and solid grandeur of the holy See it self In this sense it is we shall speak of the Court of Rome in the present Treatise as so many great persons and Saints have already done by opposing themselves to their unjust pretensions without at all thinking they did thereby in the least violate the respect which they ow'd the Pope as Head of the Church to which they on the contrary believ'd these Opinions must needs be most disadvantageous And we have so much the more liberty to doe it now since the moderation of the present Incumbent speaks him very far from these ambitious thoughts Now amongst all these illegitimate Usurpations of the Court of Rome thus considered there has none of them proved more funest to Christian Princes the Church and even to Popes themselves then that by which some of them have been transported to domineer over Kings to make themselves their Superiours and Judges in the administration of their Kingdoms and by pretending of a right when they fansied it for the cause of Religion to depose them of their Empires and give their Estates to others or to abandon them to the first Usurper who had power to make himself Master It 's impossible to describe those horrid Confusions which this pretence of theirs hath brought forth in Italy and in Germany for so many Ages together the Warrs it has kindled the Bloud it has made to be spilt the Provinces it has rendred desolate the Cities it has ruin'd the Scandals and Disorders which it has filled the Church with But one of its worst effects is that it has render'd the holy See which should as well be the centre of the love of Catholicks as of the Unity of the Church odious both to Kings and People by making them to look upon the Vicar of Iesus Christ not as a common Father full of tenderness for all his Children but as a Temporal Prince that would trample all other Princes under his feet and render himself absolute Master of all the Kingdomes of the Earth This is one of the main causes which has made so many people revolt against the Church of Rome and the most usual pretence which they have taken to hinder many Christians from paying that observance to Popes which they are oblig'd to render them by confounding it with these odious excuses For having once anticipated the People with this erroneous opinion That one could not acknowledge in the Pope that real Authority which Iesus Christ has given him without owning that also which these Sycophants attribute to him over Temporals and States they have by an hateful Schism kept them from acknowledging the Pope as Head of the Church for fear lest they should be bound likewise to own him for their King and Master It concerns the Church therefore to take away this color from Schism which is the greatest of all mischiefs by separating the Spiritual power of the Sovereign Bishop as it has been instituted by Iesus Christ and acknowledg'd by all Catholicks from this false and exorbitant power which Ambition and Flattery would adde to it repugnant to the spirit of Iesus Christ and the Doctrine of the Apostles And therefore we must needs confess that the Zeal of the Parliaments of France for the maintenance of the Sovereignty of Kings against the enterprises of those who subverting the Order of God would have it to depend upon this Spiritual Jurisdiction is no less advantageous to the Church then to the State and that on the other part there is nothing more prejudicial to them both then that low and fleshly prudence of these Theologues who think to exalt the divine Grandeur of the prime Minister of the new Law which wholly consists in the love to eternal good things and in the despising of the things of this World by secular and temporal advantages which God did never annex to him or that seek to enlarge their fortunes by this pretended Zeal for the enlargement of the Authority of the Pope 'T is known to the whole World that the Iesuites have within these hundred years been the chief defenders of these ambitious pretences and that their Society has employ'd the most renown'd of its Writers to disseminate this Doctrine every-where It is this which has been taught by Iohn Mariana Gregorie de Valentia Alphonsus Salmeron Ludovicus Richome Louys Molina Robert Bellarmine Iohannes Osorius Carolus Scribanius Andrew Eudemon Iohannes Azor Robert Parsons Francis Suarez Gabriel Vasquez Leonardus Lessius Iacobus Gretserus Martinus Becanus Antonius Santarellus Vincentius Filiutius Stephen Bauny c. On the contrary it is well known what extraordinary care the Parliaments of Paris and the Universities of France have taken to repress the Authors of these pernicious Opinions the one by their Arrests and the other by their Censures It 's above an hundred years since that the Parliament of Paris gave a famous Arrest upon this Subject the 4 of December 1561. against a certain Bachelour in Divinity who had put it into his Thesis That it was in the Power of the Pope to excommunicate Kings to give away their Kingdoms and to absolve their Subjects of their Oath of Allegiance and Fidelity This Proposition was declar'd seditious the Bachelour being not to be found it was order'd that the Bedel of the Sorbon vested in a red Hood should disavow it before a President of the Court and the chief of the Faculty of Divinity and that during four years space there should no publick Disputation be permitted in the College where it was defended This whole affair is twice told us in the Bibliothec du Droit under the words Interdictions p. 4478. and Effigies p. 1110. And Bouchel who is the Author of this Bibliotheca in reciting of this History adds this Remark The plain truth is that within these fifty years past there is come a certain new Sect to be planted amongst us called by the name of Jesuites who maintain Propositions quite contrary to ours to the very ruine of the State The same Parliament testifies its zeal for the Interests of the King and Crown upon several other occasions as when it condemn'd to the fire the 8 of Iune 1610. the Book of the Iesuite Mariana intituled De Rege Regis institutione and that after the same manner Iū 26. 1614. it treated that of Suarez intitul'd Defensio Fidei Catholicae But there was never any thing more celebrious upon this subject then that which pass'd 1626. in the censure of Santarel This Iesuite had written a Book of Heresie Schism Apostasie c. printed at Rome 1625. permissu superiorum in which following the common sentiments of his Society he taught That the Pope might punish Kings and Princes with temporal pains depose and deprive them of their Kingdoms and States for the crime of Heresie and for other causes as when they were culpable of any fault if he find
