cited by the Pseudo-Catholicks as good Records After these an Epistle of Athanasius and the Bishops of Egypt to Liberius the oppression of the Church by the Arrians being the pretended Theme but its real design is to magnifie the Popes Chair Liberius his Answer Ejusdem 〈◊〉 A lofty Brag like the residue An Epistle of the Bishops of Egypt to Pope Felix concerning the cruel Persecutions of the Arrians An humble Address and very Supplicatory Though Felix was an Arrian himself and an Usurper of the Chair thrust in by an Arrian Emperour while Liberius the true owner of it was banished for the Faith yet the stile of the Epistle runneth thus Domino beatissimo c. To our most blessed and most honourable Lord the Holy Father Faelix Pope of the Apostolical City Athanasius and all the Bishops of Egypt Thebais and Lybia by the Grace of God assembled in the Holy Council of Alexandria A stile too too lofty for those purer times of humble simplicity The usual Compellations of those days as may be seen by S. Cyprian's Letters to the Bishops of Rome and some other good Records being far more short and samiliar such as Julio Vrbis Romae Episcopo or Stephano fratri or Cornelio Collegae Coepiscopo that is to Julius Bishop of the City of Rome or to Stephen my Brother or to Cornelius my Associate and Fellow bishop Nor can we find any other in undoubted instruments for the first 300 or 400 years But for an Vsurper to be called Most blessed and honourable Lord an Heretick Holy Father and Pope of the Apostolical City and that by a man who had rather die than be guilty of such a Flattery was little suitable to the Spirit of Athanasius that Great and Couragious Champion of the Church being as God would have it one that of all others was the most mortal hater of the Arrians Isidore and Merlin dote so exceedingly as to make this Usurper a Pope and to record his Decrees as lawful Canons After a little time Liberius was restored but on very base and dishonourable terms as Bellarmine himself testifieth out of S. Hierom and Athanasius He fainted in his Persecution and was restored by an Arrian Emperour upon his Subscription to the Heretical Pravity After this he writeth more Decretals and the Title of his Epistle is in Isidore thus Epistola Liberii Papae ut nullus pro Persecutionibus dum dur are potestatem suam relinquat Ecclesiam It is Nonsense and false Latine but Binius about a thousand and three hundred years after Liberius his death mendeth it thus Epistola XII Liberii Papae ad omnes generaliter Episcopos ut nullus pro persecutionibus dum durare potest suam relinquat Ecclesiam That no man should forsake his Church for persecution sake while he was able to bear it By the Title it should be a compassionate Letter For if any one be wearied with persecution as Liberius was by a tacit intimation it seemeth to permit him to renounce the Faith as Liberius did for Bellarmine and Platina consent to this that he subscribed to the Arrian Creed only the one saith he did it in the external act through fear and the other Sentiens that he thought or consented with them in all Platin. in vit Liberii Damasus his Epistle to Paulinus Bishop of Antioch follows I fear an Imposture Isidore and Merlin were not aware there was no such man Their Followers are fain to mend it thus Paulinus Bishop of Thessalonida As Binius Labbe c. In vitâ Damasi Next the Epistle of Damasus to Hierom and Hierom's Answer both confessed to be a Forgery there is an Epistle of Stephen the Archbishop and of three Councils in Africa to Damasus the Pope concerning the priviledge of the Roman Chair Doubtless the Bishops in Africa were very zealous for the priviledge of the Roman Chair ever since the Oppression and Cheat of Zozimus The Title is somewhat suspitious Beatissimo Damino Apostolico Culmini sublato c. Stephanus Archiepiscopus Concilii Mauritanii c. In English thus To our most blessed Lord and the Apostolical Top highly lifted up the Holy Father of Fathers and the Supreme Bishop over all Prelates Stephen Archbishop of the Council of Mauritania and all the Bishops of the three Councils in the Province of Africa Many men have stiled themselves Archbishops of Provinces but no man as I remember Archbishop of a Council There may be Archbishops in a Council but not an Archbishop of the Council Three Councils at once in the same Province were never heard of One and the same Letter sent from three Councils is a strange thing So is a Letter sent in the name of one Archbishop as President of three Councils at a time After this we have 6 Epistles of Siricius 2 of Anastasius 19 of Innocent 2 of Zozimus 3 of Boniface with feveral Answers Among which there is inserted a Constitution of Honorius the Emperour sent to Boniface That if there were two Bishops of Rome made any more they should be both driven out of the City Which shews how subject the Roman Chair is to Schismes and the Power that did of old belong to the Emperour There are other Epistles of Celestine Sixtus Leo Hilarius Simplicius Felix Gelasius Anastasias Symmachus Hormisda c. the most of which do much exceed our compass of the first 400 years and are too late for our Cognizance For since the Forgery of Zozimus much credit is not to be given to the Roman Bishops Not as if one mans fault had blasted them all but he leads up the Van of Forgets and they have all persisted in his Guilt no one of them making acknowledgment or restitution and almost all of them guilty of the like either by doing or suffering Among the rest there is an Instrument which the Collector calleth Sacra Justini Imperatoris ad Hormisdam Papam The Sacred Writing of the Emperour Justinus to Hormisda Pope But the word POPE is not in the superscription The Letter it self is To the most Holy and blessed Archbishop and Patriarch of the Venerable City of Rome Hormisda Archbishop and Fatriarch we allow him but not that Typhus wherewith the Fathers in the sixth Council of Carthage charge Zozimus that blasphemous Title which John assumed at Constantinople and S. Gregory so declaimed against at Rome This Letter of Justin the Emperour was written more than 500 years after our Saviours Birth yet I never saw true Record in all that time give a Title so high to the Bishop of Rome But Justin was a man of low Descent a Swineherd at first a Carpenter afterwards then a Souldier of Fortune and at last an Emperour He was the more solicitous therefore to complement so Mighty a Bishop with accurate expression Note well Isidore has suppressed all the Canons of the sixth Council of Carthage as too bitter and sharp for the Popes Constitution And so has Merlin though very
