Pontificis Imperator excitatus sanctionem edidit Bin. not in eam Epist yea further the Emperour commanded the severall Bishops to shew their judgements in that doctrine of faith decreed at Chalcedon which he did to this end ut omnium calculo confessione Chalcedonense Concilium iterum firmaretur saith Binius m Locis citatiâ— that the Councell of Chalcedon might be confirmed againe by the consent and confession of all those Bishops They did what the Emperour commanded them some alone as Anatolius Sebastianus Lucianus Agapetus and many moe some in Synodal Epistles as the Bishops of Alexandria of Europe all whose letters are adjoyned to the Councell of Chalcedon n Pa. 146. ad pa. 179. concerning all which that is to be noted which Agapetus saith o Pa. 166. Pene omnes occidentalium partium Episcopi confirmaverunt atque consignaverunt almost all the Bishops of the West and so also in the East did confirme by their letters and subscriptions that faith which was explaned at Chalcedon What authority thinke you could the confirmation of one single Bishop as of Agapetus and Sebastianus or of a Synod consisting but of nineteene Bishops as that at Millan p Vt liquet ex eorum epist Synod quae extat post Epist 52. Leonis or but of seven q Vt Epis Syriae post Conc. Chal. pa. 155. b. or sixe r Vt Episc Maesia ibid. a. or five Å¿ Vt Episc secundae Syria Ibid. pa. 157. b. or foure t Vt Episc Osrâ—eviae Ibid. pa. 168. a. as some of the other give to the great and Oecumenicall Councels of Ephesus and Chalcedon approved not onely by the Popes but by the consenting judgement of the whole Christian world as out of the Ephesine Synod we before declared And yet was never one of those confirmations fruitlesse as Pope Leo who was the author of them rightly judged Of the great Nicene Councell Eusebius Bishop of Nicomedia and Theognis Bishop of Nice after they had endured exile for not consenting to the Nicene faith in token of their repentance writ u Epistola eorum extat apud Socratem lib. 1. ca. 10. thus unto the Synod Those things which are decreed by your judgement consentientibus animis confirmare decrevimus we are purposed to confirme with consenting mindes Even the consent of two and those exiled and hereticall Bishops is called a confirmation of the great Nicene Councell to which no authority was added therby I will but add one example more and that is of this our fift Councell concerning which in their second Nicene Synod it is thus said x Act. 1. pa. 306 Foure Patriarkes being present approved the same and the most religious Emperour sent the Synodall Acts thereof to Ierusalem where a Synod being assembled all the Bishops of Palestina manibus pedibus ore sententiam Synodi confirmarunt they all confirmed the sentence of this Councell with their hands with their confessions and full consent except onely one Alexander Bishop of Abyles who thought the contrary and therefore was put from his Bishopricke and comming to Constantinople was swallowed up by an earthquake So their Nicene Synod By all which it is now cleare that generall and appoved Oecumenicall Councels or the decrees thereof may bee and de facto have beene usually approved and confirmed not onely by the Pope but by other succeding generall Councels by Provinciall Synods yea by particular Bishops who have beene absent none of all which gave or could give more authority to the Councell or Synodall decree thereof than it had before and some of them are both in authority and dignity not once to bee compared to those Synods which they doe approve or confirme and yet not any one of al these confirmations were needlesse or fruitlesse 36. The reason of all which may be perceived by the divers ends of those two coÌ„firmations These use end of the first confirmation by the Bishops present in the Councell was judicially to determine and define the controversie then proposed and to give unto it the full and perfect authority of a Synodall Oecumenicall decree that is in truth the whole strength and authority which all the Bishops and Churches in the whole world could give unto it The use and end of the second confirmation by those Bishops who were absent was not judicially to define that cause or give any judgment therein for this was done already and in as effectuall a manner as possible it could bee but to preserve the peace of the Church and unity in faith which could by no other meanes be better effected than if Bishops who had been absent and therefore did but implicitè or by others consent to those decrees at the making thereof did afterwards declare their owne explicite and expresse consent to the same Now because the more eminent that any Bishop was either for authority or learning the more likely he was either to make a rent and schisme in the Church if hee should dissent or to procure the tranquility and peace of the Church if hee should consent hence it was that if any Patriarke Patriarchall Primate or other eminent Bishop were absent at the time of the Councell the Church and Councell did the more earnestly labour to have his expresse consent and confirmation to the Synodall decrees This was the cause why both the religious Emperour Theodosius y Sacra Imper. ad Iohan. to 5. Act. Eph. Conc. ca. 3. Cyril Epist 38. ad Dynatum to cod ca. 16. and Cyrill with other orthodoxall Bishops were so earnest to have Iohn Patriarke of Antioch to consent to the holy Ephesine Synod which long before was ended that as he had beene the ringleader to the factious conventicle and those who defended Nestorius with his heresie so his yeelding to the truth and embracing the Ephesine Councell which condemned Nestorius might draw many others to doe the like and so indeed it did This was the principall reason why some of the ancient Councels as that by name of Chalcedon for all did it not sought the Popes confirmation to their Synodall decrees not thinking their sentence in any cause to bee invalid or their Councell no approved Councell if it wanted his approbation or confirmation a fancy not dreamed of in the Church in those daies but wheras the Pope was never personally present in any of those which they account the 8 general Councels the Synod thought it fit to procure if they could his expresse and explicite consent to their decrees that he being the chiefe Patriarch in the Church might by his example move all and by his authoritie draw his owne Patriarchall Diocesse as usually hee did to consent to the same decrees whereas if he should happen to dissent as Vigilius did at the time of the fift Councell hee was likely to cause as Vigilius then did a very grievous rent and schisme in the Church of God 37. There was yet another use and end of
all who are members of the present Romane Church and so continue till their death nay they not onely accurse all such but further also even all who doe not accurse such And because the decree of this fift Councill is approved by them to the least iôta it in the last place followeth that the condemning and accursing for hereticall that doctrine of the Popes infallibilitie in causes of faith and accursing for heretikes all who either by word or writing have or doe at any time hereafter defend the same and so presist till they dye nay not onely the accursing of all such but of all who doe not accurse them is warranted by Scriptures by Fathers by all generall Councils by all Popes and Bishops that have beene for more then 14. hundred yeares after Christ 30. This Vniforme consent continued in the Church untill the time of Leo the 10 and his Laterane Councill Till then neither was the Popes authoritie held for supreme nor his judiciall sentence in causes of faith held for infallible nay to hold these was judged and defined to be hereticall and the maintainers of them to be heretikes For besides that they all till that time approved this fift Councill wherein these truths were decreed the same was expresly decreed by two generall Councils the one at Constance the other at Basil not long before m Conc. Basil sinitum est an 1442. id est an 74. ante concil Later that Laterane Synod In both which it was defined that not the Popes sentence but the Iudgement of a generall Councill n Concil Basil in Decreto quinq conclus pa. 96. a. is supremum in terris the highest judgement in earth for rooting out of errors and preserving the true faith unto which judgement every one even the Pope o Cui quilibet etiamsi papalis status existat obedire tenetur Conc. Constant sess 4. et Bas sess 2. himselfe is subject and ought to obey it or if he will not is punishable p Debitè puniatur Conc. Const ses 5. Basil ses 3. by the same Consider beside many other that one testimony of the Councill of Basil and you shall see they beleeved and professed this as a Catholike truth which in all ages of the Church had beene and still ought to be embraced They having recited that Decree of the Councill at Constance for the supreme authority of a Councill to which the Pope is subject say q Sess 33. thus Licet has esse veritates fidei catholicae satis constet although it is sufficiently evident by many declarations made both at Constance here at Basil that these are truths of the Catholike faith yet for the better confirming of all Catholikes herein This holy Synod doth define as followeth The verity of the power of a generall Councill above the Pope declared in the generall Councill at Constance and in this at Basil est veritas fidei Catholicae is a veritie of the Catholike faith and after a second conclusion like to this they adjoyne a third which concernes them both He who pertinaciously gainsayeth these two verities est censendus haereticus is to be accounted an heretike Thus the Councill at Basil cleerly witnessing that till this time of the Councill the defending of the Popes authority to be supreme or his judgement to be infallible was esteemed an Heresie by the Catholike Church and the maintainers of that doctrine to be heretikes which their decrees were not as some falsly pretend rejected by the Popes of those times but ratified and confirmed and that r Per Concilia generalia quae summi Pontifices Consistorialiter declaraverunt esse legitima etiam pro eo tempore quo ejusmodi declarationes ediderunt Conc. Basil pa. 144. a. Consistorialiter judicially and cathedrally by the indubitate Popes that then were for so the Councill of Basil witnesseth who hearing that Eugenius would dissolve the Councill say s Epist Conc. Basil pa. 100. b. thus It is not likely that Eugenius will any way thinke to dissolve this sacred Council especially seeing that it is against the decrees of the Councill at Constance per praedecessorem suum et seipsum approbata which both his predecessor Pope Martine the fift and himselfe also hath approved Besides this that Eugenius confirmed the Councill at Basil there are other evident proofes His owne Bull or embossed letters wherein he saith t Literae bullatae Eugenij lectae sunt in Conc. Bas Ses 16. of this Councill purè simpliciter ac cum effectu et omni devotione prosequimur we embrace sincerely absolutely and with all affection and devotion the generall Councill at Basil The Councill often mention his adhesion v Jn sua adhaesione sess 16. his maximā adhaesionem x Decreto quinque Concl. pa. 96. b. to the Council by which Adhesion as they teach y Sess 29. pa. 96. b. Decreta corroborata sunt the Decrees of the Council at Basil made for the superiority of a Council above the Pope were cōfirmed Further yet the Orators