and veneration and even attribute to them sometimes names and degrees of excellency which do not belong to them without any prejudice to Piety provided they are not attributes nor honours which are appropriated only to the Divine Being for then it would be Idolatry as it is to attribute that to the Pope which belongs only to Jesus Christ. For example in reference to the great men of this world it is very allowable to speak to the advantage of a Minister of State to whom a great King shall communicate a part of his Authority for his service It is very fit to commend him and to extoll him even above his merit by reason of the good qualities which appear in him or the favours which he receives from the King provided that the respect and obedience due to the King be inviolably kept but it would be a crime to lessen or contemn him especially when the prosperity tranquillity and safety of the State depends upon him So I maintain that tho the Fathers had said a tâ—ousand times of St. Peter That the Church was founded upon him and that he was the Head of it If they have said sometimes that he was not so and that he had nothing more excellent than the other Apostles this last ought to prevail because that the first was an expression of favour and without danger since they assert evâ—ry where that Jesus Christ is the only Head of the Church and that it was hard to conceive that ever men should arrive to suâ—h excess of extravagancy as to think that one simple man could be the Head of the Universal Church Whereas if St. Peter had been instituted by God in that quality to deny it would look like resisting God destroying the Church which would be established upon him and dethroning Jâ—sus Christ by dethroning his Vicar It must then be agreed to whatever the Doctors of the Age say that the Church is built upon Jesus Christ and not upon a man and we may say with David That the stone which the builders refused is in spight of them become the Corner-stone of the Church But let us come to the second passage Tibi dabo claves c. I will give thee the Keys c. First of all you must know the occasion whereon this was said to him Jesus Christ had asked this question of his Disciples Whom think you that I am c. Peter with his wonted fervor spake and answered for all Thou art the Christ c. And our Lord upon this promiseth to all his Apostles and to the whole Church under the name of Peter the Power of the Keys which is indisputable because in the 18 Chap. of St. Matthew he tells them all in general and without distinction the same thing Verily I say unto you That whatsoever you shall bind upon Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever you loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven The other Apostles then have this power as well as St. Peter and we see it also in St. John the 20. and the 22. where Jesus Christ says to all his Apostles Receive ye the Holy Ghost whosesoever sins ye forgive they are forgiven and whosesoever ye retain they are retained Let us see whether the Fathers be not against us We have already heard St. Cyprian who says Christus Apostolis post Resurrectionem parem potestatem tribuit Jesus Christ after his Resurrection gave an equal power to his Apostles Origen demands An vero soli Petro dantur a Christo claves Regni Caelorum nec alius beatorum quisquam eas accepturus est Quod si dictum hoc tibi dabo claves c. Caeteris quoque commune est cur non simul omnia quae prius dicta sunt quae sequuntur velut ad Petrum dicta sunt omnium communia Were the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven given only to Peter and shall no other blessed person have them Certainly if what was said I will give thee the Keys be common to all the Apostles why shall not all that goes before and that follows after tho said only to Peter be common to all St. Hilary Vos O sancti beati viri ob fidei vestri meritum claves Regni Coelorum ligandi solvendi jus in terra adepti He spoke to the Apostles O holy and blessed men who by the merits of your faith have obtained the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and the power of binding and loosing upon Earth St. Hierom At dicis super Petrum fundatur Ecclesia licet id ipsum in alio loco super omnes Apostolos fiat cuncti claves Regni Caelorum accipiunt ex aequo super eos Ecclesiae fortitudo solidetur tamen propterea inter duodecim unus eligitur ut capite constituto schismatis tollatur occasio Sed cur non Johannes electus est virgo Aetati delatum est Quia Petrus senior erat ne adhuc adolescens ac poene puer provectae aetatis hominibus anteferretur ne causam praebere videretur invidiae But you say the Church is founded upon Peter tho in other places the same thing is done upon all the Apostles and they all receive equally the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and the strength of the Church is equally founded upon one as well as another