Bishop usurped an Authority which neither Scripture nor Canon gave unto him It is recorded also that they sometimes acquitted Malefactors without hearing Witnesses and sent Orders for the Restauration of those who made such irregular flights into the Provinces of other Patriarchs that were Subject indeed to the Roman Empire but not within the Province of the Roman Patriarch Nay when those Orders were rejected if some of their own Collectors may be believed the Roman Bishops through favour of the Empire got Magistrates and Souldiers to see them executed by Plain force which grew chiefly scandalous in the times of Zozimus and Boniface of which you may read the three last and best Collections of the Councils set forth by the Papists Binius 〈◊〉 abbè and the Collectio Regia unanimously consenting in their Notes on the sixth Council of Carthage And that this was the cause of calling that Council they confess in like manner For to stop these intolerable Incroachments and to suppress the growth of an Aspiring Tyranny this seasonable Council was called at Carthage consisting of 〈◊〉 Bishops among whom S. Augustine was one present in particular To this Council Zozimus the Roman Patriarch sent three persons one of which was Faustinus an Italian Bishop to plead his Cause with two Canons fathered upon the Nicene Council designing thereby to justifie his Power of receiving Appeals both from Bishops and Priests but by the care and wisdom of that Council they were detected and confounded the Fraud being made a Spectacle to the whole world For first the Copy which Caecilianus Archbishop of Carthage brought from Nice he being himself one of the Fathers in that Council was orderly produced and the two Canons which the Roman Bishop sent were not there Next because it might be pleaded upon the difference of the Copies that the Copy of Carthage must give place to that of Rome Rome being the greater See they sent Messengers to the Patriarch of Alexandria to the Patriarch of Antioch and to the Patriarch of Constantinople and admonished the Bishop of Rome to do so too that he might see sound and fair dealing desiring the Records of the Nicene Council from all the principal parts of the world from the Patriarchs of Constantinople and Alexandria they received Authentick Copies attested with their several known Authorities which agreed exactly with the Copy at Carthage but disagreed with that of Rome the Extract produced out of it by the Name of a Commonitorium being every word apparently forged Upon this the Bishop of Rome was condemned his Arrogance and Usurpation suppressed by Canons and his Pride chastised by Letters the Letters and Canons being yet extant This was done about the year 420. Zozimus dying Boniface and Celestine successively take up the Quarrel without any Dissent appearing in the Roman Clergy nay rather all the Interest of that Chair was imployed to uphold the Forgery whereby it is evident that it was not a Personal Act but the guilt and business of the Church of Rome as appeareth further by all their Successors persisting in the Quarrel by the multitude of her Members defending it and the Forgery both and by all the Popish Collectors conspiring together to maintain the Spurious and Adulterate Canons Among other things which the Fathers wrote out of this Sixth Council of Carthage to Pope Celestine they oppose the true Canons of the Nicene Council against the false ones noting that which is alone sufficient to overthrow the Forgery that these two Popish Canons were really contrary to the Canons and Decrees of the Nicene Council For desiring him no more so easily to admit Appeals nor to receive into Communion those that were Excommunicated in other Churches they tell him he might easily find this matter defined in the Nicene Council for if it seemed fit to be observed in the inferiour Clergy and Lay-men much more in Bishops They tell him that he should chastise and punish such impudent Flights as became him As also that the Canons of the Nicene Council had most openly committed both the inferiour Clergy and Bishops themselves to their own Metropolitans wisely and justly providing that all businesses whatsoever should be determined in the places where they arose Nisi fortè est Aliquis c. unless perhaps there be some one who will say that God is able to give Justice of Judgment to one be he who he will but denies it to innumerable Priests assembled in a Council Which was in those days held so absurd and monstrous a thing to conceive that however the case is altered since they thought no man impudent enough to affirm it In these words they cut the Popes Arrogance sufficiently for that he being but One was so highly conceited of himself at least so behaved himself as if he had an extraordinary Spirit of Infallibility and were fitter to determine the Causes of the Church than a whole Council of Bishops assembled together Finally they charge him with bringing the empty puff of secular pride into the Church of Christ And so proceed to their Canons against him Notwithstanding this the Roman Bishops continued obstinate contending so long till there was a great Rupture made in the Church upon this occasion And if some Records be true namely those Letters that past between Eulalius and another Boniface the Bishops of Rome grew so impudent as to Excommunicate the Eastern Churches because they would not be obedient to an Authority sounded on so base a Forgery If they be not true then there are more Forgeries in the Roman Church than we charge her with For the Letters were feigned as Baronius confesseth by some afterwards that were zealous of the Churches welfare to wit for the better colouring of that Schism which was made by the pride and ambition of Rome These Epistles were set forth by the Papists and were owned at first for good Records but upon the consideration of so many Saints and Martyrs that sprung up in the Churches of Africa during that 100 years wherein it is pretended by those Epistles that they were cut off from the Church of Rome it was afterwards thought better to reject them as Counterfeits because the Roman Martyrologies are filled with the names of those African Saints And it is a stated Rule that no Saint or Martyr can be out of the Church Lest the Eastern Churches therefore should out-weigh the Roman by reason of the Splendour Multitude and Authority of these Eminent Saints these Letters are now condemned by some among themselves vid. Bellarm de Rom. Pont. lib. 2. cap. 25. Baron in Not. Martyrol ad 16. Octobr. and Bin. in Concil Carthag 6. This unfortunate Contest happening so near to the Fourth Century was the first Head-spring or Root of the Schism that is now between us And the matter being so on whose side the fault lay I leave to the Reader How the Roman Church proceeded in this business we may learn from Daillè an able Writer
Roman Forgeries Or a TRVE ACCOUNT OF FALSE RECORDS Discovering the IMPOSTURES AND Counterfeit Antiquities OF THE CHURCH OF ROME By a Faithful Son of the Church of ENGLAND LONDON Printed by S. and B. Griffin for Jonathan Edwin at the three Roses in Ludgate-Street 1 Tim. 4. 2. Speaking lies in Hypocrisie having their Conscience seared with an hot iron 2 Tim. 3. 8 9. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses so do these also resist the truth men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the Faith But they shall proceed no further for their folly shall be manifest unto all men as theirs also was TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE S r ORLANDO BRIDGEMAN KNIGHT and BARONET One of HIS MAJESTIES Most Honourable Privy Council The AUTHOR Devoteth his best Services AND DEDICATETH The VSE and BENEFIT of his Ensuing Labors A Premonition THe Bishops of Rome in the persons of Zozimus Boniface and Celestine Successively opposed the Sixth Council of Carthage consisting of 217 Fathers among whom the great S. Augustine is acknowledged to be one in the matter of Appeals which was the first step made by that irregular Chair to the Exorbitant Supremacy which they afterward claimed In vindicating that Claim before the Council they produced two counterfeit Canons fathered upon the Oecumenical Synod at Nice which were by the Records of Carthage Alexandria and Constantinople in the presence of all those Fathers in the sixth Council of Carthage detected to be forgeries as well as by the Tenor of the undoubted Canons of the Nicene Council it self which are contrary to those by the Roman Church pretended and so they were esteemed by the Fathers in that sixth Council who were startled at the sight of those New unheard of Monsters at their first Publication above 1200 years ago Vpon this Passage I redoubled in the Book an observation to make it more remarkable which you will find cap. 2. pag. 9. to this purpose That in the first General Council of Nice it was ordered that the chief in every Province should confirm the Acts of his inferior Bishops And if any Trouble did arise which could not be decided by the Metropolitan Provision was made Can. 5. in words so clear and forcible that none more plain can be put into their places that the last Appeal should be made to Councils and that the Person condemned in any Province should not be received if he fled to others That Parenthesis In words so clear and forcible that none more plain can be put in their places relates to the CANON it self which here follows that you may see how forcible it is and how much plainer then the very Words into which I had contracted it It is worthy your Consideration as on of the most Important Records in Antiquity consented to by all the Popish Compilers of the Councils themselves Can. 5. Concerning those that are Excommunicated whether in the order of the Clergy or the Laitie by the Bishops in every several province let the Sentence prevail according to the Canon that they who are cast out by some be not received by others But let it be required that no man be excluded the Congregation by the Pusillanimitie or contention or any such vice of the Bishop That this therefore might more decently be inquired into we think it fit that Councils should every year throughout every Province twice be celebrated that such Questions may be discussed by the Common Authority of all the Bishops assembled together And so they that have evidently offended against their Bishop shall be accounted Excommunicated according to reason by all till it pleaseth the Community of Bishops to pronounce a milder Sentence on such But let the Councils be held the one before the Quaaragesima before Easter that all dissention being taken away we might offer a most pure Gift unto God and the second about the middle of Autumn Had the Canon said The last Appeal shall be made to Councils they that are accustomed to such shifts without blushing might easily have evaded the Words by affirming the Bishop of Rome to be particularly excepted