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
every thing without whom no man can have neither life motion nor being such a King I say hath no need of a Vicar-General for the Spiritual Government of the Church because he is present in all places no more than an Husband needs a Vicar for his Wife or a living Father for his Children and that he himself assureth us that where two or three are gathered together in his name there will he be in the midst of them If he hath a Vicar-General he can be no other than the Holy Ghost We also see that when he was upon the point of leaving his poor Disciples who were afflicted by reason of his approaching departure from them he tells them not I will leave you the Pope to guide and govern you which had been but a poor consolation But I will send you the Comforter who shall lead you in all truth And if we consider in what the administration of this Spiritual Kingdom doth consist we shall clearly see that no one mortal man can be the Vicar-General of it Can one only man preach the Gospel and administer the Sacraments all the world over They tell you that he will make it be done by others would to God the Popes would do so but these Delegated Preachers would be thus the Popes Vicars who pretends to be the Vicar of Jesus Christ and sometimes of St. Peter which cannot be according to all the Canonists who maintain that one Vicar cannot make another besides that the Ecclesiastical Ministry properly speaking cannot be subdelegated to Vicars for whosoever discharges it ought always to perform it in Preaching or Exâ—rcising the other Episcopal Functions in the name of Jesus Christ and not in the name of any creature and a man must be a fool or a seducer to do otherwise A meer man as the Pope is can he fill the souls of men with peace and joy in the Holy Ghost which is the Kingdom of Jesus Christ Can he defâ—nd the Church against all its enemies visible and invisible Can he give the Crown of Righteousness to those who shall be victorious and faithful to God to the death Can he raise them up again These are Acts of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ over his Church What relation hath the Dominion of the Pope to that of Jesus Christ What resemblance between light and darkness between Jesus Christ and Belial Thus it is evident that it is without any foundation that the Bishops of Rome boast of being Vicars of Jesus Christ thâ—y are no more so then the meanest Priest of the Church and it was with reason that the Council of Basil maintained to them that they were not Vicars of Jesus Christ but of the Church as every Curate is in his Parish Pontifex Vicarius Ecclesiae non Christi Nevertheless they maintain that St. Peter had this Employ of Universal Vicar that he was Head of the Apostles and of the whole Church Bishop of Bishops Soveraign both of Spirituality and Temporality Monarch of the Church and of the World. In a word that he had all the Prerogatives that the Popes at this present time enjoy in quality of Successors of St. Peter And that as I have said without being able to produce so much as one word of the Creation and Institution of this Charge so important to the Church if you will believe them nor of the Rights of this Charge nor of the Succession nor of the manner of the Election nor how so marvellous a Charge ought to be Exercised nor of the respect and obedience due to this Vicar nor of the use of his Office. They affirm boldly that St. Peter was at Rome that he was Bishop there That he founded that Church That he died there and left a Successor who was called Clement or Linus or Anacletus of which things tho they make the Salvation of all men to depend upon them they are not able to prove one tittle And they do affirm that this Successor entered into the full possession of all the Priviledges of St. Peter to which all the Bishops of that City have ever since equally succeeded both good and bad unto the present Pope Innocent the Eleventh It must be readily acknowledged that these Gentlemen must have very penetrating understandings to make these discoveries from the Gospel for it is certain that they are wholly imperceptible there I have sometimes read it without ever finding any thing that was at all like it and I think I saw clearly that St. Peter never knew he had this Authority but that on the contrary he believed that no Christian whatever much less a Bishop ought to have it in the Church nor did the other Aâ—ostles know it any more than he for somewhat of it would then appear and they who protest they have made known to us the whole will of God would have been extreamly to blame not only to have declared nothing of it to us but also to have always spoken and acted with their Soveraign Head and Master as with an Equal And St. Paul would have lost all manner of respect for him when he so warmly reproved him It seems probable also that our Saviour was obliged to have given them notice of it for naturally they could not know it and the Modesty Charity and Humility of St. Peter might have hindred him from declaring and exercising this Empire over them yet it is certain that there is nothing like this to be found Nevertheless this doth not hinder but that the Pope and Cardinals whose eyes their own interest opens as it blinds other peoples have in their own opinions found very strong proofs of it in the New Testament They say for example that our Saviour changed only St. Peter's name the reason as you see is without reply for it follows very necessarily from thence that St. Peter was the Head and King of the Church But unluckily he also changed the names of the Children of Zebedee They say also that he is sometimes named the first but if he be not so always this will signifie nothing to them but tho he had been always so this would not prove that he had authority over the others as the Pope hath over the other Bishops Amongst the Presidents the first hath no power over the others nor amongst the Electors of the Empire the Elector of Mentz who hath the first place hath no authority over the other Electors and so in all Societies the Primacy carries no dominion along with it But besides if that reason should take place the Holy Virgin who is sometimes named the last in Scripture would be greatly degraded from the place that belongs to her If St. Peter were always named the first that might have been given to his Age as the Fathers say and in truth we ought to attribute it to this that our Saviour spoke so often to him as well as to the fervency of his zeal which as we ought to admire and commend so also may