which Pope Eug. sent to the council did not only promise but z Jurabant ejus decreta defendere c. Sess 16. corporally sweare before the whole Councill that they would defend the decrees therof particularly that which was made at Constance was now renewed at Basil Such an Harmonie there was in beleeving and professing this doctrine that the Popes judgement in causes of faith is neither supreme nor infallible that generall Councils at this time decreed it the indubitate Popes confirmed it the Popes Orators solemnly sware unto it the Vniversall a Haec veritas toties et tam solenniter per universam ecclesiam declarata est Epist Conc. Bas pa. 144. a. and Catholike Church untill then embraced it and that with such constancy and uniforme consent that as the Council of b Jn decreto quinque conclus pa. 96. Basil saith and their saying is worthy to be remembred nunquam aliquis peritorum dubitavit never any learned and skilfull man doubted therof It may be some illiterate Gnatho hath soothed the Pope in his Hildebrandicall pride vaunting c Hildebrandum sic gloriari solitum testatur Avent lib. 5. Annal. pa. 455. Se quasi deus sit errare non posse I sit in the temple of God as God I cannot erre but for any that was truly judicious or learned never any such man in all the ages of the Church untill then as the Councill witnesseth so much as doubted thereof but constantly beleeved the Popes authoritie not to be supreme and his judgement not to be infallible 31. After the Councill of Basil the same truth was still embraced in the Church though with far greater opposition then before it had witnesse hereof Nich. Cusanus a Bishop d Poss Biblic in Nic. Cusano a Cardinall a man scientijs pene omnibus excultus who lived 20 e Obijt ann 1464. Poss Conc. autem finitum
ca. 17. Councell wherein was the consent of the whole Catholike Church the latter was nothing else but an hereticall schismaticall and rebellious faction or conspiracie of some thirtie g Ille Iohannes 30. tantum numero eosque vel haereticos vel alios illius factionis socios Epist Synod 5. Conc. ad Imp. to 4. ca. 2. Johannes rebellionis hujus antesignanus ibid. ca. 3. alibi saepe or fortie persons unworthy the name of Bishops insolently opposing themselves to the holy Councel yea to the whole Catholike Church in which number and faction besides others who lesse concerne our purpose were these h Vt patet ex eorum subscripsione Act. Conc. Ephes to 3. ca. 2. tom 4. ca. 7. Iohn Bishop of Antioch the ring-leader of the rest Paulus Bishop of Emisae Theodoret of whom wee before entreated and Ibas not then but some three or foure yeares after Bishop of Edessa whom to have beene present at that time as a Bishop though his name bee not expressed in their subscription both Glicas i Glic Annal. part 4. pa. 363. in his Annales and the Councell at Chalcedon k Post duos dies venimus in Ephesum ait Ibas in Epist sua Conc. Chal. act 10. seâ—uutus sum primatem meum ibid. pa. 112. b. and Ibas his owne words therein doe make manifest 3. Now though there was so great odds betwixt the holy Councell and this factious conventicle yet were they as is the custome of all heretickes and schismatickes most insolent in all their actions As the holy Councell deposed Nestorius for an hereticke so the Conventicle to cry quittance with them deposed l Tu Cyrille tu Memnon scitote vos exauctoratos omnique episcopali honore exutos to 3. Act. Eph. ca. 2. Cyrill for an Arch-hereticke also condemning m Capita haeretica à Cyrillo exposita ut quae Euangelica Apostolicae doctrinae apertè repugnant Ibid his twelve Chapters as hereticall which the holy Councell had approved as orthodoxall As the holy Councell excommunicated n Act. Conc. Ephes to 4. ca. 7. and anathematized Iohn Paulus Theodoret Ibas and all the rest of their factious adherents and defenders of Nestorius and his heresie So did the Conventicle also excommunicate and anathematize Cyrill and all o At vos reliqui omnes qui Cyrilli actis consensistis anathemati subjacete tom 3. Ephes Act. ca. 2. that tooke part with him and defended his twelve Chapters and so among these even Pope Celestine and the whole Catholike Church As the holy Councell truly and justly called themselves the sacred and oecumenicall Councell and tearmed Iohn with his adherents a faction and hereticall p Schismaticorum conciliabutum to 4. Act. Conc. Ephe. ca. 15. Conventicle of Nestorians so did the Conventicle arrogate unto themselves the glorious name of the holy q Sacra Synodus c. tom 3. act ca. 2.6.7 alibi saepe Ephesine Councell and slandered them which held with Cyrill to bee a Conventicle r Confuso illorum Conciliabulo se conjunxerunt tom 3. act Ephes ca. 1. Quoddam inter se conciliabulum instituerunt ibid. c. 4. an unlawfull s Seditiose iniquè contra ecclesiasticas sanctiones regiaque decreta consensistis ibid. ca. 2. and disorderly assembly tearming them Arians t Qui furijs quibusdam agitati Arij Apollinarijque dogmata inflaurare voluerunt to 3. ca. 18. Apollinarians and from Cyrill Cyrillians v Scitote Cyrillianos tyrannide fraudibus c. Append. ad to 3. act Ephes ca. 10. As the holy Councell constantly refused to communicate with Iohn x To. 4. act ca. 15. et ca. 18. or any of his faction untill they did coÌ„sent to the deposing of Nestorius and anathematizing his heresie so the conventicle most peevishly and pertinaciously not onely refused the communion with Cyrill and other Catholikes but bound themselves by many solemne oathes y Iuravimusque saepissime pientissimo Regi quod impossibile sit nobis coÌ„municare his Cyrillianis si non exploserint capitula Appen to 3. act ca. 9. 10. and that even in the presence of the Emperor that they would never communicate with the Cyrillians unlesse they would condemne the twelve chapters of Cyrill adding that they would rather dye z Parati sumus prius mori quam suscipere unum ex Cyrilli capitulis ib. ca. 7. then admit or consent unto any one of those twelve chapters Such an unhappie and lamentable breach Iohn and the Eastern Bishops made in the Church at the time of that Ephesine Councell 4. The religious Emperours Theodosius and Valentinian whose imperiall authority was the onely meanes to end all these strifes had they beene personally present in the Synod to see all these disorders they would no doubt either have prevented this breach or after it had hapned have healed and made up the same But they residing then at Constantinople were extreamely abused by the vile dealings of the Nestorians for so much had these Nestorians prevailed both at the Court and in the Citie of Constantinople where Nestorius had beene Bishop that though the holy Councell sent letters after letters to certifie the truth of all matters to the Emperor yet either a Arbitramur pijss Imperatorem nihil horum dilucidè intellexisse Ita terra marique obsidemur ut nihil eorum quae nobis hic eveneruÌ„t vestrae Sanctitudini significare potuerimus Epist saâ— conc ad Euâ—atium alios tom 4. act ca. 21. Qui. Nestorij studiosi erant omnia maria publicas vias â—bfidenâ—â—â— neminem prorsus à sacra Synodo Constantinopol venire permittunt to 2. act Ephes ca. 19. were their messengers stopt or their letters by the malicious vigilancie of the Nestorians intercepted so that none no not any small notice of them came to the Emperors whereas on the other part the frequent b Ea interim quae inimici Christi erant ultro citroque deferebantur ibid. letters of the conventicle fraught with lies slanders had every day accesse yea applause in the Citie in the Court and before the Emperors And which was the worst of all Count Candidianus whom the Emperours made their owne deputie and president of the Councell to see all good and Synodall orders observed therein hee failed of that trust committed unto him and being most partiall c Candidianus Comes amicitiam Nestorij pietati aâ—te ponens ea pietati vestrae instillare fluduit quae cum sibi tum Nestorio commoda grataque futura intelligebat Relatio Synod ad Imp. to 4. ca. 10. towards Nestorius and his heresie by his letters also he seconded and soothed all the lies which the conventicle had writ unto the Emperors By which meanes it came to passe that the Emperors knowing nothing of that division amongst the Bishops how beside the holy Councell there was a factious and schismaticall conventicle held in the citie thought all that
14. ca. 16. §. His. The Pope universorum personam sustinet sustaineth the person of all Bishops of all Councels of all the whole Church he is in stead of them all As the whole multitude of the faithfull is the Church formally and the generall Councell is the Church representatively so the Pope also is the Church Vertually as sustaining the person of all and having the power vertue and authoritie of all both the formall and representative Church and so the Churches or Councels judgement is the Popes judgement and the Churches or Councels infallibility is in plaine speech the Popes infallibilitie 10. This will further appeare by those comparisons which they make betwixt the Church or Councels and the Pope It is the assertiō of Card. Bellarmine b Li 2. de Conc. ca. 13. § Haec as also of their best c Omnium qui docēt papam esse supra Concilium ibid. quos recenset ca. 14. §. ultima writers that there is as much authoritie Intensivè in the Pope alone as in the Pope with a generall Councell or with the whole Church though Extensivè it is more in them then in him alone Even as the light is Intensivè for degrees of brightnes as great in the Sun alone as in it with all the Starres though it is Extensivè more in thē that is more diffused or spred abroad into moe being in them then in the Sun alone Neither onely is all the authoritie which either Coūcell or Church hath in the Pope but is in a far more eminent manner in him then in them In him it is Primitively or originally as water in the fountaine or as light in the Sun Omnis authoritas est in uno saith Bellarmine d Lib. 4. de Ron. Rom. ca. 24. §. Secundo seeing the governmēt of the Church is Monarchicall all ecclesiasticall power is in one he meanes the Pope and from him it is derived unto others In the Councell and the rest of the Church it is but derivatively borrowed from the Pope as waters in little brookes or as light in the moone starres In him is Plenitudo potestatis as Innocentius teacheth c Inn. 3. ca. 1. Cum ex eo Ex. de Penit. cap. Proposuit et de Concess prebend the fulnesse of Ecclesiasticall power and authoritie dwelleth in him in the rest whether Councels or Church it is onely by Participation and measure they have no more then either their narrow channels can containe or his holinesse will permit to distill or drop downe upon their heads from the lowest skirts of his garment So whatsoever authoritie either Church or generall Councell hath the same hath the Pope and that more eminently and more abundantly then they either have or can have 11. But for Infallibilitie in judgement that 's so peculiar to him that as they teach neither the Pope can communicate it unto Church or Councell nor can they receive it but onely by their connexion or coherence to the Pope in whom alone it resideth Potestas infallibilitas papalis est potestas gratia personalis saith Stapleton f Relect. Conc. 6. q 3. art 5. opin 5. Papall power and infallibilitie is a personall gift and grace given to the person of Peter and his successors and personall gifts cannot bee transferred to others In like sort Pighius g Lib. 6. de Eccles