without any need of expressing the exception because by the general and Tacit Consent of all he is above the Limits of such Laws and above the Authority of that and all other Councils Thus they might still render the matter doubtful by their Subterfuges and Pretences as indeed they do in evading one expression of the Canon it self For whereas the Fathers say Let the Sentence prevail according to the Canon that they who are cast out by some be not received by others Those Popish Hirelings make an exception of the Bishop of Rome where the Oecumenical Synod maketh none and might as well except him here though the Council had said in terms The last Appeal shall be made to Councils For the last Appeal to any subordinate Authority over which the Council had any Legislative Power was ordered they might say to be made to Councils But the Bishop of Rome being the Head of the Church and having the supreme Authority over all Councils was not thought of in this Canon nor was fit he should be at all mentioned because that would imply he was under their authority The Prodigious Height of their usurped Claim being their sole Defence and their incredible Boldness the amazement of ignorant People which is their chief security But the Council adding to the former expression this clause That Councils should every year throughout evry Province twice be celebrated for this very end that such Questions may be discussed by the common authority of all the Bishops assembled together it puts an end to the business especially when they add That they who have evidently offended their Bishop shall be accounted excommunicated according to reason till it pleaseth the community of Bishops to pronounce a milder Sentence But that which renders it most plain and forcible is this Let the Councils be held the one before the Quadragesima before Easter that all Dissention being taken away we might offer a most pure Gift unto GOD. And the second about the middle of Autumn All the wit in the world could not have invented a more clear and apparent provision against the Roman Bishops absurd and impudent Pretences No Evasion I think can possibly be made there from when it is once noted and understood For the Bar put in against the Pope is not here in Words but Things It implies that the Controversie must before Easter be fully determined The very end of calling such a Council and holding it then being the taking away of all dissention that we might offer up a most pure Gift or Sacrifice to God that is That Vnity being restored to the Church at that time we might receive the Sacrament in Peace and Charity Whereas if after the Sentence of the Council the business were to be carried to the Court of Rome Suits and Quarrels could not be ended against Easter but would be lengthened in many Provinces beyond
Easter both by reason of the Seas and Regions to be passed over by old and Crazy Persons such as the venerable Bishops were before they could come from their own Countries to the Roman Chair and by those Prolatory delays they might find there the matter being wholy referred to the Popes pleasure The Variation of the Letter in the Book made my Note on this place look too like the Text of the Council it self which for as much as it happened in a most weighty Place I could not with a good Conscience let it pass without acquainting the Pious Reader with the same Though the Letter of the Canon it self to prevent mistakes is faithfully translated afterwards page 26 and 27. Yet without giving this Gloss upon the Canon which was the occasion of this Pramonition because so necessary to a clear and full understanding of all the procedure This Note is the more weighty because the Nicene Council is confessed on both sides by us for its own sake and its conformity to the Scriptures by the Papists for the Popes that have ratified it to be of great Authority next to the Holy Bible the very first and most indisputable that is Yet this Canon laid in the foundation utterly overthrowes all the following Pretences and Forgeries of the Roman Bishops Which I beseech the Reader to examine more perfectly For though by many Arts and long Successes the Bishop of Rome bas ascended to an Ecclesiastical Supremacy and a subtile Train of Doctrines is laid to make him the Universal Monarch of the World as much higher then the Emperour as the Sun is greater than the Moon as they expresse it Yet the Sentence of an Eminent Divine well acquainted with these Affairs in a late Sermon preached before the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen in the City of London and now published is very true The Supremacy of the Roman Church was a meer Usurpation begun by Ambition advanced by Forgery and defended by Cruelty ERRATA THe Reader before he enters upon the Book is desired to correct these as the principal Errata's with his Pen. Page 35 line 15 dele now p. 43 l. 21 r. love of the world that p. 55 for Councits r. Statesmen p. 66l 16 aft Magdenburg r. and. p. 83 l. 21 for 1635 r. 1535. p. 104 l. 16 for fit r. fift p 107l 10 for 1618 r. 1608. p. 109 adde in the Margin 11. p. 137l 7 r Right use of the Fathers p 157 〈◊〉 r. Transeunt p 172 Cap. 15. Contents for Falsity r. Falsely AN ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER IRenaeus one of the most Ancient Fathers Scholar to S. Polycarp S. John's Disciple in his Book against Heresies giveth us four notable marks of their Authors First he sheweth how they disguize their Opinions Errour never shews It Self saith he lest it should be taken naked but is artificially adorned in a splendid Mantle that it may appear truer than Truth it self to the more unskilful 2. That having Doctrines which the Prophets never preached nor God taught nor the Apostles delivered they pretend unwritten Traditions Ex non Scriptis legentes as he phraseth it 3. They make a Rope of Sand that they may not seem to want Witnesses passing over the Order and Series of Writings and as much as in them lies loosing the Members of the Truth and dividing them from each other for they chop and change and making one thing of another deceive many c. But that which I chiefly intend is the fourth They bring forth a vast multitude of Apocryphal and Spurious Writings which themselves have feigned to the amazement of Fools and that those may admire them that know not the Letters or Records of the Truth How far the Papists have trodden the foregoing Paths it is not my purpose to unfold only the last the Heretical pravity of Apocryphal and Spurious Books how much they have been guilty of imposing on the World by feigned Records I leave to the evidence of the ensuing Pages which I heartily desire may be answerable to the Merit of so great a Cause Vincentius Lirinensis another eminent Father praised by Gennadius died in the time of Theodosius and Valentinian He wrote a Book against Heresies in like manner wherein preparing Furniture and Instructions against their Wiles he at first telleth us that the Canon of the Scripture is alone sufficient Then that the concurrence of the Fathers is to be taken in for the more clear certainty of their sense and meaning Upon this latter point he saith afterwards But neither are all Heresies to be assaulted this way nor at all times but only such as are New and Green to wit when they first spring up before they have falsified the Rules of the Ancient Faith while they are hindered by straitness of time and before the Poyson spreading abroad they have endeavoured to corrupt the Writings of the Fathers So that Hereticks have inclination enough where they are not hindered by straitness of time to corrupt the most Ancient Writings of the Church For which cause he further saith in the same place But Heresies that are spread abroad and waxen old must not be set upon in this sort because by long continuance they have had opportunity to steal away the Truth Whatsoever 〈◊〉 nesses there be therefore either of Schismes or Heresies that are grown Ancient we 〈◊〉 in no case otherwise to deal with them then either to convince them if it be needful by the Authority of the Scriptures only or at least to avoid them as convicted of old and condemned by Vniversal Councils In this Admonition the Father informs us of two things First that it is possible for Errour to prevail and spread abroad to continue long and wax old Secondly that having gotten possession of Books and Libraries it may falsisie the Rules of the Ancient Faith and steal away the Truth by corrupting the Writings of the Fathers In which case he will not have the Controversie decided by the Fathers but by the Scriptures only or by old Vniversal Councils But if Errour proceed so far as to corrupt the Councils too then of necessity we must have recourse to some other remedy either to the Scriptures alone as he directeth or else we must detect the frauds whereby the Councils themselves are falsified For that they are liable to the same inconvenience is evident both by the paueity of Ancient Records and the many Revolutions that have been in the World especially since Nature teacheth men to strike at the Root attempts are more apt to be made upon them because Hereticks are prone to be most busie in undermining the Foundation That it is possible for men so far to act against their Consciences as to corrupt the Ancient Records of Truth you see by the premises and that it is an easie thing for them to effect it that have gotten all kind of Books and Libraries into their hands is apparent because they that keep
