the right felicity no not even according to the flesh which is redeemed and sanctified to be saved According to the Principle of the Religious Policy of this same our Cardinal one answers that these be discourses in the Air let 's leave off discourses and come to matters that be practiced lasciamo i discorsi Ibid. poniamo il negozio in prattica 'T is a matter of fact according to the Cardinal's principles that most part of men are more taken with that which is seen than with that which is believed Ibid. molti ancora maggiormente s' affettionano à quel che si vide che à quel che si crede All this multitude of folks here in the World would never have left off worshipping of Jupiter and Mars and to betake themselves to the worship of Jesus Christ if this same Church had not told them that she had more carnal felicity to reward them with all than they could ever expect from Mars or Jupiter Why should any one be loath then that the Church should begin the preaching of her Gospel upon that point that from thence she may begin their vocation to the Faith If she went about at first to disabuse them and tell them that the felicity of the senses is no true felicity and that all the delight thereof is but errour and false felicity who in these times wherein we live would believe such a Gospel Here are your demonstrations as they be call'd in the affair of Politick Religion But when one at very first doth preach thus to the People viz. That the Court of Rome is a Theatre and a Treasury set open with the deservingness of all men without distinction of any Nation a Treasury and a Theatre common to all the learned and to all the persons of merit of Christendom l. 24. c. 20. un erario ed un teatro commune al valore alla dottrina al merito di tutti li Christiani That in this Court is every subject may become a Prince and every Prince King of the Universe l. 3. c. 10. Ibid. ogni plebeo può divenir Senatore ogni suddito Principe .... ogn ' uno può selire alle dignità più sublime ed havere ò la soveranita ò la participazione del governo e del patrimonio Ecclesiastico Who is it now that would not become a Christian if he have but never so little belief in the words of these Apostles and love for their carnal felicity Reason V. The Sacraments instituted by Jesus Christ are sources of his Grace which is Spiritual and yet their matter is corporal l. 23. c. 12. i medesimi Sacramenti i quali son fonti della grazia divina furono istituiti da Christo in materia sensibile So also riches and carnal pleasures though they be temporal things may well be the fources of the highest Virtues in those who act through the Motive and hope of getting temporal goods and of enjoying them 'T is clear then that neither those who for recompence of the toilsomness of their Clergyship propose to themselves carnal felicity nor the Church which promises these felicitys are to be blamed Ibid. val ciò di premio alle fatiche sosteneut lungo tempo dall ' antico beneficiato Riches are as one may say the Sacraments of carnal felicity and the Ecclesiasticks are Ministers thereof The Zealous will look upon this compassion of sensible Sacraments with sensible felicity as a piece of blasphemy But according to the Principles of our Cardinal the Sacraments make Vertues to sprout forth and feed them being sprung in this all agree with him but what is there besides the Sacraments that 's fitting to make vertue sprout but the expectation of carnal recompences Se i premii fossero pronti l. 8. c. 7. sarebbe agevale il far germogliare le insigni virtù The Zealous will reply that it was very easie for God to give the recompence which he promised and yet the promises of God and his recompences had not the effect to make those remarkable and grand Vertues spoken of here before to sprout forth in that People but on the contrary all their old Worship was nothing for the most part
but abominable hypocrisie before God The answer is not difficult following our Cardinals Principles It had been yet much worse if God had not had recompences to promise unto them for they would not so much as have rendred him any Worship or service though but hypocritical and no-wise pleasing to him they would have forsaken him quite as they did so often and as Christians would do at this day to serve Jupiter and Mars if Jesus Christ did not promise them a temporal and carnal felicity greater than Jupiter or Mars do promise Reason VI. In a good action may be considered the interiour Piety which God recompenseth with Eternal felicity and the exteriour pains which suteably God is to recompence with temporal reward for humane incommodities ought to be rewarded with humane pay convien che nel culto divino l'umane incommodità siano ricompensate con altri umani vantaggi l. 1. c. 25. Is it not a rugged task to be obliged to pray to God every day an hour and an half or thereabouts l. 8. c. 17. Interno ad una ora e mezza d' orazione cotidiana The urgent instances which the German Priests made at the Councel of Trent for leave to Marry do not they leave witness how troublesome it is to lead the Clergy's single life and that their continence is very painful Ibid. Le istanze perpetue della Germania pe'l matrimonio de' sacerdoti testificano se resti una gravissima pensione à beneficiare Can all these incommodities be enough recompensed with all the Benefices of the Church Vertue quoth the Zealous is recompence great enough of it self and divine rewards do far out go all that be humane and as for temporal conveniencies they are due in Justice to those which labour not as recompences to make up humane felicity for them otherwise then so far forth as they may be necessary means to make them to live in the service of God l. 8. c. 16. non in pagamento mà in sostentamento 'T is only hopes of Heaven that makes humane felicity even here upon Earth spe gaudentes all other humane felicity is false But these Zealous