of the Church founded by our Saviour and propagated by the Apostles thorough the whole world in great Sanctity and Holiness yet with a possibility of falling otherwise forasmuch as the Church consists of men only it would have been necessary to have Sanctify'd them all both Ecclesiastick and Secular In Rome they speak with great Reverence of the Councel of Trent the Divines and Preachers crying it up as a thing absolutely infallible Yet the Pope makes no bones to break and violate the Decrees establish'd by so many venerable men and the unanimous consent of all the Churches in Christendom dispensing with things at his own pleasure It is not many years since I obtain'd a dispensation for a friend of mine in a thing forbidden expresly in two Sessions of that Councel and all for the sum of ten Crowns and some little bribe by the bye to a Clark in the Registers Office a friend in Court being as necessary in Rome as a penny in a mans purse Those the Church of Rome call Hereticks cannot hear with patience that the Pope alone should have authority to defeat and invalidate in a moment what a General Assembly of the Church has been so many years about A certain Priest discoursing one day with a Protestant of France with design to draw him over to the Church of Rome he thought he had brought him into a very hopefull way when the Protestant had told him that all the Protestants in France would submit themselves to the Pope if the Pope would submit himself to the Councels to which the Priest reply'd it will be necessary then a Councel be call'd and such rules establish'd by common consent as shall be thought necessary for the Government of the Church to which the Protestant reply'd a little fiercely How a Devil will the Pope observe the Decrees of a Councel that cannot be kept from violating the Praecepts of the Gospel but if you will undertake to bring the Pope to a submission to them I do not question to convert all of my Religion to the Pope for to tell you the truth Sir I hold one as feasible as the other At first sight indeed it appears something probable that though a particular Church may err yet in respect that Christ has promised where two or three are met together in his name he will be in the midst of them and that in this case there are not only two or three but two or three hundred and those choice men and select for their Piety and Learning it seems not impossible I say but a Congregation Consistory or Councel compos'd of the chief Heads and Governours of all the Churches in general may be infallible Were there a Councel call'd in the name of Christ only and for the real interest of the Church and did it consist of such Members and no other as had their eyes fix'd wholly upon Heaven I could almost acknowledge that Councel infallible but we know very well and our constant experience confirms it that passion blood-thirstiness interest ambition desire of dignity capriciousness in the Prelats Bishops Cardinals and Popes are the principal things that sway in Councels so as it is manifest Christ is not in their hearts and where he is not to direct them there can be no infallibility The Church of Israel was reputed even to the death of our Saviour a good and a holy Church for which reason Christ himself convers'd often with the Scribes and Pharisees rebuking such as profan'd their Temples with their buying and selling not with words only but blows declaiming against them that they had made his Fathers house a Den of Thieves His heart not being able to endure that they should use that place as a Market where the Jews met dayly to sing praises to their God The Scribes and Pharisees of the Jewish Church when there was any tumult or division amongst the people about the works our Saviour had wrought some believing them miraculous and others not they met in Councel with the Principal Rulers and Governours and having debated upon all the works he had wrought in Judea after long argumentation and dispute they concluded and condemned him as a Seducer and a Blasphemer and that was the result of that Councel of the Jews Many Councels there have been in the Christian Church that have not only err'd but undone and revoak'd what another had Decreed so as several of them have been declar'd Null though the Church had made use of their Statutes many years as in the late Councel of Trent there were four others condemn'd so as the Councel of the Apostles was the only infallible Councel that ever was in the Church and that because it was manag'd and directed immediately by the Holy Ghost according to Christ's promise as is recorded in the Gospel of St. John But here is one question will arise the solution of which would be a great satisfaction to the Reader and that is whether Anabaptists and others that have their several Religions and Sects apart may in reason challenge the honourable Title of a Church some of them conforming themselves to the documents of the Scripture and drawing the rules of their conversations from thence others and the more wicked spinning out their own methods and ordinances out of their own fancies and yet not very dissimular to the direction of the Gospel it being as it were proper to mankind to guild and colour over evil with pretences of good Many there are that believe that our Saviour in those words In my Fathers House are many Mansions intended to comprehend all the Church Militant and that he did not mean it as a figure only of the Celestial Beatitude for which cause he drove the Buyers and Sellers as I have said before out of the Temple calling it his Fathers house because in that the Jews celebrated all their Holy and Divine Functions that were necessary to give the form to a true Church Militant If it be so it must needs be acknowledg'd there is but one true Church that can be call'd justly the house of God though there may be several Chambers and Mansions divided from one another that may pass under that name The Church of Rome refuses to give the Title of Church to any but it self as if there was no Church in being but that cousening and deluding its self in the very Title they assume for by calling themselves the Church of Rome they do tacitely suppose there is some other Church that is not of Rome It is certain and beyond all dispute that all the Councels and Assemblies of Hereticks may be call'd Churches but with the distinctions of corrupt and incorrupt of sound and unsound of polluted and pure for a man though afflicted with never so many diseases back and blew with never so many stripes eaten up as it were with worms and putrifaction ceases not notwithstanding to remain a man till the Soul be separated from his Body though otherwise he may