nevertheless he chose one out of the Twelve to the end that by establishing a Head he might take away the occasion of Schism But why was not John chosen Jesus Christ had regard to the age of Peter who was the eldest and would not prefer a young man one that was almost a child before those who were more advanced in years that he might not seem to give an occasion for envy amongst them The same Hierom tells us that the Ministers under the Gospel have also the power of binding and of loosing of pardoning sins or retaining them that is to say of judging when God doth pardon us or not Id juris officii habent Sacerdotes Evangelici quod olim sub lege habebent Legales in curandis Leprosis Hi ergo peccata dimittunt vel retinent dum dimissa a Deo vel retenta judicant vel ostendunt St. Augustin Sicut in Apostolis cum esset etiam numerus duodenarius omnes essent interrogati solus Petrus respondit Tu es Christus c. Et ei dicitur Tibi dabo claves tanquam ligandi solvendi solus acceperit potestatem cum illud unus pro omnibus dixerit hoc cum omnibus dixerit hoc cum omnibus tanquam personam gerens ipsius unitatis acceperit Ideo unus pro omnibus quia unitas est in omnibus Amongst the Apostles who were Twelve in number tho they were all asked Peter only answered Thou art the Christ and Jesus Christ said to him I will give thee the Keys as tho he alone had received the power of binding and of loosing Tho
we say that it was owing to the eagerness of his temper which being not always well regulated made him commit greater faults than any others of the Apostlâ—s except the perfidious Judas which made him be called Satan by his good Master which none of the other were We ought also to attribute to this temper the blow he gave Malchus with the Sword as well as that warmth that made him promise wonders of Fidelity to his Master and induced him to accompany him to the Emperors Court where he denied his Saviour So that it is with very little reason that they make an argument of this to prove his Royalty in the Church In Spain where the most Honourable walk the last they will not fail to alledg places where St. Peter is named last as in the passage where it is said I am the Disciples of Paul and I of Apollos and I of Caephas who is Peter For I remember that at Paris where they understand Divinity a little better than in Spain a good Bishop and an Abbot did maintain to me that the passage where it is said that James Peter and John are esteemed Pillars of the Church I having alledged against them another where he is named the first they maintained to me I say that this passage confirmed that which they alledged and proved very well the Primacy of St. Peter For said the Bishop when three persons of worth are walking together they always put the most Honourable in the middle This is according to the common saying That a Lawyer well paid shall always find the cause of his Client good His Benefices made him see clear in this passage There are three other passages which the greatest part of our Doctors produce against our Adversaries with a little more colour which are Thou art Peter c. I will give thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven c. Feed my sheep Which passages we shall examine one after another to see if St. Peter had any priviledg above the other Apostles they say that in the first of these passages Jesus Christ doth establish the Church found it and built it upon St. Peter I do not deny but that St. Peter was one of the Pillars of the Church because he is so called as well as James and John. Nor can it be denied but that he was and is one of the foundations of the Church since that he is not excepted out of the number of the Twelve who in Scripture are called the Foundations of the New Jerusalem But I maintain that the Church is no more founded upon him than upon St. Paul and the other Apostles I would fain have these Gentlemen tell me upon whom the Church was founded before St. Peter and why the Church changed its foundation and upon whom Peter himself was founded It was without doubt upon Jesus Christ upon the Rock which is the Christ. And it is without all question that St. Peter and we ought to have no other foundation than that which St. Paul had who says That no man can lay any other foundation than that which is laid which is Jesus Christ. Also we see in this passage that it is upon the Rock upon the Rock of Ages that our Saviour builds his Church and not upon St. Peter The Holy Ghost would have changed neither name nor person if he would have had us to have believed this of St. Peter He would not have said Super hanc Petram sed super te Petrum Vpon this Rock but upon thee Peter To the end that no difficulty may remain we must observe what goes before and what follows after Jesus Christ had demanded of all the Apostles together whom they thought he was Peter either as the eldest or most zealous answers for all and says to him Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God. Whereupon Jesus Christ says to him Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church c. It is evident that as our Saviour's discourse was directed to all and that Peter answered for all the following part of our Saviours Discourse was directed also to them all and related no more to Peter than to any other particular Apostle And men must have lost their understandings to think that Jesus Christ in this place founded his Church upon Peter whom in the same Chapter he calls Satan What Foundation would the Church have had and what would have become of her when he deni'd his Saviour It must then necessarily be acknowledged that it is not the visible Church that is here spoken of which they pretend St. Peter to be the Head of But the Invisible the Society of the Faithful and the Elect. For the Gates of Hell would have prevailed against the Church not only when St. Peter denied his Master since that the foundation being run to decay that which is built upon it falls to ruin But since that time have they not very often prevailed against this Church which they would have the Bishops of Rome the pretended Successors of St. Peter to be the Heads of For Example when according to the Fathers the whole World was Arian the Bishops of Rome and all their Flock and so many other times as the Popes have been Magicians Sodomites Atheists Hereticks c. And what would have become of the Church in the time of that great Schism that succeeded Gregory the Ninth which lasted fifty years when the French would not have an Italian Pope nor the Italians a French one and many Princes would have neither one nor other to whom at length Charles the Sixth joined himself for three years and the Kingdom of France was very well contented without a Pope and many other Princes for a longer season And what shall we say of that great Schism which the Popes made and caused with the Greek Church by cutting them off out of Devilish pride from the Communion of the Church because they would not submit to their yoke but demanded the observation of the Canons What shall we say also of that great Apostacy that happened about 130 or 140 years since or thereabout when so many States separated themselves from the Church by reason of the Impiety and Tyranny of the Popes Doth not all this prove that Hell hath prevailed against this exterior and visible Church which the Popes govern and whereof St. Peter according to them was the Head It is then the Invisible Church which is here spoken of the Society of the Faithful the Heavenly Jerusalem whereof Jesus Christ is the principal Corner-stone upon which St. Peter himself saith believers are built as living stones He says not it is on himself that they are built but on the contrary he pretends himself as well as others to be one of these living stones which are built upon the Corner-stone which is Christ. It is then upon the Rock confessed by Simon Peter or upon his Confession that the Church is founded on that which he declared
that is to say We read that the three first Patriarchs who sat in the Chair of Peter were he of Rome he of Alexandria and he of Antioch and with them all the Bishops who were under them Let a man read the Writings of Gregory of Gelasius and of Leo who were all Popes and he shall see that they all acknowledg that all good Bishops are Successors of St. Peter and altho they sometimes failed not to demonstrate suffiently their Ambition and the desire they had to make the other Bishops their subjects yet it was not in quality of Heads of the Church much less by vertue of any Text of Scripture And we find not that for the first six Centuries any man dared to bring so much as one passage of Scripture to establish the Primacy of the Bishoprick of Rome St. Ambrose is not at all favourable to them when he says Primatus Petri Confessionis erat non Honoris fidei non ordinis That the Primacy of Peter was a Primacy of Confession and not of Honourâ— of Faith and not of place St. Cyprian whom we have already mention'd says farthermore in another place Neque enim quisquam nostrum se Episcopum Episcoporum constituit ut Tyrannico tâ—rrore ad Obsequendi necessitatem collegas suos adigat cum habeat omnis Episcopus pro licentia libertatis Potestatis suae Arbitrium proprium tanquam judicari ab alio non possit cum nec ipse possit Alterum judicare sed expectamus Vniversi Judicium Dâ—mini nostri Jesu Christi qui unus solus habet potestatem praeponendi nos in Ecclesiae suae Gubernatione de Acâ—u nostro judicandi There is nâ—ne among us who pretendeth to be a Bishop of Bishops that by a Tyrannical power he may oblige any of his Colleagues to the necessity of being subject to him since that every Bishop being his own Master and independent on any other cannot be judged by another nor can he judg another but we ought all to expect the judgment of our Lord Jesus