and the Establishment of the Christian Faith be ordained When Binius pleases to give Efficacy to a Miracle all the World shall be converted in a moment Notwithstanding all the Miracles and Victories before Constantine was fain to counterfeit himself an Heathen for fear of the people Now all his Nobles and the Senate are changed in an instant and his Leprosie upon Earth has done more than his Cross in the Heavens So easie it is to blow mens minds with a Breath when they are dead and gone His Princes also and the whole people subject to the Empire of the Roman Glory judged it prositable together with him and his Nobles to do that which they abhorred before to give to Banished Sylvester and his Heirs the Glory of the Roman Empire As it that one Miracle had in a trice for Virtue out-gone all our Saviours The last Clause contains something more than the Emperour had power to bestow That a Lay-man should by Deed of Gift devise and give away the power of determining all Controversies in Religion to whom he fancieth may be put among the Popes Extravagants as some of their Decrees are called yet with Constantinople a City yet unmade this also is given to the Pope in the present Donation But upon good reason For it is just that the Holy Law should retain the Head of Principality there where our Saviour the Instituter of Holy Laws commanded the B. Peter to undertake the Chair of his Apostleship A merrier accident follows he bequeaths his Goods to the Dead It is true indeed he was allied to them for he was dead when the Deed was made as well as they S Peter's Trustees having the management of his Pen knew very well that whatever he gave to his most blessed Lords Peter and Paul since dead men never want Heirs would fall to their share and like our late Long Parliament conspired to give large Boons to themselves in form following WE Exhort and admonish all that with us they would pay abundant thanks to our God and Saviour Jesus Christ because being God in Heaven above and in Earth beneath he hath visited us by his H. Apostles and made us worthy to receive the H. Sacrament of Baptisme and the health of our Body FOR WHICH we grant to the H. Apostles themselves my most Blessed Lords Peter and Paul and by them also to B. Sylvester our Father the chief Bishop and Pope of our Universal City of Rome and to all Bishops his Successors that shall ever sit in the Chair of B. Peter to the end of the World Our Diadem to wit the Crown of our 〈◊〉 together with our Mitre as also 〈◊〉 Cloak on our Shoulders viz 〈◊〉 Breast-plate which is wont to compass our Imperial Neck as also our Purple Clamys and Violet Cloak and all the Imperial Attires The Dignity moreover of our Imperial Horsemen Giving him also the Imperial Scepters with all other Signs Badges Banners and other Imperial Ornaments with the whole manner of the Procession of our Imperial Highness and the Glory of our Power WE Decree also and Ordain to the most Reverend Clergy-men serving that H. Roman Church in their divers Orders the Height in Singularity Power and Excellency with the Glory whereof our most ample Senate 〈◊〉 to be adored that is that they shall be made Patricii and Consuls As also we promulgate it for a Law that they be beautified with the other Imperial Dignities AND as the Imperial Army is adorned so do we Decree the Clergy of the Roman Church to be adorned And as the Imperial Power is adorned with divers Offices as that of Chamberlains Porters and all Guards so we will have the Roman Church to be adorned AND that the Pontifical Glory may shine most amply we Decree this also That the Horses of the Clergy of the said Roman Church be beautified with Caparisons and Linnen Vestures of the whitest colour and so to ride And as our Senate useth Shoes cum Vdonibus made bright and illustrious with fine white Linnen so let the Clergy also do And let the Heavenly as the Earthly things are be made comely to the praise of God BUT above all we give License to our most H. Father Sylvester Bishop and Pope of the City of Rome himself and to all that shall succeed him for ever for the Honour and Glory of Christ our God in the same Great Catholick and Apostolick Church of God by our Edict Vt quem placatus proprio Consilio clericali voluerit in numero 〈◊〉 Clericorum connumerare nullum ex omnibus praesumentum superbè agere Binius for Clericali will have it Clericare which he puts over against it in the Margin Here are more Barbarismes than one but I think the drift is that no man but he whom the Bishop of Rome pleaseth shall be made a Priest and that no man so made shall behave himself proudly against the Bishop of Rome WE have Decreed this also That the same Venerable Sylvester our Father the High-Priest and all his Successors ought to use the Diadem to wit the Crown which we gave him from off our Head of pure Gold and Precious Stones and to wear it on his Head to the praise of God and honour of S. Peter * BVT because the most Holy Pope himself will not endure a Crown altogether of Gold on the Crown of his Priesthood which he bears to the Glory of the B. Peter we have with our own hands put the Mitre of Resplendent White signifying the most Glorious Resurrection of our Lord on his Head * And holding the Bridle of his Horse for the Reverence we owe to S. Peter we served him in the Office of a Stirrup-holder Ordaining that all his Successors shall in single and peculiar manner use the same Mitre in their Processons in imitation of our Empire The Popes Modesty comes off purely Because he would not have his Shaven Crown profaned with a Crown of Gold therefore the Emperour must give him the Mitre too because it was unlawful for him to wear the one without the other that is his Conscience made a seruple at the one unless he might have both being so made exactly like the Heatheu Monarchs at Rome Pontifex Maximus and Emperour together The Regalities were affected not for themselves Alas Ornaments are but shadows the Body and Substance is the thing desired WHEREFORE that the Pontifical Crown may never wax vile but he more exalted also than the Dignity of the Terrene Empire and the Glory of Power Behold we give and leave as well our Palace as was before said as the City of Rome all Italy and all the Provinces places and Cities of the Western Empire to our 〈◊〉 most B. High Priest and Universal Pope and to the Power and Tenure of the Popes his Suc cessors by firm Imperial Censure Per haue Divalem Pragmaticum Constitutum By this our Divine and