have had better satisfaction from any body From general and more common discourse they came by degrees into some little dispute and after that into familiar The Priest at last having his curiosity inflamed by the readiness of the Advocate desir'd he would tell him what number he thought the Protestants might be The Advocate reply'd that was impossible but if one might judge by the Provinces and Dominions they were possess'd of they could not be less than forty Millions The Priest was amaz'd to hear them so numerous for being not over-well skill'd in matters of Religion no wonder if he could not see very far into business of State However he return'd this answer to the Advocate to his great satisfaction Sir the multitude of Protestants as you call them and of Hereticks as we proceeds not so much from any excellence in the Orders of their Church as from the defect and iniquity in the Governours of ours which is commonly too great And the Protestants beholding the luxury and dissoluteness of our Prelates but taking no notice of those blessed consequences that would follow were it govern'd according to those Holy Rules that were given at its first institution do upon this score grow numerous daily Whereas if our Cardinals Bishops and Religious men would like the Apostles as much as in them lay observe the Commandments of God the number of Catholicks would quickly encrease and the number of Protestants decline I was present at this time and surpriz'd to hear the Priest discourse in that manner however his words though spoke with some kind of hast and immaturity gave me occasion to reflect upon these conferences and arguments that happen'd daily betwixt the Protestant and Papist it being no hard matter to find out the defects both of the one side and the other Amongst these disputes both publick and private it seems impossible to point out the true Church every one boasting of his own and proving it from Scripture 'T is not many years since I also had the same curiosity breaking my brains as it were to inform my self in matters of Religion conceiving by the instruction of Learned men I might become a Master at length of those things that confounded me whilst I was but a Scholar But certainly I had better have been contented with my ignorance my inquiry did but confound me the more For the future I am resolv'd to leave all disputes and to believe that Church the best that is most conformable to the documents of the Gospel and gives most obedience to the Word of God When the Catholick is in combate with the Protestant in matters of Religion the solidest argument they have against them is to charge them as having imbrac'd a new and modern Religion and separated themselves from theirs that was more antient The Protestant returns his own argument upon him and pronounces himself the antienter of the two as retaining those Ceremonies and Orders only which the Apostles observ'd themselves and left in writing to the Church whereas the Catholick makes use of this Ceremony and that Ordinance brought in by this Pope and by that To which the Catholick replyes again We can shew you in the Bible in your own language and translation where St. Paul makes mention of the Church of Rome but you cannot shew us the least mention of the Church of Geneva that you admire so much The Protestant replyes to that Shew us any thing in St. Paul to the Romans of your Purgatory Mass Invocation of Saints or Adoration of the Pope St. Paul writ indeed to the Romans but not to the Pope so as you can expect no priviledge from thence because you obey the commands of the Pope sooner than the writings of St. Paul Besides St. Paul writ also to the Hebrews and if a Letter from the Apostles was enough they might as well plead it for their purity as you True it is Antiquity is a common sign yet the Anabaptists themselves and the most desperate Hereticks in the world will assert with great confidence their Church to be the antientest deducing its antiquity from our Saviour himself To confound the Hereticks therefore in their disputations one is not so much to insist upon the antiquity of his Church for they commonly do urge that against their Adversaries too besides such arguments would prove the Church to be nothing but a Custome which would be an errour disallow'd by our very Enemies who indeavour to prove us alwayes because Christ did not say I am a Custome but I am the truth There are many antient Families both in Italy and other Countries that derive themselves from Emperours Kings and Princes and I believe them Yet having lost those Kingdoms and Principalities the memory of their greatness serves for nothing but to increase their sadness for the loss of it What advantage is it to a Church to be admir'd for its antiquity if its present Condition does not correspond To what purpose is it to say I am descended from Christ if I observe not his Commands or to boast my self an Heir of the Apostles and never follow their Examples As often as I think of those Princes that intitle themselves to the