Persons may please to consider that God hath undertaken to root up out of man's heart his Natural inclinations non voule Iddio sveller dagli animi le innate inclinazioni l. 1. c. 25. Now corrupt Nature believes that there is a civil Politick humane felicity such as Aristotle and the Philosophers were acquainted with which consists not in the hopes of Eternal welfare which is supernatural but in the injoyment of Riches Honours and carnal pleasures corrupt Nature following this belief hath an inclination for this felicity God came not to root out inclinations so Natural To believe that the hope of Eternal welfare is the only felicity of this temporal life and to follow that faith is an heroik Vertue 'T is not God's design to make a general infusion of this Faith Ibid. and of this heroick Vertue in all Christians non vuole Iddio infunder universalmente una virtù eroica So that according to our Cardinal the Gifts and divine Virtues of the Holy Spirit are not heroical Vertues because they be common to all Christians who be in the state of grace and ought to be saved but Christians may be saved without this same Faith and heroical Vertue whereof he speaks We are no longer in the times of Heroes nor of their combats against Tyrants we are in a time of Peace and humane Vertue which is nourished by and finds its felicity in humane rewards In the time of persecution and of Heroes there were more Saints than in this present time of humane Virtue but on the other side there were fewer then that were saved On the contrary in these times there are more saved and fewer Saints because the Heroes times were times of Victories and of combats to get to Heaven l. 1. c. 25. but ours is a time of facility and easie Devotion Se questa con vittoria della difficoltà è più feconda di santi quella con l' acuto della facilità è più abondante disalvi Here now as 't is called is demonstration in Politick Religion After which no man may doubt that the Church hath not right to call men to the Faith through the hopes of Riches Honours Pleasures and all carnal and humane delights which are enjoyed in her Communion in this happy time of humane felicity Reason VII The People could not live without carnal felicity according as every one's gust requires to please his sense wherefore they will have Theatres and Stage-Plays vuole popolo i teatri they are set upon it obstinately to love this felicity it is necessary then to govern them according to this obstinate inclination of corrupt Nature Why should not the Church then bestow and allow them Stage-Plays and Sights and Theatres But to furnish People with these pleasures and to flatter their senses with these satisfactions the Prelates themselves must have Riches and Pleasures and in such great abundance that they may be able to give them out abroad in large measures for no body can give forth what he hath not The Zealous will say that this is to uphold Peoples errours who find in the pleasing of their senses a delight which they call felicity That the delight of the senses in this cannot without errour be called felicity nor be loved as such without sin and that 't is never permited to contribute to any sin how little soever it be under pretence to avoid a greater thereby che sia sempre illecito il fare mali And therefore that the Church cannot make use of those Pomps and Ceremonies which she reckons necessary to refresh the sences and procure attention which the Soul ought to have for divine things the right felicity of senses regenerate being to serve God according to and in the perfection of Christian regenerated Souls all other carnal felicity being false and all love of false felicity sin and an errour in the heart which the Church ought not to cherish under colour of avoiding greater thereby To this it is answered according to our Cardinal That the common Proverb among them which have Law business is that an Ounce of Fact is more worth to win your cause than many Pounds of Argument l. 6. c. 3. essendo commun ' proverbio che à vincer i liti più vale un ' oncia di fatto che molte libre di raggione and the fact is constant and apparent that the Church gives the People Theatres and Spectacles of Devotion l. 1. c. 25. to give them pleasure and a felicity humane sensual Devout confederando il piacer con la divozione She does it to cure the fondness which they have after other sensual and indevout delights wherein they might set up a false felicity to themselves Now this fact being notorious to what purpose all this reasoning
against fact It will be replyed again that the Church doth not pretend to cherish Peoples errours who would feign find their humane felicity in sensible delights that if in Church showes or sights the Ministers go into an excess and beyond that which is necessary to keep the People attentive upon God the Church is neither guilty nor answerable for those excesses she condemns them in her Canons l. 18. c. 6. s'interdisse ne ' suoni e ne ' canti qualunque mistura di lascivo e d' impuro and that she does not permit that kind of delight but in such degree where it may serve to keep the mind attentive to its Devotions Ibid. ove e il tenore del canto e il significato delle parole sia divoto e quella aiutie e non impedisca l' indtendiment di queste and in that degree which may be fitting to instil into hearts after a sweet manner sentiments of Piety Ibid. ed acconcio instrumento ad infunder per dolce modo negli animi i sensi della pietà But the Church in this did never pretend to serve the Peoples errour which of this delight create to themselves a carnal felicity All these zealous distinctions be speculative and discourses are to no purpose where there is visible and manifest experience sono indarno i discorsi dove l'esperienza è palese l. 8. c. 10. So that by these Reasons taken from the Practice of the World such as it is at this day and from right Policy it appears