to Excommunicate or deprive them of their Kingdoms What occasion had Iean d' Albret given that for all this was despoil'd of his Estate Really one cannot offer a greater injury either to the Church or Pope himself then this attributing of so odious a power to him And the Church will have reason to say to these preposterous defenders of her Interests as Iacob said to his Children Simeon and Levi upon the Sack of Sichem Turbâstis me odiosam fecistis me Chananaeis Pherezaeis habitatoribus terrae hujus You have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the Land Besides in celebrating the first Advent of the Son of God himself she testifies that all the Kings of the Earth and even the most fierce of Tyrants had no reason to have been jealous of the coming of this new King for that he who gives to his the Kingdom of Heaven ravishes not from Princes the Kingdoms of the Earth Non eripit mortalia Qui Regna dat coelestia But our Popes take it for an honour done them when men attribute to them praises quite contrary to what the Church gives Iesus Christ and Kings are in danger of their Empires since they can take from Princes both their States and Kingdoms But doubtless when they shall have consider'd how unfortunate these pretences have prov'd to them and how odious they still are they will easily themselves acknowledge the truth of these excellent words which the Advocate general Mons. du Mesnil has in those Memoirs of his upon the procedures of Rome against the Queen of Navarre inserted amongst the Liberties of the Gallican Church Whilest the Popes of Rome pursu'd the footsteps of Charity and Christian Humility confining their power to the Spiritual Government establish'd by God in his Gospel without arrogating to themselves a magisterial temporal or worldly Dominion so long they received universal reverence and sincere obedience from all men But no sooner did they or any of them exalt themselves by assuming an Authority not onely as Peers but Superiours to Kings but they became in danger of losing their own Authority and that too which they would have usurped from others and have created trouble both to the Kingdom of God and of his Church Certainly those Popes who shall but consider these Christian and pious Reasons will never suffer themselves to be surpris'd with the Flatteries of those about them and will understand that 't is not the Interest of the Holy See which these Sycophants look after but their particular profit Nor do they alwaies dissemble their low and unworthy pretences nor are they afraid sometimes to sooth the Pope as one would do the Turk or great Mogul by those profusions of mony which he spends on his Courtiers Let the Italians saies that Italian Carrerius lift up their heads above all Nations of the Earth for that singular grace and favour which God has done them in bestowing on them a spiritual Prince namely the Bishop of Rome who has chased great Kings and mighty Emperours from their Thrones to set others in their places to whom so many potent Kingdoms pay'd tribute so long as never any thing has been seen like it and who divides such riches amongst those of his Court as never any King or Emperour hath done before But these so lofty Elogies in the eyes of these base and interested spirits appear but Sacrilegious to those who truely honour the grandeur of the Spiritual Authority of the Pope It is the very same in the matter of Infallibility the politick Theologues thinking to procure a great advantage to the Pope by publishing this Doctrine never considering that on one side they put a very great obstacle to the re-uniting of Hereticks who are more scandaliz'd with this pretension then with all those Points of our Faith in which we disagree and on the other that by this Doctrine they make the Pope in danger to deceive himself and expose the Church to Schisms and Divisions For 't is this pretence of Infallibility which may induce Popes to neglect to take the legitimate and ordinary waies of deciding Points of Faith who by the consent even of Cardinal Bellarmine himself ought to assemble Councils and there onely regularly examine Controversies of Religion which they will hardly ever be brought to doe so long as they are persuaded that they are Infallible without obligation to any other forms Nor let them alledge how great an advantage it is the having an infallible Authority in the Church to which there is so easie an access as if the verity of things depended upon their commodiousness Were this so we must also conclude that Popes are impeccable too at least in the Government of the Church for who would question but that were likewise very commodious for hindring the Damnation of so many persons by these unlawful Dispensations which persuade them that what-ever the Pope permits is as truely lawful as if God himself had said it whereas really there is nothing more true then what an Ancient has affirm'd namely That the greatest part of Dispensations are nothing else but a more easie descent into Hell with the Pope's permission Facilis descensus ad inferos cum bona venia Papae But as this Impeccability would be exceedingly advantagious if indeed God had bestow'd it upon Popes so on the contrary there can nothing be more pernicious then the Flattery of those who goe about to attribute it to him since it the more imboldens them blindly to pursue their own Passions without fearing to offend God And this is what those Cardinals and Prelates chosen by Paul the III d for the Reformation of the Church affirm'd really to have succeeded by means of some Persons who would needs persuade some Popes that their Wills were a sufficient Rule for their Actions whence it follow'd that what they pleas'd was lawful and hence say they have as from a source and spring flow'd such an infinity of abuses and intestine maladies as have reduc'd the Church to such a condition as her recovery seems in a manner to be desperate We may affirm the same of Infallibility It would be an extraordinary Priviledge but the Scripture having assur'd us that Every man is a Lier unless some Authority not inferiour to it have exempted us from that Rule 't is a great unhappiness to believe one's self Infallible because there is nothing that we are more propense to then the falling into Errour by presuming we cannot erre And on the other side it may truly be said that the likeliest means of rendring Popes infallible were to persuade them that they are not so to the end a holy fear may alwaies preserve them in an humble and salutary diffidence of their own sense and incline them to a diligent research of those waies and expedients which God has established to assure them of his divine Truths Paris the 1. of February 1662. FINIS An ADVERTISEMENT upon the following
over Kings the other that his Infallibility in matters of Fact takes away all means from the Kings they please to depose to complain of so rigorous a Sentence For the first 't is an easie matter to convince all the world of it nor ought we to imagine it a Consequence held onely by those who profess themselves enemies to the Iesuites Doctrine and which the Iesuites disavow 't is a Consequence which they themselves derive from it which they every-where acknowledge must needs follow and which does so indeed naturally and of necessity For Popes as Iesuites themselves have learn'd us have so many waies decided that they have power to degrade Kings and dispose of their Kingdoms when-ever they judge it for the interest of Religion that if to be Catholick one is oblig'd to consider all that Popes say in their Chair that is by their Bulls as Decisions of infallible authority and Oracles pronounc'd even by Christ himself Kings their Ministers and Parliaments must either renounce the quality of Catholick or else tamely acknowledge that Kings are Sovereigns independent in respect of their own Subjects and other Princes but nothing so in regard of the Pope but that he has power to make them descend from their Throne and to resolve them into their simple Originals so as exercising a Royalty superiour to theirs it may be said of his Empire as an heathen Poet said of that of God Omne sub regno graviore regnum est All this is an infallible consequent of Infallibility as the Iesuites well prove For who can chuse but believe that Popes have the power to depose Kings if once he be persuaded that their Decisions are so many Articles of Faith when it shall be