the Catholicks was alwayes ready drawn against it But one may ask here how it comes to pass that the zeal of the Princes is grown so cold seeing that for a hundred and fifty years last past they have been more ready to persecute the interest of the Popes than to defend the Faith of Christ To this it may be answer'd That the Princes are grown cold because the Popes are so whilst they were zealous for the good of the Church so were the Princes but since they began to throw Religion behind their backs and give themselves over to the aggrandizement of their Nephews since they began to empty the Coffers of the Church to fill the bags of their own Kindred the Princes are fallen off as not conceiving it prudence to strip themselves of their Clothes to cover the nakedness of that Church that is robb'd and dispoil'd by the Popes her Governours or to supply their Nephews who are Enemies to the Princes It would certainly be ridiculous not only to the Infidels but to the Christians themselves should the Princes suffer the Nephews of the Popes in Rome to batten with the Blood of Christ and they consume the Treasure of their Subjects in making War upon those that do not so much mischief to the Popes as their Nephews do to all Christendom When the Knights of Malta took the Grand Sultaness which was the occasion without doubt of the War with the Venetian I was present in Rome where they discours'd generally that the Turks would not fail to be reveng'd to the detriment of all Christendom And one day above all the rest as they were talking in this manner a certain Roman adventur'd to say in these very words I would to Heavens the Turks would take Rome for 't is most certain the Slaves in Constantinople are better treated by the Grand Signiour than the poor free born Romans are in Rome And another discoursing likewise upon the same subject in the company amongst the rest of a Prelate that was discontented and talking that there was a necessity of the Princes joyning in a firm League against the Turk the Roman reply'd That it would be a better deed to drive the Nephews out of Rome than the Turk out of Constantinople because the Turk had never done so much mischief to Christendom as the Nephews had done to the Church A Friend of mine had the curiosity to calculate the Money that has been given to the Nephews and he began at the year 1500. and after a great deal of pains he found issuing from the Treasury of the Church above seventy Millions of double Ducats all deliver'd into the hands of their Kindred and this is to be understood of visible Moneys for of private and invisible sums there may perhaps be twenty Millions more And those Romans that are within the Town and have more time to cast up what has been extorted from them if they would take the pains to examine it more strictly I am satisfi'd would find it much more Now if these seventy Millions of double Ducats had been spent in persecuting Hereticks or in making War upon Infidels where would any Infidels be where would any Hereticks be Those seventy Millions would have been enough to have over-run all Asia And which is of importance too the Princes would have contributed as much more had they seen the Popes more tenacious against their Kindred and more free to the Souldiers that were fighting for Christ The Protestants apply all this to a Miracle of the Divine providence for God Almighty say they began to send Popes that were zealous and passionate for the enrichment of their Kindred from the very time the Reformists began to appear to the end that the Popes having given all to their Nephews and wanting money they should have no mind to assist those Princes that would willingly have made War against the Reformists and hence it was that it was said by the Minister that read the Gazet That he desir'd that God would put it out of the minds of the Cardinals to oblige the Pope to turn the Nipotisme out of Rome And not without reason as fearing those great Sums that have been robb'd from the Church and hoarded up by the Nephews should be imploy'd afterwards to their ruine and destruction I leave it to the zeal of the Cardinals to make reflection who if they cannot obtain from the Popes that no more moneys of the Church be given to the Nephews let them at least prevail so far as that they would pretend no longer to any Wars with the Hereticks and Turks which would be more reputation to the Church and give less scandal to the Catholicks Who are engag'd upon any tydings of War with the Hereticks and in that rapture cry out How a Devil should we make War with the Hereticks whilst the Nephews run away with the means applying that money to their private use that was given by the Faithfull for maintenance of the Christian Religion and the destruction of the Enemies of Christ. Hundreds of Examples we have to confirm these opinions What Succours were sent to the Emperor Ferdinand who was then fighting against the Protestants in Germany by Pope Vrban plenary Indulgences hortatory Epistles and dilatory Excuses Yet it is certain there never went in all the times above 200000 Crowns in ready money and most of that was kept in the hands of the Nuntioes or Merchants and whenever his Imperial Majesty demanded supply he was answer'd with pittiful Remonstrances and tedious Representations of the miserable Estate of the Church the poverty of the people and the emptiness of their Treasury However the Barbarini were in Rome at the same time and enjoy'd an annual rent of 400000 Crowns and yet in a War of that importance to the Catholick Religion they could not find above 40000. But oh God! I speak it with tears in my eyes against the most Catholick Princes of Italy whole Millions were nothing they could turn the Cross into a Sword to revenge their particular injuries but in relief of the Emperor who was vindicating the Christian Faith against the Enemies thereof they could not find so much as a few Hundreds Innocent the tenth to satisfie the fancy of a Kinswoman spent a hundred thousand Crowns upon a Fountain yet with great difficulty could scarce find 40000 for the supply of the Emperor who seeing himself abandon'd by his Holiness in his Wars with the Protestants he was forc'd to patch up a Peace with no small disadvantage to the Catholick Religion And yet this good Pope could leave to his Cousin to the House of Pamphilia and other Houses allied to that above eight Millions of Crowns with which sums they flourish in Rome to this very day The same story is reported of the King of Poland besieg'd as one may say by the Protestants of that Kingdom and brought to a necessity of loâ—ing that Crown from the Catholicks or the Catholick Religion from that Crown And yet
for all this both Vrban and Innocent thought of nothing less than relieving him because perhaps the Religion of the Nephews which was nothing but riches and honour was dearer to him than the Religion of Christ In short and let those Parasites not prosper that write the contrary the Church of God was never so harrass'd in Poland and Germany as in the time of those Popes Not that the Emperor wanted heart or the King of Poland courage but because they saw the Pipes that convey'd the Supplys formerly from Rome broken and cut off and those two Popes resolv'd to spin out and protract the War with bare hopes of relief that they might not bring the rest of the Catholicks into an extremity of misery they concluded to leave the Church of Rome to its self and make the best use of their own policies though to the prejudice of Religion seeing Rome took no care of the Church nor the Popes of any thing but their Nephews He that hath judgement and zeal and understands affairs let him correct me if I speak amiss But what shall I say of the Venetians who have spent the dearest blood of their Citizens in defence of the Faith of Religion of Christ and even of the Popes themselves and yet many times for all that have they been deserted and persecuted by the Popes of which ingratitude I shall not speak much in this place as hoping for the consolation of all zealous Catholicks to publish ere long a Book entitled The ingratitude of Princes towards the sole Virgin of Christendome This Republique that for the Glory of God and the Benefit of the Church undertook so memorable a War against the Emperour Frederick and all to restore the Vicar of Christ to the Apostolick Chair out of which he had been chas'd could not notwithstanding obtain for the maintenance of its Armies imploy'd against the Enemies of Christianity any thing but a pittance of supply drawn by Prayers and Supplications not from the purse of the Popes who had sworn to bestow all the Riches of the Church upon their Nephews but from the tears of the Ecclesiasticks that were destroy'd To that Republique that spent ten millions of Crowns and more in two years time for the Service of his Holiness in a War against Frederick the Emperour the Popes ought in all reason to have given at least two millions in ten years that those Senators that want neither courage nor zeal might have been completely inabl'd to have defended the Interest of Christ Oh God! to what purpose will they keep so many Jewels at Loretto so much consecrated Plate in Rome so many Abbeys for their Nephews so many Benefices for the Cardinals so much Wealth for the Popes if abandoning this Commonwealth and refusing it that Humane supply that is necessary for the maintenance of the Celestial Glory it be constrain'd to submit and truckle to the Ottoman power which threatens it now with its greatest effect If the Wealth of the Popes be devour'd the Benefices of the Cardinals given to the Priest of Mahomet the Abbeys of the Nephews usurp'd by the Turks the Sacred Vessells in Rome prophan'd by those Infidels and the Seraglio adorn'd with the Gemms of Loretto God grant my eyes may never see that spectacle Against this your zeal most eminent Princes against this you care is to watch In our dayes or rather yours we have seen the victorious Swede entring into Germany to the great detriment of the Catholicks because the Popes were pleas'd to have it so that fatten'd up their Nephews with that nourishment that ought to have been reserv'd for the beating back the Swede to the very walls of Stockholme God grant that for want of our utmost assistance the Turk be not seen triumphing in the middle of Italy nay of Rome it self The Ottoman Emperour knows very well that Popes think of nothing but shearing the Flock of Christ and giving the Wool to their Nephews and this it is that secures the Turk that little assistance is to be expected from the Popes and less from the Princes concluding rationally enough that the Princes will not do much when the Popes that are Christs Vicars do so little for his service The Infidels laugh and the Hereticks rejoyce to see the Wealth of the Church so irreligiously devour'd whilst the poor Christian weeps at their merriment They know they are safe enough for having any more Leagues made against them and understand the emulations and dissentions amongst the Cardinals The Protestants are much more liberal of their utmost supplyes to those Princes that make War upon the Catholicks than the Popes are of their assistance to those that fight against the Protestants and from hence it is the Turks are so victorious over the Christians and the Hereticks over the Catholicks at this day That heat and passion which the Popes shew hourly for their Nephews to gain Principalities for them to bestow Pension upon Pension upon them to build Pallace upon Pallace for them and to fill their Coffers with Treasure to the Brims is that which cools the resolutions of the zealousest Prince and exasperates the Infidels in their wicked designs A great shame it is indeed that the Hereticks should have more ground to accuse the Catholicks than the Catholick has to impeach the Heretick And of this the Cardinals are oblig'd seriously to consider as persons thought worthy to be Members of that Sacred Body that is the Natural Councel of the Vicar of Christ Il CARDINALISMO di Santa Chiesa OR THE HISTORY OF CARDINALS In III. Parts PART II. BOOK II. The Contents In which several particularities of the magnificence of the Colledge of Cardinals are treated Of the manner in which the Popes have endeavour'd to debase the Cardinalitial Majesty Of the ill usage Cardinal Astalli receiv'd of Innocent the tenth Of a remarkable saying of a certain Cardinal upon the ill usage the Cardinals receive from the Popes Of certain Popes that have had thoughts of encreasing the number of Cardinals to a hundred and the causes that mov'd them thereunto Of certain politick reasons about this advancement and diminution Of the causes why the Popes delay to make Promotions till towards the latter end of their dayes Of the reasons that mov'd Urban the eighth to continue seven years without creating one Cardinal Of the industry of the Nephews in raising their Fortunes and procuring wealth to their Families A parallel betwixt the Families of the Medici and Barbarini in the time that Florence was a Republick Of the small esteem they had at Rome before the creation of Urban Of the promotion of Francisco Barbarino to the Cardinalship Of the time that Urban alone govern'd the Monarchy of the Church Of the causes that mov'd him to leave the whole Dominion in the hands of his Nephews Of the natural inclination of the Romans to count all the Popes Nephews Devils Of the number of voices Cardinal Francisco had in one scrutiny Of the
endeavour'd all he could to hit the humour of his Holiness yet he had not the success he desir'd In his Nuntiature in Polonia which is usually the touchstone whereon they try the ability of their wits he met with such rubs in certain businesses committed to him by his Holiness that he was very near losing of that reputation he gain'd in the beginning of his Nuntiature But he disintangl'd himself with such prudence that he receiv'd thanks from his Holiness for what he had done for the advantage of the Catholick Religion and the ease of the Catholick Princes in that Kingdom King Casimir recommended him very earnestly to the Pope and favour'd him much at his Court so that the Pope who was inclinable enough to reward the deserts of such persons as had done best service to the Church created him Cardinal with the Title of Saint Calisto Nor was this creation displeasing to the Spaniard his Eminence being as it were a Subject to that Crown and one that had alwayes held a fair correspondence with it but without disgusting the French using such dexterity that he oblig'd the one without giving jealousie to the other In the Congregations he did alwayes very well and what he said was upon good foundation yet he might have been a little more short and succinct in his discourses for he would amplifie so much he would often lose his way not knowing how to get back to his Post but in things of higher importance he took more time and consideration He neither exceeds in clemency nor rigour but keeps a middle way betwixt both only in certain cases where the interest of his own or his friends is concern'd he will mistake sometimes and be rigid where he should be merciful and merciful where he should be severe at Court he has but an ordinary reputation PASCALE d'ARAGONA is a natural Spaniard of one of the most illustrious Families in Spain if not of the Royal he was made Cardinal at the nomination of the King of Spain with the Title of Santa Balbina before his Creation he had serv'd his Majesty in very considerable imployments and much to the advantage and satisfaction of that Crown In Rome where he receiv'd the Cap from his Holinesses own hands he was certain months in the character of Ambassador but in a short time he was declar'd Vice-Roy of Naples which is one of the greatest Governments that depend upon that Crown substituting Don Pietro d'Aragona his Brother Ambassador in his place he went from Rome to take possession of his new Government where he was receiv'd with all imaginable Pomp by those people to whom he express'd all the tokens of integrity and justice taking off at first dash several of their Grievances and Gabels though he was afterwards enforc'd to lay others in their room which he did without any way disgusting the people The King of Spain dying in the mean time this Cardinal was declar'd one of the Principal Counsellors to the Queen Dowager call'd back into Spain to assist in the Government of that Monarchy and his Brother Don Pietro declar'd Vice-Roy in his stead but rather in consideration of the Cardinal than the proper merits of Don Pietro who was indeed next him the most worthy of that charge which he doth still execute with honour to himself and satisfaction to the people Whilst he was Vice-Roy the dignity of Sopremo Inquisitore was conferr'd upon him but he held it not long resigning it to the Queens chief Confessor in exchange for the Arch-Bishoprick of Toledo which he has in possession at this time This Cardinal is certainly a person of great intelligence in politick affairs generous upon many occasions but not upon all he delights in certain magnificencies and pastimes provided they be honourable The Queen has him in great esteem and makes use not of his publick Counsels only but his private insomuch that there are many Grandees in the Court that envy him exceedingly calling him the Spanish Mazarine but they are very much mistaken FRANCISCO MARIA MANCINI a Roman was made Cardinal by Alexander at the nomination of the most Christian King with the Title of Santi Visto e Modesto Cardinal Mazarine who was his Cousin and resolv'd to make all his Relations considerable both in wealth and preheminence seeing his Brother Cardinal Michele Mazarine was dead for whose exaltation he had set his authority upon the Tenterhooks he began immediately to bend his mind to the ingrandizing this Kinsman and to that end he conferr'd honours upon him and introduc'd him into the service of the King that he might not seem to exalt a person to the Cardinalship though his design was no other by the intercession of the Crown of France till he had given some testimony of his affection to his Majesties service and he had reason for when by his services to the Crown of France he had prevail'd with his Majesty to recommend his Brother Michele for a Cap. Pope Vrban refus'd for some time to consent and either stimulated by the Spaniards or induc'd by some other reasons he excus'd himself by pretending that his Majesty ought not to interpose for a person that had done no service for his Crown But be it as it will he obtain'd it at last though he enjoy'd it but a few months death taking him out of the World without regard to the power of Mazarine who was much afflicted at the news thereof And that Mazarine might not have it again cast in his dish that he made the Crown of France nominate another Cardinal of no merit nor desert he put forth his hand to this Gentleman also and gave him opportunity of serving his Majesty in things that redounded more to the honour of Mancini himself than to the service of that Crown for Mazarine performing many things by his own great and fortunate brain afterwards gave out that all was perform'd by the conduct and affection of Mancini who perhaps knew nothing thereof himself though he wanted no will nor desire to serve well Alexander that envyed the great Authority of Mazarine in France and in his Nuntiature to Colen had taken some ill impressions against him as supposing him the great obstructer of the Peace lik'd not this Exaltation of his Cousin but endeavour'd under-hand what he could to defeat it but finding the inconveniences that would follow he created him and seem'd to do that willingly that he could not prevent This Cardinal is not ingratefull to the Crown that gave him his Cap having carry'd himself alwayes with great fervour in defence of its interest But he has not that head-piece that is necessary for them that undertake the protection of Crowns In the Congregations he shews himself a person of indifferent judgement delivering his opinion temperately and modestly though he be naturally subject to choller He would be glad to take any way would bring him to the Papacy but knowing that those Cardinals that have been propos'd by the Crowns do but lose