of the French Nation He tells us that the Legates of Pope Leo in the year 45 in the midst of the Council of Chalcedon where were assembled 600 Bishops the very Flower and choice of the whole Clergy had the confidence to alledge the sixth Canon of the Council of Nice in these very words That the Church of Rome hath always had the Primacy Words which are no more found in any Greek Copies of the Councils than are those other pretended Canons of Pope Zozimus Neither do they yet appear in any Greek or Latine Copies nor so much as in the Edition if Dionysius Exiguus who lived about 50 years after this Council Whereupon he breaketh out into this Exclamation When I consider that the Legates of so holy a Pope would at that time have fastned such a Wen upon the body of so Venerable a Canon I am almost ready to think that we scarcely have any thing of Antiquity left us that is entire and uncorrupt except it be in matters of indifferency or which could not have been corrupted but with much noise c. He further tells us in the place before-mentioned That whereas the Greek Code Num. 206. sets before us in the XXVIII Canon of the General Council of Chalcedon a Decree of those Fathers by which conformably to the first Council of Constantinople they ordained that seeing the City of Constantinople was the Seat of the Senate and of the Empire and enjoyed the same Priviledges with the City of Rome that therefore it should in like manner be advanced to the same Height and Greatness in Ecclesiastical Affairs being the second Church in Order after Rome and that the Bishop should have the Ordaining of Metropolitans in the three Diocesses of Pontus Asia and Thrace Which Canon is found both in Balsamon and Zonoras and also hath the Testimony of the greatest part of the Ecclesiastical Historians both Greek and Latine that it is a Legitimate Canon of the Council of Chalcedon in the Acts of which Council at this day also extant it is set down at large Yet notwithstanding in the collection of Dionysius Exiguus it appears not at all no more than as if there had never been any such thing thought of at Chalcedon He hath other marks of Dionysius Exiguus which sufficiently brand him for a Slave to the Chair but omitted here as out of our Circuit However I think it meet to lay down the Canon as I find it lying in the Code of the Universal Church CCVI. Altogether following the Decrees of the H. Fathers and the Canon of those 150 Bishops most beloved of God which was lately read which met under the Great Theodosius the Pious Emperour in his Royal City of Constantinople called New Rome we also define and decree the same concerning the Priviledges of that most H. Church of Constantinople that is New Rome For the Fathers justly gave priviledges to the See of Elder Rome Quod urbs illa imperaret because that City was the Seat of the Empire And the 150 Bishops most beloved of God being moved with the same consideration gave equal Priviledges to the most holy See of New Rome rightly judging that the City which is honoured with the Empire and the Senate and enjoys equal priviledges with the Royal Elder Rome ought in Ecclesiastical Affairs also no otherwise then it to be extolled and magnified being the second after it c. Upon this advantage the Patriarch of Constantinople advanced himself above the other Patriarchs and his See being made equal to the See of Rome by the Authority of the Church upon the Interest he had in the Empire then setled in Greece he arrogated the Title of Vniversal Bishop Which Gregory then Bishop of Rome so highly stomacked that he thundered out Letters against him calling the Title a proud and prophane nay a blasphemous Title denying that either himself or any of his Predecessors had ever used it and plainly affirming that whosoever used that Title was the forerunner of Antichrist And to this purpose in the 34. Epistle of his fourth Book he asketh What else can be signified by this pride but that the times of Antichrist are drawing near For he imitates him says he who despising the Fellowship of the Angels in their common joy endeavoured to break up to the Top of Singularity This he spake against John of Constantinople because he brake the Order of the Patriarchs and despised the Equality of his Fellow-Bishops Now whether it does not hit his own Predecessors Zozimus and Boniface and Celestine and Leo I leave to the judgment of the Reader They were not contented with an Equality in Power but aspired and that some of them by the most odious way that of Lying and Forgery as well as Pride and Ambition to the top of Singularity Whether this Zeal of Gregory was according to knowledge that is whether it proceeded from integrity or self interest I shall not determine All that I observe is this which followeth when the Tyde turned and the Emperour next sided with the Bishop of Rome the very next Successor of Gregory but one took up the Title a little before condemned for blasphemous which is claimed by the Roman Bishops to this day The Emperour sided with the Roman Bishop because the Roman Bishop sided with him For when Phocas had murdered his Master the good old Emperour Mauricius and usurped the Throne in his stead the Title of Vniversal Bishop was given to the Patriarch of Rome by this Bloody Tyrant to secure his own which had so great a Flaw in it and needed the assistance of some powerful Agent Hereupon a Council was called at Rome by Boniface 3. wherein the priviledge of the Emperour Phocas was promulged and the Bishop of Romo made a POPE upon the encouragement of the Tyrant by the consent of the Council but his own viz. a Roman Council Thus Boniface and Phocas were great Friends The Imperial and Triple Crown were barter'd between them Connivance and Commerce soiling them both with the guilt of Murder Simony Treason and if S. Gregory may be believed with Sacriledge and Blasphemy For being involved in a mutual Conspiracy they became guilty of each others crimes to partake with Adulterers and comply with Offenders being imputed as sin in the H. Scriptures Platina an Eminent Writer of the Lives of the Popes and a Papist himself informeth us sufficiently of this business in these words Boniface 111. saith he a Roman by Birth obtained of the Emperour Phocas but with great contention that the Seat of blessed Peter the Apostle which is the Head of all the Churches should be so called and so accounted of all which place the Church of Constantinople endeavoured to vindicate to it self evil Princes sometimes favouring it and affirming the first see to be due to the place where the Head of the Empire was In the Life of Zozimus the first Episcopal Forger in the Church of Rome Platina
two Marginal Notes in Baronius we shall declare Baronius deals more fairly with us than Binius for the one in his Marginal Notes contradicteth his Text sometimes to delude the Reader but Baronius fairly notes in the Margin Isidori collectio vulgata in Galliis Isidori collectio ab Antiquis non adeo probata Isidori collectio ut minùs sincera notata c. Soft words for a Treatise rejected but strong Indications of a Desperate Cause The Ancients approved not the collection of Isidore It was not so sincere as it ought c. Cardinal Bellarmine to prove the Popes Supremacy draweth one Argument from the Popes themselves whose Testimonies he casteth into three Classes The first saith he contains the Epistles of Popes that sate from S. Peter to the year 300. in which Calvin and the Magdenburgenses confess the Primacy to be plainly asserted and that those Bishops were holy men and true Bishops but they say the Epistles are forged and new and falsly Fathered on those Bishops In this Class he affirmeth These Holy Fathers do clearly assert the Primacy Clemens in his first Epistle Anacletus in his third Evaristus Epist. 1. Pius Epist. 1 and 2. Anicetus Epist. 1. Victor Epist. 1. Zephirinus Epist. 1. Calixtus Epist. 1. Lucius Epist. 1. Marcellus in Epist. 1. Eusebius Epist. 3. Melchiades Epist. 〈◊〉 Marcus Epist. 1. After this he saith Quamvis aliquos Errores c. Though I cannot deny but that some Errours are crept into them and dare not affirm that they are indubitable yet I doubt not at all but that they are very Ancient As if an old Deed being called into question and the matter of Fact made certain that it was a real Forgery he that holds his possession by it should say It has been interlined indeed and corrupted in many places but 't is very old Let us see however what his reason is for the Antiquity of it He is rough with his Opponents and telleth us The Magdeburgenses do lye when they say Cent. 2. Cap. 7. near the end that no Author worthy of credit ever cited these Epistles before Charles the Great For Isidore who is 200 years older than Charles the Great in the Proem of his collection of the Holy Canons saith that by the advice of 80 Bishops he collected Canons out of the Epistles of Clement Anacletus c. Isidore did indeed begin to flourish near to the year 610. So that Bellarmine takes him right for the same Isidore Bishop of Hispalis But had he well examined the matter he would have forborn to give the Lye to men more in the right than himself confiding in the rotten Antiquity of this Counterfeit Isidore For Isidores Preface is a Counterfeit too made on purpose to countenance the Forgeries not 200 years older than Charles the Great things after the Death of Isidore its pretended Author being mentioned in the same Dr Reynolds in his Conference with Hart having smartly checked him for his fourscore Bishops out of one Isidore asked him About what year of Christ Isidore did die How doth Genebrard write because Genebrard was Hart's most admired Author He answereth About the year 637. as he proveth out of Vasaeus Asking him When the General Council of Constantinople under Agatho was kept He answereth In the year 681. or 682. or thereabout Then Isidore was dead above 〈◊〉 years saith Reynolds before that General Council He was saith Hart but what of that Of that it doth follow that the preface written in Isidores name and set before the Councils to purchase credit to those Epistles is a counterfeit and not Isidore's For in that Preface there is mention made of the General Council of Constantinople held against Bishop Macarius and Stephanus in the time of Pope Agatho and the Emperour Constantine which 〈◊〉 it was held above 40 years after Isidore 〈◊〉 dead by Genebrard's own confession by his own confession Isidore could not tell the fourscore Bishops of it And so the 80 Bishops which Turrian hath found out in one Isidore are dissolved all into one Counterfeit abusing both the name of Isidore and fourscore Bishops Hart was unable to answer him and 〈◊〉 from the Point Harding in his Book against Bishop Jewel citeth these Forgeries frequently and briskly Upon the failure of which though Baronius pretends an abundant number of other Evidences yet in the loss of 30 or 40 Primitive Bishops and Martyrs that were so long time for the first 300 years after Christ together thought to speak for the Supremacy of the Church of Rome one of the fairest Feathers in the Popes Crown is placked away and the younger Evidences in which Baronius trusts being none but the Malepert and Arrogant Testimonies of Junior Popes in their own Causes will make but a slight impression in the minds of men that have found themselves deluded with more ancient 〈◊〉 of the grave and unspotted Authorities of Holy Men that Sacrificed themselves for the Glory of God and the good of the World and sealed their Testimony 〈◊〉 their latest blood which the latter Bishops of Rome have been more Secular and Pompous than to be doing like their Predecessors CAP. V. Divers Forgeries contained in Isidore's Collection mentioned in particular Isidore as he now standeth set forth by Merlin has 50 Canons of the Apostles for pure and good Records many Decretal Epistles made as he pretends by the first Martyrs and Bishops of Rome very long and full of Popery He has two Epistles of S. Clement written to S. James Bishop of Jerusalem that was dead before S. Clement came to the Chair one to the Brethren dwelling with S. James and two others in his name He has four Epistles in the name of Anacletus who lived in the time of Trajan and sate in the Roman Chair An. 〈◊〉 In the last of which the Counterfeit Anacletus feigneth That all the Primacies and Archbithopricks in the World were divided and fetled by S. Peter and S. Clement that the Church of Rome is the Head and Hinge of all the Churches and that all the Patriarchal Sees were made such by vertue of S. Peter Antioch because he sate there before he came to Rome Alexandria because S. Mark came to sit there from S. Peter but Rome especially the first See because it is sanctified by the death of S. Peter and S. Paul As if our Saviours Death were nothing able to sanctifie Jerusalem as S. Peter's death was to sanctifie Rome though besides the Death of Christ Jerusalem hath this advantage that it is the first Church and the Mother of us all That you may a little discein the dealings of the Papists note here that Anacletus his first and second Epistles are cited by Bellarmine for good Records in the very same book where he confesseth them to be Counterfeits For though in one little passage they be confessed for the present satisfaction of a stiff Oppanent yet where men are minded to be corrupt they may serve