Christ who only hath the power of establishing us over his Church and of judging of our behaviour in it The same St. Cyprian calleth Stephen Bishop of Rome his Colleague Stephanum Collegam nostrum ut Cornelium nostrum co-Episcopum And Cornelius our Fellow-Bishop He speaks of two Bishops of Rome And in another place he shews that he thought he had as great a share in the Government of the whole Church as the Bishop of Rome Omnes enim says he deâ—et pro corpore totius Ecclesiae cujus per varias quasque Provincias membra digesta sunt excubare And in another place Divina Paterna Pietas in nobis Apostolatus ducatum contulit Vicariam Domini sedem coelesti dignatione ornavit That is to say The Goodness of God hath conferred upon us the conduct of the Apostleship and hath adorned by his Heavenly Grace the deputed See of the Lord which we hold And furthermore Christus dicit ad Apostolos ac per hos ad omnes praepositos qui Apostolis Vicaria Ordinatione succedunt Qui vos audit me audit Jesus Christ saith to all the Apostles and in the persons of them to all Bishops who succeed the Apostles being their Substitutes by Ordination Whosoever heareth you heareth me He shews in these places that he pretended that his Church was an Apostolick See and that he was the Vicar of Jesus Christ as well as the other Bishops In his 55 Epistle he says that a man must be a fool or a mad man to believe that the Authority of the Bishops of Africa was less than that of the Bishop of Rome to whom abundance of profligate wretches did resort that so they might avoid the giving an account of their actions to the Bishops of Africa and the being punisht for their crimes After his death a Council assembled at Carthage did ordain Vt prima sedis Episcopus non appelletur princeps Sacerdotum aut primus Sacerdos sed tantum primae sedis Episcopus That the Bishop of the first See ought not to be called Prince or chief of the Priests or any thing of this kind but only the Bishop of the first See. And the Council of Nice marking out the bounds of the extent of each Patriarchal See says thus There is an ancient custom whereby the Bishop of Alexandria doth govern all the Diocesses of Egypt of Lybia and of Pentapolis as also it is a long time since that the Bishop of Rome hath presided over those which he now governeth and so likewise the Bishop of Antioch Upon which Cardinal Cusan makes this reflexion We see says he hâ—w much the Bishop â—f Rome haâ—h gotten against the Holy Constitutions by the long use of a submission which hath been given him and which was not due to him This Decree of the Council of Nice was since confirmed by the Councils of Antioch of Calcedon and of Constantinople Theodoret produceth a Letter of the Council of Constantinople which sufficiently shews the place which the Bishops of Rome held at that time it begins thus To our most Reverend and dear Brethren and Colleagues Damasus Ambrose Brillo Valerian and all the other Holy Bishops assembled together in the Great City Eusebius also relates to us another Letter which the Council of Antioch assembled against the Heresie of Paulus of Samosatenus writes to the Bishop of Rome which begins thus To Dionysius to Maximus and to all those who are Ministers with us Com-Ministris nostris throughout the whole world Bishops Priests Deacons and all the Church under Heaven Would a man now in good earnest in this corrupt age write thus to our Holy Father the Pope Theodoret relates to us in his Ecclesiastical History that the Emperour Constantius was very urgent with the Bishop of Rome Liberius to embrace the Communion of the other Churches which shews that he also knew not that Rome was the Mother of the other Churches The Emperors Gratian Valentinian and Theodosius in the year 380 proposed Rome and Alexandria for Models of the Orthodox Faith. Ordaining that all the world should follow the Faith of Damasus Bishop of Rome and of Peter Bishop of Alexandria And after the first Council of Constantinople as tho they would have the Center of Christian Communion in the East only they order without mentioning Rome that all Churches should be conferred upon those who joyned in Communion with Nectarius Bishop of Laodicea and Diodorus Bishop of Tarsus in the Diocess of the East with Amphilochus Bishop of Iconium c. If the Bishops of Asia of Cilicia and of Mesopotamia had believed that the Communion of the Bishop of Rome had been necessary for their Churches they would never all have been excluded from its Communion during 140 years as they were after that Victor Bishop of Rome had Excommunicated them for a Trifle for if they