Hier. ca. 1. § Et quanquam Vni Petro atque ejus Cathedrae non Sacerdotali quantocunque Concilio the priviledge of never erring in faith was obtained by the prayer of Christ for Peter alone and his Chaire not for any Councell though it be never so great To the same purpose saith Bellarmine h Lib. 2. de Conc. ca. 11. § De secundo If a generall Councell could not erre in their sentence the judgement of such a Councell should be the last and highest judgement of the Church but that judgement is not the last for the Pope may either approve or reject their sentence So Bellarmine professing the Popes onely judgement to be infallible seeing it alone is the last and highest after and above both Church and generall Councell All the infallibility which they have is onely by reason of his judgement to which they accord consent It hence appeareth saith Bellarmine i Lib. 4. de Pont. ca. 3. §. Contra. tot am firmitatem that the whole strength and certainty of judgement which is even in lawfull Councels is from the Pope non partim à Concilio partim à Pontifice it is not partlie from the Councell and partly from the Pope it is wholly and onely from the Pope and in no part from the Councell When the Councell and Pope consent in judgement saith Gretzer k Defen ca. 2. lib. 4 de Pont. § Recensent omnis infallibilitas Concilij derivatur à Papa all the infallibility of the Councell is derived from the Pope and a little after when the Pope consenteth with the Councell ideo non errat quia est Papa hee is therfore free from erring because he is the Pope and not because he consenteth with the Councell In like sort Melchior l Loc. Theod. lib. 6. ca. 7. § Quid. Canus The strength and firmitude both of the whole Church and of Councels is derived from the Pope and againe m Lib. 5. ca. 5. §. Non. In generall Councels matters are not to bee judged by number of suffrages but by the waight of them Pondus autem dat summi Pontificis authoritas and it is the Popes gravity and authority which gives waight to that part whereunto he inclineth If he say it one hundred Fathers with him are sufficient but if his assent bee wanting a thousand a million ten thousand millions Nulli satis sunt no number is sufficient Nay if all the whole world be of a contrary judgement to the Pope yet as the Canonist n Cupers Com. in cap. Oportebat pa. 11. tels us the Popes sentence totius orbis placito praefertur is of more weight and worth than the judgement of the whole world So cleare it is that all their boasting of the authority and infallible judgement of the Church and of generall Councels wherein they please themselves more than ever the Iews did in crying o Ier. so oft Templū Domini the Temple of the Lord that all this is nothing else but a Viser to hide or actually to draw into mens mindes the Popes infallibility they having no meaning at all to give or allow either to Church or generall Councell any infallibility but onely with a reference to the Pope to whom alone they annex it as a personall gift and peculiar prerogative and who like those leane and ill favoured Kine of Pharaoh hath devoured and quite swallowed up all the authority and infallibility both of Church and Councels yet thus much now is evident that seeing all who are of their present Romane Church beleeve and professe the
second Antichrist crescent In the third Antichrist regnant but in this fourth he is made Lord of the Catholike faith and Antichrist triumphant set up as God in the Church of God ruling nay tyrannizing not onely in the externall and temporall estates but even in the faith and Consciences of all men so that they may beleeve neither more nor lesse nor otherwise then he prescribeth nay that they may not beleeve the very Scriptures themselves and word of God or that there are any Scriptures at all or that there is a God but for this reason ipse dixit because he saith so and his saying being a TransceÌ„dent principle of faith they must beleeve for it selfe quia ipse dixit because he saith so In the first and second hee usurped the authority and place but of Bishops in the third but of Kings but in making himselfe the Rocke and Foundation of faith he intrudes himselfe into the most proper office and prerogative of Iesus Christ For t 1 Cor. 3.11 other foundation can no man lay then that which is laid Iesus Christ 25. Here was now quite a new face of the Romane Church yea it was now made a new Church of it selfe in the very essence thereof distinct from the other part of the Church and from that which it was before For although most of the Materialls as Adoration of Images Transubstantiation and the rest were the same yet the Formalitie and foundation of their faith and Church was quite altered Before they beleeved the Pope to doe rightly in decreeing Transubstantiation because they beleeued the Scriptures and word of God to teach and warrant that doctrine but now vice versa they beleeve the Scriptures and word of God to teach Transubstantiation because the Pope hath decreed and warranted the same Till then one might be a good Catholike and member of their Church such as were the Bishops in the generall Councels of Constance and Basill and those of the fift sixt seventh and succeding Councels and yet hold the Popes Cathedrall judgement in causes of faith to bee not onely fallible but hereticall and accursed as all those Councels did But since Supremacie and with it Infallibilitie of judgement is by their Laterane decree transferred to the Pope he who now gainsayeth the Popes sentence in a cause of faith is none of their Church as out of Gregory de Valentia he is an heretike as out of Stapleton Canus and Bellarmine was u Sup. hoc cap. nu 7 declared He may as well deny all the Articles of his Creed and every text in the whole Bible as deny this one point for in denying it he doth eo ipso by their doctrine implicitè and in effect deny them all seeing he rejects that formall reason for which and that foundation upon which they are all to be beleeved and without beleefe of which not one of them all can be now beleeved 26. These then of this third sort are truly to he counted members of their present Romane Church these who lay this new Laterane foundatioÌ„ for the ground of their faith whether explicitè as do the learned or implicitè as do the simpler sort in their Church who wilfully blind-folding themselves and gladly persisting in their affectate and supine ignorance either will not use the meanes to see or seeing will not embrace the truth but content themselves with the Colliars x Hos de author sac Script lib. 3. § Quaerit Catechisme and wrap up their owne in the Churches faith saying I beleeve as the Church beleeveth and the Church beleeveth what the Pope teacheth All these and onely these are members of their present Church unto whom of all names as that of Catholikes is most unsutable and most unjustly arrogated by themselves so the name of Papists or which is equivalent Antichristians doth most fitly truly and in propriety of speech belong unto them For seeing forma dat nomen esse whence rather should they have their essentiall appellation then from him who giveth life formality and essence to their faith on whom as on the Rocke and corner-stone their whole faith dependeth The saying of Cassander to this purpose is worthy remembring There are some saith hee y Lib. de offic viri â—ij § Sunt alij who will not permit the present state of the Church though it be corrupted to be changed or reformed and who Pontificem Romanum quem Papam dicimus tantùm non deum faciunt make the Bishop of Rome whom we call the Pope almost a god preferring his authority not onely above the whole Church but above the Sacred Scripture holding his judgement equall to the divine Oracles and an infallible rule of faith Hos non video cur minus Pseudo-catholicos Papistas appellare possis I see no reason but that these men should be called Pseudo-catholikes or Papists Thus Cassander upon whose judicious observatioÌ„ it followeth that seeing their whole Church and all the members thereof preferre the Popes authority above the whole Church above all generall Councels and quoad nos which is Cassanders meaning above z Ecce potestas Ecclesiae supra Script Enchyr. tit de Eccles the Scriptures also defending them not to be a Enchyr. Ibid. authenticall but by the authority of the Church that there is multo b Th. Boz lib. de signis Eccl. 16. ca. 10. § Illud major authoritas much more authoritie in the Church than in them that it is no c Non adeo absurde dictum est c. Gretz Appen 2. ad lib. 1. de verb. dei pa. 396. absurd nay p Potuit illud pio sensu dici Hos lib. 3. de author Script § Fingamus it may be a pious d saying That the Scriptures without the authoritie of the Church are no more worth than Aesops Fables seeing they all with one consent make the Pope the last supreme and infallible Iudge in all causes of faith there can bee no name devised more proper and fit for them than that of Papists or which is all one Antichristians both which expresse their essentiall dependence on the Pope or Antichrist as on the foundation of their faith which name most essentially also differenceth them from all others which are not of their present Church especially from true Catholikes or the Reformed Churches seeing as we make Christ and his word so they on the contrary make the Pope that is to say Antichrist and his word the ground and foundation of faith In regard wherof as the faith religion of the one is from Christ truly called Christian and they truly Christians so the faith and religion of the other is from the Pope or Antichrist truly and properly called Papisme or Antichristianisme and the professors of it Papists or Antichristians And whereas Bellarmine e Lib. de not Eccl. ca. 4. glorieth of this very name of Papists that it doth attestari veritati give testimony to that truth which they