Dominions that are in the possession of others and though they have no more Power nor Jurisdiction there than I have will by no means part with the Title so often do I think of the several Churches and Religions in Christendom that retain only the name but are in other things corrupt and abominable For example what other thing has the Church of Rome more than the bare honour of being mentioned in the Epistle of St. Paul As to other matters the Epistle was not writ on purpose for them though directed to them So also if the Protestant lives like a Devil 't is in vain to brag that he is descended from the Apostles In short we live in an age in which two Princes will contend perhaps for the Title of a Principality that possibly is in the possession of neither of them And the Catholick and Protestant will fall out and quarrel in defence of their Religions when there is nothing but name and title only in their possession As if the habit of a Monk were sufficient to make one But our Blessed Saviour to prevent occasion of error in a thing so necessary and that we might be able to distinguish betwixt the true Church and the false left us a clear Character as St. John testifies My Sheep know my Voice and follow me and in another place the same Evangelist he says to the same purpose If you abide my words you shall be my Disciples indeed That is the true Church and that the true Religion that with its whole heart and affection makes use of Davids direction Declina a malo fac bonum For my part I will not judge of the scruples of other Christians but this I must say I am glutted with the dayly controversies and disputes between the
Protestant and Catholick Churches to no purpose and so glutted as to make sport of them They will not make me a Saint and I suffer them not to come near my heart lest they should make me a Devil Let the Catholick Divines write as they think good and the Protestants do the same I am resolv'd to be unconcern'd and sit down with this Doctrine of St. Paul Non plus sapere quam oportet sapere sed sapere ad Sobrietatem And why should we go look for our Church in the Volumes of the Divines whether Protestant or Papist if we can find it out our selves in the Gospel of Christ This is to condemn our selves by our own folly to hire an other mans Horse to leap down a precipice withall to borrow Spectacles that we may see more plainly the way to our damnation and in short it is to believe our Divines have more Judgement than Christ and more Holiness than the Apostles The true Church of the Saints according to the true Doctrine of the Apostles consists in doing good and abstaining from evil to imitate our Saviour in good works And let the Divines alone with their new Opinions to make the present time conform to the antient and not suffer the modern to destroy the antient for if we walk not in the same way they did in the beginning antiquity does but distract the present proceedings And this puts me in mind of an Example no less moral than curious which I shall insert in this place In the time of Henry the Great a certain Protestant Prince invited the Popes Nuntio that was then in Paris to Supper The Nuntio refus'd the invitation excusing himself with many pretences but at last overcome by the Civility of the Prince he makes bold with his Ecclesiastical reasons that oblig'd him to the contrary and went with his whole Court to visit him In the Chamber they were to Sup the Prince had caused on one side of the Wall the twelve Apostles to be hung in excellent Tapistry and wrought with that Artifice they seem'd to want nothing but words to be alive but withall they were unshod ungirt ill habited and in every thing conformable to the Poverty of the Apostles On the other side with the same exactness he plac'd twelve Cardinals on Horse back cloathed in Scarlet their Trappings imbost very rich their Foot-cloth of Silk their Bridles of Gold and their Spurs of the finest Silver As soon as the Nuntio entred the Chamber casting his eyes about as one experienc'd in those things he presently apprehended there was some mystery in the business He was surpriz'd and could not but show some confusion in his looks however he counterfeited as much as he could turning his eyes this way and that way and pretending to look on every thing but the Hangings till at last having wash'd as is usual amongst great Persons the Prince observing he would needs set on the Apostles side that he might have them on his back and the Cardinals in his eye the Prince with no small Ceremony would perswade him to the other side telling him pleasantly in Italian but with the grace of a true Frenchman By your favour Sir do me not that disgrace to turn your back upon my Religion but turn it rather upon your own The Nuntio observing the Prince to smile he smil'd a little himself but it was but from the teeth outward however he reply'd immediately Your Excellence believes me of a Religion I am not of and your self of another you are not of neither To which the Prince answer'd facetiously Then there will be no difficulty in ending our Ceremonies the difference will be decided if every one takes which side he pleases And with this they sate down the Nuntio at the end of the Table where he had the prospect both of the Apostles and Cardinals too But for the Readers better understanding it will not be unnecessary to explain what the Nuntio meant when he told the Prince That his Excellence believ'd him to be of a Religion that he was not of and that he himself was not of that Religion he did believe I suppose he alluded thereby to the State of the Cardinalship and the exemplary life of the Apostles And therefore the Prince having desir'd him not to turn his back upon the Apostles but upon the Cardinals of whom he understood the Nuntio to be one the Nuntio that was no Cardinal reply'd that he was not of the