that the Church may invite unbelievers to the Faith and believers to the Clergyship for the sake and consideration of an humane felicity all of Riches Honours and delights according to the Flesh secondo la carne from whence it follows that Riches are absolutely necessary for the Church and poverty would be its ruine and destruction 'T is fitting to Observe here as a conclusion clearly drawn from the Seaven Reasons foregoing what advantage 't is to the Church that her Clergymen should possess all the Riches possible 't is much preferable even before the relief of the Poor l 9. c. 9. Che la prima e principal parte dell ' Ecclesiastiche entrate doverebbe applicarsi a' poveri e non a' Ministranti These be the Churches Enemies which broach this for the Cardinal maintains that if the chiefest and best Portion of Ecclesiastical Revenues were applied to relieve the Poor it would be a Custom directly opposite to the felicity of the Commonwealth to the institution of God and of Nature Ibid. ed io affermo che ciò sarebbe un costume dirimpetto contrario al felice Stato della republica ed à l'istituti di dio e della natura So that 't is upon this Principle that the other Reasons remaining behind shall be grounded Reasons VIII IX Poverty is shameful turpis egestas Now what 's shameful is contrary to the Veneration which the People ought to have for Prelates and which make the Basis of their Empire quella venerazione ch'è la base de loro imperio Ecclesiastical Revenues then ought to be imployed above all to enrich the Prelates and not others A man naturally abhors Poverty and the pains taking which accompanies it as necessary to get a livelyhood 'T is this same dread that makes men labour to the end they may shun poverty if then for all this same dreadfulness of poverty yet so many People of the poorer sort do still lye lazy what would they do when they saw that there was a setled bank for them in the Riches of the Church Che sarebbe quando vedessero una provisione abondate e sicura per tutti poveri Ibid. So that 't is better that this bank be applied for to inrich the Prelates than to succour the Poor's misery the Poor must be made to work to heap up in others that Nataural dread which they have of Poverty and pains-takings which accompanies it in tal maniera si mantien l'orrore verso la povertà come compagna dello stento Ibid. If a man reads Chapter the Ninth of the Ninth Book and Chapter the Ninth of the Sixteenth Book of the History of our Cardinal's Council he shall see by what the Cardinal speaks thereof poverty as also by what he hath already said that he talks after another manner than Mahomet The Cardinal approves the dread and shunning of poverty which he attributes to Nature whose inclination 's God will not quoth he destroy and the false prophet Mahomet in his Alchoran in the Chapter of the Cow say's the Devil will frighten you with poverty condemning the fear of poverty as a temptation of the Devil Thus the Policy of Mahomet is tyrannical and contrary to Nature but our Cardinals is Religious and all full of new lights Reason X. Poverty comes ordinarily from some one of these Five causes Lust Gluttony Crime Idleness or Misfortune but the Four first are the most ordinary so that of Ten Poor a man scarce finds one that did not become so through his own fault or his Ancestors sì che di ogni dieci poveri à fatica si trovera uno la cui povertà non sia proceduta ò da colpa di lui ò degli antenati l. 9. c. 9. So that pain being inseparable from sin makes this sin be as much feared as a man fears the inseparable pain thereof which in this Case is the sin it self even poverty though it be only out of Natural dread that a man hath of pains which must not therefore be separated from the sin nor must a bank be made for to relieve the Poor because they being Poor are therefore guilty sinners this would give boldness to men to sin by taking away dread of those miseries which accompany poverty which follows sin It 's better then to convert this bank unto the profit of the Prelates and to inrich them and make a voluptuous carnal and devout life for them Politick considerations upon that which is called fortune or misfortune This Maxime That all which we see come to pass among men is the effect of a just providence would cause if it were true a very great disorder in the Religious Politick Government Upon this Principle t' would be taken for granted that when a man is not Rich 't is a certain sign that he hath no vertue because a just providence could not leave a vertuous man without temporal reward nor without perferring him in the distribution of Riches Honours and Pleasures before those who have not so much Vertue and so it would come to pass that the perfection or lack of Vertue being thus openly marked by temporal felicity or misery every one would be ready to reason thus This man is Rich so then he is vertuous this man is Poor so then either he is not vertuous or else his Ancestors were not vertuous which would cover the face of the Poor with confusion and