there been any such they could not have beene ignorant for if by no other meanes which were very many Pelagius himselfe would have brought and assuredly made knowne the same unto them this their generall rejection of the fift Synod is an evident proofe that this Baronian decree which hee ascribeth to Vigilius is no better then the former of silence both untrue both fictitious and of the two this the far worse seeing for this the Cardinall hath not so much as any one no not a forged writing on which he may ground it it is wholy devised by himselfe he the onely Poet or maker of this fable 5. To this may be added that which is mentioned in u Bel. lib. de sex Aetatib anno mundi 46 57. Bede concerning the Councell of Aquileia in Italy That Councell was held neare about or rather as by x Sigon lib. 20. de Occid Imper. an 554. in sine Sigonius narration it appeareth after the death of Vigilius and in it were present Honoratus Bishop of Millan Macedonius B. of Aquileia Maximianus B. of Ravenna besides many other Bishops of Liguria Venice and Istria These being as Bede y Ob imperitiam fidei 5. Conciliū suscipere diffidit Synodus Aquileiae Bed loc cit saith unskilfull of the faith doubted to approve the fift Synod nay Concilium illud z Sigon loc cit non observandum esse statuêre they decreed that the fift Synod should not be allowed or received What would so many Italian Bishops in an Italian Councell decree the quite contradictory to the Popes known judiciall sentence in a cause of faith the Pope decreed as Baronius saith that the fift Councell ought to be imbraced The Italian Synod decreeth that the fift Councell ought to be rejected Neither onely did they thus decree but as Bede a Bed loc cit noteth they continued in this opinion donec salutaribus beati Pelagij b Apud Bedam legitur beati Sergij qui vixit annis 130. post Vigilium eundē errorem sequitur Platina alij Sed legendum esse Pelagij non Sergij constat ex Ivone cujus verba ex decreto citat Sigonius loco citat ibid. ex Beda legitur Pelagij monitis instructa consensit untill being instructed by the wholsome admonitions of Pope Pelagius they consented to the fift Councell as other Churches did Now this Pelagius of whom Bede speaketh was Pelagius the second who was not Pope till more then 20. c Vigilius obijt an 556. juxta Baron Pelagius autem 2. caepit an 577. juxta eundem Bar. yeares after the death of Vigilius He to reclame those Bishops of Istria Venice and Liguria writ a very large and decretall Epistle d Ea est 7. Pelagij 2. which Binius e Bin. Not. ad eam Epistolam Pelagij compares to that of Leo to Flavianus wherin he declares every one of those Three Chapters to be repugnant to the faith and decrees of the ancient Councells By this decretall instruction of Pelagius the second were those Italian defenders of the Three Chapters after twenty yeares and more reduced as Bede noteth to the unity of the Church and to approve of the fift Councell Had Vigilius made as Baronius fancieth the like decree why tooke it not the like effect in those Westerne Bishops was there more then Apostolicall authority and instruction in the decree of Pelagius or was there lesse then that in the decree of Vigilius 6. Nay there is another speciall point to bee observed concerning that Epistle of Pelagius Elias Bishop of Aquileia and the rest who defended the three Chapters among other reasons urged the authority of Vigilius f Rursus per Epistolam vestram dicitur A sede Apostolica vos doctos confirmatos ne huic rei i. Synodo quintae condemnationi trium Capitulorū consentire debeatis Sedes Apostolica per Vigilium restitit Pelag. Epist 7. §. Rursum on their part therby countenancing their error in that they taught no other doctrine in defending those Chapters then the Apostolicall See had taught by Vigilius thus writ they in their Apology which they sent to Pelagius ayming no doubt at that Apostolicall Constitution of Vigilius published in the time of the Councell whereby hee decreed that the Three Chapters ought by all to be defended for that was it as the Cardinall g Vigilius amplissimis scriptis contrariam sententiam ei quae in quinta Synodo definita est professus est ad eam sectandam universam ecclesiam catholicam impulit Bar. an 554. nu 6. saith which moved nay enforced all to follow that opinion and to defend the Three Chapters What doth Pelagius now answer to this reason Truly had Vigilius made any such later Decree as the Cardinall fancieth by which he had approved the fift Synod and so both condemned the three Chapters and repealed his owne former judgement in defence thereof neither could Pelagius have beene ignorant of that decree neither would he being so earnestly pressed therewith have omitted that oportunity both to grace Vigilius and most effectually confute that which was the speciall reason on which his opposites did relye Could he have truly replyed that Vigilius himselfe upon better advise had recalled his Decree made in defence of those Chapters and by his last Apostolicall judgement condemned the same Chapters this had cut insunder the very sinewes of that objection But Pelagius returnes them not this answer but knowing that to bee true which they said of Vigilius hee tells them which is a point worthy observing that the Apostolike See might change h Cur mutatio sententiae huic sedi in crimine obijcitur Pelag. Epist 7. §. Debet their judgement in this cause and this even by Pelagius himselfe is a cause of faith and that the ignorance of the Greeke i Latini homines Graecitatis ignari dum linguam nesciunt errorem tarde cognoverunt Pelag. ibid. §. Rursum in the Westerne Bishops was the cause why they so lately consented to the fift Synod And so though Vigilius had judged that the Three Chapters ought to be defended yet the successors of Vigilius might long after as they did k Praedecessorum nostrorum in hac causa consensus tanto post inanis non fuit ibid. § Debet An illud Tanto post referri potuit ad decretum Vigilij editum anno proxime sequenti post Concilium 〈◊〉 non potest teach and himselfe define that the same Chapters ought to bee condemned and that the fift Councell wherein they were condemned ought to bee approved A very strong inducement that Pelagius knew not and then that Vigilius made not any such Decree as the Cardinall commendeth unto us 7. For any Apostolicall Decree then whereby Vigilius after his exile recalled his former judgment or approved the fift Councell there was none as besides those reasons which the Cardinall himselfe giveth the persisting of the
hundred yeares after the death of Gregory and though he prove this by the testimony of Guilielmus Tyrius yet I insist onely upon the time of Gregorie whose words are very pregnant for this and the other Canons of that second Councel the Romane Church hactenus non habet nec accipit did not till these dayes embrace nor approve them 22. Now that this same third Canon was all that time held to be of full authority and approved by the Church as a Canon of an holy generall Councell which bindeth all notwithstanding the Popes did not approve it nay did even by their Synodall Decrees reject it there are very many and cleare evidences By warrant of that Canon did Anatolius in the Councell of Chalcedon Å¿ Act. 1. et alijs ubi recensentur Episcopi and Eutichius in the fift Synod t Coll. 1. et alijs in the right of their See of Constantinople take place before and above the Patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch none in those Councels repining thereat nay those Synods and God himselfe as is there u Ecce nos Deo volente Anatolium primum habemus Ait Pascasinus in Conc. Chal. Act. 1. pa. 8. b. said approving that precedence And whereas this order had hot beene observed in the Ephesine Latrocinie Flavianus Bishop of Constantinople being set after the Bishops of Antioch and Ierusalem the Bishops of the Councell of Chalcedon stormed thereat and said x Ibid. Why did not Flavianus sit in his proper place that is next to the Romane Bishop or his Legates By authority of the same Canon did Chrysostome when he was Bishop of Constantinople depose y S. memoriae Chrysostomus 15 Episcopos deposuit in Asia et pro eis alios ordinavit Conc. Chalc. Act. 11. in sine Zezo lib. 1. ca. 6. fifteene Bishops in Asia ordaine others in their roomes celebrate z Pallad in vit Chrys a Councell at Ephesus and call the Asian Bishops unto it none of which either could he have done or would the other have obeyed him therein had it not beene knowne that they were subject to him as their Patriarke by that Canon of the second generall Councell to which they all must obey And this was done about some twenty yeares after that Canon was made a Conc. habitum an 381. Chrysost creatus Episcopus Cesario et Attico Coss Socr. lib. 6. ca. 2. id est circa an 398 câ—jus secundo anno aut circiter haec evenerunt So quickly was the same in force and was acknowledged to bee of a binding authority In the Councell of Chalcedon when the truth of this Canon was most diligently examined Elutherius Bishop of Chalcedon said b Act. 16. pa. 136. b. Sciens quia per Canones per consuetudinem I subscribed hereunto knowing that the See of Constantinople hath these rights in Asia and Pontus as a Patriarke to governe there both according to the Canons and according to custome and the like was deposed by many Bishops of Asia and Pontus They acknowledge nay they knew there was such a Canon they knew also that the custome and practice did concurrere cum lege did concurre with the Canon whereupon the glorious Iudges after full discussing of this cause testified b and sentenced that the Bish of Constantinople had rightfull authority to ordaine Metropolitane Bishops in the Diocesses of Thrace Asia and Pontus and the whole Synod consented to them first proclaiming Haec c Ibid. justa est sententia this is a just sentence this we say all and then in the very Synodal Epistle d Relat. ad Leonem post act 16. to Leo testifying the same to wit that they had confirmed that custome to the Bishop of Constantinople that he should ordaine Metropolitanes in Thrace Asia and Pontus and thereby had confirmed the third Canon of the second Councell This was the judgement of the whole Councell at Chalcedon that is of the whole Catholike Church in that age to which have consented all Councels and catholike Bishops ever since All these doe approve and judge to bee approved that Canon of the second generall Councell which the Popes and Romane Church not onely not approved but expresly and by Synodall decrees rejected 23. About some ninety yeares e Conc. Chalced. habitum an 451 after this and an hundred sixty yeares f Conc. Constant habit an 381. after that second Synod did Iustinian the Emperour confirme the g Nov. 131. ca. 1 et 2. Canons both of that second and of al the former general Councels giving unto them force of Imperiall lawes Yea hee further commanded those Canons this third among the rest Dipticis inseri praedicari to be written in the Diptikes or Ecclesiasticall bookes and publikely to be read in the Churches in token of the publike and universall approbation of the same This the fift Councell h Coll. 2. pa. 524. a. testifieth as also Victor i In Chron. an 1. Iustin and Evagrius k Lib. 4. ca. 11. yea the Emperour himselfe also who both l Cod. l. 7. de summa Trin. professeth that he will not suffer this custome to bee taken away and signifieth m Nov. 115. that all Patriarkes are knowne to keepe in their Diptikes and to recite those Canons in their Churches The Emperor doubted not but the Romane Church Patriarke as well as the rest had done this and yeelded obedience to so holy an Edict but the Romane Church deluded the Emperour herein none of them as Bellarmine n Lib. 1. de Pont. ca. 24. § Hiâ— tels us did after Iustinians time or as he accounts after the yeare 500 reclamare contradict or speake against that Canon which their silence the Emperour and others not acquainted with the Romane Arts did interpret to be a consent but Binius o Not. in Conc. 2 §. Constantinop bewrayeth their policy they for peace and quietnes sake being loth to exasperate the Emperour did permit or connive at that honour conferred by the Canon upon the See of Constantinople yet nunquam à Romana Ecclesia approbatum fuit it was never theÌ„ not til Gregories time which is as much as I intended to prove it was never saith hee approved by the Romane Church which hee proves by a Decretall of Innocentius the third whence it is evident seeing that Canon of the second generall Councell was never as Binius avoucheth but certainly not till Gregories time approved by the Pope and yet was all that time approved by the catholike Church even by the great and famous Councell at Chalcedon al who approve it who are no fewer than the whole catholike Church it is evident I say that it is neither the Popes Approbation which maketh nor his Reprobation which hindereth a Councell or any Decree or Canon thereof to be an approved generall Councell or a Synodall Canon such as doth and ought to binde all that are in the Church 24.