of the French Nation He tells us that the Legates of Pope Leo in the year 45 in the midst of the Council of Chalcedon where were assembled 600 Bishops the very Flower and choice of the whole Clergy had the confidence to alledge the sixth Canon of the Council of Nice in these very words That the Church of Rome hath always had the Primacy Words which are no more found in any Greek Copies of the Councils than are those other pretended Canons of Pope Zozimus Neither do they yet appear in any Greek or Latine Copies nor so much as in the Edition if Dionysius Exiguus who lived about 50 years after this Council Whereupon he breaketh out into this Exclamation When I consider that the Legates of so holy a Pope would at that time have fastned such a Wen upon the body of so Venerable a Canon I am almost ready to think that we scarcely have any thing of Antiquity left us that is entire and uncorrupt except it be in matters of indifferency or which could not have been corrupted but with much noise c. He further tells us in the place before-mentioned That whereas the Greek Code Num. 206. sets before us in the XXVIII Canon of the General Council of Chalcedon a Decree of those Fathers by which conformably to the first Council of Constantinople they ordained that seeing the City of Constantinople was the Seat of the Senate and of the Empire and enjoyed the same Priviledges with the City of Rome that therefore it should in like manner be advanced to the same Height and Greatness in Ecclesiastical Affairs being the second Church in Order after Rome and that the Bishop should have the Ordaining of Metropolitans in the three Diocesses of Pontus Asia and Thrace Which Canon is found both in Balsamon and Zonoras and also hath the Testimony of the greatest part of the Ecclesiastical Historians both Greek and Latine that it is a Legitimate Canon of the Council of Chalcedon in the Acts of which Council at this day also extant it is set down at large Yet notwithstanding in the collection of Dionysius Exiguus it appears not at all no more than as if there had never been any such thing thought of at Chalcedon He hath other marks of Dionysius Exiguus which sufficiently brand him for a Slave to the Chair but omitted here as out of our Circuit However I think it meet to lay down the Canon as I find it lying in the Code of the Universal Church CCVI. Altogether following the Decrees of the H. Fathers and the Canon of those 150 Bishops most beloved of God which was lately read which met under the Great Theodosius the Pious Emperour in his Royal City of Constantinople called New Rome we also define and decree the same concerning the Priviledges of that most H. Church of Constantinople that is New Rome For the Fathers justly gave priviledges to the See of Elder Rome Quod urbs illa imperaret because that City was the Seat of the Empire And the 150 Bishops most beloved of God being moved with the same consideration gave equal Priviledges to the most holy See of New Rome rightly judging that the City which is honoured with the Empire and the Senate and enjoys equal priviledges with the Royal Elder Rome ought in Ecclesiastical Affairs also no otherwise then it to be extolled and magnified being the second after it c. Upon this advantage the Patriarch of Constantinople advanced himself above the other Patriarchs and his See being made equal to the See of Rome by the Authority of the Church upon the Interest he had in the Empire then setled in Greece he arrogated the Title of Vniversal Bishop Which Gregory then Bishop of Rome so highly stomacked that he thundered out Letters against him calling the Title a proud and prophane nay a blasphemous Title denying that either himself or any of his Predecessors had ever used it and plainly affirming that whosoever used that Title was the forerunner of Antichrist And to this purpose in the 34. Epistle of his fourth Book he asketh What else can be signified by this pride but that the times of Antichrist are drawing near For he imitates him says he who despising the Fellowship of the Angels in their common joy endeavoured to break up to the Top of Singularity This he spake against John of Constantinople because he brake the Order of the Patriarchs and despised the Equality of his Fellow-Bishops Now whether it does not hit his own Predecessors Zozimus and Boniface and Celestine and Leo I leave to the judgment of the Reader They were not contented with an Equality in Power but aspired and that some of them by the most odious way that of Lying and Forgery as well as Pride and Ambition to the top of Singularity Whether this Zeal of Gregory was according to knowledge that is whether it proceeded from integrity or self interest I shall not determine All that I observe is this which followeth when the Tyde turned and the Emperour next sided with the Bishop of Rome the very next Successor of Gregory but one took up the Title a little before condemned for blasphemous which is claimed by the Roman Bishops to this day The Emperour sided with the Roman Bishop because the Roman Bishop sided with him For when Phocas had murdered his Master the good old Emperour Mauricius and usurped the Throne in his stead the Title of Vniversal Bishop was given to the Patriarch of Rome by this Bloody Tyrant to secure his own which had so great a Flaw in it and needed the assistance of some powerful Agent Hereupon a Council was called at Rome by Boniface 3. wherein the priviledge of the Emperour Phocas was promulged and the Bishop of Romo made a POPE upon the encouragement of the Tyrant by the consent of the Council but his own viz. a Roman Council Thus Boniface and Phocas were great Friends The Imperial and Triple Crown were barter'd between them Connivance and Commerce soiling them both with the guilt of Murder Simony Treason and if S. Gregory may be believed with Sacriledge and Blasphemy For being involved in a mutual Conspiracy they became guilty of each others crimes to partake with Adulterers and comply with Offenders being imputed as sin in the H. Scriptures Platina an Eminent Writer of the Lives of the Popes and a Papist himself informeth us sufficiently of this business in these words Boniface 111. saith he a Roman by Birth obtained of the Emperour Phocas but with great contention that the Seat of blessed Peter the Apostle which is the Head of all the Churches should be so called and so accounted of all which place the Church of Constantinople endeavoured to vindicate to it self evil Princes sometimes favouring it and affirming the first see to be due to the place where the Head of the Empire was In the Life of Zozimus the first Episcopal Forger in the Church of Rome Platina
