Works Done. Therefore these new Priests the Chietini because they say Mass slower and with greater gravity take no Hire but are content with their Meat and Cloathing and in the course of their lives carry a greater shew of goodness will restore Mass to its Primitive Authority and recover its Reputation You should likewise make it your business to get new Orders of Monks founded every-where for they believe us do great service in the establishment of your Dominion For you may consider how they have encreased it by the Confessions Preaching and Worship which they have brought into the Church Besides we are taught this by long experience that the Sect of the Lutherans has been less able to intrude it self there where there is the greatest numbers of Monks especially Dominicans and Franciscans who have ever stoutly maintained your and overthrown the Adversaries Doctrine Likewise give Orders to the Cardinals and Bishops who Reside as well as to the Priests and Monks that they institute new Fraternities as they call 'em in honour of this and that Saint For our Brother Thomas Stella or Todeschin boasts that he contributed much to the Establishment and Enlarging of your Empire by Preaching the people in many parts of Italy into a zeal for these Fraternities especially that of Corpus Christi Moreover let them make Supplications with the greatest show and pomp imaginable Let them cause new Statues and Images to be made burn Lamps and Candles before them and use all sorts of Instruments and Organs in their Temples these are the things I say with which the people are chiefly delighted and for whose sake they have almost forgot that Doctrine which was so destructive and pernicious to us Nor are these which we have mentioned the only things to be observed but the most Reverend the Cardinals and Bishops ought likewise to be mindful of this That they themselves sing Mass with the greatest Pomp and Magnificence they can possibly and also Consecrate Fonts Give Orders Purifie Churches Altars and Burying Places Christen Bells Veil Nuns in the Eyes of the people and in the sight of all the Congregation For the vulgar are given to admire and to be amused with these things in the Contemplation of which their minds are as it were so intangled in a snare that they have no relish for any other food or any inclination to any other Doctrine As indeed to say the truth they were designed for that purpose And really in our judgment these things should be augmented and multiplied for if the introducing and appointing those few which we have now mentioned were of such use to the settlement of your Kingdom of what advantage would it be were there some new ones added For example That threefold Oyl for the Crismes and for the sick is Consecrated every year upon Maunday Thursday and that by one Bishop together with Twelve Priests with that thrice Repeated Adoration and Salutation with those Exorcisms with those breathings upon it and with that rich Balm which is usual Let your Holiness appoint that the Consecration be not performed under five Salutations and Twenty Priests Command likewise that some other precious Liquor besides Balm such as Manna be added because we find it Rain'd that in the Wilderness which therefore deservedly ought to take place amongst our Ceremonies Likewise as often as the Water of Baptism is Consecrated it is customary to put Salt and Oyl into it and to dip the Paschal Taper thrice in it and to divide it into four parts Order that moreover they mingle some Vinegar with it for that was given Christ to drink on the Cross and therefore that ought to be of some use amongst the Ceremonies Also in the Dedication of Churches the Bishops are wont to draw all the Letters of the Latin and Greek Alphabet with their Crosier in the dust Command them to write the Hebrew Letters too if they know them though that does not signifie much for they do not understand Greek and hardly Latin and yet they can write it and 't is the same thing as if they knew them for the reason of Christs Crucifixon was written on the Cross in those Three Languages Latin Greek and Hebrew And whereas the Bishops only Anoint the Palms of the Priests Hands Order them to Anoint both the Palms and Backs of their Hands as well as their Head and whole Face For if that little Oyl has so much Virtue to sanctify them surely a greater quantity of Oyl will have more virtue for that purpose Lastly when Bells are Christen'd they make a Perfume of Frankincense and other Incense appoint that Musk and Amber be mixt with it to raise and increase the Religion of the thing and the wonder of the people Once more when any Bishop sets himself to officiate in any Divine Service with Pomp and Solemnity he ought to have many Ornaments to distinguish him from ordinary Priests such as to omit the rest the Bones and Reliques of some Dead Man which he usually wears at his Breast set in Gold in the Form of a Cross Do you command him to hang a whole naked Leg Arm or Head of some Saint about his Neck by a good thick Cord for that will contribute very much to the encrease of the Religions Astonishment of all that see it The truth is these Ceremonies were all invented and continued by Popes you therefore that are Pope may if you please augment them Nay rather indeed for that Purpose and Design which we