shew'd him that Gregory the VIIth has decided it in express terms in a Council held at Rome Anno 1067 according to Onuphrius Baronius and all the Iesuites Quòd Papae liceat Imperatores deponere quòd à Fidelitate iniquorum subditos potest absolvere Whence Lessius the Iesuite concludes supposing the Principle of Infallibility That this Doctrine is no problematick Doctrine but a constant Truth not to be deny'd without violation of our very Faith We must absolutely believe says he that this Doctrine viz. that the Pope may depose Kings is an undoubted truth and not such as we may believe what we please of but such an one as is intirely certain not to be contradicted without wounding our Faith And this I prove first Because these Propositions are defin'd in proper terms in the Roman Synod under Gregory the VIIth where it is affirm'd that the Pope may depose Emperours and absolve the Subjects of wicked Princes from their Oath of Allegiance and Fidelity Now a Definition made by a Pope in Council is matter of Faith This is clear now without mincing nor can it be more expresly declar'd that the power to depose Kings is a necessary consequent of Infallibility so as those Iesuites must needs be very impudent who shall after this dare to affirm that they are their Enemies who derive this sequel from their Doctrine The Iesuite Cardinal Bellarmine under the feign'd name of Sculkenius writing against Widrington proves in the same manner by this Gregorian Decree that the Pope's Superiority over Kings is an Article of Faith 'T is an Heresie saies he to affirm that the Pope as Pope and ex jure divino has not the power to depose Secular Princes of their States as oft as the publick good or some urgent necessity of the Church does require it I prove this Conclusion An Opinion becomes heretical when its contradictory is de Fide But it is de Fide that the Pope has power to depose Princes since it has been defin'd and concluded by Gregory the VIIth in a Roman Council where it saies expresly That the Pope may depose an Emperour Now who can deny this Conclusion that holds but the Principle which is That what has been defin'd and concluded by a Pope is de Fide Is not this Argument of the Cardinal invincible supposing the Maxime to be true By consequent then who can doubt but that according to the Iesuites opinion and the truth it self the power of deposing Kings is in the Pope a certain Consequence of his Infallibility The same Gregory the VIIth has so often decided the same Point that no man questions his pretence of making it an Article of Faith as may yet be seen in the Bull of the Deposition of the Emperor Henry the IVth made likewise in Council where addressing his speech to S. Peter and S. Paul he thus expostulates Now therefore exert and vindicate your power O great and most holy Princes of the Apostles that all the world may take notice and acknowledg that if you can bind and loose in Heaven you can also on Earth dispose of Empires of Kingdoms Principalities and Marquisates in summe of all mens goods and fortunes whatsoever by taking them away from those who deserve them not and by bestowing them on others For if you judge things Spiritual shall we believe you have not the power to judge of Temporal and Secular Let all the Kings and Princes of the Age learn what your grandeur is and your power and not dare to despise the Commandments of your Church and be sure to leave such prompt and lasting marks in the judgment which you exercise against Henry that his ruine be not attributed to the fate of arms or fortuitous accidents of War but to your sole and almighty power In consequence of this he denounc'd to the Emperor as from God that he should never win battel But if Popes are infallible according to the Iesuites in actions past 't is certain at least that they are not in those which are to come For never did Prince gain so many remaining Victor in more then 50 pitch'd Battels and having at the very first slain the person whom his Holiness had design'd to make Emperor in his place I could recount a number more of Passages relating to the same Pope where he argues for the same Doctrine as visibly founded in the Scripture and annex'd to the Papal dignity For 't is not imaginable that he should pretend onely this right over Emperors because the Popes had so much contributed to the re-establishment of the Western Empire On the contrary 't is perspicuous that his pretence was over all Kings and that it was built on that Supposition of his viz. that the power of the Keys contain'd in it the Temporal Superiority which made him set upon the Crown he sent to Rodulphus Usurper of the Empire this Latin Verse Petra dedit Petro Petrus Diadema Rodulpho To shew that he believ'd he had power to dispose of Kingdoms by a right pretended to be given S. Peter by Iesus Christ himself 'T is likewise on the same basis he threatned Alphonsus King of Arragon to stir up his Subjects against him if he gave him not speedy satisfaction concerning a certain
mere impertinent Fable without any foundation since the Spaniards having neither render'd nor given the Kingdom of Navarre to the race of Albret they could never appose any caution or condition either in rendring or bestowing it Thirdly The Spaniards themselves could never yet produce any Treaty of Alliance between the Kings of Arragon and those of Navarre where this Condition was appos'd though besides all this it be beyond the power of Kings to annex any such Condition since they are not so Masters of their Kingdoms as to transfer them to any others then those who are their legitimate Successors Fourthly In fine 't is plainly false that ever Iohn d' Albret broke any Alliance with Ferdinand but on the contrary Ferdinand it was who invaded Navarre in the month of Iuly Anno 1512 and who made himself master of Pampelona the capital City of that State before there were any French in Navarre which compell'd Iohn d' Albret to throw himself into the arms of Lewis the XIIth with whom he was before but in ill intelligence to endeavour to maintain himself against this unjust Usurper who four months before this Treaty of Iohn d' Albret with Lewis had obtain'd a Bull of Excommunication of the Pope against the King of Navarre as falsly representing that being joyn'd with the King of France excommunicated by the holy See he deny'd the English free passage to enter into Guienne It is therefore evident that it is onely this pretended Power which the Flatterers of the Pope have of late Ages attributed to him to dispossess Kings and make Donations of their Kingdoms to him that can obtain them which has cost our Kings the Kingdom of Navarre since Ferdinand had but this pretence onely to invade it and all that the Spaniards would add to it since was never so much as in their heads because it was out of all probability And it is still true that this right is annex'd by all those who defend it to this Infallibility We see likewise that ever since this Popes have alwaies favour'd the Usurpation of Navarre as a mark of the Power which they pretend to have for the deposing of Kings This is evident by their shunning as much as possible the qualifying our King with the Title of the King of Navarre as in the Bulls of Barberin's Legation 1625 wherein the King being but simply styl'd King of France it was ordain'd by Parliament that it should be declar'd by the Pope that the quality of the King of Navarre had been omitted by inadvertency in the said Bulls and that till that were rectified the Arrest of Verification should not be delivered