two years c. And reprehends the Pontificals Confusion which I shall not 〈◊〉 to mention having greater matters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his time Constantine the first Christian Emperour arose Concerning whom the Pontifical is silent in the time of Melchiades having need of him in that of 〈◊〉 but Binius gives us this little Abstract of his History here After an Interval of seven days Octob. 3. 〈◊〉 Christ. 311. in the third year of the Emperour 〈◊〉 Melchiades began to sit In his time six moneths from the return of Peace to the Church being searcely past 〈◊〉 in the East being Emperour with Licinius stirred up a most grievous Persecution against the Christians whom he called the Firebrands and the Authors of all the Evils in the World Euseb l. 9. c. 6. Maxentius in the West oppressed the Empire with a grievous 〈◊〉 But Constantine his Fellow Emperour that Reigned with him in the West as Licinius Reigned with Maximinus in the East being stirred up partly by injuries and partly by the prayers of the Romans resolved to suppress the Tyrant When therefore he designed the War he despised the Aids of the Heathen Gods and determined in himself to implore only the Creator of Heaven and Earth whom his Father Constantius adored It happened therefore that while he was praying for Prosperity he saw at Mid-day the Sign of the Cross made with Beams of Light appearing in the Heavens in which these words were manifestly contained IN HOC VINCE The Explication whereof when he had learned from our Lord Jesus Christ appearing to him in his sleep and from his Priests he undertakes the War against Maxentius and happily conquers him Which Victory being gloriouly gotten in acknowledgment that it came from that One Invisible and Immortal God he erected a Trophy of the Cross in the midst of the City with this Famous Motto HOC 〈◊〉 ARI SIGNO VERO FORTITUDINIS INDICIO CIVITATEM VESTRAM TYRANNIDIS JUGO LIBERAVI Under this Saving Sign the true Mark of Fortitude I freed your City from the Yoke of Tyranny And as a man fest Token of his Liberality and Piety he gave to Melchiades the Publick House in the Lateran which heretofore was the Palace of Fausta the Empress Opt. Mil. He restored the Goods of the Church gave great Priviledges and Immunities to the Clergy and made a Decree that they should be maintained at the Publick Charge In the latter end of this first Tome Binius has a long Record of Gelasius Cyzicenus in fair Greek and Latine who being a very Ancient Author confirms all these things shewing the madness of Maximinus and his destiuction the building of Churches the evil manners of Licinius the Victory which the Religious Emperour obtained against that Wicked man the Peace of the Churches after Licinius his Death and the several ways whereby the good Emperour promoted the Christian Affairs Yet as if all this were a Dream the Scene is immediately overthrewn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tyraat a Murderer an Oppressor a Persecuter of the Church and smitten with Leprosie from Heaven namely for his great abominations Licinius is innocent and unjustly slain but Constantine is made the Destroyer of peace For in the Life of Sylvester the next Bishop after Melchiades the Pontifical saith he was banished into the Mountain Soracte Upon which words Binius further saith that Sylvester searing the cruelty of the Emperour fled from the City as his own Acts and Zozimus and Sozomen do probably shew As for Sylvesters Acts so simply and freely cited here meerly to cheat the Reader he afterwards confesseth them to be a Forgerie And as for Zozimus and Sozomen those Words Do probably shew shew Binius to be a Sophister He would fain have father'd the Story upon Zozimus and Sozomen but his Courage sailed him for they speak not expresly but Probably shew that is in his conceit they give him colour enough to side with a Cheat a Forger a Lyar a notorious Counterfeit Damasus against all the true Antiquities and Histories in the World The positive Relation of Eusebius Pamphilus an holy Father in the Niceue Council that lived in those times the Records of Gelasius Cyzicenus that ancient Author and Nicolinus the late Compiler of the Councils that commend Eusebius as the most faithful witness among Ecclestastical Writers being palpably contradicted while Zozimus the Heathen is favoured in some dark expression wherein his Envy tempted him to carp at the Emperour because he was next under God the Author of so much Peace and Felicity amongst the Christians As for Sozomen he was a Christian indeed but too late an Authot to contend with Eusebius and Gelasius 〈◊〉 Neither does Binius say he positively avers any such thing but probably shews either a 〈◊〉 or a Fernbush Some frailty perhaps which proves Consiantine a Man but Binius should have produced clear Testimonies as sound and authentick as the former if he meant to swim against all Antiquity in disgracing so glorious an Emperour positively affirming him to be guilty of Murder and Paricide Apostacy and Idolatry Persecution c. Binius acteth his part too far for is as he saith Constantine counterfeited himself to be an Heathen only to satisfic the People his great munificence and kindness to the Christians having imbittered the Multitude so far that it almost brake out into a Rebellion for the appeasing of the Sedition therefore he dissembled his Religion upon Temporal Considerations for which God was provoked Certainly he could never hope to be cured of his 〈◊〉 by going in earnest to the Heathen Priests and their Idols as Binius pretendeth when he was so deeply humbled and in danger of Destruction But this whole pretence is overthrown and the Genius of the Man more clearly 〈◊〉 in the passage following In 〈◊〉 Life of Marcellus with which we began the Chapter and which was some years before this pretended necessity he telleth us that Maxentius who studied to possess himself of the Tyranny of Rome at his first entrance into the Roman Empire feigned himself craftily to embrace our Faith thereby to please the Roman people and to take them with his 〈◊〉 for which cause he remitted the 〈◊〉 against the Christians and put on 〈◊〉 a shew of Prety that for a time he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Courtesie Love and Humanity This he proveth out of 〈◊〉 l. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But for a purpose of which 〈◊〉 was not aware his design being hereby to justifie the Counterfeit Epistle of Marcellus and to palliate the absurdities therein contained the Popes ranting so foolishly out of the Bible and threatning Maxentius the Heathen Emperour with the Authority of his 〈◊〉 Clement While he was a Pagan 〈◊〉 Now if Maxentius found it necessary to counterfeit himself a Christian to please the People Constantine who found the minds of men far more 〈◊〉 to Religion then Maxentius did was by consequent more engaged to appear a Christian than 〈◊〉 was that so he might also please the People But voluble Wits in