commendabile operatione che possa fare la politica virtù 'T is true the worship of God is preferable before this Court if one came in competition with the other But after the worship of God the most worthy act of a Pope's zeal is the keeping up of his Monarchy which cannot subsist but by wealth nessun a cura toltane la propagazion del culto divino è più degna e zelante in un Papa che il mantenimento illoso die questa Monarchia and to make it appear with what zeal with what vigilance and what stoutness one ought to uphold it there is an example of it to be seen in the Person of Alexander Nuncio of Pope Leo X at the Diet of Worms Lo how he speaks I am ready quoth he to burn alive to defend the adorable Diadem of my Prince which they would take off from his head l. 1. c. 25. io mi confesso interessatissimo ed appassionatissimo nella causa dicui vi parlo nella quale si tratta di mantene l' adorato diadema in fronte al mio principe e per laquale io anche secondo il privato affetto mi lascierei arder vivo se meco insieme dovesse arder il mostro della nascente eresia Look ye here what the sentiments and the words of all Christians ought to be There remains no more but to make known the means that this Policy suggests to the Court of Rome for to uphold its stateliness its splendour and bravery and its carnal felicity for he that wills the end wills the means necessary to the end and on the other side not to love the means is to hate the end l. 8. c. 17. perche chi odia un fine odia specialmente que ' mezzi che sono più oportuni à tal fine For example one of the most efficacious meanes to keep up the splendour of the Clergy's Royal Ecclesiastical Court is the abundance of Benefices and not to be obliged to reside upon them in verità fra i mezzi per conservar lo splendore dell ' ordine clericale e d'una Reggia Ecclesiastica Ibid. un de' più efficaci è la copia di que ' beneficii i quali non obligano à residenza There 's no need then to wonder why all the World cries out against this plurality of Benefices 't is because they do not love the Roman Court whose splendour is the end for which these Benefices be instituted When one hates the end it is not possible one should love the meanes which do lead to it On the contrary all right Christians that love the Court Royal Universal of the Church would burn a live in defence of the means which she hath invented to uphold her self how contrary soever they seem to Antiquity or Canons of Council or the private interest of petty Bishops In fine to all which seems venerable to certain Zealous ignorants in Policy which is the Queen of moral vertues CHAP. V. Here are related the Twelve ordinary means inriching the Court of Rome and maintaining the splendor thereof according to the flesh which is the act of all Religious Policy the most pious and the most important The Twelfth and most efficacious of those means to teach every where the Gospel according to the Flesh and this Religious Policy according to the Doctrine of Aristotle to whom the Church is beholden for many Articles of Faith is to establish Colleges of Jesuites with power to set up the Inquisition and to be high Commissioners in that Holy Office to make out process against all them who shall differ from the sentiments of that Philosopher And that these Jesuites shall have a general grant of all Privileges granted to the other Monastical Orders although St. Bernard hath blamed those privileges for on the other hand they be approved by Nicholas Machiavel ARTICLE I. The first means of inriching the Court of of Rome are the Annates which be a sort of yearly Tythes or Pensions A curious distinction about Simony TWo things saith our Cardinal do make the soveraign Power of the Pope ardently desirable The great Wealth whereof he is Master and The great many means which he hath to oblige men l. 4. c. 9. due beni percui soli appar desider abile il principato dell ' oro dell ' obligo The Policy of the Roman Court to uphold it self in this possession uses the following means to inrich it self The first is the Annates or Yearly Pensions that the Clergy pay to the Pope but to judge well of the Justice by which they as well as the other means which follow are established 't is good we remember the Rule of Pope Paul IV who to guide his Wisdom had only but this viz. To use his Spiritual power in its full extent l. 14. c. 9. s' auvisò che tutta l'ampiezza dello spiritual suo potere fosse anche la misura di saggiamentte esercitarlo That is to say That all that a Pope does is done wisely whosoever hath but any insight into publike affairs quoth our Cardinal knows that the government of this is famous for having been the excellent Model of a rare Pontifical prudence l. 3. c. 17. chiunque ha tintura d' affari publici sà ch'il suo governo riman famoso per idea di pontificia prudenza So that the means to get Rich or Great which have no other Principle other Reason nor other measure but the all-Puissantness of the Pope be those which come the neerest to this excellent Idea of the Pontifical Government and curious fine and neat Policy l. 13. c. 10. fina prudenza The Annates or Yearly Pensions are one of these means found in this all-Puissantness so do they suffice without other Proof to make it appear that the Pope is the sole Patriarch of the West because all the Western Churches pay them and to him only l. 14. c. 9. anzi ricevendo di fatto il Papa da ' soli Occidentali bastarrebbe à giustificare eziandio il solo Patriarcato dell ' Occidente Besides the Pope hath right to receive Annates or yearly Pensions of all the Churches of Christendom as taken instead of Tenths or Tythes due by the Bishops and lesser Ecclesiasticks to the soveraign Pontife l. 4. c. 8. si riscuotono da ' beneficii di tutto la Christianità in luogo di decime dovute per sostentazione del somma sacerdote dagli altri minori Ecclesiastici For the soveraign Pontife for the good of Christendom ought to keep up his Court full of Nobility Il quale per bene del Christianesimo dée mantener le sua Corte di molti ufficiali Nobili besides so many other expences which he is obliged to make as hath been shewed It might seem Simony to give mony for the Bulls to a Benefice but the Pope does not receive Annates or yearly Pensions but only for a