and the Bulls continue without execution in France But what they could not then obtain by the wise resistence of the Parliament they have now found an Expedient to obtain by the credit which the Iesuites have at Court for finding they had there wrought so great an aversion against the Iansenists that there was nothing more desir'd then their condemnation they believ'd they could make it be purchased with the loss of the Quality of King of Navarre nor were they at all mistaken in their expectation For Pope Innocent the Xth address'd his Bull to the King by a Breve wherein he onely styles him King of France and all who lov'd the State saw with grief that they receiv'd this Breve so injurious to the King with open arms You see how well the Roman Court knows how to profit on occasions and take her advantage she never lets any escape which she does not manage with a singular address But this Breve will one day prove one of its most memorable examples since under colour of ruining the poor Iansenists she has open'd a gap to establish two of the most considerable points of her Grandeur and which have indeed been the most contested in France The one is That the Pope alone may decide Poins of Faith with an infallible Authority the other That he may give Kingdoms away at pleasure as Iulius the II d gave that of Navarre to the Spaniards By all these proofs 't is evident that the Superiority of Popes above Kings in Temporals is an inseparable Position of Infallibility as to the pretence of all those Theologues who are married to the Interest of the Court of Rome especially the Iesuites 'T is also clear that the subtilty of those who have made as if they would separate them hath so little basis that it were an unworthy and dangerous prevarication in those who are oblig'd to maintain the Supreme Authority of their Prince but to reduce the Right of Kings which is certain and indubitable to so shallow and trifling a defence So as the onely means of hindring the establishment of this pernicious Consequence is to stop that so dangerous a Principle and above all not to permit the Iesuites the impudence of making it an Article of Faith and the carrying it even beyond all sorts of bounds and to an Infallibility in Questions de facto which is in summe to have given the fatal blow to the ruine of the Royal Throne This is easie to prove For Popes being once establish'd superiour to Temporal Princes in Temporals as we have shew'd they cannot fail of obtaining if once we allow them infallible in Questions de jure what defence remains there to a Prince against the stratagems of this Power but the pretence of its being possibly miss-inform'd and that it was mistaken in the grounds on which it proceeded to despoil him of his State But what means is there of opposing that pretence against a person who shall be in possession of the same Infallibility with Iesus Christ in matter of Fact What Christian is there who should dare oppose to Iesus Christ that he is mistaken and what were there more easie for a Pope then to ruine this defence since for that he had onely to declare by a Bull that he has well examin'd the Prince's Cause and that he deserves to be Excommunicated and Depos'd to oblige all the World to believe that he did merit it indeed Nor let any pretend that 't is not in these kinds of Facts that Popes are infallible For both the Principles and Reasons of the Iesuites tend to it And the benefit of the Church which is the sole foundation of this Imagination will rather incline to believe that God is bound to make the Popes as infallible in affairs so important as the subversion of Kingdoms the consequences whereof are so terrible to Religion it self as in the judgments which they make whether there are or are not Errours in a particular Book which is of it self but of very little consequence Now if the Iesuites without any reason and from an humane apprehension and fear should except these Facts they would not in the least diminish of the pernicious subjects of their Doctrine because the spirits of those who are once imbu'd with their Opinions would easily break through these weak restraints in
affair As according to Cardinal Bellarmine he brav'd Philip the I st King of France to shew that he exempted none But nothing does so evidently discover that one cannot acknowledge the Pope to be infallible but that at the same moment we must acknowledge him likewise above Kings in Temporals as that famous Decision of Pope Boniface the VIIIth has done in the Bull Unam Sanctam approv'd by Leo the Xth in the Council of Lateran and the use which the favourers of the Roman Court make of this Bull to establish its pretensions There this Pope defines That both the one and the other Sword appertains to the Church and to the Pope That the Temporal Sword is subordinate to the Spiritual and the Temporal Authority to the Authority Spiritual That if this Spiritual power deviate from the right it must be judg'd by the Spiritual authority That this power was bestow'd on S. Peter and his Successors and That whoever resists this Subordination of Power resists Order in establishing two Principles like the Manichees Whence he concludes that it is necessary to Salvation that every humane power should submit it self to the Bishop of Rome Cardinal Bellarmine a Iesuite in his Book against Barclay concerning the Power of the Pope proves by this Bull that Kings are subject to the Pope in Temporals and this Doctrine is certain and most indubitable Now that it is saies he a thing constant and evident that the Sovereign Bishop may for just causes be Iudge of Temporals and sometimes depose Temporal Princes we prove by the Extravagant Unam Sanctam de majoritate obedientia which shews us that Sword is subordinate to Sword that is that the Temporal Authority is below the Spiritual and that if the Temporal neglect his duty it shall be judged by the Spiritual And for fear it should be objected that Clement the Vth seems to have revok'd this Bull by the Extravagant Meruit de privilegiis he prevents the Objection by saying that Clement the Vâ—h did not revoke the Bull of Pope Boniface but advertis'd onely that this Bull of Boniface had defin'd nothing new and had onely reviv'd the ancient obligation which men have to obey and submit themselves to the Apostolicall See in the manner he had before declar'd and which this Bull does observe that is to say as well in Temporal things as Spiritual Alexander Carrerius of Pavia in a Book intituled De potestate Primi Pontificis adversus impios Politicos Of the power of the Sovereign Bishop against the impious Politicians which is the name he gives to the French and particularly the Parliament proves by the same Bull that the Superiority over Kings in Temporals is an Article of Faith This Power of the Pope saies he over the Temporals of Kings is confirm'd by the testimony of Jeremiah See I have this day set thee over the Nations and Kingdoms to pull down and to destroy c. as 't is also decided by the Extravagant Unam Sanctam where 't is said that if the Temporal power deviate from the right it shall be judged by the Spiritual declaring that every humane creature is subject to the Bishop of Rome and that this is necessary to Salvation Therefore Boniface writ to Philip King of France in these terms Know that you are subordinate to us both in the Temporal and Spiritual and we do hold and declare them Hereticks who maintain the contrary For there are three marks whereby to distinguish matters of Faith The first is When the Decrees of a Synod are