lenitatem datam Ipsi Dii lenes sunt talibus If thou canst teach me better if not remember Gentleness was given thee for this very purpose The Gods themselves are gentle to such If the Christian Religion did establish the Inquisition if she justified the Perfidiousness and Inhumanities which the Court of Rome and Hereticks commit every day upon the account of Religion I should make no difficulty to declare it an abominable Religion and that we ought not to be of it one moment longer and if People went to Heaven by such ways as these I should be soon of the Americans mind who said they would not go to the same Paradise whither the Spaniards went nor would I go to the Paradise of the Popes and the Inquisitors I do maintain that the Popes have ruined the Church in those Countries where their Inquisition hath been set up more than all the Heresies in the World together ever could have done We need not but consider the good Effects which it hath had in those Countries where in truth there is no Religion at least Christianity scarce there to be found and how should it with that Ignorance which the Inquisition brings along with it which hath produced nothing but Superstition Impiety Hypocrisy dissembling of Opinions a thousand Cruelties and Treacheries and all sorts of abominable Vices which are scarce known but in Countries of the Inquisition And where we find them in other Countries they have been brought thither from Rome by those that were devoted to the Papacy through the too great Commerce which Princes suffer with Rome The Hereticks may well say that they are obliged to the Inquisition that Holland is no longer Catholick If the Inquisiâ—ion be advantagious to Christianity Why do the most Christian Nations of Europe the best regulated both in their Religion and their Manners detest it Compare the French Nation Germany Flanders and Poland with the other Slaves to the Inquisition and you will say that the latter are not worthy of the Name of Christians in comparison of the former And for the Hereticks I esteem and Heretick that is an honest Man and that fears God a hundred times more than a Catholick who lives disorderly or that knows not what Religion is I know no worse Heresy than to be without the knowledg of God and how can He be known where the Holy Scripture is not allowed to be read where the Clergy are wholly lost in most abominable Vices and know nothing at all where it is Crime enough to be burnt to discourse about Religion where Mens Minds are filled with a thousand Fooleries that have no relation at all to Piety Set a Spaniard or an Italian who hath gotten a little Sense to discourse on Jesus Christ and he shall not fail to tell you that Jesus Christ was a great Politician Christo era Grande Politico because he sees that his Vicar under the pretence of Religion hath made so great Conquests and subdued all Catholick Princes to himself This is the Idea which they have of Jesus Christ and which they form to themselves upon what they see in the Court of Rome and in the present State of the Church for as for the Holy Scripture they know less of it than of the Alcoran And their Divines teach them that the Church is the most happy Body Politick upon Earth Corpo Politico il piu felice che sia in terra as Cardinal Palavicini says And the same Cardinal says in another place that Jesus Christ would have his Church governed as great Polititians govern their States and that he came down from Heaven upon Earth to make her happy as well in this World as in the other by heaping upon her Honours Riches and Pleasures secondo la carne according to the Flesh. And of the Papacy in particular he says that it is the abundant Source of Temporal Felicity Il Principiato Apostolico fonte d'utilita Temporale secondo la carne in quel modo chi e piu conforme etiandio all humana felicita The Apostolick Primacy is the Fountain of Temporal Profit and in such a manner as is most conducing to Human Felicity Nor do the Portuguees understand things better they are more than half Jews and yet know not what either Judaism or Christianity is There are a great many of them who look for a sort of a Messias who by his great Conquests ought to make them Masters of the World this is one of their Kings named Sebastian whom they have made a Saint he was killed in the Battel of Alcazar going to assist one Moorish King against another and because his Body was not found after the Battel they pretend that he is not dead but that he roams up and down the World and that he will return suddenly again to conquer all the habitable Earth and make it subject to the Portugal Nation This is the Faith of the Christians in that Country and they learn it insensibly of the Jews It is not long since a Man might have borrowed a considerable Sum of Mony in Portugal payable at the return of St. Sebastian That which doth produce this horrible Ignorance among these People is not only that they read not the Holy Scriptures but because the Inquisition suffers there no Religion but its own for by this means there is no body who can accuse either the Inhumanity of the Inquisition or the Vices and Incapacities of the Clergy If some other Sect had liberty among them the Contradiction