Nicholas the Pope seemed to abstain from it on purpose for though he was often ingaged in these Controversies concerning Appeals to the Apostolick Chair and there were in it many and those most powerful Testimonies of most holy Popes and they Martyrs too whose Authority might be of highest force in the Church yet he wholly abstained from them which that he knew to be doubtful at least is not to be doubted using only those concerning which there was never any doubt in the Church of God because the Church did not want those adventitious and late invented Evidences because it might receive them abundantly from other places but Benedictus Levita himself also though as you have heard from Hincmarus and as he himself testifies in the Preface before his books he took many things out of that same Collection of Isidore yet being conscious in himself that the Authority of those Epistles was not so sure but that it nodded exceedingly he never cited any Author of them as he did in the other Epistles of the Roman Bishops Innocent Leo Gelasius Symmachus and Gregory naming the Authors of those whose Faith was clear and certain But further yet with great caution because he knew the Evidences taken from them not to be so firm he took care as he testifies in the end to have them confirmed by the Apostolick Authority Is not here a merry passage Benedictus Levita knew the Decretal Epistles to be false and therefore he got them to be made true by the Popes Authority at least to be confirmed as true whereas they were doubtful before It is the manner of sometimes to get others to propose the matters which they themselves design to be done that the business springing from the request of others might appear more graceful in the eye of the people We may justly enquire whether Benedictus Levita were not ordered what to Petition by private instructions from his Holiness before he made his motion to the Chair for it had otherwise been an extravagant impudence to have assaulted the Chair with such a request as that is of craving a Confirmation of new-found Records so feeble and suspected Whatever the Intrigue was the event is clear Benedictus Levita got them confirmed and so they were adopted for his Holiness Children though Pope Nicholas was shy a little out of shame and modesty and blushed to acknowledge his poor Kindred It is further observable that these counterfeit Epistles were first brought in into the Records of the Franks without naming their Authors and that a little after their quiet publication some Favourite of the Chair grew more bold and added their names unto them this of Clement that of Anacletus c. And that the work was thus perfected by degrees Baronius shews us in the following passage But he who first published the Decrees extracted out of those Epistles with the Title of the Roman Bishops in whose names they are recorded was that Hincmarus we mentioned the Bishop of Laon as appears by an Epistle or book written against him by Hincmarus of Rhemes who receiving that work of the Bishop of Laon read it not without indignation and in very many things reprovedit But others have followed the Bishop of Laon as Burchardus who writ in the following Age and others after him who prefixed the names of the very Roman Bishops before all the Chapters which Gratian also did the last of all But that those Epistles are rendered suspitious by many things which we have said in the second Tome of our Annals while we mentioned each in particular is sufficiently demonstrated Where we shewed withal that the holy Roman Church did not need them so as if they should be detected of falsity to be bereaved of its Rights and Priviledges since though she wanteth them she is abundantly strengthened and confirmed by the Legitimate and Genuine Decretal Epistles of other Popes But that the Chapters taken out of them by Benedictus Levita were at first approved as agreeable to the Canons as himself testifies by the Authority of the Roman Bishops which was done also by the latter Collectors it happened rather by long use than for any strength or firmness in themselves Thus Baronius in his Annals An. 865. nu 5 6 7 8. all together In Notis Martyrol ad 4. April he saith Vasaeus is convicted to have erred who thought this Isidore Pacensis that Isidore who collected the Epistles of the Roman Bishops and the Councils c. Hincmarus Laudunensis also and Trithemius and others err who ascribe that collection to Isidore of Hispalis That Opinion is refelled first because Brauleus and Ildephonsus who lived in those times drawing up a Catalogue of his Writings make not the least mention of that work But further all doubt is taken away concerning this matter while the Author of that work speaking there concerning the manner of holding a Council recites the words of the first Canon of the eleventh Council of Toledo and mentions Agatho the Pope in his Preface since Isidore of Hispalis departed this life long before the times of that Council and Pope Agatho Had we time we might make many curious reflexions upon these passages of Baronius He afterwards talks of another Isidore called sometimes Mercator and sometimes Peccator but of what Parents what Calling what City or what Country he was he mentioneth nothing So that this Child among all those Isidores and Fathers that are found out for it must rest at last in one that is unknown All that can be gathered from this whole discourse of Baronius is this That a new Book of Councils richly fraught with Evidences for the Roman Church and Religion came abroad under the name of Isidore containing Decrees and Decretal Epistles that were never before heard of in the world that this Book was falsly Fathered upon Isidore of Hispalis and that all those ancient Epistles of the Roman Bishops from S. Peter down to Siricius are justly suspected Nay he confesses them to be insirm adventitions and lately invented or newly found and to nod exceedingly He opposeth them to those Records which are Legitimate and Genuine though they are of late magnified and followed by all the Collectors of the Decrees and Councils being though waved by some cited and approved by other Popes as well as Doctors Jesuites Cardinals c. This is the last and best Story that can be made on the behalf of that Book the Counterfeits in which as we observed before were because they extol and magnifie the Popes Chair received for good and Authentick Laws in the Church of Rome For Baronius died not long since about the year 1607. in this last Century and when he had seen the truth of those Arguments that are urged against the Forgeries endeavours so to handle this matter in his History as to clear the Church of Rome from the imputation Bellarmine that saw not into this Mystery so clearly takes another course which when we have intimated one or