Novelty is with great penalty forbidden as well to the Bishops as Friars they are not permitted to exercise any publique Function or to publish any Order whatsoever though from Rome its self without notice given to the Senate and their License obtain'd and from hence it is that the Service of God and the Majesty of the Church is carry'd on with that Order that they have made themselves Emulated at Rome as well as in other States and all by the Authority the Senate keeps over the Clergy looking on them as Subjects not Equals as other Princes do And without question had it not pleas'd God by opposing the powers of those two Countries France and Spain against their ambition and by their means to put a stop to that torrent that was overflowing all Christendome the present Princes of Italy had been either chased out of their Dominions or forc'd to have ow'd their Liberties to the Liberality of the Popes If the Princes of Italy would but yet take their natural Liberties into consideration and follow the Examples of France and Venice it would not be too late and doubtless of all Nations they are most worthy to be imitated though the Ecclesiasticks are not asham'd to asperse the former with Heresie and the other with Atheism But indeed the Priests and Pontificians esteem none other Christians but such as believe them to be as they would be believ'd themselves Some there are who making judgement of things from their outward appearances do imagine the Spaniard much more Zealous for the Catholick Religion than the French but they are certainly mistaken for that zeal the Spaniard pretends to the Apostolick Chair and the Service of the Church is but a Copy of his Countenance and rather the formal result of his Policy and Interest than an ingenuous effect of his piety and Devotion The Spaniards have indeed a great Reverence for the Pope but none at all for the Church The French have much for the Church but little for the Pope for which reason the Popes look upon the Spaniards as Saints for being on their side and on the French as Devils for being on Gods And this Influence and Authority of the Popes over the Consciences of the Spaniard besides a natural animosity that is betwixt them is a great impediment to their Union in Religion the Spaniards as it were in a Bridle are manag'd by the Pope but the French keep close to their Gallican Church Others there are that think the Conscience of the Venetian of the largest size but for what reason Because in their Dominions they will not suffer the Priesthood to Usurp that unlimited and irregular power they exercise with so much detriment to the Soveraignty of Princes in other States and indeed what mieseries what calamities do we see dayly spring up in Christendome by their â—â—ars what anxieties and perturbation in peoples minds and yet because the Venetian distinguishes betwixt Gods Service and the Popes betwixt the power of Princes and the power of the Church betwixt Spiritual things and Temporal they are aspers'd with largeness of Conscience But would to God that Zeal and Sincerity for Religion that raigns in the hearts of that Senate raign'd also in the Courts of all other Princes in Christendome and doubtless their affairs would have better success Some few years since it was my fortune to Travel upon the Road with two Roman Abbots one of them after several other discourses happen'd to fall upon the Authority of the Pope and to declare what great power God Almighty had given him over all people in the world I who Travell'd on purpose to make observation of the proceedings of the Ecclesiasticks and of the Jurisdiction every where but especially in some principalities of Italy to the prejudice of Princes was very glad of the occasion as hoping thereby to receive some matter for my pen. It is the custom of the Italians to constrain and reserve themselves as much as possibly and keep their opinions close from the rest of the world but it is my humour on the other side to speak freely what I think and to write all I know whether it be good or bad which though they look upon as imprudence I cannot dislike However with these Abbots I thought it best to conceal my own and attend an opportunity of discovering their Judgements At last one of the Abbots took occasion very seriously to bewayl the extravagant liberty which the French and the Venetian assumed concluding that were it not for the repugnancie of these two States the Pope would be absolute Monarch of the whole World or at least the greatest Prince would fear the censure of the smallest Priest whereas by observing how little the French and the Venetian regard the Authority of the Church all others in like manner despise the solemnest Excommunication though from the Pope himself Being always delighted to hear other men speak I made him no answer at all thereby in a manner inticing him to proceed in his discourse but when he came to complain heavily of the French and Venetian for suffering Stationers to Print and Vend books frequently in their Dominions so much to the prejudice of the Pontifical Authority I could not forbear giving him this answer Dear Sir shall it be lawfull for the Pope to cause to be printed so many thousand books at Rome in favour of his own Authority and in prejudice of the Supremacy and Majesty of Princes and shall it be unlawful for Princes to permit the reading of such books as are written in the defence of their falling Authority and in diminution of the Papal The Abbot reply'd with the passion and insolence of a Priest That Princes could not in Conscience challenge their Authority but from the Pope's blessing and benignity who as Christ's Vicar upon Earth has power to dispose of all things in this world which are bestow'd by Heaven whence Princes are styled Sons and the Pope Father because as a Father he gives them their patrimony But this by your leave is a mistake reply'd I. True it is Princes are Sons of the Church indeed but not of the Pope and they are oblig'd to defend that Church which is their Mother but not that Pope who is their Enemy The Goods of this world do indeed belong unto the Lord but not at all to the Pope who by pretending to a Vniversal Dominion is so far from being Christs Vicar that he goes contrary to the Doctrine of our Saviour who besides the command he has left us to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars has declared that his Kingdom is not of this world and how then could the Pope who is but his Vicar confer or take away any Kingdoms here That which netled the Abbot most was my calling the Pope an Enemy to Princes to which he answered And why an Enemy I pray you I reply'd may not he too properly be call'd my Enemy that seeks to rob me of my birth-right
the Eastern Church and even that of Rome where Christianity was at first in its greatest Purity and would doubtless be again had not the Corruption of the times brought a scandal upon it even amongst Christians themselves I call it modestly the corruption of the times though I am sensible the introduction of so many idle and Superfluous Ceremonies into the Church has been an occasion of corrupting the times and with them Christianity it self The Jewish Church as I have said being a profess'd Enemy to Christ Preaching and Blaspheming in their Synagogues against the Crucify'd Redeemer and by their false Doctrine debauching and perverting poor Christians from their Faith ought in all equity to be banish'd from the Roman for their perverseness or ignorance be it which you will being invincible They are not to be satisfy'd of the coming of our Saviour or the redemption of the World the only point and ground of our Salvation and therefore unfit not only for Protection at Rome but for any Conversation in Christendom it being nothing else but to make a mixture of Gold and Durt Glory and Blame Praise and Blasphemy The Christian Policy indeed and I wish I could say Humane also of the Spaniards is to be commended in their Dominions they will not allow any Religion but the Catholick it is a Principle with them in a State should be but unus Dominus una Fides which is the reason that the Spaniards are not troubled with those Schisms and Factions in their Church as they are in other States to the confusion of the greatest Doctors who are able to distinguish betwixt good and evil much more of the poor ignorant people who are guided only by the outward appearances which they see in others But because the Interests of Religion are oftentimes overpower'd in the minds of men by sensual passions and worldly interests which should rather be subdu'd by them hence things are brought to a contrary posture and the Jews have greater liberty than the Greeks not in Italy only but in Rome it self the Popes carrying a stricter eye over the Actions and Ceremonies of the Greek Church than over the pernicious Doctrines of the Hebrews For the Jews being of a perverse and refractory humour in matters of Religion are in Humane things so complacent and flexible that by their Tributes and Insinuations they have so wrought themselves into the conversation of the Christians that they are treated by them as the nearest of their Kindred and Friends And I could wish that this were the worst but such is the force and incantation of their money that the very Popes have been perswaded not only to give them Protection in the Dominions of the Church but to suffer them to erect their Temples and Altars to Preach to Celebrate their Paschal with all possible Solemnity and to hold their Synagogues in all places whereas the Grecians wanting that Subtlety and Compliance and not thinking it just to pay Tribute where they are Strangers though in other places they have whole Provinces enough to evince the antiquity of their Rights which are in many things inconformable with the Roman they are forc'd to be contented with the exercise of some small pittance of their Ceremonies though under the eye of the Bishop of Rome But before we proceed any farther in the particularities of the Church of Rome from whence our Cardinalisme deduces its original to satisfie the curiosity of the Reader and to facilitate his understanding it is fit to consider the Universality of the Church which is particular in the Universal although universal and particular too as the Ecclesiasticks believe The word Church as it has been declar'd by several Learned men and ought to be acknowledg'd by all Christians signifies nothing but an Assembly of many persons and the Scripture uses it in four principal senses In the first it signifies only the Elect and those Blessed Souls that are separated from the Corruption of the world and taken into the fruition of Eternal happiness to wit the Glorify'd Saints or the Church Triumphant which is so much talk'd of in the world and so much aspir'd to by the Righteous Secondly it denotes in general the Universal visible Church comprehending Protestants though the Pope calls them Hereticks as well as the Catholicks and of this Church St. Paul speaks when he writes to Timothy that in a great City there are not only vessels of Gold and of Silver but of Wood also and of Earth by this Rhetorical and Figurative way of speaking insinuating that the Church is compos'd of bad as well as good of those predestinated to Damnation as those decreed to be Saved Yet so it is with the Roman Divines as if they know not what St. Paul had writ or pretended to know more will admit into the Pale of their Church which ought to be Universal only such particulars as can truckle and condescend to the Kissing of the Priests Hand and the Popes Toe Thirdly it signifies the Assembly and Congregation of the Pastors and principal Governours of Christs Flock and in this acceptation it was our Saviour speaking of Brotherly correction admonishes that if the party offending be pertinacious in his fault and worthy of reprehension the party offended should apply himself for reparation to the Church From whence it is plain that our Saviour intended the Congregations and Synods of Bishops and other Rulers in the Church whose office it is to inspect the affairs thereof and negotiate for its benefit and accommodation Though some there are that believe Christ meant by the Word a Compleat and Universal Assembly of the Godly which in my judgement is improbable because the Gospel our principal light declares expresly that the power of Correction was in the Rulers only and not in them By the fourth and last signification of the word Church every particular Congregation of Christians is intended which though it seem in appearance to be separated yet it is indeed a Member joyn'd and fasten'd by an indivisible knot to the intire and universal body of the visible Church And in the Infancy of Christianity when the Apostles writ their Epistles to Corinth Ephesus and Rome those Churches were such And I suppose our Saviour intended no otherwise in those words Where two or three are met together in my name I will be in the midst of them And indeed when two or three are met together either in the Church in Prison in the Streets or elsewhere if it be to read the Scriptures to send up their Prayers to Heaven or for any other action of devotion whether Protestant or Papist they are in my judgement a Church and Christ is in the midst of them for it is not the number of persons but the intention of their meeting which denominates them a Church Otherwise an Assembly of Gamesters would have as much right to that honourable appellation as they But there is one thing very necessary to be determined the Romans
solemn Entry of the Queen of Sweedland I heard an Expression of a Roman that gave me so great scandal that from my Cradle I was not in greater perplexity than at that time and all upon occasion of the Grandeur the Pope had usurp'd under pretence of Religion Being one day in St. Peters Church to see the aforesaid Queen Baptiz'd and observing the Pope and Cardinals with most incredible Majesty walking about in most sumptuous Habits I turn'd about to my Camerade and told him in my judgement I did believe there could not be richer Cloaths seen in the whole World The Roman heard me and crowding himself towards us gave me this answer The Habits Sir of the Pope Cardinals and Prelats are very rich indeed but my Wife shews her bare breech for it Neither my Camerade nor I gave him any answer suspecting him for some Court Spye that use to insinuate themselves as it were by accident into peoples company and speak ill of the Pope to make discovery of what their affections are But this poor Roman spake as he thought by the rest of his discourse making it plain how miserable the people of Rome were that were forc'd to deny themselves bread to enable them to pay the Taxes and Impositions laid upon them by the Pope So as the poor man concluded that the Catholick Religion in the Ecclesiastick State was the cause of the distress of the people and of all the pleasures and extravagancies in the Ecclesiasticks To this purpose I remember a certain Sermon I heard in a Covent in Rome and in the presence of two Cardinals one of them Sacchetti but the others name I have forgot The Sermon and the whole design of it made such an impression in me I think of it a hundred times a day and shall in this place insert the most memorable part of it The Preacher was a bare-footed Franciscan he seem'd a poor pittiful creature to look on but he was the more experienc'd in morality and declaim'd with that zeal and vigor against vice he rais'd devotion in the hearts of his whole Auditory The first Sunday in Lent this Holy Father being got into the Pulpit in the presence of two Cardinals and a very great Auditory besides after an Ave Maria and two or three cringes with his knee as is usual rising up again upon his feet he put his Cappuce or Cowle upon his head and pulling it down so low that we could scarce see his eyes in which posture having paus'd a while without speaking a word fixing his eyes upon the Cardinals that stood before him without naming any Text at all he breaks out abruptly into these words St. Peter was a fool St. Paul was a fool all the Apostles were fools the Martyrs were fools and all the Primitive Saints of the Church of Jesus Christ our Redeemer were fools The Cardinals at these words grew as insensible as Statues the people on the other side stood gaping in expectation of what would follow most of us imagining there was some mystery in the business and I among the rest admiring what freak this should be was very well contented to attend whilst the Father after some moments of silence which he had used on purpose to observe the distraction of the people began his discourse as followeth You that are Prelats do not you believe you shall be sav'd Yes good Father we do I know your answer And you of the common sort of people you are certain of Paradice Without question you will say yes Yes say I By turning night into day by feasting sporting and luxury with travelling all day in your Coaches and seeing Comedyes at night with wearing of Purple and Scarlet Silver and Gold and having your Silken trains carryed after you in the Street yes by spoyling the Walls of the Church to adorn the Walls of your Chambers and by taking from Christ to bestow upon the World is it in this manner O Romans you would be Saved The Apostles certainly and all the Saints of the Primitive Church might have been Saved the same way and then as certainly they were mad-men and fools to wander up and down in solitude and misery begging their bread for the love of God They were out of their wits to run up and down bare-foot and bare-legg'd preaching of Repentance and lying whole weeks together upon the ground and at last indure Injuries Imprisonments Persecutions and Death you are mistaken O Romans the Apostles and Primitive Saints were full of Sanctity and Prudence it is you are the fools to propose a new way of Salvation to your selves invented by your own intemperance and vanity you you are the fools you are the mad-men that think to save your Souls by ways not only contrary to the Precepts of the Gospel but against all reason whatsoever And these were the express words that he us'd which as soon as I went home I set down in writing lest I should forget them After this the Father named this Text Ductus est Jesus in Desertum admiring his patience which he apply'd with several places of Scripture and arguments of his own very proper for such select matter to us with great fervour and zeal I went home very well satisfi'd with the Preacher but in great apprehension for him believing as an Article of my Faith he would have been burnt next day in the Inquisition I was beginning a Psalm of Mercy for his Soul but my memory was too weak to go thorow with it but if I had my labour had been but lost the good Father had no need of it at all for he continued his Preaching in the same Church and with a greater concourse than before to my no small admiration for this I am certain of a Heretick nor the worst Enemy the Church of Rome had not only durst not but could not have found out more ignominious language against the City of Rome when two Cardinals were present To speak the truth that Sermon put a thousand thoughts into my head about matters of Religion which indeed are those I do most naturally apply my self to I would willingly have given any thing I had been absent and have repented me several times of going to Church that day and not without reason for from that day to this it has still run in my thoughts with what difference and contrariety they live now to the manner they lived in the minority of the Church when this City flourish'd with Godly men and Martyrs If a Heretick be ask'd whether he thinks to be saved or not I mean such a one as would cheat his own Father minds nothing but Roguery a continual Swearer and Debaucher one that goes to Church only for fear of the Magistrate ask such a one what he thinks of his Salvation and he will tell you he is most certain of it if you ask by what means he will answer with greater arrogance still by vertue of the blood of our Saviour that was