Subjectionalis Obedientiae And he maintains with good reason in another place Si per possibile Treverinus Archiepiscopus per Ecclesiam Congregatam pro Praeside Capite Eligeretur Ille proprie plus Successor esset Beati Petri in Principatu quam Romanus Episcopus That if it were possible that the Arch Bishop of Treves could be chosen Head of the Church by a General Council he would be a more lawful Successor of St. Peter than the Bishop of Rome which shews that in his time no Council had declared the Bishop of Rome as such Besides these words if it were possible shew that he belioved not that the Church could dispose of such a thing Gerson was also of this Opinion for he acknowledgeth very ingeniously that the Papal Authority cannot be conferred by the Church Papalis Authoritas si non a Deo esset immediate instituta a tota Ecclesia institui non poterat If the Papal Authority were not from God immediately it could not be instituted by the whole Church And though it were true that the Church had established it as Pope Innocent the Third pretends when he says Ecclesia non nupsit vacua sed Dotem mihi tribuit absque pretio pretiâ—sam spiritualium plenitudinem latitudinem temporalium illius me constituit vicarium qui habet in vestimento suo scriptum Rex Regum Dominus Dominantium The Church hath not married me without a Fortune but hath given me the invaluable dowry of God the fulness of Spirituals and the latitude of Temporals hath made me the Vicar of him who hath written on his garment King of Kings and Lord of Lords Although that I say were true it would not be less necessary to abolish this power which is the cause of so many disorders because the Church in those days might have created it for the good of the Church as she then thought And having found out that it is to her ruine she ought to destroy it for the Chair of Peter is for the Church and not the Church for the Chair of Peter Petri Cathedra propter Ecclesiam non Ecclesia propter Petri Cathedram Quod propter Charitatem fit non debet contra Charitatem Militare And since that our Faith according to Thomas Aquinas ought to be founded upon the Word of God only and not upon the Eshablishments of the Church as he says Fides nostra innititur Revelationibus Prophetis Apostolis Factis Ecclesia non statuit nisi de non necessariis ad Salutem According to this Truth we are not obliged to believe the Extravagant of Pope Boniface who says That it is necessary to Salvation to submit to the Pope And if the Church according to these People dared to change the Aristocratical Government instituted by Jesus Christ under which the Kingdom of God spread it self so far Piety flourished Idolatry was confounded shall it not be allowable for the Church and for Princes who are its natural Protectors to redeem it out of that Slavery into which the Enemy of Mankind hath reduced it to its first Purity and Simplicity Methinks if Men had any sense of Religion they ought to sigh continually for the deplorable condition of the Church and of the Greeks and Protestants whom we have cast headlong into the Evil they now labour under Some people will have it That because the Greek Patriarchs among themselves hold that Place which the Council of Nice and the Emperor Constantine gave to all Patriarchs he of Rome who had the first Place ought still to keep it and as in Place he was the first Bishop and the only Patriarch in the West he ought still to enjoy these Prerogatives But first of all none of the Greek Patriarchs unless it were that John of Constantinople against whom St. Gregory wrote so vehemently ever pretended to bear Rule over the other Bishops nor over the Church much less over Christian Princes as the Popes do and the Patriarch of Rome for above Three Hundred Years after his Institution never attempted it Secondly The Place which the Bishop of Rome held was Propter Principalitatem Vrbis in regard of the Dignity of the City which now hath no weight at all Rome being no longer the Seat of the Empire but the Sink and Common-shore of all filthy Iniquity a Den of Thieves and a Nest of Satan Nido di Satanazzo and the very Habitation of Sloth Laziness and Beggary Paris or London do at this time deserve this Honour a thousand times better Besides it was in a time when there were but very few Christians in the West These great States were not yet converted to the Faith France Germany Poland part of Spain and all the Northern Countries knew not what Christianity was so that one Patriarch might more easily have the inspection of this small number of Christians who resorted also to Rome for their civil Affairs as to the capital City where the Emperor resided How are they now able to govern all the Churches they who cannot govern that at Rome and which is worse that trouble not their Heads about it Add to this a fourth Reason which is That in those days they were not Temporal Princes as they are become since and had not innumerable Legions of Monks and Beneficiaries at their command as now they have which renders this Power the most formidable of any upon Earth among the Catholicks If because Rome had heretofore the first Place for the Spirituality before other Cities she should pretend still to have it it will thence follow that she hath it for the Temporality over these same Cities since the Spiritual Authority of this City as I have already proved was founded upon the Temporal and Civil which she enjoyed as the Seat of the Empire and so in pretending to the Regency of Religion in France Flanders and other Catholick Countries they pretend also to have a Right of treating these States as they please and they have effectually made them their Subjects and Tributaries even to the disposing 〈◊〉 the Crowns of Kings as their fancy leads them There are others who believe they have hit on the right when they say that the Pope is Primus inter Pares and that so he is the first of all Bishops But I ask by what Authority It is true he was so among the Patriarchs whilst that Rome as I have said already was the Seat of the Empire but now I maintain that he is Vltimus inter Pares and unworthy of the Name of either Priest or Bishop being the Tyrant of the Church and of Christian Princes and a Temporal Prince himself Were he not a Temporal Prince all he could lawfully pretend to would be to be the first Bishop of Italy I know it will be said That I ask too much to obtain any thing and I know that it will be neither better nor worse but I will discharge my mind and tell the Truth God Almighty may raise up Princes
and to refresh my spirit with writing I have written for my self Haec mihi cecini Musis si nemo Alius Audierit I have sung these things to my self and the Muses tho no body else should hear them Sure and Honest Means TO CONVERT ALL HERETICKS CHAP. I. That the Papacy hath no Divine Title The vanity and nullity of those which it draws from the Gospel WHosoever shall read the New Testament will there find that Jesus Christ alone is established as Head of the Church and that it is not said of any other that she should be his Body or Believers his Members that belonging to none but Jesus Christ who is also the only Spouse of the Church which would be adulterous should she submit to another and this other could not be but an evil person and a reprobate since that in taking the quality of Spouse of the Church he must renounce that of Son of the Church and so could not have God for his Father according to the Maxim That he who hath not the Church for his Mother hath not God for his Father Now no one person can be the Head the Spouse and Son of the Church at the same time Nevertheless it is certain that the Popes do assume these Titles to themselves by a vanity which exceeds all folly and without being able to produce any reason for it Divine or Humane But let us see what they say to maintain their pretensions They say that among the Jews one man only viz. Aaron had the conduct of Divine Service and was Head of the Levites and that by consequence there ought to be in the Christian Church an Authority like unto this Established over the whole Church and that the Bishops of Rome perform the Functions of this charge Whereupon there