Ideas which were good in the time of the Churches Infancy Intr. c. 6. nell ' infanzia della Chiesa They will say that these be worldly and humane considerations for Popes to act by il risguardo eziando dell ' interesse umano But is not the humane felicity of the Court of Rome of divine Institution and will not God have his Church governed according to humane inclinations This is all can be said for Plurality of Benefices for to look only upon the divine institution and setting aside humane interest this is a business able to confound Ecclesiastick Order to give to one alone the duties and functions which cannot be discharged but by diverse Ecclesiasticus ordo pervertitur Sess 24. c. 17. Sess 14. c. 9. Conc. Trid. Which made the Council condemn this plurality herein the Fathers of the Council are not quite to blame l. 23. c. 11. ne per tutto ciò si vogliono biasâ—mare i Padri Tridentini But this kind of Reasoning though Natural and Divine ought to give place according to Religious Policy to the interest of the humane felicity of the Court of Rome which can't subsist without this Plurality and the Church must be guided not according as God willeth but according as corrupt Nature desireth as it hath been shown Likewise the Fathers of the Council have declared that they do not mean to tie up the Popes hands and though they would have pretended to it 't is Policy that there should be an head in the Church that may dispence with Canons and even derogate from them as hath been shewed before and that there be a Head whose all-puissantness may be the Rule of Wisdom acccording to Paul the Fourth's Maxime whose Government was the Sampler of Pontifical prudence and who upon that account was chosen Pope by an unanimous Election which could never have come to pass if a Pope so Elected l. 3. c. 17. had not been of eminent Vertues il che non può conseguirsi senza un eminente virtù The sixth and seventh Means The calling back of greater Causes and the reservation of Cases Four Reasons make Popes to reserve certain Cases to themselves and to retain the greater Causes The First is ignorance of Bishops whether it be about regulation of the Conclave for the election of a Pope in very deed it was not left to the Council of Trent to deliberate thereof perche ne ' Vescovi non era veruna perizia di tal facenda l. 22. c. 7. because the Bishops were ignorant of those kind of matters or whether it be about Reformation of the Cardinals the Legats in Council found that business was a Gulph where the Bishops would have been lost having no skill in those affairs parue à Legati che ciò sarebbe stato eutrare in un nuovo e vasto pelago del quale Pochissimi de' Padri haveano perizia l. 23. c. 7. The Second Reason is That whatever skill the Bishops may have they are not refined for the practice of the Court of Rome as hath been seen here before The Third is That being Secular Princes Subjects they are liable to act out of fear hope or other humane Considerations as was observed The Fourth is to make the Sovereign Power of the Pope over Bishops be acknowledged from hence 't is that the Popes limit even the Bishops Power that in such certain Cases falling within their Dioceses they shall not proceed but they are referred to the Pope l. 12. c. 11. ed usano di limitar aneche à Vescovi la libertà di riserbare As to greater Causes they do not leave them to the Cognizance of Bishops being they are smaller Prelates to whom they only leave smaller Causes which would be too troublesom for Suiters to go to Rome about but of all that be of importance the Popes reserve to themselves the Cognizance because Justice cannot be better administred than by the Sovereign Power la giustizia non può universalmente procedere l. 23. c. 13. e con vigore e con sincerità se non dove sia tal preeminenza di stato nel superiore sopra à suddito che nel primo non possa cader nè timore nè competenza even so much as for nominating Parish Priests to Parishes the Bishops are bound to follow the Counsel of Examiners appointed or agreed on by a Synod of their Clergy l. 23. c. 13. as hath been shewn before The Eighth Means Frequent Jubilees and Indulgences The Council of Trent desires that the usage of Indulgences may be reformed by those ancient and rigorous rules made about that matter l. 24. c. 12. Che si tornasse all' antica severità But 't is not to be understood that one should quite return to that ancient severity non volle significare che vi si ritornasse in tutto l. 24. c. 12. but that herein one should use prudence according to time and places fin à quel segno che la condizione de tempi è de luoghi consiliava Ibid. which depends on the Pope's prudence that is to say That the account upon which the Pope grants it be such that the Pope in granting it commits no imprudence and yet that the reason therefore in it self appear little considerable As for Example When the Pope grants a full Indulgence to him that shall visit St. Peter's Church or stay to take the Pope's Blessing in a publick place the Cause in it self does not appear so great that it should merit Indulgence or a Pardon but in the same thing we must distinguish what that thing is in it self and what it is as to its End for to attend for Example the Pope's Blessing in a Publick place is not an Act that appears in it self important but yet 't is very much so when it is considered as to its end which is thereby to make publick profession of Belief of the Unity of the Church and the Worship which is due to the Sovereign Pontifice as Vicar of Jesus Christ l. 2. c. 4. far co'tali opere che sia una professione universale esibita da Christiani sopra l'unita della chiesa è sopra il culto che rendono al Romano Pontefice come Vicario di Christo So that to make profession of this Worship is an act that 's worth as much as all the ancient severity of Canonical Penances and this is the sense that one should understand the Council of Trent in when it desires that the ancient simplicity should be returned unto wherefore the least actions being capable to be thus exalted through their End though it were only to manifest the all-puissantness of the Pope it would bee rash if from the small Importance which is found in those actions one shoulld conclude therefrom a nullity in the grant of Indulgences saremo temerarii se della tenuita delle azioni conchiuderemo la nullità delle concessioni l. 2. c. 4.