of this Sect would oblige them to study and to instruct themselves which would make the Study of Divinity and other Sciences flourish among them and seeing every Man would have as many Censurers of his Religion and of his Manners as there were Men of contrary Opinions this would make Men take care of their Behaviour that their Lives might be more conformable to true Christianity Wickedness would be greatly abated Men would be ashamed of those horrible Crimes which the Italians now make their diversion there would be much more knowledg of God more Industry and Perfection in the World. I know that this is not at all agreeable to the Humour of the Popes and their Clergy who make their Markets better by Ignorance and the Inquisition I know by my own Experience and what I have heard say by many good People in England that the expulsion of Catholicks would destroy amongst them all Devotion and Religion because they would have no Adversaries to awaken them and to oblige them to take care of themselves their Ministers would become ignorant and debauched and so proportionably the People But say they the Inquisition doth prohibit all ill Books you must know too that the Word of God is of the number of these ill Books that are prohibited and that there are many other Books forbidden which have not only no ill in them but which are very excellent only because they are contrary to the Ambition of the Court
hope from the good Intention that appeared in many Princeâ— so desirous of a Reformation would not consent to the calling a Council till at length having without success employed their utmost skill to hinder it they at last managed the matter so that the Pope was to convene it Charles the Fifth having basely parted with the Right he had to assemble it that it should be called in an Italian Town and that the Popes Legats should have the management of the whole Affair from that time there was no good to be expected from this Assembly In truth the Popes Legates did rule all aâ—cording to their own Fancy almost all the Bishops who assisted at it were Italians and the only Mark they all hit at was more and more to establish the almighty Power of the Pope wherein they easily succeeded except in this one point God did not suffer Heresy to triumph there But as for the Popes who were the Soul and only Organ of it sending every Week the Holy Ghost in a Cloak-Bag if the Heresy of Luther would have served their turn they would have chosen it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nay without all doubt if the Mahometan Religion would have conduced to the augmenting of their Power and Riches both they and all their Court would have embraced it presently This Council hath done the Church a thousand times more harm than good for it hath given the Protestants plausible Reasons of Obduracy and to us no greater assurance of the goodness of our Religion for as they carried it they made it a Work perfectly Humane Intrigue and Policy did all The Pope was there a Party and became himself the Judg. The Protestants could not be there seeing the Pope was the manager both of the Convocation and of the Suffrages which he got for Mony distributed about in Germany and Italy before the Assembly began And because he would be master some good Bishops who knew not how to manage it so well inesperti del maneggio as Cardinal Palavicini says of them offering to speak against the Popes Interest were treated many times unworthily by the Legates who gave no sort of Liberty Christian Princes as the Emperour Ferdinand Charles the Ninth and Albert Duke of Bavaria to whom they granted not one of their just Demands had no more reason to be satisfied To convince the World that it was only the advantage of the Popes which the Court of Rome sought after and not the Glory of God nor the Salvation of Men It is not necessary to relate at large all the base Intrigues which were unworthy of the Legates but only to consider the Decree which was there made against the reading of the Holy Scripture By this Decree all People were forbidden to read it without leave given them by their Ordinary who was to allow it to none but Clergy-men that is to say the People who were in possession of Benefices and whose Interest it was to maintain things in the same condition they were in Thus did the Legates forbid what God had commanded generally to the whole World. And as Tyrants live in continual fear they thought themselves not yet secure but fearing that they had granted too much they made another Decree whereby they absolutely forbad all sorts of People to read it All their fear was that by the comparing the Papacy with the Kingdom of Jesus Christ People should discover the Imposture which they have put upon the Church whose Face they have disfigured and changed its very Nature making the Government of the Church a piece of Knavery and a Device to supplant all the Kings and Princes