are many things to be said First of all it was not difficult for Aaron to acquit himself of this in so little a State as Judea and in one only City of this State which was Jerusalem and in one only Tâ—mple of that City for it was not allowed to perform Divine Service nor to Sacrifice elsewhere whereas Christianity is at this time spread over the whole world and therefore one single person only cannot perform these Functions every where It is as if a man should say that because France is well governed by one King he might as well govern all the States of the habitable Earth and yet it would be much more easie for him to do it than for one Bishop to govern the whole Church because as it is well known the Ecclesiastical Ministry cannot inflict Corporal punishments upon Delinquents as the Civil Government may and does Besides Aaron was no way the Figure of the Bishops of Rome for then the Type would have been more excellent than the Original but he was the Figure of our Great and Soveraign High Priest Jesus Christ. Furthermore Aaron was not the Monarch of the Levites but as the Doge is at Venice for according to all the Talmudists he was subject to the Jurisdiction of the Great Sanhedrim and to their Censure whereas the Popes pretend to be not only the Monarchs of the whole Earth but particularly of all the Clergy And besides all this there was an express institution of God for this charge and for the person of Aaron and of his Successors Whereas there is nothing like it for the Papacy nor for the persons of those who exercise it We see in the Old Testament the Institution of Aaron's Charge with many Ceremonies for his Installment and for his anointing many Ordinances for the Exercise of this Charge and for the Succession many Chapters which speak of the Subordination of Priests and Levites But on the contrary we find not one word in the Gospel of this pretended charge of Universal Head of the Church of Vicar-General of Jesus Christ and Successor of St. Peter nor any thing that hath any relation to it and yet it ought to have been there clear and evident since that this Ministry was to be of an extent a thousand times greater and the thing in it self is prodigious and appears quite contrary to the nature of the Messias his Kingdom and to the Gospel We see several Orders of Ministers of the Gospel there often spoken of but not one word that can any ways relate to the Pope when surely that was the place to have spoken of it especially if it be necessary to Salvation to be subject to him as they would have it and if he hath the power as they would perswade us as well over the Temporality as the Spirituality of the whole world St. Paul who without question was of as great ability as the Pope was not of these peoples humour who pretend to govern the whole Church since he who had not the thousandth part of Christians to take care of as the Pope would have according to their supposition declares that no Mortal man was sufficient to perform every thing that was necessary to be done in it and that he was himself overwhelmed with the care he took for all the Churches Nor had St. Peter the courage of our good Popes who believe themselves capable of governing the whole Church and they might do it without difficulty after the method they take since he agreed with St. Paul that St. Paul should go toward the Gentiles and he towards the Jews and so they parted the Ministry between them At least the Popes after Aarons example ought to meddle only in Ecclesiastical and not in Secular affairs as they do pretending to Lord it over the whole world for we see that Aaron applied himself only to the Functions of his Charge and that in things Temporal and Civil he was subject to Moses and left the Absolute direction of them to him Instead of imitating Aaron the Head of the Levites in his Modesty the Popes pretend to be Lords not only of the Temporality but of the Spirituality of all the States of the world and will in this be Vicars of Jesus Christ tho he declared that his Kingdom was not of this world tho he taught his Disciples that he among them who would be the first should be the last though he fled away when they would have made him a King tho he payed Tribute to the Princes of the world when he was himself Lord both of Heaven and Earth tho he expresly forbad his Disciples to bear rule over any one whatsoever The Popes notwithstanding this will govern and pretend that our Saviour did amiss when he spoke thus and that they know better than he how to improve the rights of his Prerogative For my part I believe that such a King as Jesus Christ who holds the Earth in his hand according to the Prophet's expression who upholds all things by the power of his word as St. Paul says who knows the hearts of all men and governs the motions of all the creatures who is Almighty who knows and sees
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
thing Whensoever says he there ariseth any question in peoples minds concerning an Vniversal Synod let those who love their own Salvation consult the Apostolick Sees that they may learn the reason of what they understand not And St. Austin speaking of Cecilian Bishop of Carthage condemned by the Donaetists before whom he refused to answer says that he might reserve the whole cognizance of the thing to the judgment of his other fellow Bishops chiefly those of Apostolick Sees We have seen already that the Council of Rheimes assembled under Hugh Capet says that the Apostleship of the Bishop of Rome is not to be prâ—ferred before that of other Bishops and so his See is no more Apostolick Apolâ—inaris gives this account of the Apostleship to Fontelus Bishop of Vaison and says also that the Bishop Tricassin lived forty years in an Apostolick See. Grâ—gory of Tours calleth the Church of Bourdeaux an Apostolick See. The Council of Antioch assembled against Paulus Samosatensis calleth the Church of Antioch the Church Catholick We have say they been obliged to give unto the Catholick Church another Bishop in the room of this Heretick Nevertheless this Catholick Church was not subject to the Bishop of Rome no more than Cecilian Bishop of Carthage of whom the Emperor Constantine also said that he presided over the Church Catholick As for the quality of Bishop of Bishops which the Popes take upon themselves and which the Fathers have sometimes given to the Bishops of Rome it is like that of King of Kings in regard of those who had Kings under them The Metropolitans who were the first Bishops were thus called Chrysostome is called Father of the Fathers and Teacher of the whole World by the Emperors Theodosius And Sydonius calls Lupus Tricassin Bishop of Trequier Father of Fathers and Bishop of Bishops He also calls one Graecus Massiliensis Bishop of Marseilles by the same name and gives also the Title of Soveraign Pontife even to those sort of Bishops and to Aegrotius Bishop of Sens and to Fontelus Bishop of Vaison He says in another place that Evatrix King of the Goths having subdued all Aquitain killed all the Soveraign Pontifes that were there and that there were no other Bishops establiâ—hed in their stead The same Author calls also Mamereus Bishop of Vienne Soveraign Pontife And there also speaking of Lupus Bishop of Trequier he says he is the firâ—t Bishop of the Habitable Earth This same Sydonius having been chosen by the Clergy of Bourges