mentioned ought to do it Besides we would advise that your Heliness should lay your Commands on those Cardinals and Bishops that happen to reside in their Diocess that they take care to have Logick Sophistry and the Art of the School-men Metaphisicks the Decretals Sextus the Clementines the Extravagants and the Rules of Chancery publickly Taught and Read in their Cities It had been well if Men had ever applyed themselves industriously to the Reading such sort of Books for then our Affairs had never been in so bad a posture as they are but despising this sort of Learning they began to employ themselves in learning Greek and Hebrew and in a little time to examine the Translation of the Bible by the true Original and to study Divinity and the Antient Fathers of the Church and hence sprung all the Misfortunes we lye under therefore you must endeavour that setting these Studies aside Men should again fall to the Study of the Schoolmen and of your Canon-Law by which 't is manifest the study of Divinity was in a manner overwhelm'd and buried But let your Holiness use caution in this For we mentioned before only the Decretals and Sextus and the Clementines and the Extravagants and not that which is called the Decretum which ought not to seem strange For 't is a pernicious Book and lessens your Authority extreamly although it seems in some places to enlarge it For amongst other things in several places it denies That the Pope can add
in his Church for the instruction of the inferiour Orders of the Clergy in good Learning and good Manners as the Law requires Another Abuse of a most grievous Nature is in the Collation of Ecclesiastical Benefices especially with Cure of Souls and above all of Bishopricks the manner having been that good Provision is made for those who have the Benefices but for the Flock of Christ and the Church none at all In bestowing therefore these Benefices with care and chiefly Bishopricks it is highly requisite that they be conferred upon good and learned men who are able by themselves to discharge the Duties belonging thereto and who withal are most likely to be resident for which reason a Benefice in Spain or Britain is not to be given to an Italian nor the like which Rule is to be observed both in Collations when a Vacancy happens by the Decease of the Incumbent and in Cessions too whereas now no regard is had to any thing else but the will and advantage of him that resigns We think therefore it would be very well if one or more honest men were appointed to govern this Business Another Abuse is when Benefices are conferred or resigned to others that Pensions are to be paid out of the Revenues nay and sometimes he that resigns reserves all the Profits to himself In which matter it is to be observed that Pensions ought not to be allotted upon any other account but as certain Alms which should go for pious uses and for the relief of the Poor For the Revenues are annexed to the Benefice as the Body to the Mind so that of their own nature they belong to him that has the Benefice that according to his Rank he may live honestly upon them and be able to bear the charge of Divine Service and to repair the Church and the Houses belonging to it and that he should spend what remains in pious uses For this is the natural employment of such Revenues But as in the Course of Nature some things are done otherwise then according to Common Rules and besides the Inclination of Universal Nature So as to the Pope who is the Universal Dispenser of Ecclesiastical Benefices if he sees that the Portion of the Priests which ought to be laid out in pious uses or some part thereof may be employed for some particular good uses that it would be most expedient it should be so he may without doubt provide accordingly He may therefore very lawfully set a Portion upon a Benefice for the relief of an indigent Person especially a Clergy-man that he may be able to live in some measure according to his Order But 't is a great Abuse that all the fruits should be reserved and that wholly taken away which is to serve for the maintenance of Divine Service and the support of the Incumbent and that Pensions should be given to rich Clergy-men who can live conveniently enough upon the Revenues which they have is surely a great Abuse also and both of them are to be removed There is another Abuse also in the changing of Benefices upon Contracts that are all of them Simonical and in which no regard is had to any thing but gain Another Abuse to be taken away altogether has prevailed in this Court by the knavery of certain persons that are shrewd in their way For whereas the Law provides that Benefices cannot be given away by Will because they are not the Testators but the Church's Fee and that the Church's Patrimony should be continued as a common provision in the behalf of all good men but never grow into a private Estate No little pains have been taken in which more of Worldly Wisdom than Christian Honesty is to be seen to find out divers tricks for the eluding of the Law. For Bishopricks and other Benefices are resigned first with a condition of resuming them to which is added a reservation to Collate the Benefices belonging to them with another reservation to Administer and Govern And so here comes to be a Bishop who has not so much as one Right of a Bishop