Religion his Excellence took him to be and withall added a little sharply that the Prince himself was not of the Religion he suppos'd though the Prince had signify'd to the Nuntio that his Religion was Protestant and founded upon the Example and Doctrine of the Apostles The Princes words were smooth and deliver'd with a good grace yet no less pungent than the other they troubl'd the Nuntio a little but nothing so much as the unavoidable sight of those Hangings which he conceiv'd as indeed they were hung there in design Had it been any Nuntio but he they would have probably taken it so ill as to have left the Princes Supper to himself but this Nuntio being a prudent man and considering how inconvenient it would be for his affairs to disgust the Prince at that time he past away the Supper very well with the variety of dishes driving both the Pictures and Expressions out of his mind At Rome however it was ill taken and the Nuntio severely rebuk'd by the Pope for supping with a Heretick but he was so well acquainted in the Policies of the World and the Intrigues of the Court of Rome that he knew well enough how to excuse himself to his Holyness The Cardinals truly and the Prelates in the Church of Rome are so exorbitant in their Expences not only for their Cloaths and Liveries but their Diet and Houses that the Protestants who are alwayes prying and making their observations cannot believe that Church to be good in which they find such excess of Luxury and Pride For it is most certain and most Catholicks will confess it that it is not the outward Pomp and Splendor of a Church that denotes it a true one as some of their Divines would maintain And indeed Christ did not promise Pomp Magnificence Gold Riches or Honour to his Church but Poverty Affliction and Persecution For my part I believe that the truest Church in which the poor Members are the least bewitch'd and carried away with the interest of the World especially the Ecclesiasticks who ought to give example insomuch as in my judgement there are many Catholicks in Rome of very good reason that live there and yet believe Rome to be the most polluted and defil'd Church in the Universe and for what cause think you Because they find the Prelates and Popes themselves so wedg'd and link'd to Secular advantages they have not time to think upon God nor Religion nor Faith In the year 1657. being by accident at Rome to see the
well the qualities of them both we shall find some variety in their manner of Operation By Heresie is meant not only a difference in matters of Discipline but of Faith also and of this kind was the division introduc'd in the Primitive times by the Ebionites Marcionites and more particularly the Arrians Whereas by Schism is meant a difference or disagreement in the Orders and Exterior Policy of the Church and such was the dis-union the Donatists occasion'd in the Church in Africa by reason of Cecilianus his being chosen Bishop of Carthage they pretending he was illegally advanc'd to that Bishoprick and contrary to Ecclesiastical Rules so as they began at that time to write against their proceedings in that Case without medling at all with any principal of Religion But this difference does not alwayes hold in the same manner as I have stated it and the reason is because as Faith and Charity the two principal Theological virtues are observ'd to go alwayes and inseperably together so Schism and Heresie the two profest diametrical Enemies of those virtues go usually hand in hand insomuch as he that has no Charity will have but little Faith and he that has no Faith will have less Charity and upon this score St. Austin with the greatest part of the Doctors of the Church doubts not to pronounce Heresie nothing else but an old and inveterated Schism Schismaticks commonly are Domestick Enemies and by consequence more mischievous than Heresie which is as it were an open and declar'd Enemy And this Schism is many times nourish'd in the Church by the very Pastors that govern it so that Schism is often times the root from whence the Tree of Heresie grows to such a height it becomes very difficult to pull it up and hurts the hands of those that endeavour it And certainly he that has not the power or caution to suppress Schism must with more difficulty attempt the eradication of Heresie because if Schism in its Infancy as it was be found difficult to be suppress'd Heresie that is but Schism adult will be more difficult I have already declar'd that the greatest Schism that at this time reigns in the Church and insensibly tares the Bowels of it out is the observation all good Christians make of the great Scandals and Impieties of the Clergy and if any should be so far over-seen as to undertake their defence I would ask them but these questions To pass from the embraces of a wicked and meritricious woman to the Sacred Duties of the Altar is not that Schism to see the Priest of God celebrate Mass with Daggers at their Girdles and Pistols under their Vests is it not Schism To see I speak it with horror that Boy serving and attending the Priest as his Disciple in the Holiest part of his Office with whom he lay the night before and must again the next is not that Schism To hear hourly of Murders and other execrable Villanies committed in the very Cloisters is not that Schism To sell Benefices at a dear rate to keep open shop to negotiate for Simoney to take the Rings off the Virgin Maryes fingers and to put them upon a Harlots is not that Schism to fatten up the Popes Nephews with the Wealth of the Church is not that Schism In short what is this but a separation of themselves from the Rules and good Orders of the Church Is it not a dis-uniting of Faith and Charity a taring of the Church out of the Arms of our Saviour and a practising of things contrary to the practise of the Apostles And indeed things may be as