couched in these terms If any one affirm such or such a thing let him be accursed The second when it saies that those who maintain the contrary shall be Excommunicate ipso facto And the third when those of the contrary opinion are reputed and held for Hereticks In fine Cardinal Baronius having in a certain place mentioned the very Bull concludes that none do deny this Determination of Boniface unless such as are excluded from the Church Haec Bonifacius saies he cui assentiuntur omnes nisi qui ab Ecclesia excidit And very well argu'd it were if to be a member of the Catholick Church it were necessary to believe the Pope infallible since there is nothing more trifling and absurd then those Subterfuges which some Authors retire to to put themselves under covert from this Bull because they would fain support the Pope's Infallibility but dare not maintain his Temporal Sovereignty in France The chief of these is Doctour Duval who in his Treatise of the Power of the Pope avows that Boniface the Eighth did establish his Superiority over the Temporalty of Kings through the whole body of his Bull but saies that in all the Bulls there is nothing save the Conclusion which is of Faith and that the Conclusion of this in particular imports onely that every creature is subject to the Pope which is true saies he as it relates to Spirituals Certainly if the Authority of Kings had need of so pitiful a Reply one would conclude it built on a very weak foundation Nullas habet spes Troja si tales habet For what appearance of Reason is there in this learned Doctor 's Solution 1. How does he pretend we should believe that a Pope who makes a Bull onely to establish his Superiority over Temporals which is the thing contested and not over the Spirituals which no body does dispute and that he who speaks throughout his whole Bull of this Superiority in Temporals should in the last line form a Conclusion different from the Principles which he has establish'd and that we are onely to regard this last line 2. The word subesse indifferently signifying a subjection in Temporals as well as in Spirituals is it not clearly express'd and determin'd to Temporals by all that precedes it 3. How shall we ever comprehend what a Bull means but by the way it was then understood when it was made as well by those who oppos'd it as those who defended it and do not we know the troubles which then disturb'd all France and the Church caus'd by this pretence of the Pope maintain'd by his Partisans and contested by all the French 4. In fine has not Boniface himself explain'd his own words by another Bull shorter then this which he sent to King Philip in these terms Scire te volumus quòd in Spiritualibus in Temporalibus nobis subes aliud credentes Haereticos deputamus Whence Carrerius as we have already seen concludes well supposing the Pope infallible that those who disagree concerning the Pope's Superiority over the Temporals of Kings are Hereticks And the French of those times without amusing themselves with Monsieur Duval's Sophistry answered after another manner and sufficiently testified that the opinion of Infallibility was not so much as known in France See an Act of the whole Kingdom against these Bulls of Boniface VIIIth as 't is inserted in the first Tome of the Liberties of the Gallican Church
Of You Sir our most Noble Lord by the Grace of God King of France the people of Your Kingdom supplicate and desire because it behoves them so to doe that You preserve the Sovereign Freedom of your Kingdom which is that You own and acknowledge no Sovereign on the Earth over Your Temporals but God alone and that You give all the World to understand that Pope Boniface does manifestly erre and commit a most notorious mortal sin in sending You word by his Letters and Bulls that himself was Sovereign of Your Temporals c. and those who should believe the contrary he esteem'd as Hereticks Also that You cause to be declared that we are bound to hold the Pope himself an Heretick and not You good King and all the liege people of Your Kingdom who have ever believed and do believe the contrary The same Protestation is to be seen in several Acts inserted in that Collection which Mons. du Puy has made of the difference between King Philip the Fair and Pope Boniface where you 'l see how Pope Boniface's Bulls were then explain'd and what was the opinion of France touching Infallibility 'T is in vain to strive to make any other replies to these kind of Popes Decrees then such as the French of that Age did before us For as there 's nothing to which the Court of Rome aspires with greater passion then to this Temporal Empire so neither is there any thing which the Popes have establish'd with so much industry Cardinal Bellarmine summs up no less then 18 since Gregory the VIIth to our times who manifestly attributed to themselves this right as they call'd it of deposing Kings and chastising them temporally even to the privation of their States viz. Victor the III d Urban the II d Paschal the II d Gelasius the II d Calixtus the II d Alexander the III d Innocentius the III d Honorius the III d Gregory the IXth Innocent the IVth Boniface the VIIIth Clement the VIth Paul the II d Iulius the II d Paeul the III d Pius the Vth Gregory the XIIIth and Sixtus the Vth He counts to 16 or 17 Kings and Emperours against whom Popes have pretended this right of Sovereignty as a debt due to them amongst which there are 5 French Kings Philip the I st Philip the Fair Lewis the XIIth Henry the III d and Henry the IVth Baronius mentions also the Excommunication of a world of Germans who are not yet well agreed concerning the Pope's Power by which it appears that they alwaies pretended to make it an Heresie when at any time they were the strongest party Nor is there any thing more frequent in these Bulls then their menacing Kings and Princes to deprive them of their States in case of Disobedience Which universally betraies that Passion which the Court of Rome has to infuse this belief into the minds of the People But if one could forget those other enterprises of Rome against our Kings which are founded upon this pretented Superiority as this Superiority is upon Infallibility since France has so universally hindred their effects yet we cannot but remember that which made us lose Navarre because the wound is yet bleeding Ferdinand had no other pretext to swallow it up from Iohn d' Albret Great-Grandfather to Henry the Great besides a Bull which he obtain'd of Iulius the II d against the King and Queen of Navarre importing Privation of their Kingdom for having assisted Lewis the XIIth whom it call'd Schismatick and as having denied passage to the Army which Ferdinand King of Arragon would have sent into France to assist the King of England in the conquest of Guienne I know very well that Cardinal du Perron to render this Doctrine of the Power of Popes over the Temporals of Kings less odious to the French tells us that the real cause of the loss of the Kingdom of Navarre was the breach of the Alliance which the King of Navarre had with Ferdinand King of Arragon which Ferdinand pretended to have been establish'd on condition that if the Kings of Navarre should violate it the Kingdom of Navarre should again revert to the Spaniards who had render'd it by deed in Writing to the race of Albret and that Pope Iulius's Excommunication was neither the true Cause nor real Pretence but a certain tail of a Pretence which though Ferdinand had made no use of he had notwithstanding pretended that the Kingdom of Navarre appertain'd