any diligent observation If he trusted others he was an unwise man to be so confident in maintaining it upon the report of those that read and transcribed it for him For their inadvertency hath deceived him For S. Clement himself if that Epistle be his owneth the Forgery of S. Clement's Itinerary which Binius so extremely abhorreth It must needs be a Forgery therefore because in this case nothing but a Forgery can defend a Forgery no Author if a Saint acknowledging those Forgeries for his which he never made After a long Oration which S. Clement fendeth to S. James in that Epistle out of S. Peter's mouth concerning the Dignity and Excellency of the Roman Chair he has these words speaking of S. Peter When he had said these things in the midst before them all he put his hands on me and compelled me wearied with shamefacedness to sit in his Chair And when I was sate again he spake these things unto me I beseech thee O Clement before all that are present that after as the Debt of Nature is I have ended this present life thou wouldst briefly write to James the Brother of our Lord either those things that relate to the beginning of thy Faith or those thoughts also which before thy Faith thou hast born and after what sort thou hast been a companion to me from the beginning even to the end of my Journey and my Acts and what being a Solicitous Hearer thou hast taken from me disputing through all the Cities and what in all my preaching was the order either of my words or actions as also what End shall find me in this City as I said all things being as thou art able briefly comprehended let it not grieve thee to destine unto him Neither fear that he will be much grieved at my End since he will not doubt but I endure it for piety But it will be a great solace to him if he shall learn that no unskilful man or unlearned and ignorant of the Discipline of 〈◊〉 Order and the Rule of Doctrine hath undertaken my Chair For he knows if an unlearned or an unskilful man take upon him the Office of a Doctor without the Hearers and Disciples being involved in a Cloud of Ignorance shall be drowned in destruction Wherefore I my Lord James when I had received these precepts from him held it necessary to fulfil what he commanded informing thee both concerning these things and briefly comprehending concerning those which going through every City he either uttered in the word of preaching or wrought in the vertue of his deeds Though concerning these things I have sent thee 〈◊〉 and more fully described already at his command under that very Title which he ordered to be prefixed that is Clementis Itinerarium The Itinerary of Clement not the preaching of Peter In these words he telleth us how S. Peter taking his leave of the World placed him in his Chair and by that Ceremony installed him in the Episcopal Throne in the presence of them all What a charge he gave him in that moving circumstance of time just before his piercing and bitter Passion to write to S. James How he ordered him to make an Itinerary of his Circuits throughout the World and furnished him at the same time with the Materials and Title of the Book The Itinerary of Clement not the preaching of Peter S. Peter's modesty as is to be supposed giving the Honour of the Title not to himself that was the Subject but to the Author How S. Clement according to this commandment had sent to S. James not only this Epistle but the Book it self long before it wherein the Journeys and the Acts of Peter were more fully described And the great care which S. Peter took 〈◊〉 the dead man should be grieved by the Solace he provided in the Tydings sent unto him concerning the perpetual certainty of Skilfulness and Learning in all his Successors securing at once both the Church and his Chair is very remarkable All these things out of the very Bowels of the Epistle disgrace 〈◊〉 Chimera's of Binius and 〈◊〉 For what Saint being well in his Wits would tell the World that S. Peter commanded him to make a Forgery nay a putid Forgery stussed with loathsom Fables S. James his Name is over and over in the body of the Epistle not only in the Title The Epistle was not sent to S. James by a Figure but it plainly tells S. James that he had sent him the 〈◊〉 before which consisting of ten books must be some considerable time after S. Peter's Death in making some time in going from Rome to Jerusalem and some time must be 〈◊〉 in coming back with the Answer that certified him of S. James his receiving it After all which this new Letter was written to S James impertinently giving him an account of the same business And yet all this while S. James was dead before S. Peter For as Binius observes S. Peter was put to Death in the thirteenth year of Nero and S. James in the seventh The Compiler of this Epistle finding S. Clements Itinerary extant in the World several hundreds of years before himself and being not aware of its unfoundness took it up as a good Record and so fitted the Epistle and Fable to the purpose in hand being himself cheated with a Forgery as many others are and not expecting to be detected so clearly as it hath since happened But to make the matter more absurd they have a second Letter to S. James De Sacratis 〈◊〉 vel 〈◊〉 Wherein he divides the Priesthood as Pius in his Decretal afterwards 〈◊〉 into three Orders of Presbyter Deacon and 〈◊〉 With what design I cannot tell unless he would have us think the Pope the only Bishop Wherein he also takes care about the Lords Body orders the Priests with what Ceremony of Fasting and Reverence it shall be consumed Gives Commands about the Pall the Chair the Candlestick and the Vail speaks of the Altar the Worship of the Altar the Door-keepers the Vails for the Gates the covering of the Altar c. As if there were stately Temples Attires Ornaments and Utensils in those early days of poverty Persecution when a Den or a Cave was both Sanctuary and Temple Among other things he orders that no man should through ignorance believe a dead man ought to be wrapt in a Fryers Coul a Novel superstitious Errour All which he speaks out of the mouth of S. Peter whom he calls the Father and Prince of the Apostles In the end of the Letter he denounces a Curse against all them that will not keep S. Peter's Commandments So that Peter's Name and Peter's Authority is used for every thing appertaining to the Chair and all the Apostles to be ordered by S. Peter's Successors as S. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of our Lord was CAP. XVII Of Higinus and Pius as they are represented in the Pontifical and of a notable Forgery in the name of Hermes