while the other is no Bishop at all who claims all the Right belonging to one Your Holiness may see to what a pass things are brought by the flattery of making every thing lawful that is resolved to be done For we would fain know what this is but to make a private Inheritance of a Benefice Another cheat besides this is invented that Bishops upon their Petition have Co-adjutors granted to them not so well qualified as themselves so that unless a man be resolved to shut his Eyes he must needs see that the Co-adjutor is by this trick made Heir to the Bishoprick Again it is an ancient Law established by Clement that the Sons of Priests should not succeed their Fathers in their Benefices and this least the common Patrimony of the Church should become a private Estate But as we hear this venerable Law is dispensed with and we must not conceal what every prudent person will by himself discern to be a great truth that no one thing hath raised more of that Envy against the Clergy from whence so many Seditions have already happened and more are at hand than this turning of Ecclesiastical Profits and Revenues from being a common to a private thing All men had some hope before this but now they are reduced to despair and sharpen their Tongues against this holy See. It is another Abuse that Benefices are disposed in Reversion and occasion is given to the Expectant to desire another mans death and to be glad when he hears of it By which means also when a Vacancy happens they that deserve best are excluded besides the Law Suits that are hereby caused All this we think ought to be mended By the same craft a farther Abuse is introduced For whereas some Benefices are by Law Incompatible and are so called our Ancestours intending to admonish us by the signification of the word that they ought not to be confered upon one person this too is now dispensed with and not onely two but more of these Benefices and which is worst of all Bishopricks are enjoyed by the same man Which custom brought in by Covetuousness we think ought to be turned out again especially as to a plurality of Bishopricks What shall we say to the union of Benefices for a mans Life to avoid the incompatibility of them under this colour is not this a meer fraud upon the Law Another Abuse has prevailed that Bishopricks not one only but more are collated upon the most Reverend Cardinals or given them in Commendam which we most blessed Father believe to be no slight grievance in the Church of God in as much as first of all the Office of a Cardinal and that of a Bishop are incompatible in the same person For the Cardinals province is to assist your Holiness in the Government of the Catholic Church But that of a Bishop is to feed his Flock which
spreading any farther althô it has got too far already which in truth can never enough be lamented For 't is no trifle that is under debate but the safety and welfare of your whole State and of Us who are all your Creatures and Members is now at stake For in the days of the Apostles to tell you the truth but you must be silent and for several years after them there was no mention made of either Pope or Cardinal there were none of these large Revenues belonging to Bishops and Priests no sumptuous Temples were raised there were no Monasteries Priors or Abbots much less any of these Doctrines these Laws these Constitutions nor this Soveraignty which we now exercise over People and Nations But the Ministers of all Churches as well that of Rome as others were willingly obedient to Kings Princes and Governours Let your Holiness therefore judge how hard it would go with us if by ill Destiny we should again be reduced to the Primitive Poverty and Humility again subjected to the wretched Servitude of being under the Command of others This is therefore as we said before a matter of the highest moment Moreover this in our judgment is the onely way of avoiding this grievous danger We find upon full examination of the matter that the Glory Authority and Power of the Church first arose when shrewd discreet active Bishops began to preside over it who used their opportunities to obtain from the Emperours that they would by their Authority and Power Establish the Primacy and Supreme Power over other Churches in this See. And this Pope Boniface the 3d amongst others is said to have received from the Emperour Phocas We observed likewise that the Affairs of the Church began more and more to flourish every day when Cardinals were created the number of Bishops was encreased and so many and so goodly Orders of Monks and Nuns were first founded Nor can we doubt but those Popes Cardinals Bishops Monks and Nuns have by their Cunning their Inventions Rites and Ceremonies turn'd away the Church from that ancient Doctrine which kept her so poor and humble and have by these Arts procured her Favour and Authority We ought therefore to take the same measures to preserve her in that State to which they have raised her That is all kind of application and wit is to be imploy'd the number of Cardinals Bishops Monks and Nuns is to be encreased and to speak particularly your Holiness is in the first place to take this course France Italy and Spain notwithstanding the Lutherans boast that the greatest part of Europe is in their Interest are content with your Empire the last