to him and consequently possess'd it But I know as well too that there is nothing worse founded then this answer as Mons. du Puy has made appear by most invincible proofs in his Treatise of the Right of the King to the Kingdom of Navarre For he does there prove by the Spanish Historians themselves that Ferdinand during the Usurpation and whiles he liv'd had onely the Title by the Pope's Excommunication to justifie his Arms. He shews how Ferdinand having swallow'd up this Kingdom 1512 and being press'd by the King of Navarre 1513 to doe him reason defended his possession by no other right but by that of the Excommunication and that in the two most authentick Acts on this subject one whereof is the Will and Testament of Ferdinand by which he bequeaths the Kingdom of Navarre to his Daughter Iane Queen of Castile and the other of the Union of that Kingdom to that of Castile it is expresly signified that Iohn d' Albret and Catharine his Wife had been depriv'd of it by the Pope for having adher'd to the Schism of the French Kings against Pope Iulius the II d and that the Pope had given him this Kingdom to dispose of as he pleas'd I omit the other proofs Which sufficiently shews that the Pope's Bull was no tail of Pretext but indeed the onely and sole Pretence of that unjust Usurpation which continues to this very day In the second place there is nothing more absurd then to say that the Spaniards had never rendred the Kingdom of Navarre to the race of Albret but with this written Caution That if their Successors should violate the Alliance the Kingdom should revert to the Spaniards For Iean d' Albret on whom was the Usurpation was the first of Albret's race who possess'd the Kingdom How then could it be said that the Spaniards had render'd it to Albret's race who before never enjoy'd it And supposing we did take the word render'd for given it is no less false that the Spaniards were they of Arragon or Castile gave this Kingdom to the race of Albret who in no sort held it of the Spaniards but by the Marriage of Catharine who succeeded King Francis Phoebus his Brother and Francis Phoebus to Elianor his Grandmother wife of Gastion de Foix and sole superviving Daughter of Blanch Queen of Navarre which Lady had espous'd Iohn King of Arragon the Father of Ferdinand who being born of another Venter had nothing to doe with Navarre So as this pretended Caution can be no other then a
ought to prefer Religion before their lives their goods and whatever else they injoy if in that they chance to be prepossess'd by an errour of dangerous consequence to the Civil state they maintain and defend it to the utmost Nulla res multitudinem efficaciùs regit quà m Superstitio The League the Guelphs and Gibelines are sanguinary examples of it so as there is not a more mistaken and wicked policy then that of those who minding onely the present Age and their own interest suffer these Opinions to root themselves without considering that it is infinitely more easie to hinder their establishment then to stop their accurs'd effects when once they are confirm'd The next Pretence is to make the world believe that there is no such great reason to apprehend even the Opinion it self of the Pope's Sovereignty over the Temporals of Kings because say they Popes can exercise in so few Instances that they seldom happen as in case a Prince fall into a formal Apostasie from the Faith and the Church to embrace a false Religion But 't is in vain these Authors endeavour to excuse this pernicious Doctrine by this false Colour since those whom they would defend loudly disavow them as not induring that any should prescribe such narrow bounds to this Temporal Monarchy On the contrary there is nothing with these Divines so ordinary as the Occasions for which they give the Pope this right to depose Kings so as there is not one in Europe whom they may not justly depose according to their Maximes had they but as much power in effect as they conceive themselves to have in right Is there any thing more frequent then not to pursue the Pope's intentions in making Warre or Peace It suffices the Pope according to the Iesuites to dispossess a King whenever he shall conceive Peace or Warre necessary for Religion This is what Bellarmine teaches in express terms in his Book against Barclay cap. 19. And what saies Barclay if the Emperour refuse to draw his sword at the command of the Pope or draw it against his will I answer saies Bellarmine that if the Emperour will not draw his sword at the command of the Pope or draw it against his will and it shall be requisite for the Spiritual weal he shall force him to doe it by the spiritual Sword that is by his Censures to draw the material Sword or to sheath it again and if the Emperour be not concern'd with these Censures he shall absolve his Subjects from their obedience the necessity of the Church so requiring and even take away his Empire from him 'T is thus he shall make him know that the Sword is subordinate to the Sword according to the Bull Unam sanctam and that they both belong to the Church though not after the same manner We see likewise in Raynaldus Continuator of Baronius a famous example of this manner of proceeding in Popes For he reports Anno 1458. n. 36. That Calixtus the III d desiring to hinder the Warre 'twixt the King of Navarre and the Prince de Viana Heir of that Kingdom sent them a Legate with order if he could not reconcile them to Peace to dispose them as from the Pope to lay down their arms by menacing them with an Anathema and arming their neighbour Kings against him that should disobey Is not this to subject Kings in the noblest right of their Crowns which is to conclude Peace or Warre as themselves think fit Nor is there any thing more ordinary with the most Catholick Princes then to have Alliances with Princes either Hereticks or Infidels The example of Iohn d' Albret depos'd from the Kingdom of Navarre by Iulius the II d declares again that this pretence is sufficient for a Pope to depose Kings since this King had not been sold but on pretence of an Alliance which he was accus'd to have contracted with Lewis the XIIth whom this Pope pretended to be a Schismatick because he was in warre with him for Temporal interests 'T is a thing of no great consequence to molest a few Monks in the possession of their Privileges yet was that enough to depose a King and deprive him of his State For so it is that Bellarmine explicates the Privilege of S. Medard of Soissons falsly-attributed to S. Gregory and conceiv'd in these terms If either King Prelate Iudge or other Person whatsoever shall violate these Decrees of our Authority Apostolical or but contradict disquiet or trouble the Friers or shall ordain any thing contrary hereunto let him be depriv'd of his Dignity of whatsoever quality he be separated from the Communion of the Faithful and condemn'd to eternal pains in the judgement of God Though there was never any thing more false then this Privilege as all knowing persons understood and albeit it had been true one might say that it only contain'd a menate of God's displeasure very frequent in those Ages and not a severe sentence of downright Deposition yet did this serve the Iesuites turn in favour of Popes to establish them a right of dispossessing Princes and Iudges upon like occasions and they extort this very interpretation from Gregory the VIIth who takes in the same sense certain expressions somewhat resembling them of this Saint concerning the Hospital of Autun The interpretation of the words of S. Gregory