to Elect and in the presence of the Archbishop of Sens to establish a Bishop at Bourges says You have giâ—en me this Commission to Elect a Bishop in the presence of our most Holy Father the Pope a man mâ—st worthy of the Soveraign Priesthood Praesente sacro sancto Papa Pontificatu summo Dignissimo So he calls Aegrotius Bishop of Sens and not the Pope of Rome We see also that St. Ignatius acknowledges no Dignity above that of a Bishop Honour the Bishop as being the chief Priest whâ— beareth the Image of God. And Pope Lâ—o acknowledgeth that above a Bishop there is no other degree The Poet Fortunatus gives St. Germain Bishop of Paris the Title of High Priest Pontifici summo nos commendare Precamur Regibus Dominis forte salutis opus As for the word Pope which these people have affected to distinguish themselves by from other Bishops it is like the word Legate or Nuncio which they give to their Embassadors and Envoys instead of using the ordinary Terms these are singular marks of vanity and pride which however have their effect on silly people who imagin by these words that the Pope is a man of a quite different kind from others You must know that this word in its Original signifies no other thing than a Priest or Bishop and that it was common heretofore to all people of this Character and even now at this day they are so called in Greece and also in Germany and the Motto of the Duke of Brunswick who stiled himself Gottes friend and Paepsten fiend signifies no less that he was an enemy to Priests than to Popes We see in the Life of St. Cyprian written by Pontianus a Deacon that he is there called Pope And in the Epistle of the Roman Clergy to St. Cyprian there are these words Cypriano Papae to Pope Cyprian and at length We desire thee most Hâ—ly and most Glorious Pope And in the Epistle of Calerin which is the 89 th in Cyprian The most Holy Pope Cyprian And Ischyras writing to Athanasius says thus Beato Papae Athanasios To the blessed Pope Athanasius Greeting I need not bring any more proofs since Baronius himself doth acknowledg and attest that this name had been common to all Bishops until the year 1070 that Gregory the Seventh that Able Pope whom we have already mentioned forbad it to be given to any other Bishop than he of Rome As for the Cardinals who are in no other See than that of Rome they in my opinion give so little advantage to it above the Sees of other Bishops speaking like a Christian that they do abase and make it infinitely less than others For what are these people They are worldly men Epicures people of pride vanity and prodigious expence there are but few of them who devour less than Three hundred thousand Livres a year after an Infamous manner and it was not without reason that the Emperor Sigismond represented to the Council of Constance that they were good for nothing in the Church and their Dignity ought to be supprest And of latter days even in the Council of Trent there were men bold enough to propose the abolishment of this Dignity or else to reduce them to their first Functions of Curates As also the Gallican Church demanded in its Remonstrances to the Council of Constance Domini Cardinales My Lords the Cardinals say they are Curates of the Parish Churches of Rome and in this respect are they called Cardinals that is to say thâ— chief of Principals And according to this Institution their chief duty is and ought to be to hear Confâ—ssions Preach and Baptise Besides there were many other Churches who as well as Rome had such like Priests as the Cardinals We see it by a Brief of the Gallican Churâ—h under Charles the Fifth It is not only Rome says this Brief which hath Cardinals but there are many other Churches who have them as that of Ravenna and who call them Cardinals who have the chief Employments in the Church And so it was in many other Churches Kingdoms and Provinces And the Cardinals were in those times under the Bishops as may be seen by the Chronicle of the Abby of St. Jean de Vignes at Soissons where Theobald Bishop of Soissons is brought in speaking of the Curate of St. John de Vignes and says Presbiter vero Cardinalis ipsius
their Right that the Pope is Sennor del Mondo and they call him Nostor Sennorâ— Our Lord as well as Jesus Christ. There is no State in Europe which they have not endeavoured many times to destroy and which they have not greatly endamaged Matthew Paris relates to us that King John of England because he would not receive an Archbishop of Canterbury whom Poâ—e Innâ—cent the Third had Elected against the Canons he was first Excommucated by Innocent who accordingly gave away his Kingdom to Philip the August King of France and that poor King John was compelled to implore the Popes mercy who received him very bountifully on condition that from thenceforth his Kingdom should depend upon the Holy See should be Tributary to it and pay 20000 Marks of Gold every year And that this King having recovered his courage resolved to Abjure Christianity as an evil Religion thereby designing to cast off the Popish yoke Because he made himself the Popes Vassal he was called the Apostolick King. I wonder why the Kings of France and Spain will not add to the Titles of Most Christian and Most Catholick that of Apostolick Kings at the same price as this King John of England did 'T is not his Holiness's fault they may have it when they please They answer that it is true that they have heretofore caused disorders but that it will never fall out so again that it was some hot headed men that amongst the Apostles themselves there was found a Judas But I maintain that all these disasters proceeded not only from the pettish humour of any one Pope but were the natural effects of the Principles of the Papacy And tho we do not see it visibly break forth every day by some bloody example yet we ought not to believe that the habit or the will is ever the less but that there is some external extraordinary reason which suspends the Action and which does sometimes make them act directly contrary to their own inclination Do not we see that the Inquisition it sâ—lf at Rome that Impious Tribunal which hath the power of authorising the greatest crimes and of Canonizing for the Popes Interest even Parricides and the Assassins of our Kings as amongst others by a Decree of the ninth of November 1609 it did condemn the Decree of the Parliament of Paris given out against John Chatel who had attempted to Murther Henry the Fourth This Tribunal I say hath not long since condemned the Jesuits Morals tho they were perfectly conformable to the Principles of the Inquisition and we see that the Jesuits of France are at this time in the Kings Interest against the Pope which is absolutely contrary to their Maxims and to all their former conduct which shews that it is not true that because an ill person does a good action he is no more to be feared Tho a man be extreamly wicked it does not follow from thence that every thing he does shall be so We must not think that the habit is lost because we do not always see its acts Philosophers tell us that it is often so It is a sort of a Truce and not a Peace Non pax sed induciae bellum enim manet pugna cessaâ— A Cobler says Horace is still a Cobler tho his Stall be shut Et Alfenus vafer omni abjecto instrumento Artis clausaque taberna sutor erat Thus the Pope remains still Pope tho he sometimes do a good