of which does most Religiously observe all your Laws and Constitutions does not change or innovate in any thing And as for that Nation you need not be sollicitous for you can find but few amongst the Spaniards who have not an abhorrence for the Doctrine of Luther But if there are any Hereticks amongst them they are such as rather deny that the Messiah is yet come or that mens Souls are immortal than question the Power of your Holiness But without doubt this Heresie of theirs seems to Us more sufferable than that of Luther and the reason is plain for these Marani thô they believe nothing of Christ or a future State are yet wont to hold their tongues or at most laugh amongst themselves and in the mean time are not at all wanting in their Duty to the Roman Church But the Lutherans do not behave themselves thus they openly dissent from Us and endeavour what they can to weaken and ruine our whole State. France and Italy seem plainly to affect Innovations and most of these Nations according to the Copy that Germany has set them are ready to lay hold on the next occasion to fall off from Us Moreover there are many eminent Cities in those two Provinces who have no Bishop of their own but are subject to the Bishops of the greater and most powerful Cities Now your Holiness should choose out about a hundred of these and create so many new Bishops to govern them Then add fifty more to the present number of Cardinals and out of all these Bishops I say and Cardinals as well old as new select thirty or forty of the most subtile and most versed in Courts and Business who are skilful in the Cannon and Civil Laws Keep these about your Person let these be your Counfellors and Ministers in your most weighty Affairs and private concerns And send all the rest as well those Bishops that are Cardinals as others into their respective Diocess and order them to entertain the People with Plays Shows and all manner of Diversions And let them present themselves to the People both in the Church and riding frequently about the City in as much pomp and splendor as they do at Rome So will it come to pass that the common People who admire these Pomps and Ceremonies and are wont to make much Money where there are many rich men will at last be brought over either by Courtesie or their own advantage to favour your side And we need not fear for the future what Luther Brentius Melancthon or that late Heretick Vergerius shall Write Oh! how much did it concern Us that he should not have escap't from Us but have here been either clapt into Prison or thrown into Tiber For he who was brought up in your publick and private Affairs is acquainted with a great deal of our concerns and of all our Councils But your Holiness has long hands and in your great Wisdom will find a Remedy for this Evil for it is and ever will be lawful to take all ways to free our selves from the Snares of our Enemies nor did we think fit to name those men but for a very good reason a word to the Wise Then let your Holiness take care that these Cardinals and Bishops that reside in their Diocess bestow Benefices on the Children of their Citizens for this is an admirable and ready way to keep their minds steady in the Faith. And we know many of your Subjects who would long ago have embraced Luther's Doctrine but for this one reason that either they themselves or their Brothers or their Sons enjoyed some Ecclesiastical Preferment Nor would it be amiss to send a great many of those Priests that they call Chietini and Paulini into France and Italy For to say the truth these common Priests and Monks do really abuse the Mass too much which they say with little or no Devotion chopping it up in haste and making a publick Sale of it Besides they live such dissolute profligate lives that men deservedly give no longer credit to them nor suffer themselves to be perswaded though our Sophisters take great pains about it that a wicked debauched Fellow can draw Christ out of Heaven to the Altar free Souls from Purgatory and obtain Forgiveness of Sins both to themselves and others and all this by the
the least Title to that Doctrine which our Saviour delivered to us and the Apostles taught for thus says the Canon Transferat c. 24. q. 3. They change Truth into a Lye who Preach any other thing then what they received from the Apostles This is a down-right Lutheran Maxim for what else do our Adversaries daily inculcate Then that it is not lawful to depart in the least degree from those things that were in use amongst the Apostles But who of us doth not every day often depart from them Indeed in our Churches we scarce retain as we hinted at the beginning the least shadow of that Doctrine and Discipline which flourisht in the times of the Apostles but have brought in quite another of our own Nay we are expresly called Lyars by that Decretum inasmuch as we have done this yet we have done it by the Advise and Instructions of Popes nay by their peremptory Order and Command But we wish there were not so many Canons as there are of this kind that enjoyn things directly contrary to what the Popes and all of us do every day we speak of Matters of Faith and Doctrine not of Manners Take one or two of them for instance Thus says the Canon that begins Contra 25. q. 1. Nothing can be establisht contrary to the Constitutions of