of the World confounding Heaven with Earth and destroying all Order both Divine and Humane The Hereticks make a more Christian Use of it for tho they have been so inconsiderate as to reject many Books of the Old Testament which are Canonical as the Apocrypha yet they do not only allow but recommend the reading of them and we find them bound up with their Bibles to be there read as well as the rest I make no doubt but that if the Legates had dared to do it they would have suppressed the Holy Books or at least razed out or changed all those places that were against them as the Inquisition hath done by many of the Ancient Authors How are they who are gone away from us scandalized at such Conduct as this What shame hath it not brought upon our holy Religion they cannot look upon us without abhorrence because we suffer such Abominations Expediret ut suspenderentur molae asinariae in collis eorum ut non scandalizarent pusillos istos It were expedient that Mill stones were hanged about their Necks that they might not scandalize these little ones This Example alone proves sufficiently that it was a profane and worldly Spirit that reigned in this Councâ—l It was the same Spirit that made them give a Ball at Trent to Philip the Second where it may be said that the Pope also danced in the Persons of his venerable Legates It was also the same Spirit that made them give up Religion wholly to the Popes Fancy which is evident by this because that having made many Decrees they say that they shall be of force without prejudice to the Authority of the Apostolick See that is to say that they shall have place no farther than the Pope himself pleaseth whereby they make the Council subject to the Pope which is a devilish Heresy condemned by the Councils of Constance and Basil. The Popes did in effect get by this Council as well as by the others dispencing both with them and themselves when they pleased as Palavicini says that if the Pope should be bound to observe Laws the Fountain of his Beneficence would be half drawn dry Se'l Papo vuol osservare quelle leggi il fonte della sua Beneficenza asciugarsi per meta He says in another place that the Council would not bind his hands who was able to do all things This Worldly Spirit is yet farther to be discerned by the Ambiguity which they have affected in many places which shews us that they had oftentimes no other design than to throw Dust in our Eyes they have also forbidden that any body should pretend to interpret reserving the knowledg of them only to themselves It is then clear by this account that there is never any good to be expected from any Council which the Pope shall call together or where he or his Creatures shall preside or which shall be assembled in Italy not only because of the multitude of Italian Bishops who would spoil all but because a Council of worthy Men would not be there in safety for the Italians would run to all sorts of Excess and Violence rather than suffer that the Spiritual Empire which they claim over all other Nations should be taken from them because they come all in for a share of the Plunder just as we see the Inhabitants of
of Vicars of Jesus Christ which they insolently assume have cast the Church into the most deplorable Desolation and have ravaged all Christian Kingdoms who authorise all sorts of Vice and Disorder both in the Church and in the World dethrone Kings the anointed of God tread upon the Necks of Emperours dispence with the Oaths of Allegiance in their Subjects dispence with the Laws of God and his Gospel hinder Christians from reading the holy Scripture without which we cannot be Christians and unmercifully murther Men for their Religion by their Inquisition ought it to be questioned whether such People as these should be exterminated Pope Innocent himself and many others are of Opinion that we may destroy those that sin against Nature And St. Augustin says Opinantur scelera facienda decerni qualia si quis terrena Civitas decerneret genere humano decernente fuerat evertenda Seneca hath also a fine saying upon this Si non Patriam meam impugnat sed suae gravis est sepositus a meâ gente suam exagitat abscidit nihilominus illum tanta pravitas animi In fine no Man can doubt whether those who curse their Father and Mother and tread them under their Feet or those that live upon Humane Flesh or Pirates upon the Sea without Commission from any Prince ought to be extirpated and whether all Princes have not a right to destroy them if they can I maintain that the Popes do all this and worse I have already shewed it in what I have related But besides all this what can a Man think of these Men who call themselves their Holinesses which is a Title that belongs only to God and is one of the most excellent of all his Attributes who call themselves Vicars of Jesus Christ to dethrone Jesus Christ from his Church and govern it at their own fantasy who say