The Popes Approbation it is not but what it is which makes a generall Councell or Canon thereof to be an approved Councell or an approved Canon and for such to bee righly accounted is not so easie to explane This in an other Treatise I have at large handled to which if it ever see the light I referre my selfe yet suffer me to touch in this place so much as may serve to cleare this and divers other doubts which are obvious in their writings concerning this point 25. That every Councell and Synodall decree thereof is approved or confirmed by those Bishops who are present in that Synod who consent upon that decree is by the Acts of the Councells most evident For both their consenting judgement pronounced by word of mouth and after that their subscription to their decree did ratifie and confirme their sentence In that which they call the eighth generall Synod after the sentence pronounced the Popes Legates said p Act. 10. Oportet ut haec manu nostra subscribendo confirmemus it is needfull that wee confirme these things which we have decreed by our subscribing unto them Of the great Nicene Councell Eusebius thus writeth q Lib. 3. de vità Constant ca. 13. Those things which with one consent they had decreed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were fully authorized ratified confirmed or approved the Greeke word is very emphaticall by their subscription In the Councell of Chalcedon when the agreement betwixt Iuvenalis and Maximus was decreed they subscribed r Act. 6. in this forme That which is consented upon confirmo I by my sentence doe confirme or firma esse decerno I decree that it shall be firme and to the like effect subscribed all the rest Whereupon the glorious Iudges without expecting any other confirmation either from Pope Leo or any that was absent said This which is consented upon shall abide firme in omni tempore for ever by our decree and by the sentence of the Synod Of the second generall Councell a Synod at Hellespont said ſ Extat inter Epist post Concil Chal. pa. 168. a. Hanc Synodum Timotheus unà cum eis praesens firmavit Timotheus with the other Bishops then present confirmed this Synod The consent and subscription of the Bishops present in the Synod they call a Confirmation of the Synod In the Synod t Extat ibid. pa. 155. at Maesia after the sentence of the Synod was given they all subscribed in this forme I M.P.D. c. confirmavi subscripsi have confirmed this Synodall sentence and subscribed unto it In the second Councell at Carthage held about the time of Pope Celestine Gennadius said u Tom. 1. Conc. pa. 541. Quae ab omnibus sunt dicta propria debemus subscriptione firmare what hath beene said and decreed by us all wee ought by our owne subscriptions to confirme and all the Bishops answered Fiat fiat let us so doe and then they subscribed So cleare it is that whatsoever decree is made by any Councell the same is truly and rightly said to bee confirmed by those very Bishops who make the Decree confirmed I say both by their joint consent in making that Decree and by their subscribing unto it when it is made 26. Vpon this confirmation or approbation of any Decree by the Bishops present in the Councell doth the whole strength and authority of any Synodall decree rely and upon no other confirmation of any Bishop whatsoever when the Councell is generall and lawfull For in such a Councell lawfully called lawfully governed and lawfully proceeding as well in the free discussing as free sentencing of the cause there is in true account the joynt consent of all Bishops and Ecclesiasticall persons in the whole world No Bishop can then complaine that either he is not called or not admitted with freedome into such a Councell unlesse that he be excommunicated or suspended or for some such like reason justly debarred If all do come they may and doe freely deliver their owne judgement and that not onely for themselves but for all the Presbyters in their whole Diocesse For seeing the pastorall care of every Diocesse even from the Apostles time and by them is committed to the Bishop thereof all the rest being by him admitted but onely into a part of his care and to assist him in some parts of his Episcopall function he doth at least because he should he is supposed to admit none but such as hee knoweth to professe the same faith with himselfe whence it is that in his voice is included the judgement of his whole Diocesan Church and of all the Presbyters therein they all beleeving as he doth speake also in the Councell by his mouth the same that he doth If some of the Bishops come not personally but either depute others in their roomes or passe their suffrage as often they did in the voice of their Metropolitan then their consent is expressed in theirs whom they put in trust to be their agents at that time If any negligently absent themselves neither personally nor yet by delegates signifying their minde these are supposed to give a tacit consent unto the judgement which is given by them who are present whom the others are supposed to thinke not onely to be able and sufficient without themselves to define that cause but that they will define it in such sort as themselves doe wish and desire for otherwise they would have afforded their presence or at least sent some deputies to assist them in so great and necessary a service If any out of stomack or hatred to the truth do wilfully refuse to come because they dissent from the others in that doctrine yet even these also are in the eie of reason supposed to give an implicit consent unto that which is decreed yea though explicitè they doe dissent from it For every one doth and in reason is supposed to consent on this generall point that a Synodall judgement must bee given in that doubt controversie there being no better nor higher humane Court than is that of a generall Councell by which they may bee directed Now because there never possibly could any Synodall judgement be given if the wilfull absence of one or a few should bee a just barre to their sentence therefore all in reason are thought to consent that the judgement must be given by those who will come or who do come to the Councell and that their decree or sentence shall stand for the judgement of a generall Councell notwithstanding their absence who wilfully refuse to come 27. If then all the Bishops present in the Councell do consent upon any decree there is in it one of those wayes which we have mentioned either by personall declaration or by signification made by their delegates and agents or by a tacit or by an implicit consent the consenting judgement of all the Bishops and Presbyters in the whole Church that is of al who either have judicatory power or
consent of the Bishop of Rome either attained or at least sought for The Canon which Iulius mentioned might well ordaine and if there were no such Canon yet even reason and equity doe teach that such decrees as concerne the whole Church and are to binde them all ought to be made by the helpe judgement and advise of them all according to the rule Quod d Reg. Iuris 29. omnes tangit ab omnibus approbari debet The wilfull omission of any one Bishop much more of the Bish of Rome who then was the chiefe Patriarch in the world declares the Councell not to be generall seeing unto it there was onely a partiall and not a generall summons or calling 4. As this first condition is required to the generality so are the other two for the lawfulnesse and order of Synods For if the Apostles rule Let c 1 Cor. 14.40 all things be done decently and in order must bee kept in every private and particular Church how much more in those venerable assemblies of Oecumenicall Councels which are the Armies of God of the Angels of all the Churches of God amōg whom doth and ought to shine gravity prudence and all sacred and fitting orders no lesse than in the coelestiall Hierarchy and in the very presence of the Majesty of God If they bee gathered in Gods name how can they be other than lawfull and orderly Assemblies seeing God f 1 Cor. 14.33 is not the God of confusion g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tumultuationis incōpositi status or disorder but of peace in all Churches Now the lawfulnesse and order of Synods consists partly in their orderly assembling and partly in their orderly government and proceedings when they are assembled whensoever the Bishops of any generall Councell first assemble together by lawfull authority and then are so governed by lawfull authority also that orderly lawfull and due synodall proceedings be onely used therein as well in the free and diligent discussion of the causes proposed as in the free sentencing thereof the same is truly and properly to bee called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 h Act. 19.39 a lawfull Synod But if either of these conditions be wanting it becomes unlawfull and disorderly If the Bishops assemble together either not being called or if called yet not by such as have right and authority to call them though this in a large acception may bee called a Synod that is an assembly of Bishops yet because they doe unlawfully disorderly assemble together it is in propriety of speech to be termed a Cōventicle a riotous tumultuous seditious assembly even such as that was of Demetrius i Ib. v. 24. et seq the other Ephesiās who without calling and order 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rusht k Ibid. v. 29. run headlong together to uphold the honour of their great Diana which both the Spirit of God condemneth as a confused l 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 32. or disorderly assembly and the more wise among them taxed as a riotous and seditious m Periclitamur argui seditionis v. 40. tumult If being lawfully called yet they either want a lawfull President to governe them or having one yet want freedome and liberty either in discussing or giving judgement in the cause such a Synod though in respect of their assembling it be lawfull yet in respect of their proceedings and judgment it is unlawfull and disorderly and therefore in propriety of speech to be termed a conspiracy because those men conspire and band themselves as did the Councell n Mat. 26.59 ca. 27.2 Act. 4.27 of the Priests with Pilate by unjust and unlawfull meanes to suppresse the truth and oppresse innocency 5. But unto whō belongs that right to call general Councels whē they are called to see orderly synodal proceedings observed therein To whom to whom else but only to those who have Imperiall Regal authority whether they be one as whē the Empire was united the whole Christiā world subject to his authority or moe as it was when the Empire was devided and ever since that great dissolution of it in the time o Circa an 800. of Charles the great To them and them onely this right to belong I have in two other bookes the one concerning the calling the other concerning the Presidencie in Councels at large and clearly demonstrated I hold them to be so evident truths both by the doctrine of Scripture and by the constant judgement and practice of the Catholike Church for more than eight hundred yeares after Christ that if any would reade the Tomes of the Councels hee had need put out both his eyes if he will