with a horn The Cappuchins will needs have it that St. Francis wore a Cap with a horn upon his head the Coventuals on the other side will have it a Hood or Cappuce like theirs in short these Schismaticks are so Religious in these trifles they Preach and Inculcate them into their Disciples that they may be ready upon all occasion to rifle the Arguments of the other whilst the People either out of ignorance or partiality run up and down the Streets sometimes crying up the Hood and sometimes the Horn as their affection to either side leads them The Popes by several Decrees as their Conscience or Passion directed them endeavour'd to reconcile them but all to no purpose they rather exasperated than appeas'd them Vrban the eight in compliance with his Brother Cardinal Saint Onofrius his humour set forth several Bulls in favour of the Cappuchins upon which the Franciscans took occasion to defend themselves in Print And accordingly a certain Father call'd Catalanus writ a large Volume against the Cappuchins that put all Italy into a Convulsion so as it seem'd as if the dayes of the Guelphs and Ghebelliâ—s were return'd again the Cardinals as well as common People falling into Parties The Cappuchins also though the book was prohibited to be bought or read under penalty of Excommunication publish'd several Manifesto's against it though it was Dedicated to a Cardinal Now can there be a greater or vainer Schism in the Church Yet these Venerable Schismatical Fathers of the Church will perswade you that all this is no Schism but a Virtue a laudible and necessary Vindication of their Rights under which Title they comprehend all their Schisms and Heresies The Hereticks that are now in Europe in such great numbers or in any other part of the World have not separated themselves from the Church out of any Fundamental Exception as if the Foundation of that Building was not good Oh no! They will not say so themselves on the contrary they acknowledg'd them Excellent but observing Corruption and Scandal increasing dayly in the Church they conclude the Edifice cannot stand long but by a precipitate destruction must of necessity fall and bury its Foundation in its own Ruines thereby taking occasion to insinuate into the People that God Almighty will prosper the Reformers and make their Labour and Industry instrumental in re-clearing the Foundations and re-establishing the Church He that is so curious to trace out the Original of Heresie especially those which abound in these dayes he shall find that from idle and impertinent Fewds and Disputes amongst the Ecclesiasticks which nobody regarded or if they did they look'd upon them as inconsiderable came Schism and from Schism Heresie which has multiplyed like Corn. The least spark of fire meeting matter proper for combustion kindles immediately and if not timely extinguish'd will hazard the whole City The Scandal the Ecclesiasticks give is like such a spark it seems yet inconsiderable but if not seasonably quench'd for ought I know it may put the whole Church into a Flame One of the greatest miseries I have observ'd in the Church is that in spight of our own reason and judgement we are forc'd and compell'd to applaud the Impieties of the Clergy and if any persons Conscience be so tender and so true to the Religion he professes as to refuse it he is pronounc'd a Heretick immediately and accordingly condemn'd to the Flames The Popes think they do a great matter when they raise three hundred thousand Crowns upon the people under pretence of extirpating the Hereticks in Germany and yet send the Emperour but thirty thousand of them and in the mean time they entertain such multitudes of Schismaticks in Rome whose scandalous lives disturb the peace of all Christendome Would the Pope with his Authority and the Cardinals with their Advice instead of Persecuting the Hereticks reform not only the general Abuses in the Church which are numerous but the innumerable Scandals committed by the Prelats in their Pallaces and the Fryers in their Cloisters in the face and defiance as it were of all Christian people the Church would be not only in a better condition but the Hereticks that cannot now be reduc'd with force nor perswasion would humble themselves come into the Church and throw themselves into her Arms. Some Popes are zealous for the Persecution of Hereticks but Hereticks do but sport themselves at the Persecution of the Popes and indeed the Hereticks have more reason to jeast at it than the Popes have to Persecute for in the punishing of one they do but raise up a thousand if they burn one in some place that is remote from Rome there will twenty turn Hereticks for it in Rome in short if they chastise one a thousand will be awaken'd to inform themselves of the reason and turn Hereticks too This one thing I may say that perhaps there is not a man in Christendome better acquainted with the Juglings of the Roman Catholicks or the Impieties of the Hereticks than I am I have weigh'd and consider'd them both and will boldly averâ— there is not any way more ready for the Conversion of Hereticks than the good example of Catholicks and especially the Churchmen nor better means to restrain those that in Rome it self do write against the iniquities of Rome than to take away those iniquities once for all What I say I can speak with confidence my own experience having evinc'd it Let Rome but Persecute one Tongue and she shall raise up a hundred let her but put one good Heretick to death and she creates a hundred perverse Hereticks in his place But some may ask me the difference betwixt a perverse Heretick and a good one I will declare my self by a perverse Heretick I mean those the Catholicks calls good and by a good one him that he thinks perverse The perverse one praises and flatters the Clergy in Rome and Rome in the Clergy the good Hereticks on the contrary condemn the defects both in the one and the other not out of malice but zeal not to foment wickedness but to remove it When the Ecclesiasticks do meet with any Treatise that checks and rebukes the Exorbitancy of their Lives they think not of any Reformation of themselves but cry out presently 't is the invention of Hereticks but the good Catholick that with sorrow observes the Ecclesiasticks Conversations know too well it is otherwise The Hereticks abhor me to death and why Because with Gentleness and Charity I rebuke the Extravaganâ—es of the Churchmen of Rome for they making their advantage of the disorders there would be glad to have all things run to ruine and indeed had I any design to do Rome a prejudice I would let them go on in their own wayes without giving them any notice of the Precipice A Chyrurgeon that hates his Patient troubles not himself about his recovery but he which loves him will put his Probe to the Wound to remove the Corruption I
the explinariness of his life than all the rest with their Religious formalities When first I saw the picture of St. Francis with a Church upon his Shoulders and this Inscription about it Vade Francisce repara domum meum quae labitur I was amaz'd especially when having the reason of it from a Father of that Order he told me that St. Francis had seen our Saviour one night in a Dream who admonish'd him in the same words to go and repair his Church And in this the cunning of the Fryers wherewith they lull and cajole the Popes and the Cardinals is seen This I may boldly affirm that that Inscription is a dishonor to them all to what end serve the Pope the Cardinals and the Bishops If this be true the Pope cannot deny but his Government is naught because he has suffer'd the Church to fall into those Errors Upon the day that is dedicated to St. Francis Saverius in the presence of four or five Cardinals and in Rome it self I heard a Jesuite Preach in praise of that Saint among the rest of his Elegies this was one That he had Baptiz'd a million and a hundred and eight thousand Souls in the Indies I wonder'd not so much at the Priest that Preach'd this as at the Cardinals that stood gaping to hear him To believe that Saverius did not Baptize more into the Faith of Christ than the whole Colledge of Apostles may I hope is no Heresie and indeed if I speak my judgement I am of opinion he scarce Baptiz'd any and my reason is because at this time there is not a hundred thousand Christians in the whole Indies So that had it been true that St. Francis Saverius had Baptiz'd so many the number would have been increas'd especially the way having been open since that time to the Spaniard Portugal English Hollander and all other Christians whatsoever But for my part I dare affirm 't is but a politick Stratagem of the Fryers to besot and inveigle the Pope and Cardinals into an opinion of their Piety and to shut their ears against the report of their Wickedness The Church is to be supported by the Zeal and good Government of the Popes and their Cardinals who are absolute Governours of the Flock of Christ and no others the Saints are to honour and respect them as Servants of God but the consequence will not hold that out of respect to St. Francis the Church should be fill'd up with thousands of Franciscans in which they do more mischief than good And if it were true that St. Francis Baptiz'd so many thousand Souls as they pretend it would be unfit to give the Jesuits that great liberty to inrich themselves as if St. Francis his Voyage to the Indies had been to have brought the Indies back to the Colledge of Jesuits But why these multitudes of Religions Why these numbers of Priests Half a dozen good Christians would do more towards the Conversion of Infidels than thousands of such as devour up the bread from the people and impoverish Princes for the inrichment of themselves Pope Innocent the tenth suspended the Superiours of all orders from investing of Fryers but the intention of that Pope not being seconded by his Successors it was not executed long before the Gate he had open'd was shut up again and it may be it was out of fear of their railing for being naturally vindicative they have more sting than honey in their tongues If the Cardinals Projectors of the several orders about Rome would take the pains but to Visit the Covents under their Charge in five and twenty Fryers they would scarce find fifteen that could read nor three amongst them that were fit to converse with an honest man To what purpose then is this loss of bread upon an unprofitable Generation To what purpose does the Church despoil her self of her own Garments to cover the shoulders of a race of people that do nothing for her interest It is the Pope is the greatest gainer by these multitudes of Clergy the Princes in the mean time lose so many of their Subjects and so much of their Revenue giving out of their own Stock to the Church whilst the Pope sucks up at long run whatsoever they give I shall conclude this Book with a Jew that was baptiz'd in Rome to whom I ask'd this Question If there were many more of his Nation converted to the Faith to which he reply'd The Jews might be easily made Christians if the lives of the Churchmen were not so scandalous I answer'd If you that are now a Christian do retain still such good thoughts of the Religious 't is a sign your Baptism has no profound root in your heart The Jew smil'd and leaving that discourse it was all the answer he gave me In the mean time let him that pleases imagine the rest I shall proceed to discourse more nearly of the Cardinals who are the Legal Supporters of the Church of Christ Il CARDINALISMO di Santa Chiesa OR THE HISTORY OF CARDINALS In III. Parts PART I. BOOK III. The Contents Which is treated of the sweetness of that Fortune that receives its original from the Riches of the Church Of the contemptibleness of Ecclesiastical dignity in the Primitive times the reason why the wealth of the Church is the sweeter now for being bitter at first That the Court of Rome is the most capable of inriching their Families and by what means Of the diversity of degrees in Rome Of the Cardinalitial dignity and its Grandeur Of the immoderate desire of Prelats to become Cardinals How much the Popes have exceeded in aggrandizing of Cardinals Of the illustrious name of a Cardinal Of the original of the Cardinalitial dignity and the Etimology of the word Of the Assistants Saint Peter had in the Execution of his Charge Of the first Titles given and conserv'd to the Cardinals Of the distribution of Orders and Degrees in the time of the Papacy of Higinus Of the distinction at first betwixt Bishops Priests and Deacons Of some reasons that prove there were Cardinals in the Infancy of the Church and that in good veneration and esteem Of the Opinion of those that would have Cardinals to be no more than simple Curats in the beginning of the Church That Religion is made by men and not by places Of the Division of Offices in the Republiques of Greece Of the manner in which the Ministers of the Church were formerly order'd Of the name of Cardinal given first to the place where they serv'd and afterwards to the person that serv'd Of the Ecclesiastical Ministry exercis'd in Caves in the beginning of Christianity for fear of the Tyrants Of the great esteem they had formerly of the Title of Brother and the correspondence that past betwixt the Ministers of the Church Of the strange Tragedies that fell often-times out in the Councels and in the Election of Bishops and the cause Of the number of persons kill'd in Rome upon a
out of the minds of the Cardinals for the scandals of their Church are the ediâ—ications of ours disturbances in their Church giving ours repose He that has ears to hear let him hear he that has zeal enough to make reflection upon these words let him make it whilst I betake my self to more deep considerations It is not above a hundred and sixty years since this Nipotismo began to Lord it over the Church and the Cardinals in Rome They insinuated by degrees and multiply'd their authority dayly to that pass that at present of a custom it is become a necessity there being little difference either in their Grandeur or Command betwixt a Pope and a Nephew so strangely is their Majesty confounded About the same time Luther and Calvin one after another began to appear preaching with great vehemence against the errors of the Catholick Church and the exorbitant covetousness of those that govern'd it and in a short time putting the whole world into disorder introducing Reformations in those very Kingdoms that were thought the most Catholick Against this Torrent that ran down with great Victory and Triumph the Emperour Charles the fifth thought good to oppose his zeal perhaps more ambitious of gaining Success to his arms than Provinces to the Pope so that with his Sword in his hand Tryumphing thorough Germany he conquer'd their Captains but not their Preachers he subdued their Soldiers but not their Consciences the Reformists increasing every day It was not Luther and Calvin only that oppos'd themselves against the abuses in the Church or that made themselves heads of the Religious and Reformists There were other persons that appear'd of greater learning of better extraction and of more eminence and credit Nevertheless the Popes of those times knew how to find a remedy and with most accurate diligence they hindred its growth crushing the Brat as it were in the Cradle And yet the Popes then had not so many thousands of men were not in that esteem amongst the Princes had not so many Cities and Provinces under their Dominion nor so many thousand Crowns to expend nor in short made use of their Spiritual and Temporal arms so easily And O God who is it that can dive into the secrets of Heaven or understand why the Church should in its poverty be able to oppose it self to the very face of its Persecutors and so weak and unable now the Popes are grown rich to put a stop to an inundation that sprang from so small a beginning Oh God why have the Popes that pretend to an universal Monarchy given place and submitted to too weak and unarmed men that their hearts should be able to endure to see themselves devour'd without so much as speaking a word that they should be contented to condescend though with shame rather than to contend with honour In this condition do things stand though it ought to be otherwise did not our experience teach us all this it would very hardly be believ'd did not example confirm our Faith our Faith would stagger to believe it did not our eyes behold the Enemies of Rome multiply'd daily and Rome it self neglected these relations would be counted false though they be never so true But let admiration cease when reason appears the minds of the faithful are disturb'd and wander in the very sight of that light that directs them Let all amazement cease seeing the cause of these evâ—s is so manifest He that would know why the Popes for so many ages have shewn themselves so zealous in defence of the Church that is committed to their custody let him go no further than Rome Let him visit the Coffers of the Popes and he shall see that and the reason why being really besotted and asleep notwithstanding their pretences of vigilance they have been this hundred and fifty years purging the Church of Christ of so many Persecutors to the great scandal of Christendome and the great derision of the Hereticks Before the said hundred and fifty years the Popes had no other thoughts than the espousing the interest of the Church so far have some of them been from preferring their own Families that they would sooner have expos'd all their Kindred to the greatest misfortune than in the least have been deficient in their Pastoral Cure As soon as they were sensible of any new Heresie that was broach'd they stirr'd up immediately zeal in their breasts and indignation in their hearts they united their Prayers sent Ambassadors every where and open'd their Treasures of Indulgences to the Reformists and of Gold to the Soldiers The people being fortify'd in this manner and the Princes excited they cheerfully drew their Swords against the Hereticks postponing their own to defend the interest of Christ They glory'd in exposing themselves to a thousand inconveniencies and disasters and to spend their bloods in the preservation of the Christian Faith They emptied their Chests of their Treasure to replenish the Flock of Christ They rais'd Armies of Christians to destroy the barbarous Enemies of Christendome And in a word they thought of nothing but following the example of those Bishops that follow'd the example of Christ But for these hundred and fifty years last past things have gone clear otherwise the Princes are grown cold the Infidels multiply'd the Hereticks increas'd the Credit of the Clergy diminish'd and the Church on all sides afflicted and why so because the Popes of Pastors of Christs Flock being become Monarchs of the Church have had no other thoughts but to make Princes of their Nephews casting off Gods Interest lest they should destroy the Interest of their Kindred History does shew us as the curious may observe in a hundred places and clearly evince that for the space of fifteen ages the Princes took a pride to spend their Treasure in opposition of those that oppos'd the Religion of Christ the reason that excited them was the example of the Popes who having but little gave all they had notwithstanding to the supply and reimbursement of those Princes that imploy'd theirs against the Enemies of Christ And in truth till within these fifteen hundred years the Emperours Kings Princes and Commonwealths did strive and contend to joyn themselves in Leagues with the Popes against the Hereticks and Infidels and rejoyc'd more to be acknowledg'd Defendors of the Faith and Persecutors of the Infidels with their Swords in their hands than Princes with their Scepters and the same glory the Popes took likewise not spending their dayes in pleasure in their Castle of Gondolfo nor strutting in their Gardens of Monte Cavallo but in solliciting and uniting the Princes in a League against the Infidels offering on their part for their supply not only to sell their Consecrated Vessels from their Altars but their very Clothes from their backs But how comes it things being thus manag'd that the Armes of the Christians advanc'd not victoriously to the farthest extremities of Asia How could Heresie reign so long if the Sword of