that they are infallible and above the Councils that they can open Heaven and shut up Hell put out the Fire of Purgatory when they please save and damn whom they please who make themselves be called God and the Divine Majesty and cause themselves to be worshipped I demand whether there be any thing like this in the Crimes of others the most vile and miserable Creatures and that which is the most terrible of all is that the Popes do every day cast down many Millions of Souls headlong into Hell. Do not such things as these deserve the Vengeance of Princes here on Earth The Insensibility and Stupidity of Christians must be very great this their Lethargy to me appears monstrous and certainly there must be in it somewhat supernatual 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Hippocrates says of some strange Diseases which are wholly unknown If the Interest of God and his Church were here only concerned it would not be so surprising for usually Princes seldom trouble themselves with that they cry Deorum injuriae diis curae but here where they are robbed of their Majesty to dress up a pack of Rascals with it where they are made Tributary where their Authority is limited where part of their Subjects are withdrawn from them by Exemptions and base Laws which make them contemptible as well to those who thus plunder them as to others who secure themselves under the Covert of this Tyranny It is unconceiveable that Princes should have so much Patience for tho the Primacy of St. Peter could be proved that he was Bishop of Rome and left there his Succcessours either as he was an Apostle or a Bishop must I say such People as these be his Successours and make all these Crimes their common Practise and go still unpunished They shall as soon make me worship the Devil as believe it And I really believe that it would be no hard matter to make them who adhere to the Papacy both receive and serve him They would soon relish the Reasons of the Manicheens who said that there were two Principles the one good and the other bad or the Argument of those Indians who believed they ought to worship the Devil because he could do them hurt and that God being all good of himself could do them none and so it is not necessary to adore him This now looks very amazing but they who are so much in love with the Papacy would soon receive it if any Man of Sense would give a little colour to it and there were good Benefices to be hoped for by it which could not otherwise be obtained if they might have fine Churches and re-establish the fine Ceremonies of Numa Pompilius if their only care might be to divert the Eyes and Eares of the People with Musick and rare Shews as heretofore they did to those miserable Jews who brought their Children to Moloch and whilst they burned they played upon all sorts of Instruments and entertained them with the most delightful Musick that they might not hear the Cries of their poor Children Can we think it strange as things go that the Protestants are not converted There would be in my Opinion greater reason to wonder if they should embrace the Catholick Religion whilst the Pope should exercise this horrible Tyranny for I do maintain that there is no Man of Honour that hath any Modesty or Sense of Christianity that can digest this Article of the Almighty Power of the Pope if at least it hath not been riveted in him from his Childhood and he been brought up in this Opinion all his Life-time without ever making any Reflection upon it But for the Protestants we must never pretend to make them believe that the Popes are Heads of the universal Church established by Jesus Christ to govern it as it is governed there is no Man of Sense will ever be perswaded to believe this But it may be said that the great Truths which the Catholâ—ck Religion teaches give us so great an advantage over the Hereticks that they ought to make no difficulty of passing over such an Error as this to enter into the Communion of the Church For my part I am of Opinion that a Man's Conversion is a work supernatural and from the hand of God who filling the Heart of Man with Light and Courage makes him overcome Darkness and his natural Weakness and that a true Conversion is always accompanied with Zeal towards God and Charity towards our Neighbour This being supposed I maintain that they who are converted by these Principles do in effect embrace with their whole Heart the Catholick Truths but that their Charity and the Zeal towards God which animates them shall always make them resist and oppose to the utmost of their Power all Impostures and Falsities whatsoever that they shall chearfully lose their Estates and Lives to deliver the Church from so miserable a Slavery as the Papacy is It is a great unhappiness that the Protestants have separated themselves not from the Pope but from the Church and that they have invented Novelties to fortify their Schism which at