not see this 6. To them and them onely is the sword p Rom. 13.2 3. given by God that by it they might maintaine the faith and use it to the praise of them that doe well but take vengeance on them that doe evill They are the nursing q Isa 49.23 fathers of the Church unto whom the eare is committed by God that all his Children to whom they next unto God are fathers be fed with the sincere milke r 1 Pet. 2.2 of Gods word all mixture and poison of heresie and impiety being taken away and severed from it They are like Ioshua ſ Numb 27.17 Psal 78.71 72. and David appointed by God to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Pastours t Tam Hebraicè quam in 70. Interpr et apud Hier. legitur ad pascendum Iacob populum suum et pavit eos quod alij vertunt ad regendum even supreme Pastours of the Israel of God not indeed to teach and give the food themselves which duty belongs to their inferiour servants yet to performe those which are the principall most u Non propriè dicitur pascere alium qui cibum quacunque ratione ministrat sed qui procurat et providet alteri cibum quod est certè Praepositi et gubernatoris Actus Pastoralis non est tantum praebere cibum sed etiam ducere c. Bell. lib. 1. de Pont. Rom. ca. 15. § Primū et § Deinde proper Pastoral acts offices procurare ac providere alteri cibū ducere reducere tueri praeesse regere castigare to provide that all the sheepe of Christ have wholesome and convenient food given unto them to lead them bring them backe defend governe and chastise them when they will not obey their Pastorall call and command None of all which Pastorall duties were it possible for Kings to performe if for publike tranquillity and instruction of Gods people they might not by their authority assemble a generall Councell of Bishops and being assembled if they might not defend and uphold all just and equall but castigate and keepe away all violent fraudulent and unjust proceedings in such Councels 7. I purposely said supreme Pastours for none is ignorant that Peter
x John 21.15 17. and all the Apostles equally with him as also all y Cum ei Petro dicitur ad omnes dicitur Amas me â— pasce oves meas Aug. lib. de agone Christ ca. 30. who either in their Presbyteriall or Episcopall authority succeed unto them for in their Apostolicall none of them had or have any successour that all these are Pastours z Ier. 23.1 2. Ezech. 34. per totum et Act. 20 28. et 1 Pet. 5.2 also of Gods flock but they are all subordinate to the Imperiall Pastours of the people of God the sheep-hooke is subject to the Scepter the Crosier to the Imperiall Crowne Concerning Kings Saint Peter gives a generall precept Feare God a 1 Pet. 2.17 and honour the King which honour he expresly calleth subjection b Ibid v. 30. and obedience in the same Chapter first wee owe obedience to God and next God unto Kings and Emperours Concerning all others excepting Kings and such as have Kingly authority Saint Paul gives a like generall precept Let c Rom. 13.1 every soule be subject to the higher powers even to those who by Gods warrant and as his Vicegerents doe beare d Ibid. v. 4. the sword to them every soule ought to be subject who can except thee from this generality This is commanded saith Chrysostome e Chrys in ca. 15. ad Rom. Not onely to secular men but to all to Monkes to Priests and Bishops the Apostle teacheth them ex debito obedire even in duty to obey Kings and Princes sive Apostolus sis sive Propheta sive Euangelista sive quisquis tandem fueris not the Prophets not the Apostles not the Euangelists not any soule is exempt from this subjection and if not Peter himselfe then certainly not his Vicar as the Pope f Quem Primatem diocescos Synodus dixit praeter Apostolâ—â— primi Vicarium Nich. 1. Epist 8. § Quem cals himselfe And this very subjection of the Pope and all Bishops to the Emperours to omit Silvester Iulius Leo and Gregorie Pope Agatho in most submissive manner acknowledgeth almost seven hundred g Conc. 6. habitum an 680 Bar. et Bin. years after Christ h Conc. 6. Act. 4. pa. 22. in Epist Agathonis et Rom. Synodi Omnes nos praesules vestri imperij famuli All we Bishops are the servants of your imperiall highnesse saith Agatho and a Synod of 125 Westerne Bishops with him to which purpose hee cals Italy his servile i Epist Agath Act. 4. pa. 12. b. Province and Rome his servile City adding that he did this at the Emperours sacred command pro obedientiae satisfactione pro obedientia quam debuimus for that obedience which hee did owe to the Emperour nay yet in more lowly manner he saith not that hee but studiosa obedientia nostri famulatus implevit the willing obedience of his owne servitude to the Emperour did performe this Nor was this the profession onely of Agatho and the Westerne Bishops but the whole sixt Councell approved the same Petrus k Sermo acclamatorius Conc. generalis 6. Act. 18. pa. 89. b. per Agathonem loquebatur Saint Peter spake by the mouth of Agatho Now because they all acknowledge the Pope to be the first and chiefe Bishop in the Church for they all in that Councell approve l Defiâ—it Concil 6. Act. 17. pa. 80. a. the Councels of Chalcedon and first Constantinopolitane in both m Conc. 2. Can. 5 et Conc. Chal. Act. 16. post Can. 27. which that is decreed seeing by the confession of Agatho by them approved the Pope is a servant and oweth subjection and obedience to the Emperour much more are all other Bishops in the whole world servants and subjects to the Imperial command and that by the consenting judgment of the whole catholike Church represented in that sixt generall Councell 8. The same Soveraignty and supreme Pastorall authority of Kings is after this againe testified in that which they call the eighth generall Councell more than n Conc. illud 8. habit an 869. Bar. et Bin. eight hundred and sixty yeares after CHRIST Basilius the Emperour said before the Councell in his letters o Conc. 8. Act. 1. pa. 880. b. unto them The government of the Ecclesiasticall ship is by the Divine Providence committed unto us in that ship doth saile all who are members of the Church Bishops or Laicks and the government of the whole ship is given to the Emperour Hee like the Pilot rules and directs all Raderus the Iesuite and Binius following him in stead of nobis have put vobis in the latine text as if Basilius had said that the government of the Church belonged to Bishops not to Emperours It is a Iesuiticall and fraudulent tricke for which no colour of excuse can bee made The Greeke set on the very opposite Page p Apud Rad. pa. 224. is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nobis in the Surian CollectioÌ„ q Extat apud Bin. to 3. Con. pa. 858. of those Acts it was rightly read nobis their owne Cardinall Cusanus r Cusan lib. 3. de Concor Cathi ca. 19. out of the ancient Acts of that Synod cites it commisisset nobis the very sense inforceth it to be nobis for the Emperour addeth Therefore doe wee with all sollicitude exhort and warne you that you come to the holy Oecumenicall Synod which had beene a most foolish collection had he not said nobis but vobis for then not to him but to them should have belonged the care to call the Bishops to the Synod yet against all these evidences of truth Raderus and Binius falsifie the text corrupt the words and pervert the sense by turning nobis into vobis that so they might deprive the Emperour of that supreme authority which Basilius there professed to belong unto himselfe and the Legates of the Patriarchs in the name of the whole Synod approved the Emperours saying Å¿ Conc. 8. Act. 1. pa. 880. b. Recte Imperatores nostri monuere the Emperours have said well To goe no further in this matter that which was cited out of the Scripture concerning Ioshua and David doth clear this point for seeing all who sit in Imperial thrones are like Ioshua and David to feed the Israel of God and the Israel of God containes the whole flocke and all the sheepe of Christ ex t Bell. lib. 1. de Pontif. Rom. ca. 15. § At nobis hac ipsa voce Pasce difficile non est demonstrare summam potestatem ei attribut It is easie even by this very word Feed to demonstrate that supreme power doth belong to Kings seeing unto them it is said Feed my sheepe feed my people Wherefore seeing Kings are commanded by God to rule by their Pastorall authoritie all others and all others are commanded to obey and bee subject unto them and their Imperiall commands as unto their supreme Pastour hereupon earth it hence
duty they should what to teach or knowing it but willingly teaching the contrary to their knowledge which in duty they should not even so Nestorius Macedonius Arius and Eutyches every Bishop and Presbyter when they erred they erred not simply as Bishops or as Presbyters but as persons failing in their Episcopall or Presbyteriall duties either not knowing the truth as by their office they should or wilfully oppugning and contradicting the truth as by their office they should not So by his subtilty if any applaud themselves in it not only the Bishops of Rome but of Constantinople of Antioch of Alexandria yea all Bishops and Presbyters in the world shall be as free from errour as his holinesse himselfe yea all professors of any Art Science or faculty shall plead the like Papall exemption from errour every man shall bee a Pope in his owne faculty no Grammarian speaking incongruously as a Grammarian but as wanting the skil required in a Grammarian no Iudge giving a wrongfull sentence as a Iudge no Galenist ministring unwholsome physicke as a Physitian no Artificer working any thing amisse in his trade as an Artificer but as being defective in the duties either of that knowledge or of that fidelity which is required in a Iudge a Physitian and in every Artificer If they will exempt all Bishops and Presbyters all Iudges and Physitians from erring as they are such Officers or Artificers we also will in the same sort and sense allow the like immunity to the Pope If they notwithstanding this subtilty will admit another Bishop to erre as Bishop they must not thinke much if wee exempt not the Pope as Pope For to speake that which is the very truth of them all and exactly to measure every thing by his owne line a Iudge simply as Iudge doth pronounce a judiciall sentence as a skilfull and faithfull judge an upright judiciall sentence as an unskilful or unfaithfull Iudge an erronious or unjust sentence A Bishop or Presbyter simply as Bishop or Presbyter doth teach with publike authority in the Church as a skilfull and faithfull Bishop or Presbyter he teacheth the truth of God as an ignorant and unfaithful Bishop he teacheth errours and heresies in the Church the one without the other with judicall power to censure the gainsayers The like in all Arts Sciences and faculties is to be sayd even in the Pope himselfe A Pope simply as he is Pope and defined by them teacheth both with authority to teach with power to censure the gainsayers and with a supremacy of judgement binding all to embrace his doctrine without appeale without doubt as an infallible Oracle as a skilfull or faithfull Pope he teacheth the truth in that sort as an unskilfull or unfaithfull Pope he teacheth errour or heresie with the like authority power and supremacy binding