the turn in an hundred other places by a Pious Fraud and the Confession being over-skipped they may still seem Authentick especially if the place happen to be unseen where the Confession was made as it often cometh to pass in voluminous writings 〈◊〉 has besides these 2 counterfeit Epistles of 〈◊〉 3 of Alexander 2 of Sixtus 1 of Telesphorus 2 of Higinus 2 of Pius 1 of Anitius 2 of Soter 1 of 〈◊〉 2 of Victor 2 of Zephirinus 2 of 〈◊〉 1 of 〈◊〉 2 of Pontianus 1 of 〈◊〉 3 of Fabian 2 of Cornelius 1 of 〈◊〉 2 of Stephen 2 of Sixtus 2 of Dionysius 3 of 〈◊〉 2 of 〈◊〉 1 of 〈◊〉 2 of Marcellinus 2 of Marcellus 3 of Eusebius 1 of 〈◊〉 All laid down without the least 〈◊〉 of any Fraud though the later 〈◊〉 of the Councils having their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Century-Writers of 〈◊〉 the care of other I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to acknowledge several of them to be Forgeries These Episiles have one common blast upon them they were first seen in a counterfeit book and never known to the World 〈◊〉 hundred years after their pretended Authors were set in their Craves They cannot all be 〈◊〉 at once the Reader therefore must have patience till we meet with them in their places In the mean time see what Bishop Jewel saith concerning them a 〈◊〉 ever answered by any especially as to these points wherein he 〈◊〉 them with Forgery Gratian sheweth that the Decretal Epistles have been doubted of among the Learned Dr. Smith declared openly at Paul's Cross that they cannot possibly be theirs whose names they bear And to utter some reasons shortly for proof thereof these Decretal Epistles manifestly 〈◊〉 and abuse the Scriptures as it may soon appear to the Godly Reader upon sight They maintain nothing so much as the State and Kingdom of the Pope and yet there was no such State erected in many hundred years after the Apostles time They publish a multitude of vain and Superstitious 〈◊〉 and other like fantasies far unlike the Apostles Doctrine They proclaim such things as Mr. Harding knoweth to be open and known 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that was next after Peter willeth and 〈◊〉 commandeth that all Bishops once in the year do visit the 〈◊〉 of S. Peter's Church in Rome which they call Limina 〈◊〉 yet was there then 〈◊〉 Church as yet built there in the name of Peter Pope Antherus maketh mention of Eusebius Alexandrinus and Felix which lived a long time after him Fabianus writeth of the coming of Novatus into Italy yet 't is clear by S. Cyprian and 〈◊〉 that Novatus came first into Italy in the time of Cornelius who was next after Fabianus One Petrus Crab the Compiler of the Councils complaineth much that the examples from whence he took them were wonderfu ly corrupted and not one of them agreeing with another Gratian himself upon good advice is driven to say that al such Epistles ought to have place rather in debating matter of Justice in the Consistory than in determining and weighing the truth of the Scriptures Besides this neither S. Hierom nor Gennadius nor Damasus nor any other Old Father ever alledged these Epistles or made any account of them nor the Bishops of Rome themselves at the first no not when such Evidences might have stood them in best stead in their ambitious contention for Superiority over the Bishops of Africa The Contents of them are such as a very Child of any judgment may soon be able to 〈◊〉 them Here he nameth St. Clement's writing to St. James when he was dead Marcellus charging the Emperour Maxentius an Infidel and a Tyrant with the Authority of Clement with several things of this kind In his Reply to Harding's Answer Artic. 1. and 4. But I proceed with Isidore or rather Merlin that first printed him He has besides all these Epistles certain counterfeit Decrees of Sylvester Bishop of Rome in the time of Constantine the Great and the Epilogus brevis Romani 〈◊〉 post 〈◊〉 celebrati which Hincmarus Archbishop of Rhemes is reported particularly to have excepted against as absurd because it ordaineth 1. That no Lay-man ought to accuse a Clergy-man 2. That no Inferiour Priest may accuse his Superiour 3. That a 〈◊〉 may not be condemned without 72 Witnesses a Cardinal Priest not without 43 a Cardinal Deacon of the City of Rome not without 27 a Sub-Deacon an 〈◊〉 a Reader a Door-keeper not without 7 〈◊〉 It is further provided that every one of these 〈◊〉 must be without any spot of infamy no Lay-man at all nor any inferiour Clergy man So that upon the matter a safe Indemnity is prepared for all kind of Priests especially the great ones to swim in any Excess as himself listeth provided he be not guilty of the Protestants faults that is to say that he doth not touch the Popes Crown or the Monks Belly This Decree is most solemnly put among the Councils by Isidore and Merlin by Peter Crabbe Surius Binius Labbe and Cossartius and the Collectio Regia and as solemnly put among the Popes Laws by Ivo an ancient Bishop a great Civilian and one of the Eldest Digesters of the Canon Law before Gratian This brief Epilogue set before the Council giveth you to wit that there were Cardinals in Rome in the time of Constantine the first Christian Emperour But if you please to examine Antiquities you will hardly sind Cardinals so ancient Isidore in his Preface directed to one whom he calls his Fellow-servant and Father of the Faith mentioneth 70 Canons of the Nicene Council somewhat too affectedly You 80 Bishops saith he who have compelled me to begin and perfect this work ought to know and so ought all other Priests of the Lord that we have found more than those 20 Canons of the Nicene Council that are with us And we read in the Decrees of Julius the 〈◊〉 that there ought to be 〈◊〉 Chapters of that Synod Yet when he cometh to the Council it self he forgets himself so far as to lay down but 20 the 50 forged 〈◊〉 receiving a fair Countenance only by that Preface or Epistle set for shew before the work He has an Epistle of Athanasius and the Bishops of Egypt to Pope Mark wherein they tell him that there were 70 Canons of the Nicene Council and desire him to send them into Egypt from Rome since all their own were burnt at Alexandria by the Arrians Mark was dead 9 years before the Burning happened howbeit he sent them a Gracious Answer with the 70 Canons The 〈◊〉 of these was seriously cited to 〈◊〉 by a Learned Son of that Church to prove the Bishop of Rome was called Pope to wit by Athanasius and all the Bishops of Egypt within the first 〈◊〉 years But some of their latest Authors begin to blush at it as Binius and Baronius do in particular Next to these he has three Epistles of Julius the Pope as very Counterfeits as the former yet generally
Pragmatical Constitution we Decree them to be dispased and grant them to remain under the Right and Tenure of the H. Roman Church Poor Priests are fain to cheat the people by witty Miracles and small Devices at Shrines and Images for a little Silver and Gold The best of them can attain no more than Lordships and the Territories of Subjects As the Manours evidence which are given to our Lady of Loretto and those Lands which Jesuites squeeze out of dying men with the fear of Purgatory But the Pope and his Cardinals find it not suitable to their State and Dignity to juggle for less than Empires and Kingdoms and therefore soar high you see in the present Donation Wherefore saith the Emperour we have thought it convenient to change and remove our Empire and the power of our Kingdom into the Eastern Countries and in the best place of the Province Byzantium to build a City after our Name and there to found our Empire Because where the * Head of the Principality of Priests and of the Christian * Religion is ordained to be by the Coelestial Emperour it is not just that the Earthly Emperour should there have any Power Here is a high Career of notorious He resie and Blasphemy together S. Peter was called the Prince of the Apostles but the Pope is the Head of the Principality nor Head of the Priests only but of the Christian Religion which I think none but our Saviour can possibly be It smells rank of Blasphemy but that the Priestly and Imperial Power should be incompatible is Rebellion and Heresie It shews how incompatible Popish and Imperial Power is Yet all these things are ratified by other Dival Sanctions made by the Emperor though recorded no where as you may see in the words following BVT all these things we also have decreed and ratified by other Dival Sanctions and we decree them to stand unblemished and unshaken to the end of the World WHEREFORE we protest before the Living God who commanded us to Reign and before his Terrible Judgment by this our Imperial Constitution that it shall not be lawful for any the Emperours our Successors nor for any of our Nobles and Peers or for the most Ample Senate or for all the people of the whole World now or hereafter from hence in all Ages lying under our Empire by any means to contradict or break or in the least to diminish these things which by this our Imperial Sanction are granted to the Holy Roman Church or to all the Bishops of the same But if any Breaker or Contemner of these shall arise which we do not believe let him be knotted and ensnared in eternal Damnation and find the Saints of God and the Princes of the Apostles Peter and Paul Enemies unto him both in the Life present and in that which is to come and being burnt in the lower Hell let him perish with the Devil and all the wicked The great Council of Chalcedon consisting of 620 Fathers lies under this Sentence because they made the Patriarch of 〈◊〉 equal with the Bishop of Rome If Constantine the Great did make it with the consent of all his Nobles and the whole Senate before all the Princes and People of Rome as is pretended in the Donation It was too publick a thing not to be heard of and too remarkable to be let pass in silence Since therefore it is incredible