Action Valerius Maximus says in a certain place that there are people Quorum animus peregrinatur in nequitia non habitat whose minds light upon iniquity but like a Traveller in an Inn they fix not so may it be said of the Popes Quorundam paparum animus peregrinatur in bonitate non habitat that they sometimes touch upon a good action but cannot hold to it The Viper is a very dangerous creature tho she doth not always bite when it lyes in her power But it is never good to trust her Nemo juxtae viperam securos somnos capit quae si non percutit certe sollicitat Says St. Hierom somewhere The Papacy is just the same it is the Chair of Pestilence Cathedra Pestilentiae where the best men are corrupted It is what he very well understood who said that the greatest harm he could wish a man was that he were Pope And the Holy Carthusian Father that praises God that none of his Order had ever yet been Pope How can any man maintain that Princes need not stand in fear of the Pope when three Popes of this present age have condemned the opinion that the Pope cannot depose Kings as wicked and contrary to the Faith Accipe nunc Danaum insidias crimine ab uno disce omnes These were Paul the Fifth Innocent the Tenth and Alexander the Seventh of whom it may be said that they were Ottimi Pontefici Ecclesiastici mediocri that they were true Popes but very indifferent Clergymen who will be both Judg and party in their own cause and pretend that their evidence must be taken even when it tends to their own profit and to the spoiling of those who believe them I could yet produce a later example which is that of the present Pope who with unsufferable rashness lately threatened to Excommunicate the Greatest King upon Earth because he would Reign alone in his own State and take away from some people who ought to employ themselves only in serving God the disposal of some Benefices which belong properly to the Soveraign of a State who we see makes a more judicious choice of men fit to serve in these Employs because he doth not sell them nor give them to his Relations as they did who had but very little regard to the merit of those upon whom they conferred these things Besides of right the Popes have nothing to do in the Dominions of other Princes and there have been sufficient proofs given by this Great Prince of his zeal for Justice and for Religion But these men love to make people feel their yoke and it may be well said of them what Mithridates said of the ancient Romans that it was not their love to Justice that made them fight against Princes but the desire of their Authority and of their Greatness Non delicta Regum illos sed vires ac Majestatem insequi It is well known how ill they have treated Spain not long since upon the account of the President of Castile who had reason in what he did and how at this time they handle the Venetians Don't we know how Alexander the Seventh and his Nephews behaved themselves at Rome towards our King in the person of his Ambassador the Duke of Crequi We may remember how that under Henry the Fourth they wanted but very little to have utterly ruined France and to have made the French all subject to the Spaniards and if the Parliament at Paris had not been better Christians than
but it is 〈◊〉 that they should beg at least if it be voluntary and for that 〈◊〉 their number ought to be diminished and they of them that aâ—e â—ich should keep them that are poor let them all apply themselves to work and to study as heretofore they did It would be very well done abâ—olutely to retrench some of these Orders that are so chargeable to the People Pope Alexander the Seventh did very well in suppressing two Orders that were as good as those that are now remaining the one was called the Order of the Cross and the other of â—he Holy Ghost And in Spain they have done very well never to endure among them the Capucins The Council of Toledo did heretofore ordain that no new Religious Order should be suffered to be established in the Church ne nimia Religionum diversitas gravem in Ecclesia Dei confusionem parturiat There are no People that hate or destroy one another more than the different Orders of the Mendicants because they hinder one anothers Trade and there are no People in the World that debauch the Women more than they the Secular Priests are Angels in comparison they are in so good Credit and Esteem that they are not endured in the Court of our Kings and they have no access to it Their Principle of blind Obedience is both foolish and impious which may cause and many times hath been the occasion of horrible Disorders in the Estates and Families of our Kings It is a Principle which makes the Pope whom their Superiors implicitly obey Master of our Lives and of the State for these Superiors are always as ready to inspire the Monks with all sorts of Opinions how horrible soever they be provided they serve the Pope his Designs for this reason I have often wondered that some Law hath not been made in the State against the perfidiousness of the Monks and Jesuits from the example of two of our French Kings whom they have murthered and that it hath not been declared that if any such thing shall happen for time to come all these People should be driven out of the Kingdom There is no other means to hinder the Court of Rome from doing the same things hereafter The Parliament of England hath lately enacted somewhat like this to secure the Life of their King against the Monks No Clergy-man ought to be received without subscribing the Condemnation of the impious Bull de Coenâ Domini which is a bottomless Gulf of Impieties Heresies and Inhumanities And till the Monks and Jesuits shall solemnly renounce and condemn this accursed Bull it will be no great Injustice done them to accuse them of attempting against the Lives of Kings If any Man did suspect me to be an Arrian and I knew it and could justify my self from such cursed Opinions and did it not the World would have reason to impute to me all the Consequences of thâ—s pernicious Heresy It is well known that all the Monks and particularly the Jesuits have by their fourth Vow obliged themselves to the Execution of this infernal Bull. It was the Monks who living in Idleness corrupted and falsified many Ecclesiastical Books they have counterfeited many other Books full of Lies and set them out under the Names of good Authors They are every where known for People who by their Artifices under pretext of Religion are the ruine of most Families whose Substance they cunningly suck in themselves It is they who have vilified and discredited the true Orthodox Priests drawing the People after themselves by false appearances of Mortifications They are good for nothing but to move Seditions and to bring People to Disobedienee and when ever the Interest of their Monarch the Pâ—pe is concerned they think the Blood of their Enemies as meritorious as that of the Cross. The Humility they boast of is a very pleasant thing when at the same time they take place of their Elders and of People of Quality They pretend to have renounced Vanity more strictly than the Secular Priests and yet these Asses are called Father Father as heretofore the Pharisees Rabbi Rabbi they cause themselves also to be stiled Reverend Fathers and pretend to have Merit enough besides to obtain their own Salvation and to impart the overplus to others They call themselves