they will in other parts of Christendome if we restrain them no better at Rome in which place there are thousands of these Schisms that will ruine the Church infallibly without some speedy remedy be apply'd their Corruption being at that height it is almost impossible to look upon a Priest with patience If the zeal of any good Christian carries him on so far as to correct or reprehend any of them for their Exorbitancies they will answer in their Excuse that even among the Apostles there was a Judas a Traytor and therefore as they would have them believe they ought not to be scandaliz'd at the ill example the Clergy gives to them These kind of excuses may seem good to those that use them but not to those that hear them I would to God amongst twelve Ecclesiasticks there was but one Judas to be found but I am affraid amongst a hundred of them that imitate Judas in their lives there will be scarce one found that lives like the rest of the Apostles Is it not Schism to hear a thousand of quarrels and disputes betwixt the Bishops and the Civil Magistrates betwixt Princes and Cardinals Priest and Priest Order and Order in the very Heart and Bosom of the Church The Religion or Order of Dominicans contends very fiercely with the Franciscan about Original Sin and will have the Virgin Mary as lyable to it as any other Creature whatever which they maintain very furiously in their Schools but with more Arrogance than Argument The Franciscan on the other side with the same Ardor pronouncing her immacculate I my self have upon several occasions heard poor ignorant Dominicans discoursing with that Insolence a poor Secular would have been burnt for half of it But these good Fathers are exempt from all punishment because they can command the Inquisition as they please chastising who they think fit and passing by such as deserve it being Judges to others and Princes to themselves Can there be greater Schism than to hear them disputing dayly and contending about the preceedence of one Order before another and sometimes with such passion that they fall together by the Ears battering one another in their very processions with the Crosses they bear to the no small Scandal of the Laity that to prevent Homicide and Blood-shed are forc'd to interpose Nor has this happen'd once or twice but a thousand times not in one City but a hundred I remember my self such a Combate one Corpus Christi day in the Lands of the Church betwixt the Agustins and another Order of Fryers whose name I have forgot as they were passing out of the Cathedral with their lighted Candles in their hands and the Bishops Vicar carrying the Host they fell into some difference about the preceedency and at last in spight of all exhortation to the contrary to blows striking one another with their Candles and burning one anothers Beards so as the Vicar had no other way but to command them home again to their Covents and adjourn the Procession a full hour Nor is there any Schism not only more scandalous but ridiculous in the Church than that betwixt the Conventual Fathers of the Order of St. Francis and the Cappuchins and for what great business I speak these things to Foreigners for those that live in Italy have them hourly before their Eyes For I know not what Devil
St. Mathew Be not in any case called Masters because there is one that is your Master but be as if you were all Brothers Can any thing be more clear can any thing be of greater proof When Christ spake these words to his Apostles St. Peter was present and therefore like but not Superiour to the rest So as what authority is that the present Divines give to St. Peter over the Apostles and by consequence to the Popes over the Cardinals In my judgement both sides are too blame the Popes to usurp and exalt themselves so much and the Cardinals to prostitute and debase themselves These are the errours that occasion if not the greatest part of our Heresies at least the most stubborn and perverse part of them it being most certain that a great part of their Passion and Acrimony against the Church would be taken away could they but see things honestly administred by an equal concurrence both in Cardinals and Pope But to return from this point from which also we have in some measure been forc'd to digress I will speak now of the infallibility of the Church Let us first examine if there be or ever was such a Church in the world to whom God had vouchsaf'd out of his profound Counsels to bestow any such privilege There is no need of studying or using any long and elaborate arguments to prove that all Churches whatsoever have been subject to Errour dayly experience presenting us with continnal examples that they have fallen into errour as great as can be imagin'd by man The Jewish Church that flourish'd so long under their Patriarchs and Prophets that before the coming of our Saviour had the honour to be call'd the only visible Church of God though it was govern'd by pious and experienc'd Pastors Err notwithstanding and was most miserably involv'd in the puddle of Idolatry so as we read in the Chrenicles That for many days together the Israelites had neither God nor Law nor Priest amongst them all to direct them And the Prophet Esau with Tears in his Eyes and Sorrow in his Heart complains That all their Governors were blind And the Prophet Ezechiel tells us that this Idolatry over-spread the Church as well in Egypt as in Israel But we need not trouble our brains for an instance of their erring the Golden Calf the people made to themselves and worshipp'd as a God in spight of Aaron and Moses who went up into the Mount to receive the Tables of the Law is too sad an evidence Jeremiah complains with great anguish of the miseries of Juda that was fallen into that profound and bottomless impiety it was a question whether there were more Cities or Idols in her Dominions And at