believed it hath hitherto been received and without all Controversy maintained in the Ancient Martyrologies and Breviaries both of the Roman and other Churches Baron In Append. Tom. 10. Ad hunc Annum Note here that as Surius and Binius and Baronius so even the Roman Church hath it self received this Council into her purest Records her Sacred Martyrologies and Mass-books or Breviaries Which is a reason above all other reasons compelling Binius and his fellowes Baronius Labbe and the Collectio Regia to embrace this Council For it cannot be rejected without Prejudice to the Authority of the Roman Chair Which as it clears the Donatists from the pretended imputation discovers plainly who are the true Authors of this Council For though it be more than probable that some pitiful barren Head void of all Sence and Learning did at first compose it out of the affection he had to the See of Rome Yet as in Treason all are Principals so here the Receiver is as bad as the Thief The Roman Church by aiding and abetting this Abomination hath made it her own Be it forged in what empty Shop it will she hath magnified it to the Stars by fixing it in her Martyrologies The Chair is defiled with the Forgery it hath adopted and the Pope hath made it as much his as if it had been the Issue of his own Brain Being therefore it cannot now be deserted without discovering the shameful secrets of the Roman Church Binius like a good Son endeavours to maintain it but with such ill success that he shames her more by miscarrying in the enterprize First he saith Exceeding many among the most learned of men have endeavoured to prove those Acts to be spurious By these most learned of Men he means the Papists not the Protestants So that exceeding many of the most learned Papists have rejected that Council lest the Chair should be too much disgraced with the reproach of Marcellinus 2. He saith They have endeavoured to prove these Acts to be spurions truly by strong Arguments He confesseth the Arguments to be strong against it And here he varies a little from himself for besides the Persecution of Decius there are Arguments and strong ones to against this Council which he before concealed Nor do the English Innovators only but the Papists also and the most learned among them write against it What Arguments then doth Binius bring to defend it His Opinion Antiquity General Consent and all resolved into the Roman Martyrology As for the first his Nevertheless I conceive will not do against strong Arguments Antiquity which is the second stands upon other mens Legs and speaks by other mens Mouths She may be painted like a Woman but is of neither Sex And though Binius would perswade us that She fighteth in person very sharply for the Council you can see nothing but her Name and his Talk of her Majesty She wanted the tongue of the Learned and is a dumb Champion His General Consent is disturbed by those exceeding many most Learned men of which he had 〈◊〉 before that endeavonred to prove these Acts to be spurious They come out of their Graves with strong Arguments to disorder the common Assent of all by which it is beleived to defile the Majesty of Antiquity by which it is asserted and to reprove Binius for a Lyar who faith that it hath hitherto been received and without all Controversie maintained Nor is he a Lyar onely but contradicteth himself and foolishly bewrayeth his design while he shufles and cuts upon all occasions But perhaps you will say his meaning is It is without all Controversie maintained in the Roman Martyrologies and Breviaries That reserve be keeps for a 〈◊〉 then but it will not do He might say it was put in without all controversie because the Roman Martyrologies and Breviaries were works of Darkness made in Secret by the Popes Authority But is it maintained without all controversie when exceeding many of the most Learned Men endeavour to prove its Acts to be Spurious by strong Arguments Does veneralle Antiquity it self fight sharply for them compelling a Beverence from the unwilling by its Majesty or is it by the common Assent of all believed when exceeding many endeavour to refute it As for the Roman Martyrologies it is no wonder it should lie quiet in then None were by but the Actors only when the Council was put in and if by dissembling the fraud it be maintained there it is no great business But there it is and that is sufficient For my part I could not have believed that Binius or any other Sober man could ever reckon such 〈◊〉 piece of Barbarism for a Council 〈◊〉 I not seen it with my own eyes in the Author It is so much against all reason that a thing so absurd should be owned to the disgrace of all Martyrs Synods and Councils And were it not for the 〈◊〉 of the wonder the Roman Martyrologies whose credit must be saved it would be my lasting amazement Binius is so stiffe in defending this Council that in the next words he chargeth ignorance on S. Augustine for not understanding it Love and Hunger will eat through stone walls His Zeal for the Church of Rome and its Direful necessity makes him to defend this Council in the Roman Martyrologies against an apparent falsehood in the bottom of it against very many most learned men against all the barbarous intollerable Nonsence and Tautologies therein against the Killing Circumstance that there was no such City or Crypta at least in the World as well as against the Impossibility of calling it on his own Principles Besides all which the vanity of its Design and the Absurdity of its meeting on such an occasion is sufficient to detect it The Lye in the bottom of it is in those Words Cum 〈◊〉 in Bello Persarum This Council was convened as the Title sheweth when Dioclesian was in his War with the Persians Upon these words Binius saith Haec 〈◊〉 emendentur falsa sunt c. These Words be false unless they be mended for since Eusebius and divers others witness that Dioclesian in this 20. Years of his Reign devested himself of the Empire and which is more two years before triumphed at Rome with his Collegue Maximianus for having conquered the Persians how I pray you could 〈◊〉 this year be going forth with his Army against the Persians This is one reason more for which the Writers of Magdenburg and the English Innovators as he is pleased to stile them reject that Council Another is contained in Binius his Notes on the word Sinuessa num So called from the City Sinuessa in a certain Crypta whereof called Cleopatrensis they came together secretly to shun the Sword of the raging Gentiles For whereas men doubt whether any such City was ever in the World he proceedeth to tell us that it is not to be admired at al that there is no mention made either of this City or