Father Raphaels Father Cherubims and Father Seraphims with such like Names which are Marks of Vanity and Folly with which there can be neither Humility nor Piety Their Generals also manage the matter fairly to have the same Respect shewed them in the Courts of Princes as the Ambassadours of the greatest Kings These Gentlemen are all sworn Enemies to the Holy Scripture as well as to the Court and they do all they can to render the reading of it suspicious they heretofore did what they could to abolish it because it made as much against them as the Popes In the Year 1192. they made a new Gospel upon the Dreams of a Carmelite named Cyrill this was to suppress the Gospel of Jesus Christ and their own they called the Eternal Gospel wherein they taught that God the Father reigned under the Law God the Son under Grace and that the Holy Ghost was now going to reign by the Establishment of four Orders of Mendicants and that for the future Men could not be saved but by this Gospel that that of Jesus Christ was imperfect and that the Sacraments were of no great use This Gospel was preached almost all Europe over by the Jacobines and Franciscans and it was very near being received in the University of Paris but there remained yet some worthy Men who opposed and made it be condemned but seeing these new Evangelists had the favour of the Holy Father the Doctors of the University were forced to go to Rome where at length they obtained that this Book should be condemned and burned but privately for fear of decrying the four Orders of Mendicants and also that the Book of the University of Paris should be burned much after the same manner as heretofore at Bezancon at the beginning of Luther's Revolt which drew many Towns after it the Magistraâ—e of Bezancon fearing that this Fire should reach thither forbad all sorts of People to speak of God either Good or Evil. And there falling out lately a Dispute between some Divines of the Sorbonne at Paris some of whom do hold with the Jesuits that we may be saved without loving God and others on the contrary that we ought to love God whereupon both the one and the other were forbidden to speak of it so that the matter yet remains undecided whither we ought to love God or no or whither the Gospel of the Monks or of Jesus Christ be the true one The Author of the Book against this new Gospel is called William de St. Amour de periculis novissimorum Temporum See in Matthew Paris At length the Monks had Credit enough having procured several Bulls to be given out against the Book to
obtain one by which the Author was forbidden to set foot again in France and the Sorbonne to receive him Scilicet sic Petrus sactitabat sic Paulus ludebat The Court of Rome as well as the Monks was mortally grieved that this new Gospel could not pass and had it not been for the University at Paris we should in all likelihood have never known what the Gospel of Jesus Christ was and the Monks would have been our Saviours I have heard say that in all the rich Convents there is a Father that keeps the Evidence-Office whose whole Employ it is to find out good Titles when they want them to joyn their Neighbours Field to their own and there is no harm in that because it is for the Church There are some of these Orders the Benedictines for example who have their Pensioners in the Parliament at Paris like the Excise-men in the Courts of Aydes to help them gain their Cause From whence come all the Enterprises which they daily make upon their Neighbours Goods stripping them as often as they can of them People of very good Credit and who know the thing very well have assured me that this one Oâ—der gave more than two hundred thousand Livers a Year in Pensions to divers Officers of Parliament judg then what Disorders that makes I know not why the Monks have not been kept to read the Holy Scriptures and to study Divinity and Morality rather than so many ridiculous ways of Mortifying themselves if they studied or worked hard they would need no other Mortification but they have invented whipping since they have left off working which is the most extravagant thing in the World. The reading of a Chapter of Scripture would be much better than that as an excellent Man said It is not the Severities of the Body nor the Agitations of the Mind but the good Motions of the Heart that are meritorious which shall be excited much sooner by Meditation of the Word of God than by all their Follies Wherefore I have reason to ask what the Monks are good for The poor Orders as they are also lazy are a burthen to the State they of them that are rich take no care of the poor and both the one and the other are unprofitable nay prejudicial both to Church and State they ought to do quite otherwise than to plunge themselves into Idleness so dangerous both for their Souls and Bodies and to be so chargeable to the Kingdom that keeps them and fats them up without receiving any Service from them they are good for none but themselves and the Popes whose Tyranny they support thus the Popes in maintaining them do good only to themselves when certainly the Monks at present might easily spare the Popes Wherefore I yet once more demand what Service the Popes do to the World As for the Nuns tho there be not by much so great Disorders amongst them as amongst the Monks because generally they have no share at all in the Affairs of a Civil Life yet I think I may safely say it That Fathers and Mothers who are desirous of their Childrens Salvation ought not to send them to such Houses and that there is more real Piety Chastity and Purity of Heart among Secular Women than among the Nuns by reason of the little Liberty that is given them All the good they can do there is by Force and by Constraint it is a place of Slavery and of Torment People imagine that in these Houses where they have so much time to employ in reading and instructing themselves they ought to be very knowing yet they are more ignorant and superstitious than Women that live abroad in the World. Their Abbesses are ordinarily chosen for their Quality not for their Merit and are either covetous or extravagant fantastical without Humanity for these poor young Women without Conduct and almost always without Piety I have known many of them in my time but never saw any that was worthy of this Employment but Madam de Fontevrault Daughter of King Henry the Fourth In those Houses where the Superiours of the Nuns are Elective or Triennial there are continual Factions and Intrigues that the Election may fall on her that every particular Woman likes It would be very well that these Elections were abolished provided that Persons of real worth were placed in their stead The number of these Nuns is also too great as well as of the Monks and they ought to be reduced so that those who remain should have 200 Livers a Year for their Subsistance and that the King should dispose of these places to whom he pleased for the succour of many Families and the over-plus of so many rich Convents Revenue might be employed in the building of many Hospitals Nor should any young Woman be admitted to take the Vail till 25 Years old for the Tyranny of Fathers and Mothers and the want of Consideration in young Girls throws a great many of them into Dispair They ought also to be allowed sometimes to go home to their Fathers and Mothers when their Health requires it and to