that so many Fathers should wilfully fall under the Curse it is certain the whole Donation is a Counterfeit Howbeit as the Substance of the Act so the Ceremony is worth the observation But 〈◊〉 the Page of this our Imperial Decree we laid it with our own hands on the venerable Body of the blessed Peter Prince of the Apostles and there promising to that Apostle of God that we would inviolably keep all these things and leave them in charge to be kept by the Emperours our Successors we delivered them to our blessed Father Sylvester High-Priest and Universal Pope and to all the Popes his Successors the Lord God and our Saviour Jesus 〈◊〉 allowing 〈◊〉 for ever and happily to be enjoyed And the Imperial subscription The 〈◊〉 keep you many years 〈◊〉 and blessed Fathers Dated in Rome on the 〈◊〉 day of the Kalends of April Our Lord Flavius Constantinus 〈◊〉 th fourth time and Gallicanus being Consuls A NOTE No Emperour being ever accustomed to stile himself Our Lord c. Those words Our Lord Flavius Constantinus coming out of Constantine's own Mouth bewray the Donation as made by some other unless he were at the same time both his own Subject and his own Emperour CAP. XXII The Donation of Constantine proved to be a Forgery by Binius himself He confesseth the Acts of Sylvester which he before had cited as good Records to be Counterfeit THose things saith Binius in his Notes which are told concerning the Dominion and Temporal Kingdom given to the See of Rome are manifestly enough proved to be likely by what we said in our Notes upon the former Epistle as well as by the Munificence of the Emperour himself never enough to be praised Observe here the modesty of the man He ought to prove the Instrument itself but that he throws by and talks of the Dominion and Temporal Kingdom 2. Neither will he undertake to prove it certain but likely that the Dominion and Temporal Kingdom was given to the See of Rome 3. He cites his Notes on a counterfeit Epistle to make it likely For the Epistle going before was the Epistle of Melchiades which he confesseth to be a Forgery 4. The Munificence of the Emperour makes it probable that he gave away the Empire to the See of Rome If you will not believe this you are an hard-hearted man for Binius says it His Notes upon the former Epistle to which he refers you are these That the things which are written in this Epistle concerning the Donation of Constantine to Melchiades and Sylvester are true is proved not only from hence but most firmly also by the Authority of Optatus Milevitanus a most approved Writer For he writeth lib. 1. cont Parm. that Constantine and Licinius being the third time Consuls to wit in the year of Christ 313. a Council of 19 Bishops was held at Rome in the Cause of Caecilianus and the Donatists in the Lateran in the House of Fausta which was the Seat of the Roman Bishop Truly he doth not expresly write that the House was given to Melchiades by the Emperour but since no reason doth appear for which it is necessary that the Convention of 19 Bishops should require larger Rooms out of the House of Melchiades that wherein the foresaid Synod was assembled to wit the Lateran or House of Fausta can by no prudent person any more be doubted to be given by the Emperour to Melchiades the Bishop of Rome The Lateran is not so much as named in the Epistle of Melchiades but that he left
Chair And together with the Credit of Rome to take away an Empire Besides the Spiritual Right of being the Rock there are ample Territories and Cities claimed with a Temporal Kingdom Let him therefore pretend what he will the Authority of such Instruments is very convenient And because he knows it well enough he produces the Diplomata or the Patents of other Kings and Emperours to confirm the Churches Secular Right extant as he saith in the Original with their Imperial Seals as particularly those of the Most Christian Princes of France restoring those things which the Longobards took away But he does not tell you by what Arts they got possession of those Territories at first nor by what Ancient Evidences Seals or Patents they held them before the Longobards touched them And because a Kingdom is of much Moment in the Church of Rome he further saith As for the Dominion of things temporal given to the Church herself proves them by the Broad Seals of the very Emperours giving them yet extant in the Originals and she quietly enjoyeth them How quiet her injoyment is you may see by that stir and opposition she meeteth and by all the clamour throughout the Christian World that followeth her Usurpations Which she defendeth here by the Seals of Emperours in general Terms but what Seals they are she scorneth as it were to mention in particular Which argueth her cause to be as Bad as her pretence is Bold But as for the Rights granted to the same Roman Church S. Leo Faelix Romanus Gelasius Hormisda Gregorius and other their Successors that flourished famously from the times of Constantine have defended them saith he not by the Authority of this Constantinian Edict but rather by Divine and Evangelical Authority against all the Impugners of them The man is warily to be understood for some of these whom he pronounceth as Defenders violently oppose their claim as Gregory in particular who for himself and all his Predecessors renounceth that Blasphemons Title which John of Constantinople first arrogated but the Bishops of Rome acquired afterwards by the Gift of Phocas the bloody Emperour So that all these are Mummers brought in as it were in a Masque to shew their vizars and say nothing For of all these Roman Bishops mentioned by Binius Gregory was the last who testifieth that none of his Predecessors ever claimed such a Title We may further note that he speak here with much Confusion because he speaks of the Rights granted to the Roman Church but does not distinguish between the Divine and Humane Rights of which he is treating For the Business he is now upon is the Temporal Klngdom in desending of which these Popes down to Gregory did forbear to use the Authority of this Constantinian Edict as he calleth it by way of scorn not because they had it not but rather as he pretends because they had no need of it having enough to shew by Divine and Evangelical Authority for the same Which is another pretence as bold and impudent as the former For I think none of his own Party will aver that the Bishop of Rome can claim a Temporal Kingdom by the Holy Scripture As for any other Claim by this Constantinian Edict or any Donation else of Emperours before the Longobards he slighteth all especially the Authority of this Constantinian Edict conceruing which he saith None of all those who sate over the Church before the year 1000. many of which saw the genuine Acts of Sylvester recited concerning which we spake above is read to have made any mention of this Edict For as much as the Counterfeit Edict was not yet added to the Acts by the Greek Impostors He does not tell us how he came to know that many of the Roman Bishops saw the genuine Acts of Sylvester before the year 1000. that being an Artifice or Color only as if there were two divers Books of Sylvesters Acts and the one a true one He tells us not a word of the Contents that were in them but he before told us plainly that the Acts of Sylvester the Pope were falsly written in Greek under the name of Eusebius Bishop of Caesarea that they were not known till 1000. years after Christ coming then forth in Eusebius his Name And now he telleth us as plainly that the Counterfeit Edict was not yet added to the Acts by the Greek 〈◊〉 The poor Greeks on whom he layes all the Load of Imposture never injoyed the benefit of these Acts nor ever pleaded the Imposture as the Latines did And in all likelyhood they made it that laid Claim and Title to the Supremacy by it Since therefore the Question is come to this Who were the Impostors we must define against him that the Counterfeit Edict was added to the forged Acts not by the Greek but Latine Impostors For how Counterfeit to ever he will have it Pope Adrian in his Epistle to Constantine and Irene which remains inserted in the Nicene Council recites this whole History almost in the same manner and so confirmes it by the Truth of this Edict As Binius himself telleth us on the words Ipse enim So that the Edict was pleaded long before the Greeks added it to the Acts of Sylvester For Pope Adrian died in the year 795 and the Acts of Sylvester were unknown till the year 1000. Yet this Adrian founded his Epistle to the Emperour and Empress in the second 〈◊〉 Council upon the truth of this 〈◊〉 And in very truth the Story he telleth is the same of Constantine's Leprosie c. contained in the Donation Which if 〈◊〉 had been pleased to remember was published by the Latines in Isidore Mercator's Collection of the Councils about the year 800. Where the Greeks in all probability first found it and were cheated as many Wiser men have since been with the appearance of it there So that searching it up to the Fountain Head it rests still among the Romans By the way to shew you that Binius is his Crafts-Master over against these words concerning Adrian before mentioned he putteth down that Famous Marginal Note Donatio Constantini confirmatur The Donation of Constantine is confirmed not by Binius as the simple Reader would suppose but by Adrian's Epistle recorded in the 2 Nicene Council and expresly containing the whole Fable of Constantine's Leprosie Vision and Baptism So that the first that ever knew it in the World for ought I can yet perceive was this Adrian of whom we have spoken somewhat before Now he comes to shew how greedily the Popes received this Cheat of the Greeks Among those who received the Acts of Sylvcster in good seoth corrupted thus with the addition of this counterfeit Edict by an evil Art and by the sorry faith of the Grecians carried out of the East into the West and that earnestly defended them as Legitimate and Genuine and pure from all fraud and Imposture the first is found saith he to be Pope Leo