such a Crypta in any other Writers nor at least the smallest memory of this Place to be found Since we know that by great Earthquakes not only mountains and plains have lost their Situation and Name but the Desolation of some most ample Cities hath bin also made It is an unlucky Chance that this City should be swallowed up by an Earth-quake As ominous almost as the Burning of the Nicene Canons by the Arrians That other Place have been lost we know but no man knoweth that this City was lost nor is the least memory of it to be found Whereas such Strange Accidents being the 〈◊〉 Themes for the Trumpet of Famous such a Rarity had made it more remarkable than if it had continued until this Day Since Marvels chiefly busy the Pens of Historians That they should be Silent or its Name be shaken out of 〈◊〉 Books by an Earthquake is the greatest Miracle Story doth afford Inserting the Notes of Peter Crab and Surius he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 another reason fot which we reject that 〈◊〉 Be pleased to look back on Peter Crab and there you shall see his Premonition beginning thus Because of the intolerable and too too grievous Depravation of the Copies c The Collectio Regia hath rejected the old ones and for the smoother Convevance of that Council hath left them both out and recorded only the false one that was made in their Stead So may it come to pass in time that all the Barbarismes shall be forgotten and the well-mended but Spurious Copy be taken for the true Record They reject the old one for their Nonsence and we theirs for its Novelty Surius whose Premonition to the Reader Binius reserveth till after the Council yieldeth us another reason whereupon we refuse it It is pretty to see the Hypocrisy wherewith he admires the Care and Diligence of its first Compilers notwithstanding the Depravations and Corruptions of the same For he telleth us It seemed not good to the * Collector to pass over these things for the forementioned Trifles which our forefathers have with so much Labour and Diligence left us That is when you pull of the mask which Peter Crab the Collector out of some idle Monk or other set on work by the Church of Rome was pleased to record for the interest of that Chair though those little Trifles The in tolerable Difference and Depravation of the Copies would otherwise have hindered him The reason why he defendeth it moves us to reject it For they who being Zealous for the Bishop of Rome conceit these things to be 〈◊〉 by those who rival the Apostolical See as if it were unworthy of the Apostolical Chur that in great a Bishop should be brought to so 〈◊〉 a Pass as to Sacrifice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seem little to remember how Peter Denial did not hurt him or that there is joy among the Angeis over one Sinner that repenteth or that this very Marcellinus afterwards constantly met his Death for the sake of Christ and according to the Proverb sought manfully after he ran away However it be O Reader we would not have that concealed from thee which we have found in the Monuments of the Ancients leaving the Truth of this to the Records themselves and not prejudicating any mans Sentence by our Opinion His Reason why it may be held for a good and true Record is the safety of the Roman Chair not with standing it should be thought so And one of the Reasons why we so greatly suspect them is that very behaviour The advantage of the Roman See being the only Touchstone among them of Records and Forgeries By this very example you see that men as wise as Binius leave the Council Doubtful and by his Testimony you find that many Romanists renounce it So may you discern by the Crookedness of their Rule that they are fit to be suspected It is a very great Secret and warily to be discovered and that to none but friends but they that are zealous for the Bishop of Rome shape their Opinions by their Affections Some that are zealous conceit those things to be feigned because they think it unworthy of the Apostolical Chair that so great a Bishop should sacrifice to Idols While some of them that are zealous too for the Bishop of Rome because they remember how Peter's denial did not hurt him and know that the fear of the former might easily be removed with pretences enow think it better to retain this Council For there is joy among the Angels for a Sinner that repenteth and Marcellinus's Martyrdome is as glorious to the Chair as his Fall was disgraceful The one are afraid of the Popes Infallibility and because they think the Fall of Marcellinus in that respect too dangerous to be recorded would suppress the Council The other are zealous of the Popes Supremacy and because they would exempt him from all Superiours and make him uncapable of being judged by any record the Council And which is the Wisest that is the Question Not what is true but what is expedient While their Judgments are formed not according to Things but conveniencies Another reason why we reject this Council is because it containeth a Doctrine which no true Record of Antiquity teacheth but where with the Forgeries before laid open do extreamly abound And here the behaviour of Surius is a little further to be noted He avers that he found these things in the Monuments of the Ancients and yet is so dasht that he leaves the truth of them to the Records themselves What Records what Monuments what Ancients can these be that are fit to be suspected He will not prejudicate any mans Sentence by his opinion Which is a piece of Liberality in a 〈◊〉 that implies some extraordinary Cause not to be uttered Another reason of our opposing it is because it so notoriously wresteth the H. Scriptures That Place which is spoken of the general Account which all men must give at the Day of judgement being applied in particular to shew that no man may condemn the Pope Out of thine own Mouth thou shalt be justified c. Which being the Sole foundation on which they lay any stress is with somuch ridiculous Babling repeated that it would turn a mans Stomack and make him sick to peruse it But the Impossibility of the Thing is an Argument ad Hominem that may perhaps be more convincing For as they hold that no man may condemn a Pope So do they hold that no man but he can call a Council And though for Form-sake they ascribe the Power of Calling Councils in the Vacancy of the See to the Roman Clergy yet when a Pope is Alive they utterly deny it to them orany else Because the Pope is Supreme and be he Good or Bad can be judged by none By what Authority then did the Roman Clergy call this Council before the Pope was judicially deposed If the Roman Clergy take upon them to condemn him before he is heard his