whether in regard of faith or of government anzi l'esenzione de Capitoli se riconosceva per un gran freno in bocca à Vescovi di non prevaricare ò nella fede ò nel governo l. 23. c. 3. This makes the infinite difference to be seen between Episcopacy in the Pope and that which is by participation in the Bishops For I. The Pope is not subject to Ignorances nor heresies as the Bishops are II. He is not bound to follow the Counsel of his Cardinals because he is King of the Church and the Bishops are not Kings of their Chapters no more then of their Dioceses III. No body can be exempt from the Jurisdiction of the Pope and there 's no need they should as there 's need Prebendaries should be exempt from the jurisdiction of their Bishops that the Bishops may be thereby bridled and though there were no other reason for exemption of Chapters but to show the Popes Royal Sovereignty which is the foundation of the Church for it appears that it is a most puissant means to establish the Popes power and the gallantry and riches of the Roman Court. The eleventh Means Privileging the Monastical Orders One of the Principal advantages which comes to the Church by the exemption of the Regulars is maintaining the authority of the Apostolick See according to the institution of Jesus Christ and the general good of the Church l. 12. c. 13. jo non nego che un de profitti che arreca l'Ezenzione de Regolari degli Ordinarii sia il mantener l'autorità della sede Apostolica secundo l'istituzione di Christo e'l ben della chiesa Because we see that all Monarchical Government for the keeping up it self without suffering diminution had need to have in every Province some powerful Body of Subjects independant from those who be the ordinary and perpetual Superiours or Magistrates there ibid. veggendo noi che ogni governo Monarchico per conservarsi illeso hà bisogno d' haver in qualunque provincia qualche nervo prevalente de sudditi independenti da chi è quivi superiore immediato e perpetuo Yet as mens opinions be divers these priviledges to the Monastical Orders which make the force of the Church and the principal sinew of the Pope's Power did not quite please St. Bernard l. 8. c. 17. questa raggione però come son ' varie le opinioni degli huomini non sodisfece pienamente à San ' Bernardo because he feared that the desire of exemption came from some hidden sentiment of Pride l. 8. c. 17. il quale dubito che il desideriò d'esenzione dal proprio Vescovo potesse nascere da occulto Spirito superbia But on the other side Nicholas Machiavel remains agreed of the profitableness of these Exemptions and that t' was in them that the Prophecy was fulfilled which said that the Monks should uphold the Church of St. John of Lateran ready to fall that is to say the whole Church non in altro modo i predetti ordini sarebbon valuti à sostenar la crollante basilica di Laterano cioè la Chiesa Catolica profezia auvera ta per confessione dello stesso Nicolo Machiavelli Here 's then the advantage of the Politick conduct of every well-govern'd Monarchy to have certain persons in places distant from the Sovereign which have power without limits as for example the Romans gave it to their Generals ibid. percio che ad impresse grandi e in regioni lontane dal supremo richiedesi autorità illimitata ed independente quale usarone di dare i Romani à lor condottori All the religious Orders are every man as it were so many Generals of the Popes Army throughout the Earth and as so many Roman Chieftains who living above an humane life would not uphold such a Monarchy as the Pope's if it were tyrannical which makes it appear that this same Monarchical all-puissantness of the Pope is of Jesus Christ's institution But that wherein the religious Orders serves yet further to advance the splendour of the Court of Rome is that making profession of single Life they quit their paternal Estates to their brethren and Kinsfolk una utilità delle grandi che riceve la Republica per la felicità civile dell ' istituti Religiosi l. 4. c. 6. their kindred becoming rich by that means they become the Pillars of the Temple and the Columns of the Church l. 9. c. 9. l. 17. c. 9. che per altezza de sangue sono i Pilastri del tempio Il chiericato mantien la richezza e'l decoro delle stirpi e per conseguente la nobilità è gli spiriti d'onore One's piety makes t'other get a great Estate hence comes forth Abbeys which are afterwards put in Commendams and they become great Benefices whose revenues stream forth even to Rome to be digested in the stomach of St. Peter And thus it is that all the members of the Church serve to enrich the Court of Rome and to uphold its bravery thus it is that that Court is the Churches soul and its moving intelligence The twelfth Means The establishment of Colleges of Jesuits and of the Holy Inquisition It hath been seen that Policy is the prime and most excellent vertue of all the moral vertues because her Object is the happiness of the Common-wealth not onely according to the spirit but according to the flesh secondo la carne Now the corruption of the greatest Good produces the greatest Evil il pessimo esser suol una corruzione de l'ot timo l. 17. c. 2. l. 1. 13. It follows then that the greatest of all the Churches Evils is Ignorance of Policy It hath been seen that private Bishops doe not skill this excellent virtue because the excellent school where this Science is learned is the Roman Court where a man is refined in this virtue That 's the shop or workhouse where all the sleights of Policy are learnt and where cunning prudence may be gotten and subtlety of Wit sottile ingegno fina prudenza l 13. c. 10. The privy Counsellours of temporal Princes Courts are enough refined in temporal affaires but commonly they do not know what Religion is nor what is the onely Base which upholds it it and renders it immovable huomini di stato i quali spesso non ben intendono che cosa sia la Religione e qual sia l'unica Base che possa mantenerla non vacillante l. 16. c. 10. that is to say to speak fine and plain They do not know the mystery nor the Extent of the Pope's onely universal Monarchy whereof all Kings are subjects and all Catholick Kingdoms the demean lands with an all-puissantness to dispose of all things etiam sine causa as it hath been explained It was upon the principles of this Ignorance that the instructions of Monsr de Lansac the French Ambassadour at the Council of