Elaborate manner That the Bishop of Rome had a secret hand in the contrivance and publication of them is probable if not clear from divers Reasons 1. Before they were published Hadrian 1. maketh use of the Tale of Constantines Leprosie Vision and Baptism by Pope Sylvester things till then never heard of in the world but afterwards contained in the Donation of Constantine a Forgery which in all probability lay by this Hadrian but of his own preparing when he wrote his Letter to Constantine and Irene which Letter was read and is recorded in the 2. Nicene Council on the behalf of Images being sent abroad like a Scout as it were to try what success it would find in the world before he would adventure the whole Body of his Players to publick view For if that were swallowed down without being detected the rest might hope for the same good Fortune if not the first might pass for a mistake and its Companions be safely suppressed without any mischief following 2. The Emperour and the Council having digested the first Legend exposed by the Pope so crastily to publick view the other Forgeries were a little after boldly published in this Book of Isidore together with the Legend and Donation of Constantine which when Hincmarus Archbishop of Rhemes upon its first publication set himself to write against he was taken up so roundly for the same by the Authority of Rome that he was fain gladly to acquit the Attempt for ever And their tenderness over it is I think a sufficient Indication of their Relation to it every Creature being naturally affectionate to its own Brood and prone to study its preservation The Church of Rome was so tender of Isidores Edition that as some say Hinemarus was forced to recant his Opinion and to declare that he believed and received the Book with Veneration 3. It is recorded by Justellus that the forementioned Hadrian was careful to give Charles the Great a Copy of the Councils and Decretal Epistles drawn up as he affirmed by Dionysius Exiguus Daillè accuses the Book of many faults but whether Hadrian or Dionysius were guilty of them is little material only 't was done as a Pledge of Reconciliation after several Bickerings between the Giver and Receiver Charles the Great having several times invaded Rome and now departing thence with Friendship which makes me a little the more prone to suspect Dionysius too for one of those Danaum Dona which are given like Nessus his Shirt when wounded by Hercules to his Enemies Wife for the destruction of her Husband Be it how it will it shews that Hadrian I. was a busie man that he understood the influence and power of Records what force they would have upon the minds of Lay-men and that his eyes and hands were sometimes busied in such Affairs But that which above all other Arguments discovers the Popes to have a hand if not in the Publication yet in the Reception of the Forgeries is this that the Roman Canonists Ivo Gratian c. have digested them into the Popes Laws and they are so far countenanced by the Popes themselves that almost from the time of their publication throughout all Ages since they have been received for Authentick in the apal Jurisdiction and are used as such in all the Ecclesiastical Courts under the Popes Dominion as the chief of their Rules for the deciding of Causes So that they are not only fostered but exalted by the Authority of Rome The Glory which they acquired in the Throne of Judgment advancing them for a long time above the reach of Suspition The Veneration which is due to the Chair of Holiness was their best security By the influence of the Popes Authority they were received into the Codes of Princes being as we shall shew out of Baronius in the next Chapter introduced into the Capitular Books of the Kings of the Franks by Benedictus Levita and at his instant request confirmed and approved by the 〈◊〉 Chair The Forgeries in Isidore being scattered abroad it is difficult to conceive to what a vast Height the Roman See by degrees 〈◊〉 The Splendour of so many Ancient Martyrs 〈◊〉 together with so many Canons and Decrees in her behalf so far wrought that her Bishop came at last to Claim all Power over all persons Spiritual and Temporal to have the sole power of forgiving sins to be alone Infallible to be Cods Vicar upon Earth the only Oracle in the world nay the sole Supreme and Absolute Monarch disposing of Empires and Kingdoms according to the Tenour of the Doctrines contained in those Forgeries wherein he is made the sole Independent Lord without Controul able to do what ever he lifted Some few Ages after this first Publication of Isidore there were other Records put forth though lately seen yet bearing the countenance of 〈◊〉 Antiquitie which so ordered the matter that according to them the Evangelists brought their Gospels to S. Peter to confirm them and several books of S. Clement S. Peter's Successor were put into the Canon of the Holy Bible the whole number of Canonical books being setled and defined by his sole Authority In token doubtless of the Power Inherent in all S. Peter's Successors at Rome to dispose of the Apostles and their Writings as they please S. 〈◊〉 own Canon for that purpose being numbered among those of the Aposiles That the Pope was uncapable of being judged by any that no Clergy-man was to be Subject to Kings but all to depend immediately upon the Bishop of Rome that he was the Rock and Head of the Church was the constant Doctrine of all those Forgeries when put together with many other Popish Points of less concernment sprinkled up and down in them at every turning Cui bono Among the Civilians 't is a notable mark of Detection in a blind Cause whose Good whose Exaltation whose Benefit is the drift and scope of things and 't is very considerable for the sure finding out of the first Authors That they are Forgeries is manifest Now whose they are is the Question in hand and if Agents naturally intend themselves in their own Operations it is easily solved How excessively the World was addicted to Fables about the time of Isidore's Appearance we may see by the Contents of the 2. Nicene Council Dreams Visions and Miracles being very rife in their best demonstrations and among other Legends a counterfeit Basil a counterfeit Athanasius a counterfeit Emperour maintaining and promoting the Adoration of Images As may perhaps in another Volume be more fully discovered when we descend from these first to succeeding Ages The Counterfeits in Isidore being mingled with the Records of the Church like Tares among Wheat or false Coyns among heaps of Cold lay undistinguished from true Antiquities and after Hincmarus his ill success were little examined by the space of 500 or 600 years Some small opposition there was made in particular by the Bishops in France and
foolishly for in the beginning of the Book he hath a Preliminary Tract called An Annotation of Synods the Acts where of are contained in this book In which he giveth us this account in the Aquitan Council 18 Fathers made 24 Canons in that of Neocaesarea 16 Fathers made 14 Canons in that of Gangra 16 Fathers made 21 Canons in that of Sardica 60 Fathers made 21 Canons in that of Antioch 30 Fathers made 25 Canons in that of Laodicea 22 Fathers made 59 Canons in the Council of Car thage 217 Fathers made 33 Canons I had a long time coveted a sight of these Canons and finding them numbred in such an Annotation of Synods the Acts whereof are contained in this book I was much comforted with hope of seeing them But when I turned to the place I found them not Surely to slip out 33 Canons at a time made by more Fathers than were in all the other Councils put together is a lusty Deleatur There was never Deed of more importance imbezelled in the World The Nicene Council had 318 Fathers that made 20 Canons for what secret cause therefore he skippeth over the account which he ought especially to give of this is worth the enquiry He mentions it by the by and shuffles it off without an account perhaps because he was loath to say or unsay the story of 70 Canons in the Nicene Council However he dealeth fairly with us in this that having noted Aurelius to have been President in the sixth Council of Carthage he confesseth that S. Augustine Bishop of Hipyo is recorded to have been in that Council in the Reign of Honorius Ibid. Binius and all the Popish Compilers I could ever meet with before clipped off that Council in the midst without so much as signifying the number of its Canons I was glad I had a sight of their number here though I mist of themselves and was confident that however cruelly the Pope dealt with Aurelius Archbishop of Carthage S. Aug. Bishop of Hippo and other holy Fathers in cutting out their Tongues I should at last meet with them And the Learned Justellus with much honesty and honour has made us satisfaction We acknowledge some true Records among these Spurious Abominations but a little poyson spoileth the greatest Mess of the most wholesom Meat much more doth a Bundle of Forgeries that over-poyseth the true Records in size and number The method which he useth in the mixture of the Records and Forgeries is remarkable For beginning with the Counterfeit Epistles of Clement Anacletus c. he first seasoneth the Readers spirit with Artificial Charms and prepossesseth him with the high Authority of the Roman Patriarchs and after he has given him those strong Spells and Philtres composed of Roman Drugs permits him boldly to see some true Antiquities his eyes being dazled in the very Entry with Apparitions of Popes and such other Spectres Lest the Tincture should decay he reserves some of the Forgeries till afterwards that the true Records might be compassed in with an Enchanted Circle and the last Relish of Antiquity go off as strong as the first and be as successful as the prepossession Thus he cometh down with Forgeries to Melchiades and then he breaketh off the Decretal Epistles to make room for the Councils beginning with the Nicene under pretence of its Excellency and putting the Councils before it in time after it in order that he might get a fit occasion to introduce them here so running down in a disorderly manner from Ancyra to Neocaesarea Gangra Sardica Antioch Laodicea Constantinople Ephesus Chalcedon among the Greeks and then up again to the Latine Councils many of which preceded divers of the other as the first second third fourth fifth sixth Council of Carthage all which were before the Council of Constantinople Ephesus and Chalcedon From the seventh Council of Carthage he runneth down to the thirteenth Council of Toledo which happened long after Melchiades Silvester Pope Mark Liberius Felix c. were dead Then he cometh in the second part of his Work up again to Sylvester and so downwards with more Decretals that he might Husband his Forgeries well and not glut us with them altogether And remarkable it is also that he doth not give us the least syllable of notice of any Fraud among them Nay even Constantine's Donation set in the Front before the Nicene and in the midst between the first Order of Counterfeits and the Councils passeth with him silently and gravely for a true and sacred Instrument which is of all other the most impudent Imposture Let Baronius say what he will it was impossible to debauch all Antiquity and Learning with so much Labour and Art without some deep Counsel and Design What use Merlin puts all these things to and how much he was Approved in the Church of Rome you shall see in the next Chapter and how highly also he extolleth this Book ofF orgeries How plainly he fathereth it upon S. Isidore Bishop of Hispalis is manifest by the Coronis of the first Part where with it endeth Give thanks to industrious and learned men studious Reader that now thou hast at hand the Acts of the Councils as well as of the Popes