Subsistence after his Conversion The honest Italian answer'd him boldly That his intention was to live like an honest man The Protestant smil'd as well understanding his meaning nevertheless he made as if he understood him not as indeed he did not in that manner wherein he explain'd himself to him afterwards and therefore he intreated him to declare himself more openly and in plain words what he meant by living like an honest man The other with a face more impudent than before thinking to acquit himself well and to oblige not only the Protestant with whom he talk'd but the whole City and perhaps too hoping to receive some present before-hand answer'd him in the following words Sir I resided eighteen years at Venice in which City I liv'd alwayes like an honest man My peculiar and most frequent imployment was to serve my friends by killing sometimes one at the request of another and sometimes cudgelling such or such a man at the instance of this or the other My pay was not great for commonly I took but ten Crowns for killing a man and five for giving one the Bastinado But this practice of mine being by my envious Enemies signifi'd to the Councel of Ten order was issu'd forth for my Imprisonment Whereupon I found great difficulty to escape the hands of the Officers who together with several of my ill-willers search'd for me in all the places where I us'd to practice But to secure my person from a Persecution so dangerous to my life I determin'd to leave not only Venice and Italy but likewise the Catholick Religion and to embrace Heresie it being to me a thing indifferent to live a Catholick or Heretick Now therefore if you will do me the honour to receive me into this City I promise to keep my self alwayes in the estate of a gallant man with the same employment and I shall say further and engage my word for it that I will practise here at far cheaper rates for whereas at Venice I us'd to kill a man for ten Crowns I will kill a man in this City for five and give the Bastinado to any Body for a single Crown And thus having an imployment of my own it will be no hard matter for me to maintain my self and live like an honest man The Protestant amaz'd hereat remain'd a while in a manner out of himself and took himself to be rather in a dream than awake till after some space for recollection he fell to consider the Orator with a more heedfull eye and observing that his whole outside gave confirmation that he was really such a Varlet as his discourse had pourtray'd him he gently took up the fold of his Coat and smelling to it between jest and indignation he said to him my good friend you smell strong of the Gallows and I shall tell you further that if the Senate receive any intimation of your quality they will soon create you a Knight of the Hempen Cord and not fail to give you a passport to the Gallows whether such gallant fellows are wont to be sent by the Justice of this place At the hearing of these words of the Protestant the blood became frozen in the veins of the Florentine who lik'd not such Honours for the Commonwealth of Geneva and if at first he thought to make his fortune by discovering his Profession he now fell down trembling at the feet of the Protestant praying him with tears not to discover him and telling him that he was resolv'd to depart the Town whereupon the Protestant yielding to his request he made such hast out of Geneva that he went not back to the Inn to fetch his Portmantle which 't is likely the Host keeps to this day though I believe but little worth Another not unlike Example I will likewise set down with brevity because more fresh than the other It came into the head of a certain Neapolitan to change his Religion although he had never liv'd in Italy with the appearance of any at all To which purpose he went to Geneva where at his arrival inquiring for somebody that understood Italian well his Host conducted him to the same Protestant mention'd in the above-mentioned Story of the Florentine After some common Ceremonies the Protestant ask'd him concerning his quality and what cause had brought him thither To the first question the Neapolitan answer'd that he was the Son of the Duke della Noce and indeed his hands look'd as if they had been employ'd in pilling Wallnuts And to the second he answer'd that he had left Italy out of an humour having a fancy to try his fortune in another Climate and to live in a travelling way without being oblig'd to go to Mass and in brief he declar'd that he had good inspirations to become a Heretick and was firmly resolv'd upon it and therefore desir'd counsell and assistance in the matter Whilst these two persons were talking together the Bell chim'd to Church whereupon the Protestant took leave in order to go to the Sermon at which the Neapolitan amaz'd said to him to the Sermon Why do they believe a God in this City The Genevese laugh'd at the ignorance of the man or rather the impiety of the Beast and reply'd Did you leave your Country Sir to go and live in some place where God is not acknowledg'd If so for my part I advise you to recommend your self to the Devil for there is no other place but Hell wherein there is not a God and some Religion profess'd But in earnest I shall give you the counsel of a Friend which is to lose no time but get out of the Town as soon as possibly you can Otherwise you will be made to understand at the Gallows what punishment they deserve who speak in the manner as you do The poor Neapolitan terrifi'd at this language was not slow to take his leave but presently ran away on foot lest it might be too much loss of precious time to fetch his horse so great was his fear of being discover'd and brought under a tryal of dangerous questions From hence one may easily gather what reason there is to deplore the calamitous state of both Religions or rather the wretchedness of both sorts of Professors who live without knowing the true obligations and duties of Christian Life 'T is true the Examples of this nature are more numerous in the Catholick Church in regard of the greater multitude of Protestant Fugitives And I know a certain Protestant who keeps above half a dozen Letters of a certain Missionary Father which contain the agreement made between them the sum which the Missionary offer'd and that which the Protestant demanded to leave his own Religion and embrace the Roman Church This indeed is the practice of certain ignorant Missionaries who buy Missions of some Servant of the Cardinal who is Head of the Congregation de Propaganda fide and think by shewing a long list of Hereticks converted by their means to obtain of the
in the presence of their Deputies and oftentimes ordain'd that businesses of the Church should not be handled in any other Assemblies but their own Councils whereunto such Bishops were call'd as were esteemed necessary and fit for regulating sacred matters The terror which Tyrannical Emperors spread abroad in the world so aw'd the Ecclesiasticks that lest they should see Christianity extinguish'd they humbled themselves to very Tyrants judging it better to overcome by humility than to break by pride They humbled themselves to good Emperors likewise because they saw them zealous in defence of the Faith and the propagation of the name of Christ and therefore they scrupled not to engage them in the care and Spiritual Government of the Church to the end the interest of Christian Religion might have the more strength and Majesty This Correspondence and Union of Secular and Spiritual Power of Magistrate and Priest Prince and Bishop not only kept the Laity in awe but oblig'd them to a prompt Obedience the Subject being not a little edifi'd by seeing his Soveraign interessed in the Government of the Christian Religion And indeed how could it be otherwise but that the Prince's zeal should produce great ardour and affection in the Breasts of the people For generally the Subject bears a certain occult hatred yet not so occult but that it is discernable against the Majesty whereunto he is subordinate which hatred is suppress'd either by force of the Sword or by reciprocal Affection and Love which is the less durable when it is not deeply rooted and therefore 't is expedient for a Prince to know with what kind of love his people is to be oblig'd in order to the extinguishing of that hatred which seems naturally seated in their breasts Now what greater instance of love and benignity can a Prince show to his Subjects or a Magistrate to his Citizens than to declare himself zealous not only in preserving of their privileges abstaining from lading them with impositions and taxes dispensing favours liberally executing justice impartially honouring the well-deserving and punishing the guilty but also in watching that together with external privileges they may enjoy those of the Soul inviolate which are alwayes the dearest to the Commonalty and consequently aptest to cause in them good or ill sentiments towards those who carefully protect them or supinely betray them There is no people in the world so barbarous but they rejoyce more to see their Religion which concerns the good of their Souls zealously and vigorously maintain'd than the privileges of the State which referr only to the commodity of the Body and 't is certain that a people is more sensible of injuries done to their Consciences than of the spoiling of their goods which are nothing but corruptible things whose value depends much upon humane fancy and avarice Those popular Revolutions are easie to be quieted which arise from the grievances and Taxes laid by Princes upon their Subjects for when these impositions are taken away the arms fall out of the hands of the incensed multitude Whereof we have seen sundry Examples in our times particularly in the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily and the Dutchy of Milan But when the Subject draws his Sword against his Prince or the Citizen against the Magistrate upon account of Religion 't is a hard matter if not impossible to appease the tumult because in this case his Soul is engag'd and sets his hands on work and suppose the Prince should promise to yield to the demands of the people they will scarce take his word And indeed 't is a common saying That the wounds given to the Conscience in matter of Religion are hardly to be cur'd by the same hand that inflicted them I find that two effects are produc'd by the diligence of a Prince or Magistrate in taking good heed to the deportment of Churchmen and to the preservation of the Laws and Ordinances of Religion First it increases the people's devotion towards the service of God and kindles more ardour in their breasts to frequent the Sacraments and this by virtue of their Superiors example so that when Subjects behold their Princes full of zeal and vigilant for the good of their souls they become so inamor'd on them that in requital they would even spend their blood for the service of their Princes which is for the advantage of the Prince as well of the people And 't is certain that 't is more easie for a Soveragin who takes care for preserving the Laws and Religion to obtain supplies of mony from his people than for another Prince who thinks of nothing less than of Religion The second effect is That the spiritual service of the Church is carried on with better order and the number of pious Souls is alwayes more multiply'd when Churchmen find that Princes keep an eye upon them and for the fear of being corrected in case of deviating from their duty makes them bestirr themselves to perform their charge with all imaginable zeal and diligence and if they be not really religious yet they become wary of being accounted scandalous or negligent Not but that they are of a nature weak and apt to fall into great miscarriages but they know that they are under the Magistrates eye and feel his goad at their sides which keeps them both from tripping and jading And to speak truth if we compare the present obedience and respect that is paid by Subjects to their Princes and Magistrates with the alacrity of former times we shall find the present to come much short and in probability too unlikely to continue so as there being great Armies in some places and strong Cittadels and Fortification in others to keep them in subjection I am of opinion that that reverence the Princes receive is not radicated in the heart of the Subject but proceeding as it were ab extra may more properly be reckon'd the policy of the Prince than the affection or good nature of the Subject For my part I believe and have many others of the same faith with me that the respect obedience honor and affection the people of this Age do bear to their Magistrates is either forc'd or miraculous Forc'd because the Princes understanding their own Power and Supremacy or to speak more properly knowing the humour of the people very little inclining to obedience they do either actually force them by the power of their Arms or fright and terrifie them into an unwilling allegiance Miraculous because Religion having naturally the strongest influence upon the People there is nothing moves and actuates them like that either into tumult or obedience So as the Magistrate interrupting and even opposing that zeal and fervour of Religion the Layity ought to enjoy as freely as the Ecclesiasticks no wonder if their obedience be a Miracle A great reason is that the Ecclesiasticks are permitted to pry and peep into the actions of Princes and Magistrates To have a finger and intelligence in the most secret
Secular Councel which in reason they ought not to come near that the Secular Magistrate may for the greater benefit of the people have an eye over the actions of the Ecclesiasticks and an inspection into all things transacted in their Consistories and Congregations which they hold now so privately the Civil Magistrate can scarce know whether it be matter of Religion that is before them or whether they be contriving if not the destruction at least the subduction of the Temporal Power to the Spiritual In some places these Princes do not only neglect the concerns of their own Consciences but are much more incurious of regarding visiting or giving out seasonable orders that the Sacred and Religious offices might be administred with decency and decorum and that the Religion profess'd by the people might not suffer by the Critticismes or Speculations of any Malancholly Divine But the people observing their neglect or aversion to all this cannot be brought easily to believe that their Princes are of the Religion they profess themselves it being impossible in their judgements that they who receiv'd their Authority immediately from Heaven should be so forgetful in their returns and so careless in matters of Devotion But that which is most scandalous and blame-worthy now is that the people do not well understand whether they be to comport themselves with more Veneration towards their Bishop or towards their Prince towards their Ecclesiastical Governours or towards their Civil for the people observing their Princes driving only at their own Interest the ostentation of their Court the augmentation of their Revenue and the advancement of their power and in things relating to the benefit and conservation of the Church too careless and remiss And beholding the Bishop on the other side with his Clergy reforming this Statute and that commanding Processions renewing of Orders introducing of Ceremonies as he pleases assembling excommunicating and in short manifesting himself not only a Minister but a Patron and Defender of Religion they are perswaded that as the Soul is to be considered before the body so their Bishop whose Office it is to respect the profit and salvation of that ought in reason to have more Reverence than the Prince that regards only what belongs to the body To speak impartially and without passion what is it these Princes do in their Dominions as to matters of Religion They go to Mass on Sundays and their Subjects do as much They hear Sermons in Lent and their Subjects do the same They receive Indulgencies They Worship the Altar They profess themselves sons of the Church their Subjects do no otherwise They are afraid of being Excommunicated as their Subjects are They regard not what is done in the Ecclesiastical Synods or Assemblies and their Subject are as indifferent as they How therefore can the people respect their Princes whilst their Princes behave themselves no otherwise or how can they have any care of their Princes whilst their Princes are so careless of themselves If a Prince should seem zealous to his Subjects and watchfull over the safety of his people and with his whole power to intend the Government of the Church the propagation of Religion showing his care and solicitude as well in Ecclesiastical Councels as in Civil or at least advising and consulting with the Bishop in the administration of such things as are necessary for the Regiment and well Ordering of the Church It is most certain that as such a Bishop as should incite him and put him forward in so good a design would with just reason receive great reverence from the people so such a Prince would receive likewise no less honor from them and be esteem'd their Lord in their Temporals and Spirituals The Policy of the Churchmen has in all ages been very considerable but for these two or three hundred years last past it has been very much augmented to the prejudice and diminution of the Civil Authority against which the Ecclesiasticks do principally direct their designs And there is one thing that still perplexes the hearts and spirits of the wisest States-men which is that four little ragged inconsiderable Priests should by their cunning and industry advance themselves to that height to set their naked feet upon the Crown'd heads of Monarchs whilst the whole force of their Dominions was too weak to defend their Supremacy or to preserve them from the arrogance of the Clergy And indeed so industrious have they been in the maintenance of their Grandeur and Majesty and making themselves considerable in the World that they have introduc'd several great Dignities into the Church as Abbats Bishops Arch-bishops Patriarchs and at last Cardinals which is a degree so high that the greatest Princes in Christendome do not only glory in their correspondence but express a kind of reverence and awe they have for them whilst they give them preceedence and receive them into their Dominions as if they were Crown'd Kings and not Persons Ministerial and Subservient in the Church Nor indeed is the respect they give them improper or inexcusable the Cardinals being not only great and magnificent and acknowledg'd of principal dignity in the Church of Rome but which is above all Electors of the Pope who is one of the greatest Monarchs in Christendom Yet that which astonishes me most is that both the Historians and Priests of the Roman Church are not asham'd with their pens as well as tongues to inculcate into the people a business so repugnant to the reputation and right of Supremacy in Princes a thing I cannot think of without some trouble and regret though indeed matters of that nature are fitter to be laugh'd at than otherwise Baronius Peter de Prisse the Sorbonist Gabriel Biel Azolinus Caluus Cadana and others maintain that the Hierarchy and Divinity are of the same nature That the Priests are more great than the Angels or Virgin Mary and that Kings are oblig'd to give them preceedence as the first born of the Kingdom of Heaven In the great Church at Florence where the Great Duke himself was present it is not many years since I heard a certain wooden footed Frier Preach Orator good enough and of the Order of St. Francis His Text was Super Cathedram Mosis sederunt Scribae Pharisaei The Scribes and the Pharisees sat in Moses Chair which he apply'd only to the Sacerdotal Office and had the day before invited his Highness thither to oblige him perhaps to believe those impertinent time-spenders the Priests and the Friers and such other raffle to be such as he should perswade him in his Pulpit The sum of all was this excellent Orator insisted much upon the dignity of the Priesthood amongst the rest I remember these Expressions only Tour Princes are not to be nam'd the same day with your Priests I cannot but smile at their comparison one single Priest is of more value than all the Princes in Europe though their Principalities be reckon'd into the bargain Another Dominican