altra certezza prossima ed immediata che l'autorità del Pontefice CHAP. VI. Here be related the Interests and different sentiments of the Catholick Christian Crowns and Republicks according as they are more less favourable to this same Religious Policy according to the flesh And t is made appear that there 's none more opposite then those of the Crown and of the Church of France which proposed no less at the Council of Trent then to throw down the Churches Monarchy and Empire and to take away the Splendour of the Court of Rome ARTICLE I. The Estates whose Politick Maxims are favourable or opposite to this same Roman Policy OF all the Parts of Europe which have remained in the Popes Communion there appears none more considerable then Italy Germany Spain and France To know which are the States whose Politick maximes are more or less favourable to the Roman Policy there needs no more but to represent the Interests and the Sentiments of these States which take up those parts of Europe ARTICLE II. The Italian Policy favours that of the Court of Rome ACcording to the Testimony of our Cardinal Lib. 21. Chapter 4. the Italian Bishop had no other end in the Council of Trent but the upholding and aggrandizing of the Apostolick See non mirava ad altro oggetto che al sostentamento ed alla grandezza della sede Apostolica and therein they thought they did the duty of good Christians and Italians at once e pero ch' essi in tal opera facesser ad un ora le parti di buoni Italiani edi buoni Christiani Because 't was the honour and the advantage of their Country to be the abode and ordinary residing Place of the King of Kings and of the Lord of all the Lords of the Earth ARTICLE III. The Spaniards are not favourable to the Cardinals nor other Officers of the Roman Court. THE Spanish Bishops being for the most part great Lords very considerable either for the great Extent of their Dioceses or by reason of their great revenues through their high birth and illustrious families or through their great learning hardly could endure the pre-eminence of the Cardinals and above all few of those Bishops could ever hope to arrive at that dignity and it was no lesse unsufferable to them to see themselves subjected so much as they are to the Pope's Officers and be Dependants of the Roman Tribunals wherefore they thought it would be exceeding good for the Church to bring back the Cardinals to their first rank and to restore those rights to the Bishops which they enjoyed anciently and for this purpose they had a mind to disable the Cardinals to possesse Bishopricks and oblige them to reside at Rome and rule the parishes whereof they are the Titulary Parsons or Priests and withall they would have taken away dispensations whereby persons or causes are exempted from the Bishops Jurisdiction and thereby make the Bishops in their Dioceses as so many Popes onde fossero à guisa di Papa nelle loco Diocesi which would have much diminished the splendour of the Roman Court and sapped the foundation of the Church ARTICLE IV. The Policy of France quite and clean opposite to the Roman Court. AS for the French Bishops they have less of jurisdiction because the Usages of that Kingdom look most at enlarging the temporal power and this also causes that they are less incommoded with the Roman Tribunals and don 't complaine so much of wrong that the Scarlet does to the Mitre but all their thoughts tend to set bounds unto the Pope's Monarchy according to the sentiments of the late Council of Basil approved by them l. 21. c. 4. erano rivolti à moderar la Monarchia del Pontefice secondo in sensi del moderno Concilio di Basilea da loco approvato Germany is so canton'd out that t is difficult to mark the point wherein those people may be said to accord some of them are of the Italian minde others of the Spanish others of the French As for the several Princes they are each of the several minde as his Bishop is i Principi almeno i loco politici chi più chi meno inclinavano à sodisfare i Prelati di lovo Natione because that the preferring of their Bishops who remaine still their Subjects gives them lesser jealousy then the Pope's grandeur and power They were brought over to this in the time of the Council of Trent by the abuses which they saw in the Roman Court. Christian Policy hath then its choice betwixt that of France and that of Spain which of the two may be the most favourable to the all-puissantnesse of the Pope to take that side and favour it carefully and stoutly l. 5. c. 16. con intrepidezza e con vigilanza now it is not very hard to see that the French Policy is lesse favourable to that of Rome then the Spanish which made Fryer Thomas Stella Bishop di Capo d'Istria a great creature of the Popes in the Council of Trent for to say that all mischief came out of the North l. 19. c. 9. ogni male dall ' Aquilone ARTICLE V. Wherein the Policy of France is not favourable to that of Rome THE First Article is that of a Council being above a Pope according to the Council of Basil which is a seditious opinion quoth our Cardinal sedizioza and overthrows absolutely the Pope's Monarchy sediziosa l. 6. c. 13. l. 19. c. 11. l. 16. c. 10. questione della maggioranza trà lui el Concilio i quali capi si riducevano à levar lo splendore e l imperio della Corte Romana 't is an erroneous opinion Erronea Pestiferous l. 9. c. 16. l. 6. c. 7. Ibid. Pestilente che non solo abatterebbe il trono pontificale mà disordinerebbe la Spiritual Hierarchia II. 'T is not the Doctrine of France that the Pope is King of Kings Lord of Lords So that the Crown-Lands of Kings should be his Inheritance III. 'T is not the Doctrine of France that the Pope is Infallible nor that he can make Articles of Faith unto which if Kings do not yield he may declare them Hereticks and give their States to the first occupant IV. 'T is not the Doctrine of France that 't is Treason to hinder Money from being carried to Rome V. 'T is not the Doctrine of France that Bishops hold their jurisdiction from the Pope l. 16. c. 10. questa sedizioza dottrina VI 'T is not the Doctrine of France that the Pope may dispence without cause or derogate from the Canons of Councils l. 19. c. 11. see mons de Marco Concord l. 3. c. 13. § 2. la qual tendeva ad abbatere la Monarchia che le costituzioni fatte dal Concilio non cadessero sotto dispensazioni But the better to know wherein the Doctrine of France and its Policy is opposite to that of Rome one need but to