refresh their Spirits which are sometimes over-born with Grief and Vexation either by the Tyranny of their Superiours or by their too long Confinement in this Prison without this a Convent is a perfect Shambles both for the Body and Soul. It must be acknowledged that this sort of Religâ—ous Life is unproportionable to the weakness both of our Bodies and Minds and is much less proper to produce true Piety than a Secular Life Thus the Popes are so far from being Serviceable to Mankind that they are matter of scandal to us and stumbling Blocks to turn us out of the true way of Salvation Of what use then are they to the World An Italian will tell me that they are serviceable to Italy by their inriching it But it is at the Expence of other Countries which do this Honour to Italy which having now lost its Temporal Empire hath by the Popes means raised a spiritual one to make amends for it but still this is at our Expence It is certain that all the Italians in general look upon themselves as having a share in the Glory of this Empire and pretend that they have more Wit and Merit than other Nations which they have in this respect subdued especially those of Rome who for this reason give themselves the liberty of speaking contemptibly of Catholick Princes whom they look upon as their Tributaries the very Coblers come in for their share and are mightily pleased that the Pope rules in all places And I have observed that they have more respect and value for those Princes that have shaken off the Popish Yoke as if it had been the Effect of their Courage nay for the very Strangers of those Countries as English Swedes and Danes This may seem strange for it is well known that otherwise they bitterly hate these Nations that no longer yeild them any thing You would say that
the beginning had no other Original than the Tyranny of the Pope for without these Novelties the Church would in all likelihood have joyned with them because that many People saw clearly the Cheat of the Papacy and that it had no Foundation neither in the Scripture nor in Reason but the Opâ—nions which they began then to spread abroad to which from time to time they added somewhat or other new ut nemo fit repente turpissimus put the Catholicks out of all hope and made them continue as they were and it were now foolish enough to think our selves in the wrong to acknowledg that the Protestants are right in this Article and that we have not courage enough to get off this Abuse and to detest it as well as they wherein we do great Prejudice to our selves to Religion and likewise to the Protestants whom we destroy by it for they seeing that they have Reason on their side in this Point cannot believe that we have it in others and so remain obstinante For my part as I am assured that their Religion is contrary to the Gospel so I cannot but confess and I think my self indispencibly bound in Conscience to do it that concerning the Article of the Papacy they have more Reason on their side than can be imagined But if we find that we have too little Courage or Strength to undertake to abolish and utterly destroy this Monster we ought at least to endeavour to send him home to Rome and secure our selves from all the Mischief he is able to do us and not to endure any more his Approaches I say this only to prevent the Objection which People make that it is extream difficult to bring about such an Enterprise that this great Machine is so well joyned together this Babel hath so many Props and Arches that they who should undertake to pull it down would be in danger of being swallowed up in its Ruins Mille annorum fortunâ disciplinâque compages haec coaluit quae convelli sine convellentium exitio non potest It would ever be a glorious thing both before God and Men to undertake so great a thing tho it were without success But I do not think the danger so great as People imagine for I am perswaded that this work doth not exceed the Strength of any great vigorous and zealous Prince who would manage the thing with Prudence I own that no Prince can undertake such a Work who is not assured that his Neighbours shall not oppose him and that his Clergy and People shall not be against him As for his Neighbours he may easily know their Disposition both as to their Will and the Means they have either to assist or hurt him And for the Clergy the Contrivance should be to let them peaceably enjoy their Benefices and to make them understand their Rights that according to the Gospel all Bishops are equal and that they owe to the Pope no more than to any other of their fellow Brethren that the Popes have usurped over them the Authority which they assume to themselves of giving Bulls and the Oath of Fidelity which they exact from them and that these things overturn the Gospel and that for the Oath if they have taken it to the Pope it is null in it self being against the Law of God as St. Austin says si ad peccatum admittendum fides adhibeatur mirum est si fides appelletur And for the People they must be gently used and made to understand if they are capable of Reason that all the Popes of Rome as well as other Bishops have Authority only in their Diocess according to the Gospel and ancient Canons that the Authority which they exercise serves for nothing else but to make them Masters of the whole Earth and turns to nothing but their particular Profit They must also be shewed the Disorders which this Power hath caused both in the Church and in the World as I have represented it in some places of this Work. If once the People were made to comprehend this the Monks could never do any Mischief for they are dangerous only among the People whom they govern provided they do not come nigh Princes This being done a potent and prudent Prince would easily perswade other Princes all that I have said of the Papacy of its uselesness of the Mischiefs it hath caused in the Church and in the World of the Shame which it draweth upon them by keeping them always under the Yoak of the damage which it causeth to their Estates of the Danger they are continually in depending upon the Popes Humour who can excommunicatâ— them when he pleaseth of the Account they will have to give to God for so many Souls that perish as well Catholicks as Hereticks the one by Ignorance and the others by the Obstinacy which the Papacy causeth and that Religion hath no Connection with the Papacy that we should be more Catholicks than we are if there were no Pope and that the Church would be Aristocratically governed as in the first Centuries by the way of Councils There is no Prince who hath common Sense but would joyn with another truly Catholik Prince that would propose this and by this means we should soon see the Prophecy of the Revelation fulfilled which says that the Kingdoms of the World are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign for ever and ever But say they the King and the Bishops have sworn Fidelity to the Holy See. I answer with St. Ambrose That it is ever unjust to observe an Oath made against God or our Neighbour And St. Augustin said above that if an Oath tends to a Crime it is contrary to Faith to keep it I have proved that the Papacy is a Mystery of Iniquity and that so Princes as well as others would make themselves the Instruments of the Popes Crimes of their Sin against God and of the Ruine which they draw upon the Church Seneca says very well Si in omnibus obediendum est patri in eo non est obediendum in quo efficitur ne pater sit Tho we ought in all things to obey our Father yet he is not to be obeyed in those things wherein he ceaseth to be a Father The reason then is much stronger that we ought not to obey a common High-way-man who hath deceived and seduced us to make us Complices of his Crimes When a Vow or an Oath is lawfully made yet where the thing vowed or the Oath taken doth hinder a greater Moral Good Orthodox Divines are of Opinion that the Oath is null because that we owe to God a Progrâ—â— in well doing so that we cannot deprive our selves of the Liberty of making this Progress Besides every Oath of a Christian hath this understood Provided that this be to the greater Glory of God Edification of our Neighbour and our own Salvation So that quod proptâ—r Charitatem fit non debet