the Fathers nor any thing alter'd no not by the Authority of this See. And then another Canon that begins Ideo c. says Thus by the Divine permission we are so made Pastors of Men that we ought not in the least to transgress what ever our Fathers in their Sacred Canons or Civil Laws have appointed for we go against their most wholsome Institutions if we do not keep inviolably what they according to Divine Pleasure have ordained Do not Pope Zosimus and Leo the Third nay and the whole Roman Church plainly here declare aloud that the Authority of this See can do nothing against the Canons against the Law and against the Ordinances of the antient Fathers which ought to be Religiously observed How therefore shall we answer our Adversaries when they press and urge us with this and turn that of the fifth Psalm upon us There is no certainty in their Mouth for they accuse us of lightness and inconstancy who have such express Canons which forbid the Popes to alter the Decrees of the Fathers or to do any thing contrary to them and notwithstanding all this thereis nothing more frequent than the presumption of altering what has been Established by the Antient Fathers and Councils How I say shall we answer this especially since the Book of Decrees is so celebrated and famous and is in all Schools Courts of Judicature and Churches held in the greatest Honour and Esteem And besides those few which we have given you a tast of it contains a great many others that favour the Cause of our Adversaries and favour it in such a manner that they seem to have been pen'd by some of them Moreover we shall consider of some course to be taken with these Decrees for it seems very absurd that any thing should be taught which is contrary to what your Holiness does not only do but commands to be done But we have reserved the most considerable Advice which we could at this time give your Holiness to the last And here you must be awake and exert all your force to hinder as much as you can possibly the Gospel from being read especially in the vulgar Tongue in all the Cities that are under your Dominion Let that little of it which they have in the Mass serve their turn nor suffer any Mortal to read any thing more for as long as Men were contented with that little things went to your mind but grew worse and worse from that time that they commonly read more This in short is the Book that has beyond all others raised those Storms and Tempests in which we are almost driven to destruction And really who ever shall diligently weigh the Scripture and then consider all the things that are usually done in our Churches will find there is great difference betwixt them and that this Doctrine of ours is very unlike and in many things quite repugnant to it And no sooner does any man discover this being set on by some of our Learned Adversaries but he never ceases bawling against us till he has made the whole Matter publick and rendred us odious to all Men. Therefore those Papers are to be stisled but you must use caution and diligence in it least that create us greater disturbance * Author of e Poâ—n Dâ—ll urâ—o D. John Della Casa Archbishop of Beneventum the Legate of your See at Venice behaved himself handsomly in that business for although he did not openly and avowedly condemn that Book of the Gospel or order it to be suppress'd yet in an obscure dissembling manner he insinuated as much whilst in that long Catalogue of Hereticks which he put out he has found fault with part of the Doctrines maintained in it particularly some certain Chapters which seem most to make against us Seriously a renowned Divine Action what ever others chatter for at first blush it seem'd ridiculous to many that he should condemn so many Authors at once who writ about Religion when himself had never read so much as one syllable of Divinity and Publisht I know not what to which he gave this Title Of the Divine Art. But this is nothing and they who censure this in him have little business of their own to employ them and shew themselves to be great Novices in the Court of Rome For he as he is a true and eminent Courtier spake freely what was his Opinion which we think makes much for his credit It now remains Most Holy Father That we should in short make a Reply to what may perhaps be objected by you that having done this we may finish our Epistle Your Holiness therefore perhaps may say If it is at this time so dangerous a thing to hold a Council of these Bishops thô few in number least some of them should dare to raise a clamour and be severe against my Dignity to undermine it How much more dangerous would it be if besides these therewere a hundred others Created We shall offer three things in answer to this First Look as you generally do that those Bishops who are to be created be ignorant and unlearned but very skilful in the Affairs of Court and addicted to the interest of your Family for that alone will suffice Then avoid a Council as much as you can thô Caesar be very urgent clamorous and importunate Lastly If onely to save your fame and reputation you desire or would seem to desire a Council you may reassemble that But as has been hitherto let there onely be admitted who you are certain will go on your side and let the others be kept out and driven away But of all things be most careful that