which Isidore the Bishop of Hispalis collected into one Volume c. What shall we believe The first Edition of the Book it self or Baronius his Testimony Old Merlin fathers it upon Isidore before Baronius was born and all the World was made to believe the Bishop of Hispalis was the Author of it though now for shame and for a shift they fly to another Author Now if Isidore were dead before the Booke was made it must needs be a Cheat which as Merlin saith honest Francis Regnault the cunning Printer ended at Paris in the year of our Lord 1535 which unusual form of Concluding instead of allaying increaseth the suspicion CAP. VI. What use Merlin makes of Isidore and the Forgeries therein How much he was approved in the Church of Rome How some would have Isidore the Bishop to be a Merchant others a Sinner HOw false and fraudulent soever the Collection of Isidore be yet its Title is very Splendid and its Authority Sacred in the Church of Rome JAMES MERLIN'S COLLECTION OF THE Four General Councils The NICENE the CONSTANTINOPOLITAN the EPHESINE and the CHALCEDONIAN Which S. Gregory the Great does Worship and Reverence as the Four Gospels TOM I. Of 47 Provincial Councils also and the Decrees of 69 POPES From the APOSILES and their CANONS to ZACHARIAS ISIDORE being the Author ALSO The GOLDEN BULL of CHARLES IV. Emperour concerning the Election of the KING of the ROMANS PARIS At Francis Regnault 1535. All we shall observe upon this Title is this If Gregory the Great did Worship and Reverence the Four General Councils as the Four Gospels they were the more to blame that added 50 Canons to one of them and they much more that stain them all with the Neighbourhood and Mixture of such
by the People that it was granted to the Church of Rome by a singular priviledge to open and shut the Kingdom of Heaven to whom she would that none may Appeal from her to any other that the Apostolical See may without any Synod unbind those whom a Synod or Council hath unjustly condemned Of which Sentence she is to be the Judge whether it be just for she may judge all but none her that the Church of Rome is the Foundation and Form of all the Churches so that no Church hath its Essence without that of Rome that from her all the Churches received their beginning Doctrines as true as the Authorities by which they are confirmed and to say no more as true as the last For the Christian Churches received their beginning from Jerusalem before the Church of Rome had any Being Consider it well and you shall find this the removing of a meer stone of highest importance an Encroachment upon the Territories of other Patriarchs an 〈◊〉 of all Spiritual and Secular Power to the subversion of Emperours Kings and Councils For if all are to obey her as Jesus Christ did his Eternal Father if it be granted to the Roman Church by a singular Priviledge to open and shut the Kingdom of Heaven to whom she will if no King Emperour or Council hath power to judge the Pope while he hath power to judge all Kings Emperours and Councils are made Subject to him and nothing can escape the Sublimity of his Cognizance Besides this Treatise of the Primacy Peter Crab has 34 new Canons of the Apostles more than Isidore and Merlin So that Antiquities are daily increasing in the Church of Rome and Records are like Figs new ones come up instead of the old ones The last of these Canons is that of Clement about the Canon of the Bible a Forgery of more Scriptures added to the former in the names of the Apostles defended by honest Turrian zealously and magnified by Nicolinus as the Coronis of the Apostles Canons He has the Roman Pontifical a Treatise of the Lives of Popes fitted exactly to the Decretal Epistles and accordingly most richly stored with all kind of Forgeries and Lyes It is a new Book Fathered upon Pope Damasus which Isidore and Merlin I think were ignorant of for it is not in them and I admire where he had it It is the Text on which he commenteth as a Great Record he useth it as a great proof in doubtful matters and according to it the Method of his Tomes is ordered You will see more of it hereafter He has the counterfeit Council of Sinuessa a new Piece which I find not in Merlin But I verily believe he scraped it up some where else and 't is not his own 't is so full of nonsense A Council sitting in the year 303. and defining from that Text Ex ore tuo justificaberis ex ore tuo condemnaberis that no Council can condemn a Pope nor any other Power but his own mouth For because our Saviour has said Out of thine own mouth thou shalt be justified and out of thine own mouth thou shalt be condemned therefore no body can condemn the Pope but himself alone for which purpose they repeat the Text over and over again very 〈◊〉 and childishly even unto nauseating And the example of Marcellinus is made an instance in the case who being called to an Account for offering Incense to an Idol could not be condemned by this Council and was therefore because he was Pope humbly implored to condemn himself It is a Council of great value because of the President we have in it how Scriptures may be applied to the Bishop of Rome and how places that belong to all the World must peculiarly be ascribed to him alone Howbeit Crab makes a sowre face on 't and is fain to premise this Premonition to the Reader By reason of the intollerable difference and corruption of the Copies whereof the one was old and faulty though written in the best Parchment and Character the other more old but equally depraved as the Beholders might discern with their eyes so far that what they mean sometimes cannot be understood we have set both the Copies without changing a syllable of them in two Columns setting the Letter A over the first and C over the other but the middle Column over which B is placed for its capaeity or rather conjecture endeavours as much as it is able to reconcile the other two so very divers and bring them to some sense He does not tell you plainly that he made the middle Copy but 't is easie to conceive it since he found but two and they were so full of nonsense that he added one which is the third to reconcile them Yet Crabbe's Invention is now recorded by the Collectio Regia and the two old ones for their horrid Barbarismes are thrown out of the Councils and for very shame are cast away for proceeding in his Apology Crab a little after saith Nemo ergo caput subsannando moveat c. Let no man therefore wag his Head in derision who having either gotten more correct Exemplars or being of a more Noble and clear apprehension is able to mend these but rather let him patiently bear with what is done and reduce it himself into better form This is a sufficient Light wherein to see the dissimilitude between Forgeries and true Records For whereas the undoubted were made in great Councils of Holy Men and are all of them clear and pure and well-advised full of Uniformity Sense Gravity Majesty Smoothness Order Perspicuity Brevity Eloquence and Verity it is the common Fare of these Instruments which we accuse as Forgeries being made in a Dark Age by men not so Learned as the Church of Rome could desire and sometimes in a Corner by some silly Monk to swarm with Absurdities Errours Tautologies Barbarismes to be rude and tedious empty and incoherent weak and impertinent yet some of them we confess to be more pure in Language and better in sense than others This Council of Sinuessa is more ridiculous than it is possible well to imagine before you read and consider it He has the Counterfeit Edict of the Emperour Constantine for a good Record It is more warily made than the other and better Latine but of Swinging Importance ' I is but a Deed of Gift wherein the first most Christian Emperour is made to give all the Glory of the Western Empire with its Territories and Regalities to the Bishop of Rome We shall meet with it in others for the Collectors of the Decretal Epistles all of them harp upon this String most strangely As Pope Paul V. so Peter Crab has but 20 Canons of the Nicene Council wherein he agrees with Isidore and Merlin and differs much from some that follow him Nay he agrees and disagrees with Isidore at once in this very thing He agrees with Isidore in his Book it self on the Nicene Council but disagrees
partial Heads are bended easily to any Cause they fancy for their advantage Otherwise the Cross in the Heavens the Trophies upon Earth the prevailing glory of Christianity the victories of Constantine the joy and exultation of the people and the general applause with which he was received throughout the whole World would have taught Binius another Lesson than Constantines necessity to counterfeit himself an Heathen which is the meer Chymera of a lying Brain for which he is not able to produce any one Author in the World worth the naming He produces the Testimony of Eusebius concerning the necessity of Maxentius his counterfeiting himself to be a Christian but Eusebius speaketh not one word of any necessity lying upon Constantine to counterfeit himself an Heathen but the contrary so far that Binius who had quoted Eusebius so gravely before brandeth him with the Reproach of an Arrian because he crosseth his design now about Constantines Donation For the Donation is founded on Constantines Cure his Cure on his Leprosie his Leprosie on his Apostacy his Apostacy upon a Necessity to comply with the perverseness of the Heathen people whose Power was of too great a sway for his Design in the Empire All which is contradicted by the continual decaying of Heathenism that then was day by day and the growth of Christianity which had taken such root and possession in the People that there needed nothing but the change of the Emperour to turn the Empire into Christendom But this Necessity must be invented for else it would seem impossible that he should turn Pagan after our Saviour had appeared to him in his sleep after he had seen the Cross in the Air after he had set it up in his Standard aster all his Victories gotten under that glorious Banner after he had erected its Trophy in the City and made the World Glorious by his Munificence to the Churches For this Cause a far off and so long before the end could be discovered to which it should be applied does Binius take his Rise from the Fable in the Donation and shape his Discourse to the 〈◊〉 of the See by rooting the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Minds of men For all 〈◊〉 is to no other purpose than to 〈◊〉 the Donation of the Emperour thereby to settle the Empire in the Chair for the sake of which he tramples upon the Emperour wryeth Antiquity wresteth Authority citeth Forgeries and Heathen Authors defaceth the History of the Church and rewards the greatest of all Benefactors with the basest ingratitude All these Wars are commenced afar off for the strength of Rome is alwaies at a distance near at hand she is weak and feeble when he comes up close to the matter though