saies Bellarmine de Potest Roman Pontif. in Temp. c. 40. is not mine but of another Gregory equal in Dignity and not much inferiour for Sanctity For S. Gregory VIIth in his Epistle to the Bishop of Mets which is the 21 of the 8 Book cites this place of S. Gregory to shew that the Emperour Henry was justly depos'd S. Gregory saies he declares that Kings are fallen from their dignity when they have the boldness to violate the Decrees of the Apostolical See writing in these terms to an Abbot nam'd Senator Si quis verò Regum c. So although one may and with great reason destroy that foundation which is alledg'd from S. Gregory yet one cannot doe it against the testimony of Gregory the VIIth who was no whitless infallible then he if all Popes be infallible and by consequent it must be acknowledg'd that by the Doctrine of Infallibility Popes have right to pronounce Kings to be fallen from their Dignity as often as they molest Monks and Religious men in the injoyment of the Privileges that have been given them by the holy See à fortiori therefore may it suffice to dispossess Chancellors Presidents Councellors and other Magistrates when they have given any judgment or sentence prejudicial to their Privileges But Innocent the III d in the chapter Novit de judiciis has open'd a door that leaves no considerable errour of Princes for which the Pope may not depose them at least if they persist in them For he pretends that granting he had no right to meddle in Secular affairs yet he was to judge of all such wherein there might be any mixture of
sin Ratione peccati cujus ad nos pertinet saies this Pope sine dubitatione censura quam in quemlibet exercere possumus debemus And as in all contests there is commonly some sin on the one side or the other especially when there is Warre there being none of either part just according to the Divines so by this means the Pope becomes sovereign Arbiter of all the Secular differences of Christian Princes Now menaces of Deposition and Privation of all Dignity alwaies march with the judiciary Sentences of Popes against those who do not obey them and so unless Kings were impeccable or blindly resolv'd to obey whatever the Roman Court shall ordain them it is hard if they ever want a pretext to depose a King when they have a mind to undertake and have strength enough to execute it It must then be acknowledg'd that if once Infallibility be establish'd the Pope will alwaies find reasons enough to dispossess a Prince which if he do not put in practice it must be when he wants either will or power But were it reasonable that Kings who are establish'd by God should suffer Maximes to be introduced according to which the acknowledgment of them for Kings by their subjects should depend upon the will of another Does not Christian Prudence and Policy oblige them to banish from their States all the seeds of Division and trouble and not onely to consider the present but enlarge their vigilance for the time to come It is true that by the Grace of God he who now sits on S. Peter's Chair is so wise and moderate that we can expect from him nothing save actions of goodness and sweetness towards all Christian Princes but we have no assurance that it will alwaies be so and the past examples shew us sufficiently how easily things change at the Courts of Princes in a little time which changeing so often their Princes change also their Interests with them I will onely recite what I find recorded in the History of King Henry the Great so judiciously written by my Lord Bishop of Rhodes This Prelate remarks that the League which took birth from the time of Henry the III d and which with reason he styles A powerful Faction which thought to introduce the Spanish dominion in France and which strove to subvert the order of the Succession of the Royal Family under the most specious pretence in the world viz. the maintenance of Religion would needs at first sustain it self by the authority of the holy See which they carried to Rome and presented to Pope Gregory the XIIIth to obtain his approbation but he never would consent to it but as long as he liv'd did altogether disavow it Had Henry the III d any reason for all this to be confident that Rome would never joyn with these Factious persons who desir'd nothing more then to dethrone him themselves If he did believe it he was strangely abus'd For the same Bishop acknowledges that Gregory the XIIIth was no sooner dead but Sixtus Quintus who succeeded him approv'd of the League and fulminated terrible Bulls against the King of Navarre and the Prince of Conde declaring them Hereticks and Apostates c. and as such obnoxious to the Censures of the Church and the pains denounc'd in the Canons depriv'd both them and their Descendents of all lands and dignities rendred them incapable to succeed in any Principality whatsoever especially that of the Kingdom of France absolving their Subjects from their Oath of Allegiance and forbidding them to obey them Notwithstanding this Prelate notes that Sixtus the Vth was shortly after displeas'd with the League and could never be brought to furnish any thing towards the expence of the War which plainly abortiv'd the greatest part of their enterprises But Urban the VIIth holding the Seat but 13 daies after Sixtus Gregory the XIVth succeeded him who being of a vehement spirit and by inclination a Spaniard ardently embraced the party of the League prodigiously lavishing the Treasures which Sixtus Quintus had amass'd to levy an army of twelve thousand men which he put under command of Count Hercules Sfondrati his Nephew and accompany'd it with a Monitory or Bull of Excommunication against the Prelates who follow'd Henry the Great which he sent by Marcellino Landriano his Nuntio with a world of mony to be distributed to the Sixteen of Paris and amongst the Heads of the Caballs in every great City To which this Bishop addes That the Parliament of Tours that is to say that party of the Parliament of Paris which was at Tours having receiv'd intelligence of the Monitory caus'd it to be torn in pieces by the hand of the common Hang-man and decree'd seisure of body against the Nuntio and that on the contrary those of Paris annull'd this Arrest as being given saies he by people without authority ordaining that they should obey his Holiness and his Nuntio These Examples produc'd by a famous Bishop and one whom we cannot doubt to have been most affectionate to the holy See makes us judge that a Wise Politician will never neglect betimes to suppress these strange Opinions which both the Parliament and Sorbon have so often pronounc'd so pernicious to States as tending to the subversion of Sovereign Powers ordain'd and establish'd by God and to the stirring up of Subjects against their Princes under pretext that the present state of the Court of Rome would appear very far from such like enterprises It belongs also to the wisedom of a King so illuminated as ours is and affection'd to the prosperity of this Kingdom not to confine his cares within such narrow limits as the present Age. His own so wonderful Birth and that of a Dauphin which God has so early bless'd his Marriage with should make him hope that his Race which is that of S. Lewis shall reign to the end of the World over this great Monarchy 't is this which yet obliges him farther to extend the thoughts of his Royal providence beyond the bounds of common prudence to prevent the source of those evils which may possibly happen in the Ages long to come and to permit nothing which may one day shake a Throne upon which all his Descendents ought to sit hereafter And truely it were highly necessary that great Kings should labour for themselves and their Successors to establish their Authority since they have to doe with the most crafty and able Politicians in the world who perpetually watch all occasions of more and more amplifying that of their Master who with infinite diligence manage the least occasions of advancing them who take for well-grounded all that escapes and is let pass changing as soon Favours into Right who are not repuls'd at every resistence which sometimes opposes their undertakings but giving place for a while are by the next opportunity ready to make fresh assaults which often succeeds either by change of some Minister of State or the humour of our Nation whose vigour being