contempt of their Soveraigns and inslav'd by a blind obedience of the Church For my part I think those kind of delinquencies no less than Treason and that though such expressions appear at first sight but trifles and rhetorical ornaments yet 't is not to be imagin'd what influence they have upon the people how much they inflame and enamour them with the service of the Church and how much they lessen their devotion to their Prince whilst they perswade them that their Princes are inferiour to themselves That Race of Incendiaries is fit for nothing but the fire or to be banish'd out of every Kingdom as unworthy to dispense the Oracles of God that their Pulpits may be supply'd by sober and learned men and such as will preach the Word of God and not the Policies of Man the Doctrine Christ hath left us in the Gospel and not such Insinuations and Inveglements as they make use of in their Pulpits that thereby the affection of the people may not be perverted from their Prince but that they may be inflam'd and excited to a more cheerfull Obedience Had the Priesthood no designs against the Authority of Princes their proceedings would be with more sincerity than they are and they would give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars I have known contention in more than three or four Cities in Italy betwixt the chief Magistrate and the Bishop and the occasion was that the Bishop pretended to the presentation of the Preacher and the Prince would allow none of them to preach without his License So as by reason of these controversies Lent has several times past without any News from the Preacher I call it News because their preaching is now adayes little else but Novelties or which is worse Trifles or Sacrilegious Speculations unworthy to be publish'd in any Christian Church Amongst the Protestants also there are the same differences The Clergy pretend to the Election of their Ministers and that they can do it at their pleasure which notwithstanding is not conceded by the Civil Magistrate who will not suffer any to preach in his presence but such as he chooses himself so as in a certain City I could name there have some Cures been void above two years together because they could not agree in the Election of their Preacher But from whence I would fain know does their pretension proceed If the Clergy be Subjects upon what grounds is it they would behave themselves like Princes The privilege of Licensing or Electing of Ministers is in my judgement absolutely politick and therefore pertaining to the Civil Magistrate and not to the Church to whom the power of Ordination belongs indeed but not the power to Present and in this case it is of very great importance that all Princes and Magistrates be vigilant For the end of the Clergy in preferring their Preachers in the Cities is nothing else but that seeing themselves excluded from all secular jurisdiction they would this way take their Liberty and publish what Doctrines they please It is convenient therefore that all Soveraigns should consider that the people are at their dispose and that such Ministers are to be put over them as are suitable with the Genius of the people Moses could not readily resolve to go and speak unto Pharaoh till it pleas'd God to constrain him by the force of his power Now therefore go and I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say However in these times the Prelats presume to put what Preachers they please upon their Princes and such sometimes as are ignorant in the Fundamentals of Christianity and that fall upon discourse nautious and unpleasant to the Palats of their Princes But of all Nations France is the happiest for preserving intirely the privileges of that Church it will by no means admit of that Ecclesiastical Grandeur and Authority which the Clergy have usurp'd in other Countries and which with great arrogance they do still exercise as if they were Princes and not subordinate at all And for conservation of the privileges of the Gallican Church the King of France loses no opportunity in the year 1626. as soon as news arriv'd at Paris that there was a Scandalous Book printed at Rome the year before intituled Antonii Sancterelli Jesuitae de Heresi Schismati Apostasiâ— c. in which he spake to the disparagement of the Power of Princes but magnity'd and exalted the Authority of the Pope The Parliament was immediately call'd by his Majesties Order and every period of the book strictly examin'd and having deliberated as was fit in a business of that importance at last by an Arrest of the whole Parliament it was Decreed that these following Articles should be Seal'd Subscrib'd confirm'd and Sworn to by the Jesuits in the presence of the whole Court of Parliament to the no small disgust and dissatisfaction of that Order The Articles were these That the King of France holds not his Kingdom from any thing but from the bounty of God Almighty and the power of his Sword That the King in his own Dominions had no Superiour but God That the Pope cannot upon any occasion whatsoever Interdict or Excommunicate either the King or his Kingdom nor in any case dispence with the Allegiance and Fidelity his Subjects were oblig'd unto him These Articles were receiv'd with no small compunction by the Jesuits whose design being alwayes to aggrandise the Pontifical Authority by the diminution of the Regal they could not advance the one but by depression of the other The President of the Parliament having demanded of the said Fathers if they did approve of that book of Santerelli's they answered no they did not being ask'd again why then their General at Rome had approv'd it they made answer That those who were at Rome could do no less than comply with the Court of Rome The President to entrap them perchance as indeed it fell out demanded immediately If you had been at Rome what would you have done to which they reply'd We would have done as they have done that are there which being heard by a Grave Person of the long Robe he spake out these words aloud I believe our Father Jesuits have two Consciences at their Command one of them for Rome and the other for Paris Venice is a place as eminent for Devotion in Religion for Piety and Zeal in the Service of God and the Church not only as any Republique in Christendome but as Rome or the Pope himself Yet when any thing is in agitation about the Popes Authority or the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction they will by no means permit the Clergy of their Dominions to Intrench or Usurp upon their Supremacy which they acknowledg'd only from Heaven and the Conduct and Valour of their Ancestors In Venice the Churchmen are Subjects not Princes 't is the Senate that Governs all with an effectual and Independant Authority as well in Spiritual things as Temporal insomuch that the Introduction of any
and a Protestant Of the difficulty of knowing the signs of the true Church and that by reason of so many differences and disputes Antiquity believ'd a true sign of the purity of the Church Of the signs our Saviour left to distinguish the true Church from the false Of a certain Protestant Prince that invited the Popes Nuntio to Supper in Paris Of the great vanity in the Habits of the Cardinals and Priests Of a strange Sermon preach'd in the Church of Araceli in the presence of certain Cardinals Of the answer the Catholick and Protestant give when they are ask'd whether they shall be saved or no. Of the Confession of sins and the manner how it is us'd in the Church by Christians Discourses betwixt the Papist and the Protestant about the purity of the Church How tedious afflictions are now to Christians Of the great affluence in which the Popes and the Cardinals live Of the quality of the sufferings of the Ecclesiasticks Of the beggerlyness of certain poor Bishops Of a Bishop that complain'd of the great pride of the Cardinals Of the great number of discontented Prelats in Rome and for what they are so Of the pernicious examples the Seculars take from the Clergy Of the misery the Church is in Of a Priest that desir'd to see the Riches of the Cardinals increas'd Of a Protestant that desir'd the power of working of Miracles that he might turn water into wine Of the Persecutions suffer'd by the Church Of the number of Schismes and the place where they happen'd Of certain Schismaticks Of Synods and Councels call'd for the suppression of Heresie that did dayly increase Of the obligation that lies upon the Popes to acknowledge their Grandeur from the bounty of Charles the Great Of the weight of the Ecclesiastical dignity and of the honor Of the difference betwixt Schisme and Heresie Of the Schismes that are nourish'd in the Church by the Pastors thereof Of the excuses the Ecclesiasticks do use to cover their faults Of the difference betwixt the Dominicans and the Franciscans Of the true way of converting of Hereticks Of certain Hereticks that go to Rome to observe the conversations of the Catholicks Of the great number of Murders committed in Rome and of the trouble their Consciences receive thereby Of the Divines and Confessors being call'd Domestick Enemies of the Church Of the carelessness of the Bishops in making the Fryars Confessors Of a penance given by a Fryar to a Merchant Of a Jesuits answer to a young man that had confess'd himself to him Of the example of Judas perverted by the Ecclesiasticks to their own advantage Of the Aristocrasie of the Church Of the Evils of the Clergy compar'd to a Wart which increases the more the more it is cut Of the maxime among the Italians in disposing of their Children and of their sending the most dissolute of them to the Cloysters Of the orders of Religious that regard not quality but quantity in their Convents Of the Picture of Saint Francis with a Church upon his shoulders and the reason Of a Vision Saint Francis is reported to have seen very prejudicial to the Cardinals Of the great honor they attribute to Saint Francis Saverius Of the great number of persons he is said to have Baptiz'd with his own hands That the Church ought to be sustein'd by the Zeal and good Government of the Cardinals and the Pope Of the Liberty that is given to the Jesuits to inrich themselves Of Saint Francis Saverius that is believ'd to have gone to the Indies to bring the Indies back to the Jesuits Of a Jew that was Baptiz'd in Rome Of the way how Saints are to be Reverenc'd Of the Scandals committed in the Church by the Fryars being so numerous and many other particulars THE Critiques of this Age being numerous and most Writers under the Tyranny of their censures I thought it but prudence to look about me and for the security of this Fabrick against such Storms to choose a place for its foundation as solid and suitable to the Nature of Cardinalism as was possible for Cardinalism receiving its form and essence from the Power of the Pope and the Grandeur of the Church of which the Cardinals call themselves Princes I thought it methodical to begin first with the Papal Power and after that to make some reflection upon the Nature and Grandeur of the Church For as the quality of water is not to be known but by discovery of the Fountain so the true medium and end of a thing is not to be found without some notion of the Principle To me therefore it seems not improper to distinguish not only the good Church from the false but also the number of the Churches which almost confound the good people of Christendom Though there have been some Popes that have scarce known the nature of their own Church yet there are others or more properly their Theologists for them that give us an accompt of three viz. the Jewish the Greek and the Roman The Jewish being permitted in most Ecclesiastick States to have their Temples and Synagogues open in the face of the strictest Christians But the consequence of this liberty is not foreseen The Jewish Church is dispers'd here and there thorough the whole Universe and in Italy is much more numerous than the Greek though in other places the Greek has whole Provinces to its self whereas the Jews are only permitted in some Cities only with free exercise of their Religion as in Rome where they have their Rabines that preach to them and many Christians to hear them whose curiosity swayes more with them than the express prohibition of the Inquisition The Greek Church on the other side which is the elder Sister of the Roman lyes weeping like a deflower'd Virgin and afflicted like a disconsolate Widdow to see her Birth-right without knowing how ravish'd from her by force and that by her too the foundation of whose present greatness she had lay'd but by this it is easily distinguish'd which is the true Jacob and which the counterfeit Esau These two Churches the Greek and the Jewish that had formerly flourish'd so much are now to their no small sorrow become Slaves to the Roman for she having perverted the natural course ha's made her self first that was last and usurp'd a Soveraignty and Dominion over the rest and has so well managed her affairs that she has secluded the other two who very hungry and distress'd would fain be sucking of that Milk which she unnaturally has ingross'd to her self 'T is against all Moral reason all Order Ecclesiastick all Humane and Divine Rules that the Jewish Church should be permitted by the Roman and the Greek Church persecuted and the reasons are clear in the Greek Church Christianity is profess'd the Rules and Praecepts of the Gospel observ'd the Mass celebrated and except some Ceremonies rejected as innovations by that Church they conform in all things to the Primitive Practice both in
or the Churchmen of Rome are accustom'd to call their Church sometimes the Roman and othertimes the Catholick Church the greatest part of them being unable to show any reason at all for this distinction Now the word Catholick importing universal and Roman on the other side particular it cannot be Catholick and Roman too for if 't is Roman then 't is particular and if so then not Catholick To take away this Confusion therefore and bring things to a consistence one of the two names is to be laid aside and the other retain'd and in my judgement that of Universal Church will be best to be kept and that of Roman left The Roman Divines are so troubled and perplex'd to find some new argument for proving the Popes Infallibility which I have sufficiently discours'd in my first book and have so twisted and intangled themselves in that opinion that they have no time to consider whether the Church it self be Infallible or not which would be a great ease to the scruples of the Faithfull If the Church were deriv'd from the Pope it might with great reason be question'd whether the Pope be Infallible but since the Pope hath his being and existence from the Church the question must be concerning the Infallibility of the Church There is a saying so common amongst Christians that it has past into a Proverb I know not upon what reason If a person at any time be of a lame Conscience and inclin'd to some false belief the common saying is that he has the Conscience of a Divine as if Divines had no Consciences at all which I fear is too true for they write as they think good and teach what they please but believe not themselves what they write or teach And if there were not this latitude amongst them 't is not probable they would assert the Pope to be the Churches Elder Brother and in respect of his primogeniture to be the more venerable A Prodigy I could not have believ'd had I not known it by experience for the irreverences committed against the Church being punish'd with some ordinary Correction and those against the Pope with death it is plain his Authority is the greater and he has been no ill husband of his Prerogative But this opinion is not only ridiculous as several other of their tenents are but so weak and unstable that it threatens the whole Fabrick with destruction true it is they do fortifie themselves very much with that expression which our Saviour us'd to Saint Peter Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church From whence they argue that the Church being built upon St. Peter St. Peter as its foundation supported the Church inferring and upon pain of sinning mortally injoyning the people to believe that Christ by that expression had pronounc'd the Pope chief Shepherd of his Flock and absolute Bishop of all Christian people that from that time he began to build up his Church upon the Shoulders of St. Peter and he might lawfully claim his prerogative as if the rest of the Apostles had been laid aside and had not unanimously cooperated to the common good That St. Peter was the foundation of the Church I can easily grant nor do I think there is any will deny it provided the same prerogative be allowed to the rest of the Apostles who were comprehended also in that expression and to those other Pastors and Rulers that succeeded and are still subservient in the Church And to this our Saviour alludes when he says if the Shepherd be smitten the Flock is dispers'd intimating that the care of the Church lyes upon the Ministers without which they would be but like a Flock without any body to look to them But that the Pope should usurp to himself the Primogeniture and instead of raising the Church upon himself abase it destroying the Apostolical manner of proceeding and making for himself a particular Apostleship and asserting the Church to be made for him not he for the Church is a subject worthy the consideration of all Christians because it gives occasion of so many Scruples and Schisms What should be the reason that the Roman Divines find it much easier to prove the Popes infallibility than the Churches I cannot imagine unless that observing the difficulty of finding arguments for either and yet being oblig'd to write something of Ecclesiastical matters they choose rather to indulge that vanity in the Pope who is able to reward them than to speak any thing of the Churches infallibility which would conduce so much to the ed 〈…〉 of the Faithfull who are ignorant of the matter Now every good office requiring a reward and every reward a publique acknowledgement the Divines therefore taking notice with what slowness and difficulty those that promote the interest of the Church though with never so much zeal are advanc'd and on the other side how free and prodigal the Popes are in their remunerations to such as drive on their designs hence they choose not the Churches side which is poor but the Popes who is rich and hath the disposing of all Bishopricks Abbeys and Cardinalships in his power I am of opinion and I think no body but some Sycophant Friar will deny it that if the Election into Ecclesiastical preferments depended upon the universal body of the Church or else upon each particular Member of it for example the dignity of a Cardinal upon the Consistory of Cardinals the Office of Bishops upon the Synod of Bishops and so thorough all Offices and that with the order of the same secret votes as is us'd in the Senate at Venice I am confident there would be few Divines found even of those that now with so much vehemence exalt him that would flatter the Pope but apply themselves intirely to the service of the Church And unless the antient zeal for Religion which at present is not to be found in the breast of a Cardinal do revive or Secular Princes do suddenly apply themselves to the finding out a remedy it is most certain things can never proceed but with great scandal to the Church not only amongst Hereticks who are alwayes prying and observing the actions of the Catholicks but of the Heathens also who as yet have but little knowledge of the Roman transactions Were the tongues of people restrain'd were all innovations exploded and things honestly restor'd to the Primitive way that fugitive Flock that is dispers'd at present in the Wilderness of Heresie would return to its Fold Schismatical controversies would cease the differences betwixt Christian Princes would be compos'd and their united forces be directed against the Turk In short were that absolute and despotical power in the Pope restrain'd or taken away or at least the right of Election which for five ages was observ'd constantly in the Church restor'd to the Congregations Synods and Consistories Christianity would be advanc'd Heresie depress'd and things reduc'd again to that Primitive Sanctity when every mans whole
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
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 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
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
shed for us as if Christs blood were shed for any but the penitent and virtuous If a Catholick on the other side be ask'd the same question one that is a Fornicator a Murderer a violater of all Law a despiser of Ordinances and one that has not God before his eyes he will answer with the same security That God had brought him forth within the Pale of the Church on purpose to save him and that there is nothing more certain than that he shall be sav'd If one pursues his curiosity and inquires upon what grounds he believes it he will tell you by vertue of the many Indulgences his Holiness has granted him as if Christ had given the Keyes of Heaven to St. Peter to let in Malefactors only To what a sad and deplorable condition is the Church of God reduc'd All people would be saved all people believe themselves Saints but none of them will confess his iniquities unless it be before the Confessors face only and that more out of custome than contrition The Protestant confesses his with his Hat before his eyes lest any object unexpected should draw aside his thoughts The Catholick sayes his Confiteor Deo in Latin which he understands not one word of with his eyes fix'd upon a wooden Grate both of them perhaps thinking more of what they are looking on than what they are saying or to whom The Protestant will tell you with great reason of the purity of the Church and the exact Rules of living in Christianity but withall that to live proportionably to those Rules and according to the purity of the Church is impossible and beyond the efficacy of the most eloquent Preacher in the world The Catholick understands not his own Religion yet he is sure of his Salvation by the good Works he performs daily Yet he is more delighted to discourse of his Pilgrimages his Sack-cloth Fastings and such exterior Mortifications than of the Fundamentals of Christianity or of the Church There are a sort of blind and perverse Hereticks that place the whole substance and energy of Religion in fair words They will not speak but of the Scriptures of Christ and his most pretious blood that was shed for us of the Psalms Commandments mercies of God and light of the Gospel when indeed there is nothing of all this in their heart that is taken up with designs upon their Neighbours and machinations of revenge shutting up their breast against pity at the same time they discourse most earnestly of the mercies of God How many Catholicks are there that like Wolves in Sheeps clothing will speak of nothing but the Priviledges of the priviledg'd Altar of Saint Mary Maggiore of the plenary Indulgence of Madona del Popolo of the Disciplines of Good-Friday of the Communion at Easter of the abstinence of Saint Macario the humility of Saint Francis the Martyrdom of Saint Laurence the Miracles of Saint Anthony of Lisbon and in short that talk more of the Sanctity Authority and Impeccability of the Pope than of Christ himself So sad a condition is the Church of God in in our times I have been several times to see the Jews at their devotions in their Synagognes and the Turks in their Mosques and truly as to their exterior morality I found great occasion of satisfaction observing so great exactness and reverence in their Service as would draw tears from the eyes of a Christian And for my part by what I saw amongst them I think I may boldly pronounce them the Devils Saints and our selves Christs Devils for to speak truth they express more reverence to the Devil than we do to Christ himself A certain Turk that travelled for some time in Italy and perhaps to make observation of the wayes of the Christians being in the Church of St. Mark one day in Venice in the company of several and amongst the rest a Christian who observing him to look with great intention on that marvellous structure he had the curiosity to ask him what he thought of it To which the Turk return'd this answer Sir were I sure the Conscienoes of you Christians were as neat and as clean as the Walls and Altars of this Church I would turn Christian to morrow To which the Christian reply'd What need other peoples Consciences concern you so you accommodate your own to our Churches All the Christians of this age could be contented to be glorify'd with St. Paul but not a word of the afflictions or torments he endur'd for his love of Christ I cannot but be much pleas'd to hear the Divines now a-dayes both Papist and Protestant arguing with great cunning that in the infancy of the Church indeed outward Penitence was necessary to provoke those poor sinners that were stragled to return and to kindle such a flame in the heart of Christians as might excite them to travel the World round for the propagation of the Gospel in spight of the Persecution of Tyrants But that the Gospel being now planted it was sufficient if a Christian be holy in his heart and had an intention to goodness because in the Primitive time there was a necessity they should labour towards the planting of the Cross which being planted now we are only to enjoy Should it please God to throw down riches and afflictions together from Heaven the Christians would not so much as touch one of the afflictions in curiosity but fall a scrambling for wealth as if every one were desirous of the greatest share and if by chance one drachme of affliction happen'd to be gather'd up with the riches they would presently bestow that upon their Neighbours So noble are we in that kind at this day And this if we except with the Popes themselves is manifest in the Cardinals who live in Rome in all affluence imaginable they study nothing but erecting of Palaces that may contend with the Heavens in height and making such Gardens as may outvie if possible that of Paradice that was made by God himself and in the greatness and splendor of their Courts out-braving the greatest Monarch in Christendom Riches Felicity Plenty and Magnificence have in large showers been pour'd down upon the Church that Christians perhaps might be the more confounded at their wickedness but what follows Why the Popes the Cardinals and we may joyn their Nephews with them they with m 〈…〉 unreasonable avarice sweep up all ingrossing what God meant for the whole Church to their own particulars and if amongst this Treasure there falls out any affliction inconvenience or trouble to be found they lay that a side as a present for the poor Priests and Capucins But what are those incommodities the Ecclesiasticks do suffer in general The Cure of Souls rising at midnight to say Mass and administer the Sacrament to the Sick disputing with Infidels conversing with Hereticks serving in the Hospitals and celebrating Divine Functions in the Quire But to whom do these troubles belong to the Cardinals no to certain poor