he makes a great semblance of its evident certainty writing over head in Capital Letters EDICTUM CONSTANTINI And putting down the Donation under it at large commenting on it also very formally nay and writing in the Margin of his Notes Constantini Donatio defenditur and near the close of them Constantini Donatio consirmatur yet after all this he confesses the Donation to be Spurious His Design being no more than to make a Shew and cover that onfession which meer necessity at greatest pinch wrested from him His Confession lies in little roome and his Notes are made for the assistance of Confederates Such mighty Tomes for the Help of a sworn Party As for the rest of men that are allured perhaps by the Magnificence of the Books to admire them and to grace their Studies with them such as Lords and Princes he very well knows they may feed their Eyes with Great Titles and Glorious Shews afar off but they will never penetrate 〈◊〉 Stupendious Volumes by reason of other Diversions Labors cares and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which call them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 other secular Objects So that they may easily be deceived with the outward Appearance and splendor of such great and learned Collections which 〈◊〉 Design is the Mystery of the Popish Councils For in the Body of those Notes Binius himself by many well studied Arguments sets himself strenuously to overthrow the Donation and Fathers it on the Knavery of Balsamon a Greek who produced it as he pretends with an intent to dis race the Roman Chair by making the World believe that the Popes Supremacy came not by Divine Institutions but the Grant of the Emperour Which he abhors as sickle weak and humane chusing rather that the Popes Right should rest on the Scriptures Labbe Cossartins and the COLLECTIO REGIA follow Binius exactly even to those Cheats in the Margin But now it is high time to see the Contents of this wonderful Donation CAP. XXI The EDICT of our Lord CONSTANTINE the Emperour IN the Name of the Holy and Individual Trinity the Father and the Son and the H. Ghost Flavius Constantinus Caesar and Emperour in Jesus Christ one of the same H. Trinity c. To the most Holy and Blessed Father of Fathers Sylvester Bishop and Pope of the City of Rome and to all his Successors about to sit in the Seat of blessed Peter to the end of the World And to all our most Reverend and Catholick Bishops amiable in God made Subject throughout the World to the H. Church of Rome by this our Imperial Constitution c. It is too long to put it down formally and at large We shall therefore take only the chief Contents as they lie in the Donation It first contains a large account of the Articles of his Faith Secondly the story of his Leprosie Cure and Baptism wherein the Font is remarkably called Piseina the Popes Fish-pond as it were then he cometh to the Gift it self While I learned these things by the Preaching of the blessed Sylvester and by the benefit of the blessed Peter found my self perfectly restored to my health we judged it profitable together with all our Nobles and the whole Senate my Princes also and the whole People Subject to the Empire of the Roman Glory that as S. Peter upon Farth seemeth to be made the Vicar of the Son of God the Bishops also that are the Successors of him the Prince of the Apostles may obtain the Power of Principality given from us and our Empire more than the Earthly Clemency of our Imperial Majesty is seen to have had chusing the Prince of the Apostles and his Successors for our stedfast Patrons with God And we have decreed that this H. Roman Church shall be honoured with Veneration even as our Terrene Imperial Power is And that the most Holy Seat of B. Peter be more gloriously exalted than our Earthly Throne giving it Power and Dignity of Glory and Vigour and Honour Imperial And we decree and ordain that he shall hold the Principality as well over the four Principal Sees of Antioch Alexandria Jerusalem and Constantinople as over all the Churches of God in the whole World And by his Judgment let all things whatsoever pertaining to the Worship of God
with Her And if nothing else be the Roman Church but a Pope and Council 〈◊〉 the Roman Church is but a blinking 〈◊〉 There is no Roman Church upon this account sometimes for two or three Ages together for she always vanishes upon the 〈◊〉 of the Council The Roman Church is in a great 〈◊〉 but she may thank herself She threw her self into this Peril by making her self a Schismatick an 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 She first breaks the Rule and if the Pope and his Doctors about him be the Roman Church as they certainly must needs 〈◊〉 for all that depart from 〈◊〉 shall be Schifmaticks if the Head of the Church and all the Members that cleave unto it be the Roman Church she first brake the Rule and then forged Ancient Canons in the Name of the Nicene Council to defend her Exorbitancy she cut her self off from the true Church in the sixth Council of Carthage by a perverse inveterate obstinacy and to acquit her self afterwards laid the Curse and Scandal upon others She pretends at least that the most Holy Churches were Excommunicated that 217 Bishops in a Sacred Council Alypius S. Augustine Aurelius and all his Collegues were puffed up with pride by the Instigation of the Devil and accursed by a Dreadful Excommunication for so it is in the Epistle of Bonifaee 2. to Eulalius And now she hath nothing left to support her Enormity but that Greatness alone which by these Forgeries she hath acquired and maintained These Thorns are never to be pulled out but the Veins and Sinews will follow after For in rejecting these Thorns in her sides all her Authority Infallibility Antiquity Tradition Vnity Succession Credit and Veracity is gone As for Baronius and the way he takes a man may safely throw away the Sword when he has killed the Enemy but the Church of Rome is not arrived to such an happiness Politicians pull down the Ladder by which they have gotten up to the Top of their desires But the case is altered here They are undone if the Ladder be removed To acknowledge these Helps to be Forgeries is their apparent Ruine Some Papists use these Counterfeits by vertue of which their Predecessors acquired and established their Empire as Vsurpers do Traytors by whose villanous help they are seated in the Throne But they can never wash off the Guilt they have contracted nor make the Act or the Crime committed once to be again undone After 700 years enjoyment of the Benefit they begin to slight the means of acquiring it But it is because they cannot help it The Cheat is detected and they would sain perswade the World they are Innocent of it All of them either hold these things to be Forgeries or if Forgeries to be none of their The Confession is not Genning like 〈◊〉 of S. Peter rather it is awkward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like that of Apiarius 〈◊〉 Confession the sixth Council of Carthage observes to be sorced For after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 obstinately persisted as long as possible in an impudent denial reviled his Judges abused the Roman Chair disordered the Church and inflamed the World when God had brought him into so vast a strait that he could do no otherwise then the Fraudulent Dissembler as they call him fled to Confession but the Root of his Malevolence he retained in him Some Papists confess these Forgeries but deny them to be theirs They confess the things but justifie themselves The things they say are Forgeries but themselves no Forgers And whether of the two be the greater Impudence is hard to define They confess the Fraud but make no Restitution All their Drift is to save their Skin when one pretence is broken they fly to another nay they go on to quote these things even now they confess them where they are not detected they still do quote them and wish still they were as able to conceal and defend them as ever For for one that knows them they meet with a thousand that are ignorant of those devices There they dissemble their Conviction and hide their Confession with the Ignorant and before such make shew of these Frauds as of great and glorious Antiquities though like Proteus they transform themselves into other shapes before the more Learned They find it meet and necessary to fail with every Wind and to adapt themselves fitly in their discourses both to them that know them and to them that know them not with them that know them they seem to decry the Impostures These things I speak not to the poor simple seduced Papists who did they believe and know these things would abhor them to the Death but to the Seducers themselves who so delude the Ignorant and are by all Methods ever busie in carrying on the Cause of the Temporal Kingdom of the Church of Rome as by their obstinate practises is most apparent Baronius himself bewrayeth his Confession to be without any purpose of amendment even by the Defence he maketh for his good Old Friend the Bastard Isidore A Jerom of Frague or a John Huss a Latimer or a Ridley though never so holy and pure in other things were to be cursed with Bell Book and Candle if the least Errour appeared in them that reflected on the Popes Security Though never so Innocent they were with all violent fury pursued to the Fire But if a man have this one Vertue of maintaining the Popes Interest he may lye and cog and cheat and forge abuse Apostles Councils Fathers and be followed by an Army of Popes and Doctors becoming a Zealous and Venerable Saint notwithstanding Hincmarus of Rhemes could hardly escape for offering to mutter against Isidere But Isidore himself because he did the Pope Service though he be a Sacrilegious person and deserves all that can be called Bad for the incomparable height and depth of his Villany yet he is received to fair Quarters and well esteemed of by Cardinal Baronius Testimonium illi perhibeo utar verbis Apostoli saith he quod Zelum habuit sed non secundùm Scientiam c. I will give him this Testimony and here I will use the words of the Apostle He had a Zeal but not according to knowledge For because the contention of Aurelius Bishop of Carthage Augustine and other African Bishops seemed to him a little more hot than it should be with Boniface and Celestine the Roman Popes in the Cause of Apiarius the Priest he supposed it expedient in that Epistle which he feigned in the name of Boniface to patch up what was cut away But away with these things The Church of God is not founded nor does it lean upon Chaff it self being the Pillar and Ground of Truth Baron Martyrol Octob. 16. I will not note how he abuseth the Scriptures nor how he wresteth the words of the H. Apostle to cover a filthy piece of Knavery nor yet in what sense he maketh the last words which he uttereth to sound concerning the Roman Churches being her self the Pillar and Ground of Truth