others to receive and swallow up his heresies for Catholike truth and that with a most blind obedience without once doubting of the same 48. Apply this to Vigilius his hereticall Epistle In a vulgar sense Vig. erred as Pope because he erred in those very Pōtifical duties of feeding confirming which are proper to his office In a strickt sense though hee did not therein erre simply as Pope but quatenus talis taught onely with a supreme binding authority yet hee erred as an unfaithfull Pope binding others by that his Pontificall and supreme authority to receive Eutycheanisme as Catholike truth without once moving any doubt or making scruple of the same What may wee thinke will they oppose to this If they say Vigilius doth not expresse in this Epistle that hee writ it by his Apostolicall authority Hee doth not indeed Nor doth Pope Leo in that Epistle to Flavianus against the heresie of Eutyches which to have beene writ by his Apostolicall authority and as he was Pope none of them doe or will deny that Epistle being approved by the whole Councell r Conc. Chalc. Act. 2. et 3. of Chalcedon Pope Leo by his Papall authority condemneth Eutycheanisme Pope Vigilius by his Papall authority confirme Eutycheanisme both of them confirmed their doctrine by their Papall authority both writ as Popes the one as orthodoxall the other as a perfidious and hereticall Pope neither of both expresse that their Apostolicall authority by which they both writ The like in many other Epistles of Leo and of other Popes might easily bee observed Not the tenth part of their decretal Epistles such as they writ as Popes have this clause of doing it by their Apostolicall authority expressed in them It is sufficient that this is vertually in them all and vertually it is in this of Pope Vigilius Yea but hee taught this onely in a private letter to a few to Anthimus Severus and Theodosius not in a publike generall and encyclicall Epistle written for instruction of the whole Church What is the Pope fallible in teaching of a few in confirming three of his brethren why not in foure in eight in twenty and if in twenty why not in an hundred if so why not in a thousand if in one why not in two foure or ten thousand Caudaeque pilos ut equinae paulatim vellam where or at what number shall we stay as being the least which with infallibility he can teach Certainly confirma fratres in cathedra sede pasce oves respects two as well as two millions If in confirming or feeding three the Chaire may bee erroneous how can wee know to what number God hath tyed the infallibility of it But the sixt generall Councell may teach them a better lesson Pope Honorius writ an hereticall Epistle ſ Quae recitatur Conc. 6. Act. 12. pa. 64. but onely to Sergius Bishop of Constantinople Vigilius writ this to three all of patriarchall dignity as Sergius was Honorius writ it privately as Vigilius did which was the cause as it seemes that the Romane Church tooke so little notice thereof yet though it was private and but to one it is condemned by the sixt Councell for t Vocantur istae et aliae Epistolae dogmatica scripta In eodem Conc. Act. 12. p. 65. a. et retractantes dogmaticas Epistolas à Sergio et ab Honorio ad Sergium Act. 13. pa. 67. a. et Honorius impia dogmata confirmavit Jbid. a domaticall writing of Pope Honorius for a writing wherein hee confirmes others in heresie and Pope Leo u Anathematizamus quoque Honorium qui hanc Apostolicam Ecclesiam et immaculatam fidem prophana proditione subvertere conatus est Leo 2. Epist 1 the second judged it to bee such as was a blemish to the Apostolike See such as by which Honorius did labour to subvert the Catholike faith The like and more danger was in this to these three deposed patriarchs It confirmed them in heresie it confirmed the Empresse it confirmed all that tooke part with them it was the meanes whereby the faith was in hazard to have beene utterly subverted For plurality or paucity it is
at Chalcedon The other that by this Epistle they judged Ibas to be a Catholike to which purpose Vigilius writeth thus Iuvenalis would never have said that Ibas was a Catholike nisi ex verbis epistolae ejus confessionem fidei orthodoxam comprobaret Vnles by the words of his Epistle he had proved his faith to be orthodoxall which words evidently shew that Vigilius thought in like sort all the Bishops at Chalcedon to have judged the same by the words of that Epistle for it is certaine that they all embraced Ibas himselfe for a Catholike 13. Hereupon now ensueth the Definitive sentence of Vigilius touching this Chapter in this manner m Ibid. nu 196. We following the judgement of the holy Fathers in all things seeing it is a most cleare and shining truth ex verbis Epistolae venerabilis Ibae by the words of the Epistle of the reverend B. Ibas being taken in their most right and godly sense and by the acts of Photius and Eustathius and by the meaning of Ibas being present that the Fathers at Chalcedon did most justly pronounce the faith of this most reverend Bishop Ibas to be orthodoxall we decree by the authoritie of this our present sentence that the Iudgement of the Fathers at Chalcedon ought to remaine inviolable both in all other things and in this Epistle of Ibas so often mentioned Thus Vigilius decreeing both that this Epistle of Ibas is Catholike that by it by the words thereof Ibas ought to be judged a Catholike both which he decreeth upon this ground that the Councill of Chalcedon as he supposeth had judged the same 14. In the end to ratifie and confirme all that concernes any of these Three Chapters in the Popes Decree he addeth this very remarkable conclusion n Ibid. nu 208. His igitur à nobis cum omni undique cautela atque diligentia dispositis These things being now with all diligence care and circumspection disposed Statuimus et decernimus we ordaine and decree that it shall be lawfull for none pertaining to Orders and ecclesiasticall dignities either to write or speake or teach any thing touching these three Chapters contrary to these things which by this our present Constitution we have taught and decreed aut aliquam post praesentem definitionem movere ulterius quaestionē neither shall it be lawfull for any after this our present definition to move any question touching these Three Chapters But if any thing concerning these Chapters be either done said or written or shall hereafter be done said or written contrary to that which we have here taught and decreed hoc modis omnibus ex authoritate sedis Apostolicae refutamus we by all meanes do reject it by the Authority of the Apostolike See whereof by Gods grace we have now the government So Vigilius 15. Thinke ye not now that any Papist considering this so advised elaborate and Apostolicall decree of Pope Vigilius will be of opinion that there was now a finall end of this matter and that all doubt concerning these Three Chapters was for ever now removed seeing the supreme Iudge had published for a direction to the whole Church his definitive Apostolicall and infallible sentence in this cause what needeth the Councill either to judge or so much as debate this matter after this Decree To define the same was needlesse more then to light a candle when the Sunne shineth in his strength To define the contrary were Hereticall yea after such an authenticall decision and determination to be doubtfull o Dubius in fide infidelis est lib. 5. Dec. tit 7. de haereticis onely what to beleeve hath the censure of an Infidell But thrice happy was it for the Church of God that this doctrine of the Popes supreme authoritie and infallible Iudgement was not then either knowne or beleeved Had it beene the Nestorians and their heresie had for ever prevailed the Catholike faith had beene utterly extinguished and that without all hope or possibility ever after this to have beene revived seeing Vigilius by his Apostolicall authoritie had stopt all mens mouthes from speaking tyed their hands from writing yea and their very hearts from beleeving or thinking ought contrary to his Constitution made in defence of the Three Chapters wherein he hath confirmed all the Blasphemies of Nestorius and that by a Decree more irrevocable then those of the Medes and Persians Had the holy Council at that time assembled beleeved or knowne that doctrine of the Popes supremacie and infallible Iudgement they would not have proceeded one inch further in that businesse but shaking hands with Heretickes they and the whole Church with them had beene led in triumph by the Nestorians at that time under the conduct of Pope Vigilius 16. And by this you may conjecture that Binius had great reason to conceale the later part of the Popes decree for he might well thinke as any papist will that it were a foule incongruitie to set downe three intire Sessions of an holy and generall Council not onely debating this controversie of faith about the Three Chapters but directly also contradicting the Popes definitive sentence in them all notwithstanding they knew the Pope by his Apostolicall authoritie to have delivered his Iudgement and by the same authoritie to have forbidden all men either to write or speak or to move any doubt to the contrary of that which he had now decreed But let us see by a view of the particulars and of their following Sessions how this Cathedrall sentence of the Pope was entertained by the holy generall Councill CAP. 4. That the holy generall Councill in their Synodall Iudgement contradicted the Popes Apostolicall Constitution and definitive sentence in that cause of faith made knowne unto them 1. IN the sixt which was the very next Sessions after they had knowne the Popes will and pleasure contrary to the Apostolicall authoritie and command of Vigilius the Holy Synod began to examine the Epistle of Ibas for the causes of Theodorus and of Theodoret were sufficiently discussed in their former Collations And first of all alledging a saying of the Emperour to which themselves doe assent they thus say which being well observed gives light to the whole cause and openeth both the error of Vigilius and the ground thereof Because a Col. 6. pa. 561. a. the most holy Emperor added among those things which he writ unto us that some indevouring to defend the Epistle of Ibas presume to say that it was approved by the holy Councill of Chalcedon using the words of one or two most religious Bishops who were in that Councill as spoken for that Epistle cum alij omne◠whereas all the rest were of another minde we thinke it needfull this question being proposed to recite the Epistle of Ibas Thus said the Synod even at the first calling the Popes judgement Presumption and checking him both for pretending the Councill of Chalcedon and for alledging the Interlocutions of one or two