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
't is ignorance and indiscretion that causes all this and should the like case happen to me I could very well make the Father an answer The other was of a certain young Student that went to a Jesuite to Confession amongst other of his Confessions he told him that he had lay'n a whole night with his Fatherships Neice and began to faint almost under the shame and apprehension of his Sin so that he had no mind to proceed but the good Father to incourage him told him That it was no such great matter to lye a night with the Neice for he had ly'n ten years together with the Mother And with this good exhortation he sent the young man back to his house And this second Example I heard my self in a Sermon in a certain Town in the Territories of the Venetian Preach'd by an Augustine Fryer who by his face look'd as like to do such a business as the Jesuite And thousands of these instances may be heard dayly in their Pulpits the Church of Rome by reason of the licentiousness of its Ministers being the laughing-stock of the Catholicks and the obloquy of the Protestant And truly 't is sad that those Confessions that were at first requir'd as conducing to the Salvation of Souls should be turn'd now by the iniquity of the Confessors into the scandal of the Church The Bishops shut their eyes at every thing because the Cardinals connive at them The Cardinals commit all things to the Pope contenting themselves with the magnificence of their Station The Pope because they let him alone in a Pinnacle of Grandeur above all exhalation of scandal leaves them to themselves and retains his opinion of their Piety not regarding what Heresies the Ignorance Malice or Lasciviousness of his Confessors may create To this the Ecclesiastick answers that we ought not to look so severely to the faults of the scandalous because they are but frailties and so will be judged by the Divine Justice it self And for instance they alledge the example of Judas who was a Traytor even in the company of the Holy Apostles so as our eye they say ought not to be upon him but upon the rest To which I answer that if there were indeed but one ill Churchman in twelve all Hereticks both Jew and Gentile would be converted to the Faith but as the case stands there is scarce one good to be found in ten thousand bad and therefore how can they be converted that have so many scandals in their prospect But some will say perhaps how can these things be redress'd I answer with the greatest facility in the world if the Cardinals pleas'd I speak not of the Pope because let the Divines say what they will for His absoluteness to speak the truth the Church of God is not a Monarchy but a Republique the Cardinals and Bishops being Supreme and Soveraign Senators and the Pope as Christs Vicar President of the Senate for though Christ created St. Peter his Vicar he took not away the Authority from the rest of the Apostles they alwayes with Supreme Authority in their Colledge decreeing what ever they thought necessary for the benefit of the Church St. Peter being allow'd no more than his single voice So that the Care and Government of the Church belonging by legal succession to the Cardinals the right of appointing remedies against such scandals as do afflict us belongs likewise to them And indeed whilst the Church was under a kind of Aristocrasie Miracles and Holiness and Goodness were observ'd to flourish But since the Priests began to flatter the Popes conceiving preferment and advantages easilier obtain'd by the adulation of one person than a Senate they put all into the hands of the Pope and made him a Monarch so that Miracles were lost immediately Sanctity was banish'd and a thousand wickednesses introduc'd because that which was Monarchy in the hands of the Pope became Tyranny in those of the Nephews Insomuch that to reduce the Church to its Primitive Holiness it will be necessary to restore it to its antient Aristocrasie Since my being at Rome I heard of hundreds of Decrees put out by the Congregation of Regolars but I never heard of any of them put in Execution as they ought to have been the Popes for the most part having dash'd them motu proprio besides the application being superficial and only to the top branches of the Tree it was impossible it should reach the Corruption that was in the Root The wickedness of the Churchmen is like a Wart upon a mans hand the more you cut it unless you cut it to the bottom the greater it grows To put out fire it is necessary to remove that matter that sustains it and if the Cardinals would apply any remedy to the scandals that throng dayly out of the Cloysters to the detriment of the Church they ought not to consider the nature of the Fryers after they are made Fryers so much as the qualities of those who make themselves Fryers The Method of the Italians in this age I speak not of other Countreys is good indeed for the advancement of their Arms but not at all for the benefit of the Church For example an Italian that has three Sons picks out the wisest and most gentile and Marryes him to keep up his Family him that is most sprightly and vigorous he sends to the Wars and if any be more foolish or extravagant than other he is sent to the Covent In short those Fathers whose Sons are given to Theft to Drunkenness Lust Dissoluteness or Prodigality if they be Lyers Swearers Cheats Blasphemers c. do presently devote them to the Cloyster where putting on the Habit of a Fryer they put them out of their sight indeed but put them into a Religious house where they become Devils because wickedness or rather a heap of wickedness cannot be taken away by fifteen yards of Cloth Were these disorders but regulated a great part of the scandal that lyes at present upon the Church would be taken away 't is a shame the worst should be given to God and the best to the Devil 't were better to suppress Cloysters and Fryers than to suffer such Fryers to be made In the Church of Rome the quality of the persons that are to enter into Religious Habits is not so much consider'd as their quantity so their number be great no matter for the rest Cheats Back-biters the Hunch-back'd the Lame and the Blind are all admitted into the Cloysters as if the number not the qualities made the Religion O most diabolical policy and fit to be exploded Did it belong to me to supplicate the Pope and the Colledge of Cardinals I would do it upon my knees because I observe goodness and piety declining in the Church and all by reason of the multitudes of Priests whose qualities ought to be more regarded than their numbers One truly Religious man is worth a thousand wicked and edifies the Church more with
Highness And this I know that a certain Secretary of State having receiv'd a Letter one day directed from a Cardinal to his Prince with no other Title but Excellence he sent it back again with this writ in a Note My Master receives no Letters from him that knows not his Merit And a Prince receiving a Letter that was sent to him from a Cardinal that is now alive without the Title of Highness having read the Superscription he return'd it to the person that brought it and told him That the Cardinal had a drunken Secretary and one that did not know what Titles Princes deserv'd I could instance in several examples of this kind but I forbear left it should render my History too prolix it is enough to let you know that the Cardinals to prevent the loss of the Title of Eminence which had been already deny'd them by many did find themselves oblig'd to give the Princes the Title of Highness I had spoke of the Chamberlains of the Holy Colledge when I spake of his Holiness his Chamberlains but I thought it convenient to discourse of it in particular but with brevity It is to be understood then amongst the Cardinals there is alwayes one of them Chamberlains of the Sacred Colledge which is altogether distinct from the other Chamberlain I mention'd among the Offices belonging to the persons of the Cardinals The chiefest difference lyes in this that the Popes Chamberlain is for life but this of the Sacred Colledge but for a year the Cardinals that are present in the Court succeeding one another according to their Seniority His business is to take care of the the Revenue of the Sacred Colledge and at the years end when he is to resign up his Office he gives every CArdinal his proportion but those that are absent enjoy their share but for 6. months after their departure from Rome There are many other things I could have inserted sufficiently pertinent to the Cardinalship but that would be to ingulf my self in an Ocean too far off from any Port for the Majesty of the Cardinals being really so ample and so considerable in the Church it follows by consequence that they must have an infinity of considerable particularities however I think what is spoken already sufficient to give the Reader full satisfaction For the abbreviation therefore of my History I shall pass to the particular of the Divines which the Cardinals have alwayes about them and indeed it is a point of no small concernment Before we proceed therefore to find out the cause why the customs of keeping Champion Divines was first introduc'd it is to be understood that the Cardinals are oblig'd by the nature of their dignity to defend the Church from all those Heretical molestations with which it has from its infancy been disturb'd and are besides bound to propugne and maintain the excellence of the Roman Religion with such arguments as are necessary for the conviction of all contrary opinions And forasmuch as to a small number of learned Cardinals as is mentioned in another place there is a much greater number of ignorant ones that are not only unable to defend the Church of Christ but to understand the Essence of the Religion they possess to prevent any danger that might occurr they do keep their several Divines ready upon all occasions in their behalf with the two Swords of their Tongue and their Pen to justifie the verity of the Catholick Faith that it be not swallow'd up and overwhelm'd with Heresie But to speak the truth all this is but a Ceremony whilst the Cardinals instead of choosing learned persons and exemplary for their Champions they many times choose such as are more ignorant than themselves and like those that have read Divinity in the Kitchin having nothing but the Beard and the Conscience of a Divine Yet it is true there are some of them so prudent notwithstanding that they will oftentimes withdraw themselves from disputes under pretence of some Office they are to recite for the dead so that instead of giving the Hereticks a sight of their Errours they suffer them to diffuse and disseminate their false Doctrines even in the very Court of the poor Cardinals who are guilty of no other fault than to have receiv'd such a generation of people into their Service Ordinarily these Divines are of the Regular Orders and sometimes Priests and Secular Canons but whether they be of the one side or the other they know very well to make the best use and perhaps too much of the charge that is given them not for their merit for that is but little regarded in Rome and that in the very Election of the Pope also but for some great and violent recommendation which is that which prevaâ—â—â— most now adayes amongst Christians and Ecclesiasticks in all Europe but especially in Rome where this Proverb is very frequent Che gli offici fanno glâ— amici And from hence it comes that the charges of Divines are most commonly bestow'd upon ignorant insolent proud vain-glorious and perverse persons because the virtuous modest worthy and good ones will not prostitute their deserts but choose rather to lye languishing in their Cells believing the merit of their virtue and other good qualities will some time or other knock at the door of the Cardinals Consciences to demand them but they dye in their Errours for living too much in that hope and why so Because the most ignorant are privately conscious of their ignorance and will not have it expos'd to the eyes of all the world nor suffer their insufficiency to be too far known besides being refractory and untractable as it is the nature of ignorant people to be they endeavour what they can to free themselves from the obedience of the Cloister in consideration of some respect that is given to them or to their pretended office They run up and down from morning to night at all hours whatsoever traversing of Rome and the greatest part of the Princes Courts in Christendom to get Letters of recommendation and they are mightily deficient if it goes no further than Prayers the worst is they promise this Secretary a dozen of Silk Stockings and that Major Domo a purse of Gold stoln out of the Almes of the poor Cloyster of which they boast themselves to be Sons which Son-ship is oftentimes purchas'd notwithstanding With these ways they obtain their desir'd Offices under the shelter of which they commit a thousand enormities either out of ignorance or malice all of them falling heavy upon the reputation of the Cardinals who deserve to be pay'd by such people in such coin that is for so easily believing a bundle of recommendations in matters of that importance This office of Cardinals Divine were it exercis'd by some true and able School Divine with its just decency and decorum and not rudely and ignorantly by those Kitchin Divines certainly it would be honourable to the person that executed it profitable for the
with the dignity of the chief Priesthood Now begins contempts irreverences murmurs and many times seditions to arise the Laity by little and little losing the veneration and opinion they had formerly of the Ecclesiastick Piety and Justice And of this you have a good instance and accompt in the banishment of the Ministers of the Apostolical See out of France in the commotions at Avignon in the audacious liberty of those people that heretofore were obsequious and reverent in the whisperings and murmurs of all the other subjects of the Ecclesiastick State and in Schisms and Separations in all the rest both in Italy and other Nations These are the things the memory of which is a sharper affliction to my mind than my infirmites are to my body Our Divine Master most Holy Father taught us in that command Mitte gladium in vagina that there was nothing more undecent in him that had the Government of our Holy Innocent and meek Mother the Church than Temporal Arms and that she ought not to defended Mâ—re Castrorum From hence it is I am greatly afraid that God Almighty being offended at our manifest diffidence in him and our making use of improper means and contrary to the practice of the famous Popes of former ages will leave us to our selves and suffer us to be reduc'd to one of these streights either to be forc'd by our own necessities or our Enemies power to some disadvantagious agreement or else by a long and excessive expence be reduc'd to extreme misery and distress To give way to time and necessity was alwayes the Doctrine of a very wise Prince Paulus quintus undertook but meerly for the cause of God to proceed against the Venetian with his Spiritual Arms and was firmly resolv'd to have joyn'd his Temporal with them but at last out of his great prudence and compassion and upon consideration of his want of money the incapacity of the people to supply him the danger of over-running Italy with Foreigners and perhaps with some new Heresie or other for fear lest by the loss of the liberty of the Italians he should kindle an unextinguishable fire in all Europe and lest he should create too great animosittes against his own Family he suffer'd himself to be brought to a milder temper and perhaps not without some scruples and remorses of Conscience if the Church of God should by his fault receive any considerable damage and diminution Convert most Holy Father your Courage and Arms against the perils of Christendome and the pride of the Turk who as I hear to my extream sorrow is marching into Transilvania and Hungary to overwhelm those Countries as it were with an inundation against the Turk against the Turk let your magnanimity be oppos'd and with a generous emulation of Pius the second your most renown'd fellow Citizen lay aside all unprofitable controversies with your well deserving Son and let him and the other Princes of Christendome unite in a firm League and your Holiness be the Head and the Author of it What better occasion can there be than this to render your Name and Honour Immortal in all Ages If of late necessity constrain'd the impositions of some light Taxes upon those Religions that are now supprest forc'd you to make other use of the tenths impos'd upon the Clergy for the assistance of the Emperour and of the two hundred thousand Crowns left by the late Cardinal Mazarin to be expended in the War against the Turks tying up your hands as it were from actions of Charity and Alms with how much more glory and merit may you do it now Besides in so great and just an opportunity the application of the assignments to other use will open a large field to the maledictions of the people that the Flock of Christ is forsaken and expos'd to the capacity of that Woolf of the East the Patrimony of Christ destroy'd and all to maintain a private and meerly Temporal quarrel and to feather your own nest in the mean while And since by way of incidence I have spoken of Alms I will not omit representing to your Holiness the great trouble I receive by the relations of several Orders and Parishes in Rome of the great miseries that many poor familyes suffer which I shall not for brevity sake name though I am sure it would break your very heart and inforce you to tears should I give you an honest and sincere narrative of what they endure Oh how oft do I remember what before your happy Exaltation your Holiness us'd to tell me when inflam'd with a most charitable zeal you deplor'd the Exaltations that in the preceeding Popes time were obtain'd by the advancing of twenty thousand Crowns out of the Alms-money as if they would have it be believâ—d as your Holiness said then that there was no poor to be found in Rome and for that reason it was lawful to put that into their own purses which for their sustenance was gather'd dayly from the Charity of the Faithful They took likewise out of the Office deâ—la Componenda as your Holiness very well knows the Pontifical Alms-money against which the Hereticks have writ whole Volumns of Invectives and Satyrs not knowing perhaps that the Componenda is nothing but a kind of wholesome Pennance impos'd by the Popes upon such persons as have receiv'd from them some considerable favour not to be granted by any body else which said sum is afterwards to be dristributed amongst the poor or dispos'd for the nourishment of those that embrace our most Holy Religion And so I remember Pope Urban the eight was wont to say that the Popes Purse ought to be open'd freely and administer'd faithfully I humbly beseech your Holiness to take care that the same thing be observ'd in your Holiness his Papacy This Office della Componenda invites me to say something of the Dataria and other Tribunals your Holiness knowing very well that the most noble and most deserving quality that the people admire in any Prince is his generosity and munificence May your Holiness advert that neither the superfluous zeal nor the forward severity of your Ministers be suffer'd to obscure or eclipse your Glory remembring alwayes that amongst the disadvantages in Elective Principalities it is one of the greatest the leaving so much liberty to the Ministers to raise their own fortunes at the charge of their Prince as Pope Innocent knew how to do very well to one of his own That the good or bad report of either Pope or Prince proceeds from the moâ—ths of their Friends or Domesticks was the saying of Urban the eight and all the Court of Rome by reason that as they were ill or well satisfy'd so they spread their Characters about the world either to the prejudice or advantage of their Masters To keep the Cardinals poor abject and contemptible the Prelats idle without esteem or reward the Nobility neglected the Courtiers without hopes to see any recompence of their labours and