the time of our Saviours coming into the world he found the Church infected with an infinite number of Heresies and Innovations introduc'd by the false Doctrines disseminated by those very Scribes and Pharisees that govern'd it Let the Scriptures be look'd over never so seriously let the Ecclesiastical Histories be examin'd never so strictly I am sure there is not any particular Church to be found since the time of the Apostles that retains its proper and Primitive Purity and has not deviated by some corruption or other from its first method and form So as St. Paul had very good reason in the beginning of his Epistle to the Romans to exhort them to have a care they did not wander from the truth The Church of Rome notwithstanding all this believes her self infallible or at least some Divines would perswade her so In Genoa there was a Priest called Father Zachary as I remember I am sure he was a Dominican that Preach'd upon that Subject he was a great Orator and had a vast memory he us'd all the arguments were possible to prove it and amongst the rest this one in St. Mathew And the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it which he urg'd with that vehemence that he declar'd that as often and every time the Church did err so often should Christ himself break his promise with the Church The Father being himself both Opponent and Respondent there was no answer given to that position yet it may be very well alleadg d that Christ in those words spake not of any particular Church but only of the Church of his Elect and therefore assures us also in other places that all the Machinations Persecutions and Conspiracres of the three implacable Enemies of mankind united shall not be able to extinguish and irradicate that Church because Gods Foundations are firm and unmoveable and he knows who are his own As it is in the Apostle to Timothy to which may be added those words of our Saviour The Heaven and the Earth shall pass away but my Word shall not fail intending thereby the Church where the word of God is preach'd And if it happens at any time that any particular Church deviates from the right way which is the way of truth the only foundation of the Church and upon which our Salvation is built God of his mercy will raise up another to convince that of the errour it is fallen into Amongst all the Churches since the beginning of the world there has not been found that unconstancy and confusion as in the Church of Rome so many Anti-Popes Schisms Heresies Controversies Confusions Suspensions Persecutions so many false Opinions Scandals Tyrannies and Intestine Quarrels as there Several times have they been known to adore two Popes in the same Province at once at another time three of several Nations the very Colledge of Cardinals being divided some of them favouring one side some another and some of them believing neither of them lawfull This I am sure that at the Election of one Pope there grew such Schism in the Church the people were in great perplexity and confusion and not knowing by reason of the difference amongst the Cardinals which was the true Christian Church they were to follow they remain'd not only months but years in that irresolution as if they had belong'd neither to God nor the Devil Is it not too true Their Ecclesiasticks themselves do not only dispute in their Councels but fall out and quarrel with that vehemence and passion they will sooner leave the Councel than their Opinions so pertinaciously proud are they of any thing that is their own though with the greatest scandal to the people who in that uncertainty of the truth forsake not only their fiery and unreasonable Opinions but their Religion it self But what shall I say Are there not Bishops that Preach false Doctrine in their Diocess chaulking out Rules of living to the people contrary to the meaning of the Gospel and what is taught in Rome And have there not been Popes that have been disclaimed by their Clergy From hence it may be easily concluded that their Opinion that hold the Church infallible is false and erroneous and if the Church be fallible much more the Pope who though Governour
have lost something of his shape In like manner the Title Cof hurch cannot without violence or ignorance in Religion be taken from those Churches who are stragled out of the right way and will not be subjected to their true Mother Lucifers Pride was such it tumbled him down headlong from Heaven into Hell yet he retains the Title of Angel with this difference only that he was then call'd an Angel of Light but now of Darkness The Church of Israel though over-whelm'd most miserably in Idolatry had the Title of Church continued to them still by the Prophets themselves but with the distinction of Good and Holy then of Wicked and Idolatrous after So as it ought to be sufficient for the Churchmen of Rome to allow them to be Churches though they think them deprav'd and though it be not impossible that those Churches they think so may be most holy and sound The matters of Religion appear so ordinary and low the simplest Ideot thinks himself a Master in them whereas indeed they are so deep and profound they are enough almost to break the brain as well as the sleep of the poor Christian that confounded with this scruple and that dispute is oftentimes forc'd to go on in his ignorance and precipitates himself into obscurities by the very means he was searching after light Every one believes his own Religion the best and that he is predestinated to be saved but his Neighbour to be damned If you enquire of a Roman Catholick he will assure you with plenty of asseverations that there is no Salvation out of that Pale Ask a Lutheran of his and he will tell you the true way to Heaven is his way And so the Calvenist with great Learning and no few Texts of Scripture will perswade you his Doctrine comes nearest the