them give an account of their Faith they did assemble Councils authorise their Decrees and made them be observed and the Popes cannot alledg any Treaty made with Princes nor any Prescription for there is no Prescription against the Service which we owe to God nor no Agreement which can bind the Hands of Princes when it is against the good of the Church for if at any time they have surprised Princes taking advantage of their Ignorance or Weakness it is then a greater Crime to observe these Treaties which are against the Glory of God and the good of the Church than it is to violate them Here the saying is true that interdum scelus est fides No Man whatsoever ought to have his Hands tied by any Treaty from advancing the Glory of God as much as he is able by lawful means Nor are Princes less obliged for their Subjects sake to do their utmost endeavour to extirpate the Papacy for they are the Preservers both of Religious and Civil Society being the Heads both of the one and the other in their own Dominions It is on this account that they receive their Tribute and for this end were they by God ordained that we might live in Peace and Quietness in all Godliness and Honesty And there is no Subject but may demand it of his Prince that he would enfranchise him from the Tyranny of the Pope or else let him renounce the Right which God hath given him over him for the Prince hath no Right to give his Subjects over to another and at the same time to reserve his own Power over them upon any pretence whatsoever this is against Nature and the Law of Nations but he ought to defend them against all Oppression of either Foreign or Domestick Enemies Now the whole World knows that the Popes for many Ages past have dealt unworthily as well by the Subjects as the Persons of Princes they have smitten whole Kingdoms together with their Anathema's they have drained them by their Indulgences they plunder them by their Dispensations and by their Annates they make them stoop to them by their Bulls and oblige many of them to take Oathâ— of Obedience and of Fidelity to them and have in many places destroyed a world of People with the Torments of their Inquisition They may well apply to themselves this saying of Tacitus Subjeâ—tos nos habuit tanquam suos viles ut alienos Princes are fâ—rthermore for their own â—akes obliged to abolish the Papacy not only as they are Members oâ— the Church which is oppressed by it but becaâ—â—e that they are God's Viâ—egerents they ought to acknowledg none 〈◊〉 the great God above 〈◊〉 who is the only King of Kings and Monâ—â—ch of Monarchs Thâ— Pâ—pâ—â— have no more right to call themselves so thâ—n those mad Men â—hâ—t say they are somâ—times God and sometimes Kings of France 〈◊〉 he who undâ—r thâ—â— pâ—â—â—â—nce attempted agâ—inst the Life of Hâ—nâ—y 〈◊〉 Fâ—â—â—th S. Opâ—â—â— â—ays very wâ—ll Cum super Imperatorem nâ—n 〈◊〉 nisi soâ—us 〈…〉 Imperatorem dum se Donatus super Imperatorem extollit jam quasi hominum â—xcesserat metas ut se ut Deum non ut hominem aestimaret There being none above the Emperor but God who made the Emperor seeing Donatus lifts himself up above the Emperor he hath passed beyond the bounds of Men that he might look on himself as God and not as Man. At this day the Bishops of Rome have this Right as they pretend to fling down Kings from their Thrones as a Fowler shoots down a Bird from the branch of a Tree They are Masters of all the Kingdoms of the World and can give them to whomsoever they please they not only say so but do it they have done so by England France and Navarre they have done so by the East and West Indies which they have shared between the Spaniards and the Portugals having outed the lawful Princes They have dealt thus with many other States and are still ready to do the same thing again It is then the Interest of Princes for many respects that this Tyranny should be abolished since as the Fathers say they have none but God alone above them they ought not to depend upon these Scoundrils It is a thing unworthy of their Majesty and contrary to their Soveraignty to be under the Yoke of any Man living It signifies nothing to say that they are so only for the spiritual part for that is yet less to be allowed of Jesus Christ hath reserved that to himself and they suffer the Church to be undone by their Sluggishness and hinder those who are gone astray from it from being converted nay they destroy the very Popes who damn themselves in the foolish Opinion which they have of their Power they must be cured of their Presumption and have good done them whether they will or no as we do to Children a communi ed a fanciulli convien fare il loro bene senza lor voglia It is fit to do good to the common People and to Children tho it be against their Will. Pope Marcellin did not believe it possible that a Pope could be saved nor did Pius the fifth think otherwise People do not consider that it was for the sake of the Temporality that the Popes have invented the Spirituality and that without the one they would not trouble themselves with the other as is apparent to the World for what shall we call Temporal if the Annates are not and the Mony for Dispensations the Oath which the Clergy take to the Pope the Oath which Kings take to the Holy See that is to say to the Papacy and so many other Acts of the basest submission of Princes some of which do even border upon Idolatry as the kissing the Slipper of these wretched Creatures and so great a Superiority of the Popes that Princes are become wholly contemptible For my part I wonder that those who have heard of Jesus Christ and his Gospel do not condemn this Pride to the severest Punishments No Man that had the least Fear of God would ever be Pope to act so horrible a part not to mention the Disorders of the Church and the destruction of so many Souls that shall be imputed to him Princes then ought not to defer their Endeavours of freeing the Church from this Monster and at the same time to deliver themselves from Tyranny and not suffer these Strangers to rob them of their Subjects and as they owe this to themselves they owe it also to Human Society for they are also obliged not only to punish those who injure their own Persons or their Subjects but likewise those Crimes which do not touch themselves in particular but yet notoriously violate the Laws of God of Nature and of Nations or of the Church or of the Authority which God hath set over his People I demand whether the Popes are not guilty of these Crimes they who under the Title