ordination belongs to themselves Let them force themselves and endeavour the repose of the Church let them have an eye over the affairs of the poor whose lawfull Princes they are and let them not as they value the praise of the World and the benediction of Christ forget the Jurisdiction that was given them by him If the Popes by debasing the Authority of the Cardinals have erected their own Monarchy why do not the Cardinals by depressing that of the Pope exalt themselves to the condition of Senators in the Christian Common-wealth If the Popes have thought good for the private advantage of their particular Families to change to the great detriment of the Cardinals the Republick of Christ into a Monarchy for their Nephews why shall not the Cardinals for the benefit of the Church subvert that Monarchy and re-establish the Republick of Christ Christ did not call them to the Apostleship to make them Deacons of Apostles but that they should watch over and superintend that the Offices of the Deacons were executed well In Republicks the Dukes are not chosen to destroy the Senators but on the contrary they keep up the Grandeur of the Senators to render their own Authority the more Majestick Let the Cardinals therefore have a care it fares not with them as it did with a Souldier of Alexander who being ask'd his Name by the Emperor and answering Alexander his actions being not answerable to his Name the Emperor reply'd Either leave the Name of Alexander or do as Alexander does And certainly the Cardinals ought either to act like Cardinals and vindicate that dignity God has given them as principal Ministers in his Church or relinquish that Eminent Title The habit makes not a Monk nor the Purple Robe a Cardinal if that were so there would not want Purple to make Cardinals nor habits to make Monks The zeal of Religion the safety of the Christian Common-wealth the protection of the People the care of the Cures the administration of the wealth of the Church the banishment of Vice Sweatings and Labourings and Watchings for the augmentation of the number of the Faithfull and the propagation of Christianity are as the Poles upon which the Wheel of Cardinalism ought to turn If a Cardinal goes this way to work tyres and harrasseth out himself in prosecution of the virtues aforesaid he will be a Cardinal indeed though he wears no Purple but if he shuts his eyes and leaves all things forsaken and deserted he may have as much of the Purple as he please but he will have nothing of the Cardinal The Cardinals tremble at the very Name of the Pope and yet it is they themselves that give him his Papacy They humble themselves at the beck of him who proceeds from their own bowels they are contented to be stript of their Authority to invest him with it that robb'd them The Protestants deny the whole power of the Pope and in their Schools bring many arguments to refute it yet they allow more dignity to the Cardinals than they know how to ask of his Holiness They say that if the Pope could be contented to be a Cardinal amongst the Cardinals and the Cardinals as Popes with the Pope the Church of God would be restor'd to the true form in which it was created in the infancy of Christianity when the Apostles were Peters and Peter as the Apostles and they would not find that difficulty of closing with our Church which by that means would be Universal and not particular whereas now they are glad of any opportunity to distract it because they see it particular by reason of the absolute Authority that is given to the Pope I was a while since invited to dinner by a Friend of mine and by accident there were several Protestants and some Catholicks at the Table About the latter end of dinner the Catholicks with great freedom began to discourse it was in the time of the vacancy of the Chair of the discord and dissention amongst the Cardinals one of them instanc'd the example of the Apostles who when the Holy Spirit descended upon them were Congregati in unum applying all to the difference betwixt the Apostolick Colledge in these times in which they are at variance and what it was in the Primitive when there was nothing but meekness and charity and love Amongst the rest there was a French Gentleman indifferently well learn'd and of a pleasant conversation who taking the word from the other reply'd smilingly that those words Congregati in unum might very justly be apply'd to the Apostolick Colledge in being with this difference only that the Apostles then were Congregati in unum with Christ and now they are Congregati in unum with the Pope And â—e had gone further had he not been interrupted and forc'd to rise from the Table upon an unexpected visit that was made which altered the whole discourse I who had then this Cardinalism in my head and resolv'd to make an end of it and publish it to the world began to make some reflection upon what the French man had said and I found his opinion was not â—ll grounded so much did it correspond with mine For in truth in Rome where the Congregations are infinite the Cardinals are Congregati in unum not in their judgements or desires in which many times there is so much discrepancy that every Cardinal has a several opinion but in a resolution to do whatever his Holiness commands them They are Congregati in unum because in the Consistories they conclude of nothing but what is dictated by the Pope From whence it happen'd that a Cardinal of a very profound judgement that liv'd in the time of Innocent the tenth being ask'd one day whether he went he answer'd To Donna Olimpia's Congregation implying that that Lady having the absolute management of his Holiness her Cousin it was necessary to observe her orders exactly whether they were good or bad and indeed some few that would needs peevishly and obstinately withstand her Commands found but little ease or advantage by it Were the Cardinals Congregati in unum for a good understanding amongst themselves as they are Congregati in unum to do what ever they are commanded by the Pope the Church would be better serv'd than it is the State would flourish in plenty and peace and the Nephews reduc'd to their primitive indigence and necessity The Popes do rejoyce if not contrive to see the minds of the Cardinals divided as much fearing the consequence of their unity and a certain great Pope that lived in our age was wont to say That the division of the Cardinals was the exaltation of the Popes a saying as Diabolical as Politick which discover'd clearly that the intentions of the Popes were fix'd upon the Supremacy they injoy that is to keep and conserve the Monarchy of the Church in their own absolute Dominion though to the utter destruction of all that oppos'd them and because there is no
however they gain'd but little upon him their discourses being only in general terms It is not known what good success he would have had in the management of the Congregations because he stay'd not long in Rome after the assumption of Clement the ninth being immediately sent Legat to Romagna where he order'd his affairs with great regularity and justice but 't is suppos'd he would have done very well because he is a person of sound judgement modest in his opinion and one that will give both God and Caesar their due which is as much as to say he is both a good States-man and a good Church-man too and would be much better were he not addicted so much to the benefit of his own Family GIVLIO SPINOLA a Genoese is a person of excellent parts generous magnanimous and full of civility and meekness he is an enemy to prodigality yet loves not covetousness the darling of his Country-men He arriv'ed at the Prelacy though he was otherwise deserving enough by the ordinary way of the Genoeses who have taken an oath as it were to buy all the offices that are to be sold in Rome by the Church In his very first imployments he express'd himself a person of worth and indeed he is not a little learned nor a little conversant amongst learned men his delight is to be discoursing amongst such as are experienc'd in Politicks and Ecclesiastical affairs observing with great diligence which way he may make the most profit of them and this he loves as his Recreations In his youth he was not so chast altogether as he should have been having suffer'd himself to be carry'd away too much with the love of Women to the scandal of all that had affection for him but since he took the habit of a Prelate upon him he has been more circumspect and if he has not girt himself so close with the girdle of Chastity as he ought yet he has brought himself to so formal and exterior modesty and so seeming a prudence in covering those frailties which cannot be forsaken by those that carry them along with them that at present he is esteem'd chast whether he be so or no. He being a person descended from a Family so famous through all Europe in several respects particularly in consideration of the Marquiss Spinola the great Captain and Cardinal Agostino Spinola a most noble person and very beneficial to the poor had no great difficulty to obtain a reputation at Court which every body is ambitious of at Rome many people admir'd rather that he was imploy'd no sooner in more considerable affairs seeing that to the Nobility of his Birth he wanted not the good endowments of mind Alexander having experienc'd him in some intricate business and found him a person of worth he sent him Nuntio into Germany in Caraffa's place who was created Cardinal In which he comported himself so well to the satisfaction both of the Emperour and Pope especially in matters of Religion and the differences betwixt the Catholick and Protestant that in the last Promotion of Pope Alexander he deservedly obtain'd a Cap and a while after he left the Imperial Court to be present at the Conclave in Rome His voice will alwayes be in favour of the house of Austria as well from his natural inclination as from the obligations the Family of Spinola has alwayes receiv'd from the Catholick Crown from whence it acknowledges the greatest part of its fortunes He delights much in walking in Comedyes and Balls and perhaps his dignity has alter'd his humours however he is assiduous enough in business and is very sincere and affectionate in what eyer he undertakes he is very apt to be angry if things succeed not according to his designs he looks closely enough to the people of his Court and allows them not such latitude as other Prelates and Cardinals do allow to their Courts 'T is suppos'd he would do very well in the management of some Legation which he might have if there was any regard had of the desert of a person but in those cases the Popes aim no further than to satisfie them they are pleas'd with not those that deserve it He uses great prudence in gaining upon such Princes Ministers as are resident in Rome and speaks of the merit of his Countrey so as gives occasion of jealousie to all that envy them VITALIANO VISCONTI of Milan is a Gentleman of an illustrious Family and descended from the antient Dukes of Milan He devotes himself to the service of the Church that sometime or other he may come to the Cardinalship for which he had alwayes a particular fancy His friends did what they could to have perswaded him to the Warrs but he lik'd the Cross better as that which brings ordinarily more profit more honour and less danger The beginning of his Prelacy was not so successful as he look'd for so that he was often changing his profession being weary as he said to see things go on so slowly but he had no reason for he thought honours would have been shower'd down upon his head though it came as fast as he could reasonably expect Pope Alexander who had the first occasion to try him in matters of trust did it in his Papacy honouring and loading him with offices till that when Monsignour Bonelli that was Nuntio in Spain was created Cardinal he gave that Nuntiature to Visconti though there were others that put hard for it But the Pope who knew well enough the merits of the cause declar'd Visconti Nuntio at one blow satisfying his own inclination and the Spaniards too who were not displeas'd to have for their Nuntio a Prelate not only born their Subject but bound by many obligations to the Catholick Crown In this Nuntiature which lasted but three years Philip the fourth King of Spain dy'd upon which occasion the Nuntio shew'd himself both a faithfull Pastor and a great Politician assisting in many things with favour to the Church and without any prejudice to the Crown of Spain Before he ended his dayes Alexander thought good to promote him to the Cardinalship as well to recompence his services to the Church as that he might not see so honourable a Family without the dignity of a Cardinal which had had heretofore the Soveraignty of Milan From the advice of his Promotion resolv'd to the news of the unhappy and dying condition of the Pope there were but few dayes past so that either out of his own desire to be in the Conclave or otherwise to comply with the importunity of the Spanish Ambassador at Rome who press'd him earnestly to make hast that the Spanish interest might be made stronger thereby he resolv'd to take Post and make his journey by land But the Counsel of Madrid would not admit his Auditor to propose it and therefore he was forc'd to stay in Spain and expect new orders from the new Pope with great disgust to the Ambassador at Rome The Spaniards caress him much
in force Martin would have it confirm'd by a Bull and authenticated in the usual form and besides that every one might know how well he was inclin'd to the meeting of Councels and to take away those suspicions which some people would have conceiv'd of the rectitude of his mind he declar'd by the consent of the whole Councel of Constance Pavia to be a proper place and accordingly he sent out his Briefs every way and it follow'd in the month of April the next year At length being desirous to put an end to the Councel in the year 1418. he made a publique Assembly after which by common consent but especially of Sigismond Ibaldo Cardinal of San Vito by Order from his Holiness pronounc'd these words of dismission Domini ite in pace and therewithall all of them had liberty to depart to their houses In the mean time the Pope was intreated by the Emperour first of all to remain in Germany for a while and afterwards he was invited by the Princes of France to retire into those parts But Martin excus'd himself to them all demonstrating that he could not do it by reason that the Patrimony of Saint Peter which was in Italy did suffer much by the absence of the Pope and Rome the head of the Christian Religion was as being without a Pastor involv'd in such civil seditions as caus'd the Churches of the Saints to go utterly to ruine for which reason it was necessary for him to hasten his journey to Rome as indeed he did travelling by Milan as the nearest way He was Pope 14 years and died of an Apoplexy the 20. of Febr. 1421. The first of March the Cardinals enter'd into the Conclave with a general agreement to choose Gabriel Condulmera a Venetian Pope who in his Legation della Marca given him by Pope Martin gave great essays of his prudence in the correction of those who under pretence of ill Ministers had rebell'd against the Church Before their entrance into the Conclave things seem'd not a little imbroil'd one part of the Cardinals pretending to Elect Cardinal Cesarino another propos'd Anthonio Cassino both of them persons of greater parties than parts But those kind of projects remain'd without for as soon as they were enter'd the Conclave in the first scrutiny which follow'd the very next day after their entrance Condulmera was chosen Pope by the consent of all but 3 in 40. which was the number in the Conclave This was the most expeditious and peaceable Election that had ever happen'd before for it is certain there was never any Pope chosen in the first scrutiny but he Being demanded what name he would be call'd by he took a little time to resolve them and desiring to retire into a private place he staid there a considering above half an hour from whence some of the Cardinals took occasion to say That it was easier for them to choose a Pope than for him to choose a Name Some there were that believ'd that he would draw lots for his Name as if the goodness of the person consisted in his Name it is sufficient that about half an hour after he came forth and declar'd he would be call'd Eugenius the 4th The People receiv'd the Election with great applause but a while after taking disgust they took up Armes against him and he was forc'd out of Rome in the habit of a Monk to escape the fury of the people There were many accidents which happen'd in the Papacy of Eugenius in which he commonly remain'd Victor He chastis'd those Cardinals who under the name of the Council endeavour'd to depose him In the Wars he was alwayes neutral and unconcern'd and it was he who drew over the Jacobites to the Christian Faith But that which afflicted him most was to see that he had lost the obedience of the Germans which happen'd in this manner Philip de Florentini had taken a prejudice against Eugenius because it was he that had caus'd Sforza to be sent into the service of the Venetian to be reveng'd he fell in treaty with those who were assembled in the Council of Basi to cite Eugenius which they did three several times and because Eugenius refus'd to appear and his design did not take he made him be declar'd divested of the Papacy and got Amadeo Duke of Savoy his Father-in-Law to be created in his place who liv'd then in the company of some Gentlemen in Ripalta like a Hermit Amadeo having receiv'd the news of this new Election which was made by 26 Cardinals after he had caus'd himself to be shav'd stript of his Hermitical habit and taken upon him the name of Felix he went immediately for Basil accompanied with a multitude of the Gentry of his own Country where being arriv'd and consecrated he began to exercise the functions of a Pope ordaining confirming consecrating administring the Sacraments excommunicating creating Cardinals and Bishops granting pardons and indulgences and in short deporting himself as he had been Pope indeed By reason of this Schism great seditions were hatch'd in the Church the Christians dividing themselves into three factions one was for Felix another for Eugenius and a third being neuter was for neither of the two one side maintain'd that the Pope was to be inferiour to a Council another asserted the contrary and there wanted not others who deny'd the greatest part of the Popes Authority making a dispute whether he should be call'd the Head of the Church or not About this time Eugenius dyed on the 23. of February 1496. after whose death the King of Aragon dispatch'd Ambassadors to the Sacred Colledge to assure them that they need not have any apprehension of him he being resolv'd to give them assistance upon occasion in the Election of a Pope to which he did exhort the Cardinals At the same time Cardinal Capuano arriv'd at Rome a person of great worth and whom the people cry'd up as a fit person to be chosen Pope But the opinion of the people and of the Colledge did not agree in which there were very few for Capuano's Election It was order'd that the Conclave should be kept in the Church della Minerva though the Canons oppos'd it so that the obsequies of Eugenius being over the Cardinals enter'd into the Conclave the command of their Guards was given to the Ambassador of the Order of Saint John which is as much as to say of the Knights of Malta then of Rhodes but the Keys were kept by the three Archbishops of Ravenna Aquileia and Sermoneta besides the Bishop of Ancona When the Cardinals were entring into the Conclave many of the Roman Barons came to them and Gio. Battista Savelli amongst the rest pretending a right they had to be present at the Election But they were refus'd and made sensible that they had not now the same reason for that as in former times they had had There were but 18. Cardinals in the Conclave though there were 23. living so that the two thirds