Apostles A certain Friend of mine whose head is full of those niceties in Religion being in a merry humour told me one day if he might have his wish he would wish himself in Paradice for one day and in Hell for a moneth I enquir'd of him the reason why his stay in Paradice should be so short he reply'd That he would fain be satisfy'd which Religion sent most souls to Heaven and which most to Hell that in Paradice he knew there were no throngs and therefore he could dispatch there in a day but that Hell was better planted and would require a longer visit I ask'd him why he would prophane his own Religion with such discourse he answer'd Dear Friend to tell you the truth I am of opinion that here below it is impossible to be satisfy'd who shall be saved and who not because for ought we know they that appear most beautifull in this world may be most deform'd in the next and though we look upon blackness here as a defect yet there as amongst the Moors it may be counted a perfection He stopt there and I made some reflections by the bye upon his railery yet certainly that providence that governs the World has reserv'd the knowledge of Salvation and Damnation as a secret to himself to prevent those censures that are yet too frequent among Christians some condemning this man some saving of that as if either of them were in the power of Man I am of opinion by the leave of the Divines both Protestant and Papist that as to their Fundamentals all Religions are good yet withall I believe there is none of them without their defects and corruptions The Catholick holds the Protestant Church for a Compendium of Hell but for what reason marry they cannot tell and it is best of all that they cannot But what follows when any of those that are so much possess'd against it by the violence of their Preachers who cry out against them in their Pulpits as if they had Horns upon their heads like the Devil have occasion to travel and converse amongst them they are amaz'd and confounded to see there is no such things amongst them that their practices are honest their preaching against vice the Psalms of David their musick that for the better instruction of the people they read the Scriptures in their own tongue and that swearing and blasphemy is punish'd severely And this is that Church the Catholick calls the Epitome of Hell and the wickedest Society amongst men I will not say notwithstanding but amongst them also there are some dissolute and prophane it is enough that as to the Essence of their Church and their Divine Service they are assured that the Catholicks themselves nay those very Priests that kindle and foment the differences betwixt them cannot but commend them when they see them The Protestant on the other side speaks against the Catholick with as much passion and zeal as against the Jews Though indeed for the most part their indignation is rather directed against the Pope than the Church as believing him the occasion of all their corruption But be it how it will they also are to blame when they censure the Catholick without distinction made betwixt the Church and the Pope The Church of Rome in respect of its original was good and holy and therefore with good reason St. Paul directed his first Epistle to the Romans The iniquity that is crept into it proceeds from the corruption of those that have polluted it Under ashes that seem extinct there many times lies fire conceal'd the outward appearance does not destroy the inward excellence A Vizard may give a man the similitude of a Beast but not the nature Let the disguise of sin which is that which makes Lucifer painted so deform'd be taken away and he will again become an Angel of Light If those abuses that are daily introduc'd into the Church of Rome sometimes by the Capriccio of the Pope sometimes by the fallacy of the Priest were but taken away let the Adversary say what he pleases I do not doubt but all the rest would be well For my part I am of opinion and will declare it let both Papist and Protestant take it never so ill that there is Salvation to be found in any Christian Church whatsoever provided they live piously according to the natural precepts of our consciences and the express directions in the Old and New Testament And on the other side I believe as confidently there is no Church but one may be damn'd in if we suffer the contrary corruption to prevail And this I write as an Historian and not a Divine About the beginning of May 1667. there was a Priest of the Countrey of the Grisons passing by this City was very curious to know the state of the Protestants enquiring of this man and of that and now and then having no capacity for greater he would fall into some little arguments or disputes about it A certain Advocate of Crimona a learned and exemplary man to whom also he was recommended gave him satisfaction immediately in all his scruples whether of curiosity or conscience and indeed he could not
on purpose to find a remedy in some measure for the disorders the Nepotismo occasion'd in the Church But their words were more than their deeds for though some were of opinion a definitive decree should be pass'd by which all succeeding Popes should be oblig'd from calling their Relations to Rome without the consent of the Sacred Colledge Nevertheless the major part thought it more convenient not to meddle in it at all lest they should give fresh occasion of scandal and derision to the Hereticks So that Pallavicino's Paper had no better success than the resolution of Cardinal Cena who had fancy'd to himself the extinguishment of the Nephews a â—â—diculâ—â—us fancy because in my iudgement the extinction of the Nephews would be a great prejudice to the common re 〈…〉 of Rome if the Pope was constrain'd to trust himself rather to the Councels of his Enemies than his friends and to introduce persons unknown to him into