was his unworthy Present repay'd But the Abettors of the Court of Rome believe with great reason that they have however gain'd a main Point that there has been nothing positively done against a Work presented to the whole Clergy Where the Doctrine of the authority of a Council above a Pope which is the prime foundation of the Liberties of the Gallican Church and the first Article of the Pragmatick Sanction is every-where styl'd Heretical and Schismatical though it has been decided for a Catholick Truth by no less then two General Councils Where the Council of Basil so rever'd of all France is rent and torn the most outragiously in the world and that in a time when Popes have declar'd it for Oecumenical Where a trifling Scribbler imperiously presumes to decide a difference upon which the Church would never yet pronounce making those to pass for Anti-popes who possess'd the Seat in Avignon during the Schism who are yet the onely ones which France has acknowledg'd though God himself seems to have been willing that this Question should have remain'd undecided since he has permitted very holy Persons to maintain the parties of both these Popes Saint Catharine that of Urban and S. Peter of Luxemburg that of Clement from whom he receiv'd even his Cardinal's Hat as S. Vincent Ferrier who also adhered to the Avignon Popes Where by an abominable Lie they impute to Charles the Seventh that he knew the Gallican Church had made a detestable Schism by pronouncing an impious Sentence in behalf of Clement the VIIth against Urban the VIth Where the Pragmatical Sanction which was contriv'd at Bourges following the Decrees of the Council of Basil by the French Bishops which King Charles the VIIth had assembled there with the Princes Lords and great Persons of the Kingdom of all degrees and qualities is unworthily styl'd the Opprobrium of the King because it declares the Pope inferiour to a Council many waies limits his power and re-establisheth Canonical Elections Where the Mandate de Providendo Expectative graces Reservations Regresses and other like Abuses so justly condemn'd by the Council of Basil and by the whole French Church are maintain'd as legitimate Rights from this strange pretence of a Bull of Eugenius the IVth That the Church of Rome does what she pleases with all Church-Dignities without wrong to any man because she may alledge this word of the Holy Gospel Friend I doe thee no wrong is it not lawful for me to doe what I will with mine own and that the same Pope writing to Alphonsus King of Portugal saies That the free disposition of all Churches appertains to the Apostolical See and that the Popes dispose of them as best they like to which even Kings and Princes submit themselves Where the most Sacred Canons of the Church are so subdued to the Pope's will that he makes a Pope writing to a King of France to say That 't is a ridiculous thing to alledge them to him or demand of him their observation as if he knew nothing of them whereas if he acted aganst the Canons we are not to believe that 't was done out of ignorance but because it pleases him to have it so That he is so far Master that according to his pleasure he might not onely interpret suspend and mitigate them but alter and abolish them likewise as pleased his fansy The whole Book is stuffed with like excesses and greater then these too notwithstanding the fautors of these pernieious Opinions have this advantage that no body having complain'd of them they will one day take this silence for a tacit Approbation beside the gain which they receive when they who would be learned in the Church-History studying it in these Books shall at the same time suck in all these dangerous Maxims Nor have they less perverted the other source of Ecclesiastical Science to wit the study of the Councils The last Collector of them Binnius being but a small Copier of Baronius Bellarmine and Suarez who has stuffed his Notes with all that he thought proper to inspire these new Opinions And what is altogether prodigious is that whereas the King of Spain has never permitted that any man should print in his Dominions any passage of Baronius's Annals prejudicial to his pretences they have in the Louvre it self printed the Collection of the Councils of Binnius and that the Iesuites who have ever had all the government of this Royal Press have left there in the life of Boniface the VIIIth these outragious words against all France Philippum pulchrum Galliae Regem justè excommunicavit This Pope did justly excommunicate Philip the Fair King of France As much as to say that all France was Schismatical in that Age for opposing as she did the Excommunication as judging it very unjust and appealing to the future Council and that she yet continues so for having never since chang'd her opinion You see in the mean time what the Iesuites think fit to print in the King's house under his own nose and at his charges that so they may give the Enemies of France the advantage to reproach her for owning in this period the justice of an Excommunication of one of her Kings against which she has heretofore so vigorously opposed herself The Abridgment of the Councils by Coriolanus printed at Paris and revised by a Doctor of the Faculty is yet in some sort worse all the contrary Maxims to the Liberty of the Gallican Church being set at the Head of the Book as if they were so many Catholick Opinions Nor is there any thing better to be hop'd for from that new Edition of the Councils which they are undertaking now at Paris if the Iesuites continue Masters seeing we find well enough by the Plan which Father L' Abbé has caus'd to be printed that besides all Binnius's Notes if any thing be added it shall be rather more and more to ruine the Liberties of the Gallican Church then to defend them and in effect we see that whereas in Binnius the Council of Basil is call'd Concilium Oecumenicum ex parte reprobatum a General Council in part reprov'd Father L' Abbé in his new project totally suppresses this quality of Oecumenick by simply calling it Basileense Concilium though he be exceedingly exact in giving the title of Oecumenick to all the other General Councils and even to those also which as yet France has never acknowledg'd for such as that of Florence for instance which he styles Florentinum Oecumenicum sive Universale Concilium and that of Lateran under Iulius the II d and Leo the Xth which he calls Lateranense quintum Oecumenicum seu Universale decimumseptimum You see how little they respect the judgment of the Gallican Church degrading the Councils which our Ancestors have ever had in such singular veneration as that of Basil and magnifying those which our Fathers would never receive for Oecumenical as that of Florence concerning which the