that by this means there were two scrutinies ineffectual after this there began strong practices in the behalf of Cardinal Bessarione of Constantinople a Grecian who was one of the chief which had oppos'd themselves against the Latine Church he had disputed much against Purgatory unleaven'd bread and against the very person of the Holy Ghost who he maintain'd proceeded from the Father alone and not from the Father and Son Cardinal Bettone Archbishop of Avignon being advic'd of this and discovering the two thirds of the Cardinals declar'd in the design he fail'd not to use his utmost endeavour to frustrate that Enterprise and with great zeal he exprest himself in words like these Most illustrious Lords what shall we make a Pope upon a present appearance only without reflection on what is past or what 's to come shall we prefer a Grecian to the Latine Church and establish a Neophite in the highest place of the Vatican who is it that can assure us his conversion is true heterodox opinions in matters of Religion though renounc'd and alter'd with the tongue do yet leave a muddiness and disturbance upon the heart shall we give the Keys of Heaven to him who for so many years and with so many arguments deny'd there was a Purgatory shall we make him head of the Catholick Church who oppos'd it with so much audacity Is it possible our Church of Rome should be so poor and indigent that there cannot be one person found out who was born in her bosom and is worthy of the Government of the Flock of Christ what will the rest of the Nations say to see us goe up and down begging our Popes of this Country and of that Rouze up your zeal most noble Companions and permit not a thing so scandalous in the Church of Christ this I am sure of he which is a friend to Christianity will not give his voice for such a Pope These words being spoken with great energy had such an effect upon the hearts of the Cardinals that they began to change their designs and place them upon Cardinal Alphonso Borgia of the City of Valenza in Spain a person of great experience in Politick affairs and of maturity in respect of his age The usual scrutiny being made the said Cardinal was chosen Pope and took the name of Calisto the 3d. verifying the Prediction of Beato Vincenzo who upon his death-bed prognosticated that not long after his death a Countryman of his of Valenza should succeed in the Papacy Calisto lived three years and died the sixth of August 1458. and on the 20th of the same month Cardinal Aeneas Piccolomini of Siena was created Pope by 18 Cardinals which were present in that Conclave in which there were but two Competitors for the Papacy viz. Cardinal Rotomagensis and Aeneas aforesaid so that for the four dayes time in which it was debated in the Conclave they had no other difficulty but to make choice either of the one or the other of these two because Pietro Barbo and the Cardinal of Pavia who likewise made some pretensions were excluded at the first But that which was most curious and worthy to be remembred was to see each of these two persons driving on his own promotion magnifying his own virtues and debasing the qualifications of his adversary Rotomagensis in this manner went from one Cardinal to another and said What have you to doe with Aeneas what reason is it that moves you to think him worthy of the Papacy what passion is it that blinds you so as to confer an Office of that Majesty and importance upon a Gouâ—y Beggar how can he that is poor and infirm himself relieve or support the Church which is as weak as infirm and as poor as he Where is his learning where is his knowledge will you make him a Pope because he is a Poet It is not long since he came out of Germany and who can assure you but he may have thoughts of transferring the See into Germany for my part I should not have ambition'd it if I had not seen a person stand for it of much weaker parts than I am I am the antienter Cardinal of the two for it is scarce two years since he was made a Cardinal and in my Conscience there is none of you but knows I have Learning and Parts enough to govern the Church of Christ very well to the Government of which learning and parts are absolutely necessary Besides all this I am of Royal Extraction and have friends faculties and wealth wherewithall to accommodate and alleviate the necessities of the Church and last of all you your selves will have advantage by my Election by reason of the many Benefices I hold which upon my renuntiation will be divided amongst you Thr Cardinal of Avignon an audacious rash and avaricious person was there in favour of Cardinal William Rotomagensis whose interest he pursu'd with all imaginable zeal not so much as he was a Frenchman as because upon his promotion he pretended the Church of the said William his Pallace and Chancery He assembled therefore several Cardinals in a House of Office as in a private and secret place and began with many fair promises to inveigle them into the Net and taking an Oath of each of them he agreed with them about the way Rotomagensis was to be chosen The business was held as good as done nor was there any thing expected but day to meet in the chapel about the Scrutiny Cardinal of Bologna seeing things at this pass went to Cardinal Aeneas after midnight and spake thus to him I am come to bring you news that the Pope is made that several Cardinals having met privately in the necessary house they have determin'd among themselves to make Rotomagensis Pope as will follow as soon as a is day For my part I am resolved to have a care of coming again into the noose having experimented already how inconvenient it is to have a Pope to ones Enemy and this I can say from Calisto the 3ds kindness who never look't upon me with a good eye for having spoke against his Election My advice is therefore that you put your own things in order that you get up immediately out of your bed and tender your service to Rotomagensis as you desire not to have him your Enemy Aeneas lost not his courage at the tydings but animating himself ratheâ— the more he reply'd Avoid Satan seeing you come hither â—ut to give that devilish counsel to me which you have taken your self Keep therefore such Councels to your self my conscience does not serve me to choose a person who to my knowledge is not only not 〈…〉 but the most unworthy of all God keep me from falling into so great a crime and if â—thers shall choose him let it lye upon them to give an accompt of it at the latter day I know well enough how inconvenient it is not to have the Pope to be ones friend but yet â—iâ—
much better to have the Pope than God Almighty to ones enemy He will not take away my life sure because I gave him not my Vote I believe he will lessen my diet deâ—y me my Pensions banish me his presence and never consider me in my distresses Why in Poverty I have been hardned I have liv'd in poverty till now and in poverty I will die He will not take away my Muses who are my greatest refreshment In short I trust in God for the rest who will never suffer the Church his Spouse to fall into the hands of so impure and lascivious a person The goodness of God will not endure that Vatican to be turn'd into a Den of Thieves and an infamous receptacle of Harlots which has hitherto been the habitation of so many holy and religious Popes If the Holy Ghost makes the Pope he will not be the man if the Devil makes him let him give his consent that has a mind to t. The power of the Conspirators will vanish the design being laid in so sordid a place In the morning by the Grace of God it will be seen whether the Pope be made by the combination of men or the inspiration of Heaven and if you be a good Christian as well as a zealous Cardinal you will not give your vote for one who is a perfect member â—f the Devil In the morning early Aeneas went to Cardinal Roderigo a Spaniard and one of the Conspirators for Rotomagensis who had receiv'd a promise in writing from the said Rotomagensis and the Cardinal Avignon that the Chancellorship should not be taken from him He excus'd himself to Aeneas that he had concurr'd because he did certainly believe he would be chosen and he was unwilling to hang off and lose his Chancellorship But Aeneas return'd him this answer And will you then sell your Vote and by the sin of Simony run your self into the displeasure of God do you take so little care then to obtrude a youth upon the Vatican and one that is an Enemy to your Nation Oh blindness Oh folly will you give credit to the words of a person of no credit know that the Chancellorship which is promis'd so faithfully to you is promis'd likewise and confirm'd to the Cardinal of Avignon so that for you there will be nothing left but the bare policy for it can never be that a French Pope will do more for a Spaniard than for one of his own Nation But if he should give you the Chancellorship which never will be the worm of Conscience will be still gnawing at your heart as oft as you remember that you concurr'd to the giving such a Vicar to the Church of Christ In short if you will not have an eye to the Christian Religion to the interests of the Church nor to the honour of Christ have at least some care and compassion for your own reputation Such was the contumacy and indignation of Roderigo Borgia that he gave him not a word so Aeneas departed to find out the Cardinal of Pavia who was one of the Conspirators likewise and having found him he accosted him in this manner I am inform'd of your resolution to choose Rotomagensis Pope which I could never have believ'd as esteeming you another person than it seems you are You ought to be asham'd to degenerate so much from Cardinal Brando your Vnkle who with so much labour and sweat tyr'd himself out to transfer the Pontifical Court from Germany to Rome and you that are his Nephew would transport it from Italy into France it must necessarily be believ'd that Rotomagensis will never give the Italians the precedence before the French and you that are an Italian will confederate sooner with France than your own Country what a sad thing Italy will be without a Pope what light can we see without that light and have you the heart to be instrumental with your authority and counsel to deprive us of the greatness and splendor of such a Guide if he should stay still in Italy what a shame would it be to see her enslaved to a Foreign Lord must Italy therefore who is the Queen of all other Nations beg her Monarchs from amongst them can you have the heart to see your self a slave to the French when it is in your power to make the French obedient to our Nation is it not enough that you have had experience of the Catalonians but that you must try the French too who perhaps when you think least of it will make himself Master both of Sicily and all the Cities and Fortresses belonging to the Church and the rather the example of Calisto being so fresh who gave his Countrymen the Catalonians his utmost assistance to get possession of all Cardinal Pavia reply'd but with a very low voice that he did not believe the French had any thoughts against the profit and advantage of the Church they having given with so much generosity the greatest part of the Provinces it possess'd and they would not probably take that away which they had given so lately to which Aeneas reply'd thus But suppose that should be ought it not to stir up your heart against Rotomagensis to consider the infamy of his manners are you not asham'd to choose a man Pope given to lasciviousness and of so unconstant a mind do you not abhor to prepare such a Bridegroom for the Spouse of Christ and to recommend the innocent Flock of Christ to the tuition of a ravenous Woolf where is your justice where is your conscience where is your zeal to God where is your prudence how are you so much alter'd from your self you have told me many times you would sooner dye and endure Martyrdom than give your Voice for Rotomagensis knowing the wickedness of his nature and yet now you make him Pope in despight of your knowledge what is the reason of so great a changâ— is he in the twinkling of an eye become an Angel of a Devil or are you become a Devil of an Angel Pavia was astonish'd at these words and wept I know not whether for sorrow or disdain but fetching a deep sigh he reply'd 'T is true indeed Aeneas all that you say but I have past my word to make Rotomagensis Pope and if I do it not I shall be held infamous and a Traitor To which Aeneas answered As far as I see things are reduc'd into such a state that which way soever you turn you you cannot scape the blemish of a Traitor it is in your power yet to choose whether you will betray Italy and your Country and be true to Rotomagensis or betray him and be faithful to your Country and Italy Cardinal Pavia was overcome by these words and took a resolution to betray Rotomagensis as the lesser evil of the two and therefore meeting with Cardinal Pietro di Santa Maria Nova and other Italian Cardinals in the Cardinal of Genoa's Chamber they altogether began to contrive the
as an occasion of delay in respect of the time which was lost in inquiring after the qualities of the persons recommended he commanded they should choose none for the future but out of the body of the Cardinals by which means the Cardinals became of extraordinary reputation the Princes being oblig'd to give them no little honour as seeing the Papacy like to be alwayes in their hands These remedies notwithstanding which Paul thought rational and good have prov'd vain and ineffectual having produc'd no other fruit but the increasing of the Cardinalitial Grandeur seeing there were the same passions in the Conclaves as formerly and perhaps greater for the Cardinals being jealous of one another protracted the Elections out of envy none of them yeilding to his Companion but multiplying their quarrels they appear'd rather Enemies than Brothers making more difficulty to give place to a Cardinal Competitor in the Conclave than to any other uninterested pretender For the better satisfaction of the Reader in this Cardinalismo I shall give a short description of the causes from whence these discords have sprung After Pius the 2d was dead in the year 1464. who had Govern'd in his Pontificate six years and his body remov'd from Ancona where he dy'd to Rome the Lords Cardinals assembling together as soon as they could they enter'd the Conclave to the number of 20. the six others for the whole number of Cardinals was at that time 26. remaining without in respect of the greatness of their distance from Rome The 28th of August they made their entrance into the Conclave with full resolution to create Cardinal Petero Barbi a Venetian Pope in whose favour 15. of the Cardinals had declar'd and there were but 14. necessary for his creation Being come to the Scrutiny the third day after the shutting up of the Conclave there were but twelve voices among the names for Barbi the rest being divided this way and the other so that two voices only being wanting they came to Accession and the Cardinal Deacon having ask'd them all if they did approve the Election and finding them firm to their opinions he embrac'd him on a sudden with these words I make you Pope and immediately the Adoration followed There were some controversie happen'd about his name he desiring to be call'd Formoso which the Cardinals would not concede lest it should be look'd upon as a piece of vanity because his Holiness was naturally beautifull and handsome upon the refusal of that name he took the name of Mark upon him with which the Cardinals were as little satisfy'd as before upon which he smiling said Well then I will be call'd Paul and by this name he was publish'd to the people But the Cardinals did not think it fit again he should bear the name of Paul the first seeing there was never another Paul in the Vatican so they assign'd him the name of Paul the 2d which he receiv'd willingly enough affirming that he vallu'd not to be the second in name so long as indeed he was the first Cardinal Giovanni di Mela a Spaniard was a great adversary to this Election he carry'd the Title of SS Aquila and Priscilla he discover'd great indiscretion and malice because he would never recede from his obstinacy though he saw the Pope was made he went not to kiss his feet according to the order of his preceedence but pretended to go forth that he might seem to be the last This Pope lived six years and 10 months and dy'd the 28 of July 1471. 27 Cardinals enter'd into the Conclave 4 only being absent two of which set out as soon as they receiv'd the news of his Holiness his death to come to Rome but they could not get thither before the Conclave was ended From the very first day they began to talk of creating Francisco d'Alberola of Rovere Pope who was of the Order of Saint Francis and was made a Cardinal by Paul the 2d in the year 1467. But those Cardinals which were created by Pius and some few of Calisto's Creatures did what they could possibly to disturbe the good designs the rest of the Cardinals had in favour of Rovere not that they had any thing to object against him but that they could not endure to see themselves out-stript by a Cardinal of fewer years and the last which was dignify'd with the Purple There were present in the Conclave amongst the rest of the Cardinals Latino Orsino a Creature of Nicholas the 5th Roderigo Borgia a Creature of Calisto the 3d. and Cardinal Gonzaga dâ— Mantoa created by Pius the 2d who being all persons of great authority in the Colledge endeavour'd to draw over the rest of the Cardinals to Rovere's side which they defended with a firm resolution to dye rather than to elect any other Pope than Rovere which discover'd by the other ambitious pretenders they desisted and promis'd the Cardinals Orsino Borgia and Gonzague that they would go along with them In so much that in the second Scrutiny though they could do nothing in the first of the 27. Votes there were 18. for Rovere a thing not heard of before to have so many voices for one man in one Scrutiny They came afterwards to the Adoration and his name being desir'd he said he would be call'd Sixtus and accordingly he was proclaimed to the people by the name Sixtus the 4th they having not continued in the Conclave three full dayes This new Pope either in despight to such as had oppos'd him or to shew himself a generous rewarder of good Offices gave the Office of Chamberlain to Cardinal Orsino the Abbey of Sbiaco to Cardinal Borgia and the Monastery of Saint Gregory to Gonzague Yet there were some believ'd he had purchas'd his Papacy with theâ—e promises before hand but it could not be so for he was too zealous in his Religion to be tainted with Simony This Pope reigned 13. years and dyed the 13th of August 1484. on the 23. of the same month after the usual solemnities at his Funeral 28. Cardinals enter'd into the Conclave so divided in their judgements that many believ'd the Election would be very tedious There were three Scrutinies ineffectual there being none but Cardinal Barbo only who was Nephew to Paul the 2d and was call'd Cardinal of San Marco which could reach to the number of eleven the rest of the Competitors arriving aâ— not above two or three Some of the Cardinals oppos'd themselves against this Saint Mark out of envy which they bore to the Republick of Venice not enduring to see two Popes succeeding one another so nearly out of the same City Giuliano della Rovere Nephew to the late Sixtus otherwise call'd Cardinal of Saint Peter in Vinculis went one night to the Cardinal of Saint Mark and told him that if he would give his Palace to the Cardinal of Arragon King Ferdinando's Son he would oblige himself to make him three voices more in the next Scrutiny which amounted in all to 14.