honour a Queen which took off the Crown from her Head to lay it at Jesus Christ's Vicar's feet were not they Triumphs of Religion rather then Pomps and Vanities Thus then adorable Holy Father 't is with these praises of your Holiness that I mean to conclude my work which is a defence of the Faith and of the Holy See whereof your Holiness is the infallible Master and Supreme President essendo questa una diffesa di quella fede e di quella sede di cui elle è infallibil Maestro e supremo Precidente 'T is to uphold this Infallibility that the later Popes causing from all parts of the World the Holy Ghost to be brought to them in a Clokebag as formerly from Rome to the Council of Trent to the end nothing might be pronounced as it were blindly or in the dark l. 16. c. 10. per non sentenziare alla cieca have pronounced judgment against Jansenius and against Luther non hanno Sdegnato di procacciar l'esterna luce dello Spirito Sancto à se stessi per le valigie de' corrieri And for upholding this prerogative of infallibility I doe also pray God that after the Example of your Holinesses life He would make an extension and widening of this Spirit of religious and carnal Policy in the Soul of your Successours who may keep up perpetually upon the Holy See in their persons as in yours a living Book and a living Apology of the Soveraign Pontificat and of its rights such as this same Policy that 's the Queen of vertues hath fixed and so to be able if not to convert yet at least to confound all those who would be Rebells l. 24. c. ult Non cessero di pregar la divina bonia che nella simigliante distesa dal suo esempio ne ' successori tenga sempre nel Vaticano un libro vivo e una viva apologia del Pontificato la quale vaglia se non à convertire al meno à confondere i suoi ribelli These are the last words of our Cardinal's book which make it appear that he believed even unto the last that the Spirit of Saint Peter reigned in all the Conduct and Policy of Pope Alexander VII preghino Iddio che faccia vivere stabilmente com' oggi vive lo Spirito di san ' Pietro ne successori He hath assever'd it so strongly that he would not lye that he is by no means to be suspected not so much as of the least wilfull flattery From whence it remains then to be concluded that for to comprehend well according to him what was the Council of Trents Policy in all its orders made for reformation of manners and which Policy ought to be the Churches to be in her perfection Those which have seen with their eyes the Reign of Pope Alexander VII and the carriage of Cardinal Chigi his principal Nephew Legat à Latere in France have no more to doe but to call them to mind there they will see as in a living book all the rules of the carnal and religious Policy writ in letters of Gold that is to say in the characters of works and practice which are as saith the Cardinal moralities gold in comparison whereof words are but chaff l. 6. c. 7. le parole esser paglia i fetti esser oro In the life of this same Pope a man shall see a King all-puissant in his shop or office of Dispensations sopra la bottega dalle dispensazioni granting them as he pleased and even derogating from the Canons and it will be plain that in not observing or obeying the Council of Trent it was the more perfectly observed because that the all-puissantness of the Soveraign Pontife is set forth the better thereby which the Council allwaies adored A man sees that this way the Gospel of the flesh receives every day more and more propagation and growth by telling aloud abroad to the most imperfect this good news That they have an easy and certain means to be happy according to the flesh in this World and in t'other and that through the benefit of this new Gospel the Council of Trent hath done the Church more good then the Heresy of Luther hath diminished it or done it Mischief maggior accrescimento di bontà per mezzo del Concilio che non fù scemato dall ' istessa eresia This shall serve henceforward as the Cardinal promises for an invincible defence of the Catholick Religion against Hereticks Infidels or Atheists which shall be so rash as to write against it This will be henceforward an Apology without reply for the Council of Trent it self since the French and the Hereticks having first said that the Holy Ghost was carried thither from Rome in a Cloke-bag they have confessed by jeering that he presided there For after the subtility wherewith our Cardinal explains seriously this wicked raillery and makes a Scholastick interpretation thereof proving the assistance of the Holy Ghost at the Council one needs not be an Eagle to stare out the truth of it even a mole it self either may see it or smell it out non si richiede esser Aquila basta non esser talpa Herein also most manifestly appears the infinite usefulness of School divinity the incomparable fruit that our Cardinal hath gathered having been a Master so long therein as well as in Philosophy according to Aristotle's principles that the Heriticks cannot frame any conceit how ridiculous soever it be but that this Cardinal's Subtility meditating a little profoundly thereupon can give as serious and as surprising an interpretation thereof by force of his good sence and reasons far fetch 't as the hereticks thought to make use of to surprise simple folk with by their wicked raillerie So after two Tomes of his History of the Council of Trent in folio and the vast labour wherewith he composed the whole Body of carnal and religious Policy he concludes gravely in a confident tone that he which is not content with the government of the Church such as he hath told you it is and hath made it appear to be in the Carnal and Religious Policy of Alexander VII and his Nephew Cardinal Chigi and that is not content with the Spirit of St. Peter as it appeared in our days living in that Pope and in that his principal Nephew can be no other but a Fool or a Cheat chi per approvare una forma di Republica non si contenta di questo governo presente ò è insano ò è seductore FINIS