the Vatican The Duty of Cardinals as they are Senators of the Church should be to watch over the Nephews that of Governours they become not Princes of Keepers of the Patrimony of Saint Peter they prove not barbarous devourers of the very blood of Christ and indeed if the Cardinals pleas'd they might do wonders for the benefit of the Church Were they all unanimous for the destruction of all corruption they would give the Pope and his Nephews matter to think upon but they have no mind to it this for one consideration that for another this for this interest that for that so that faction and division ruines the Church and gives opportunity to the Popes in the mean time to prosecute the advancement of their own Families Some few years since the Cardinals amongst other Titles call'd themselves Princes of the Holy Church which gave sober men great occasion to wonder for my own part I look upon it as so strange and incongruous an usurpation I cannot tell which way to excuse it That they call themselves Senators of the Christian Commonwealth Counsellors of the Supreme Senate of Christ upon Earth Apostles of the Catholick Religion Assistants to Christs Vicar Supreme Ministers of the Gospel I can allow as what they may reasonably deserve but I know not how they can assume the Title of Princes of the Church Are they Princes that are many times used worse than Slaves by the Nephews Are they Princes that are forc'd to wait from morning to night not upon Christs Vicar but the Popes Nephews Are they Princes of the Church that know not so much as where her Treasure is Are they Princes of the Church that suffer her to be ransack'd and ravish'd before their own eyes Are they Princes that can see their Principalities destroy'd with so much patience Your true Princes from the rising to the setting of the Sun and from its setting to its rising again do study nothing more than the conservation of their proper Principalities they endeavour with all possible care the augmentation of the number of their Subjects they suffer not their people to be press'd or overlay'd with more grievances than the condition of his Principality does necessarily require If any go about to disturb the peace of their Neighbours they arm themselves immediately marching up and down their Dominions to hear the grievances and complaints of their Subjects and to comfort them with his presence and due execution of Justice and these are Princes indeed But what kind of Princes are your Cardinals Or what service do they do the Church to deserve that Title But their Soveraignty or to speak more properly their Dominion and Government is not in spiritual things forasmuch as the Pope is he that dispences indulgences gives dispensations sends out his Bulls and creates Bishops and Cardinals as he pleases so that the Pope only is Prince of the Church and not the Cardinals and although they may seem to have some share in the creation of Bishops because they are examin'd usually in a Congregation of Cardinals yet that is only form and outward appearance for in strictness the Pope can make whom he thinks good and without the consent or knowledge of the Cardinals send a Bishop into any City whether the whole Colledge of Cardinals dare not so much as send a Deacon to recite the Offices for the dead withcut the Popes permission And this is a thing that gives me no small discomposure as often as I think of it for indeed we all know and all History both Ecclesiastick and Prophane do confirm it that Saint Peter never did any thing but by the concurrence of the Apostolick Colledge but the Colledge often without Saint Peter nor can I tell how the face of things came to be chang'd for above twelve Centuries the Popes never insinuated or pretended to the creation of Bishops Cardinals or other Officers of the Church that belonging alwayes to the Synode and Colledge But now the Popes do all things as they list themselves and yet the Cardinals must needs have the Title of Princes of the Holy Church which the Popes do willingly allow them as not caring who have the smoak whilst they themselves run away with the roast But if the Popes have usurp'd upon the Cardinals Jurisdiction in Spiritual things much more have they robb'd them of it in Temporal One of them being taken away drew the other after it Whilst the Popes began at first by degrees to entrench upon that Authority in Spirituals that the Sacred Colledge was legally possess'd of and finding by little and little that they parted with patience with what they usurp'd with pride the good Popes took courage and seiz'd upon all driving them out both of their Spiritual and Temporal Authority too so that at this present the Cardinals have nothing left them but the benevolence of the Pope The worst is the Cardinals cannot yet tell in what manner they came to be robb'd of those Priviledges they in former times were possess'd of but for my part I believe it was from nothing else but their negligence and too little care they took of the conservation of that Authority that was given them by God by the Church by the Emperors and by the People for seeing their Authority very great they us'd not sufficient diligence to preserve it whereas the Popes being conscious of the weakness of their own they made it their business to enlarge it and they have done it so effectually they have left the other none at all Platina in his first impression of the Life of Paul the second gives an account that amongst others being accus'd of I know not what and brought Prisoner before the said Pope he petition'd his Holiness that he might be try'd before the Colledge of Cardinals in whose Judgement he would willingly acquiesce But the Pope enrag'd at the request told him What do you talk of Judgement know you not that I am infallible and carry all their Judgements and Reason in the Cabinet of my breast I consider