was done as well against Cyrill and Memnon in deposing them as against Nestorius in deposing him that all this had beene in the act judgement and sentence of one and the same Councell upon which subreption and misinformation the Emperors confirmed at the first the condemnation d Et Nestorij Cyrilli et Memnonis exauctorationem à Sanctitate vestra nobis insinuatam calcuis nostro approbavimus Sacra missa ab Augusto ad Synod to 3. act Ephes ca. 15. of them all three But at length a letter being brought from the holy Synod to Constantinople by one who to avoid suspition put on the habit of a begger e Epistola ex Epheso scripta opera cujusdam mâ—ndici qui in Scipione eam inclusam gerebat tandem reddita est tom 2. act ca. 19. and carried the letter in the trunke of his hollow staffe which for that purpose he had provided as soone as the report of these strange disorders came to the Emperors eares they sent for and commanded certaine Bishops of either side personally to come before them to Constantinople that they might bee fully informed of the truth in all the proceedings and the truth after diligent examination being found the Emperors by their Imperiall authoritie adnulled all the Acts of the conventicle restored Cyrill f Platuit pientiss Regi ut Aegyptius et Memnon â—in suis locis maneant Epist Legatorum Conciliab Append. tom 3. ca. 10. pa. 791. b. et ille Cyrillus ad thronum suum redit Jbid. and Memnon approved g Legalorum Synodi sententia publicè approbata Orientales quidem condemnat Nestorio vero exilium indicit Deâ—retum Regium tom 5. act Ephes ca. 11. the judgement of the holy Councell against Nestorius adding banishment also from Constantinople to his deposition But the Synodall sentence h Quae extat tom 4. act ca. 7. of deposition against Iohn and the other Bishops of his faction that they staied and suspended for a while partly to prevent a greater schisme which Iohn was like to procure but specially in hope that Iohn and the other Easterne Bishops might in time be i Imperator decrevit ut sententia Oecumenicae Synodi contra Nestorium vim obtineret quidque in causa Iohannis constituisset suspenderetur Bin. nâ—t â—n Conc. Ephes § Verum pa. 921. reduced and brought to unitie with Cyrill and the catholike Church which in that height of their heat and stomacke could not have beene expected And thus was the Councell at Ephesus dissolved a farre greater rent by this means being left at the end then had beene at the beginning thereof and so that maladie for which it was called not cured but encreased 5. But the religious Emperor Theodosius could not bee at quiet while the Church was thus disturbed but the very next yeare after the Ephesine Councell was ended when time and better advise had now cooled the former heat of the Easterne Bishops hee began to effect that union which before he had entended and he so earnestly laboured therein that himselfe professed k Sacr. Jmp. ad Acatium Episc Ber. to 5. act Ephes ca. 10. I am certainely and firmely resolved not to desist in working this reconcilement untill God shall vouchsafe to restore unitie and peace to the Church To which purpose hee writ a very religious and effectuall Epistle l Sacr. Imp. missa per Aristol ad Iohannem tom 5. act Ephes ca. 3. to Iohn B. of Antioch by many reasons perswading and by his imperiall authoritie commanding m Iohanni mandavit ut scelerata Nestorij dogmata anathematizaret c. Epist Cyril ad Dyn to 5. act Ephes ca. 16. Imperatores literas miserunt ad Acatium Bâ—rcensem et Iohannem quibus severè praecipiunt ut turbas consopiamus Epist Pauli ad Cyril to 5. act Eph. ca. 4. him and with him the rest of the faction to subscribe to the deposition of Nestorius the anathematizing of his heresie and so to embrace the holy communion with Cyrill and the catholike Church which perswasions of the Emperor tooke indeed the intended effect for after some tergiversation for a while both Iohn and most of the Easterne Bishops before the end of that yeare relented and in a Synod held at Antioch subscribed as the Emperor perswaded them both to the deposing of Nestorius and to a truly orthodoxall profession sent unto them by Cyrill wherein they approved n Cum igitur Johannes subscripsisset caeterique qui majori authoritate apud ipsum erant eâ— Nestorij dogmata anathematizassent coÌ„munionem illis restituimus Epist Cyril ad Dynat to 5. ca. 16. the holy Ephesine Councell and condemned all the heresies of Nestorius and upon this their consenting to Cyrill and the orthodoxall faith were received into the peace of the Church and so union and concord was fullie concluded betwixt Cyrill with the other orthodoxall Bishops Iohn with most of those Eastern Bishops who before adhered unto him 6. Let us now see how Vigilius and after him Baronius under couler of this Vnion plead for Ibas his heretical Epistle In the end of that Epistle Ibas makes mention o Et communicantibus adinvicem coÌ„tentio de medio ablata est et pax iâ— Ecclesia facta Ibae verba in sua Epist of the union betwixt Iohn and Cyrill yea mentioneth it as a great blessing of p Voluit autem Deus qui suae semper curam gerit Ecclesiae Ibid. God to the Church seeing that he not onely consented but greatly rejoyced at the same Thus much is cleare and certaine by the Epistle Now because the Vnion as we have declared was made by consenting to the Catholike faith it seemes that Ibas who consented to the Vnion consented also to the Catholike faith and so was received into the communion of Cyrill and the Catholike Church Seeing then Ibas by this Epistle is shewed to approve and embrace the Vnion and embracing of the union is the proofe of a Catholike it followeth that even by this Epistle Ibas declares himselfe to be a very good Catholike and an earnest embracer of the Catholike faith This is the summe of their collection which is as any wil confesse a very faire plausible pretence and therefore more fit for the Pope and Cardinall to cloake their heresie under the shew thereof But least we seeme either to wrong them or leave out ought which is emphaticall in their reason it is needfull to heare them dispute in their owne words 7. It differeth much saith q Bar. an 448. nu 75. Baronius to say that the Epistle is Catholike or that those things which are written in it are true and to say that Ibas by this Epistle was proved to be a catholike Etenim nihil aliud inde acceperunt patres nisi Ibam tunc temporis fuisse Catholicum for the fathers at Chalcedon tooke nothing at all out of that Epistle but that Ibas at that time
That the Decree of Vigilius for Taciturnity touching the Three Chapters and the Councell wherein it is supposed to be made and all the Consequents upon that Decree painted out by Baronius are all fictitious and Poeticall 1. THE whole reason of Baronius drawne from Vigilius his confirming of the fift Councell being now fully dissolved we might without further stay and I gladly would according to my intended order in the Treatise proceed to his next exceptioÌ„ but there are two points in this last passage touching the chaÌ„gings of Vigilius which even against my will pull mee backe and call me to examine what Baronius sets downe and with exceeding ostentation paints out in his Annals concerning them the due consideration whereof will cause any man to admire the Cardinals most audacious and shamelesse dealing in Synodall affaires and causes of the Church The one of them concernes the second the other the fourth period in Vigilius changings The former is this 2. As soone as the defenders of the Three Chapters had notice of that Iudiciall sentence and Decree published by Vigilius against the same Chapters upon his comming to Constantinople they began to storme thereat and condemne Vigilius a Obid ipsum Vigilium colluforem praevaricatoremque abadversarijs coÌ„clamatum Bar. an 547. nu 49. as a Prevaricator or revolter from the faith whereupon Vigilius as the Cardinall tels us put in practice a rare peece of wisedome b Prudenter perielitanti Ecclesiae visus est consuluisse Vigilius Jbid. nu 41. and of his Pontificall pollicy sententiam emissam c Ibid. mox suspendit seu potius revocavit be suspends and revokes that his late judgement rursum ab eo promulgatum decretum quo decernebatur ut penitus taceretur and he published a new Decree wherein he decreed that every man should be silent and say never a word either pro or contra touching that question of the Three Chapters till the time of the generall Councel from d Ab hoc anno ad illud usque tempus Jbid. nu 43. this yeare which was the 21 e Bar. ibid. nu 26 of Iustinian the same wherin Vigilius came to Constantinople until the time of the generall Councell in eâ causâ ab ipso Vigilio indictuÌ„ fuit SilentiuÌ„ Silence was injoyned every man in that cause by Pope Vigilius againe f Ibid. nu 48 TacenduÌ„ indixit he injoyned Silence in that cause and very often doth the Cardinall with no small comfort mention this Decree of Taciturnity And for the more solemnitie of the matter Vigilius decreed this in a Councell it was not onely his but decretum g Bar. an 551. nu 2. Synodi the decree of a Councell together with the Pope Vigilius h Ibid. nu 3. Synodicè statuit tacendum esse Vigilius decreed in and with a Synod that there should be a Silence in this cause Bar. an 547. nu 43. untill the generall Councell To which Synodall decree not onely Mennas i and Theodorus Bishop of Cesarea but k Justinianus contra praecedentis Synodi decretuÌ„ et emissam sponsionem de servando usque ad Concilium universale sileÌ„tio appendi jussit Edictum Bar. an 551. nu 2. Iustinian himselfe also consented and promised to observe the same This was the Decree see now the effects and CoÌ„sequents which ensued thereupon declared also by Baronius 3. This Decree tooke so good effect at the first that res aliquandiuÌ„ consopita l Bar. an 547. nu 41. siluit for a space all matters touching the Three Chapters were husht asleepe not a word spoken of that Controversie But some foure yeares m Nam decretuÌ„ editum an 547. Bar. eo an nu 43. ista autem gesta an 551 Bar. eo an nu 2. 5 6. et seq after the publishing thereof when Vigilius saw divers contrary to his decree to condemne the Three Chapters n Bar. an 551. nu 5. erigit se he rouzeth up himselfe for defence thereof and o Sententiam excommunicationis intâ—rquet Ibid. Verba excoÌ„municationis extant Ibid. nu 11 et 12. excommunicated Mennas Patriarch of Constantinople Theodorus Bishop of Cesarea and many moe and this also he did in another Councell consisting of thirteene p Jbid. nu 11. Bishops besides himselfe Yea and whereas the Emperour in that yeare published or hung out his Edict against the same Chapters contrary to his owne promise and the Decree for Taciturnity the Pope withstood him so long and so eagerly that Iustinian began to rage to use threats and violence against him so that the Pope in r Ibid. et confugere coactus est An. 552. nu 8. fuga tantum spem posuit was forced to flee from him out of the Å¿ Bar. an 551. nu 2. house where he dwelled called for good lucke sake Placidiana unto the Church of Saint Peter where he remained a time in adversarios sententiam ferens thundering out his censures against his adversaries But that sacred place t Nec sacer ille locus asylum tanto Pontifici fuit An. 552. nu 8. could be no Sanctuary for Vigilius they buffeted u Dedit alapam infaciem c. Ibid. and beate him on his face q Iustinianus contra Synodi decretum publicé appendi jussit Edictum Ibid. nu 2. they called him an homicide a murderer of Sylverius and of the widowes sonne whereupon hee to avoid the fury x Ab Imperatoris furore ab Imperatoris sacrilegi violentia Ibid. and violence of the sacrilegious Emperour fled y Trans mare quaesivit effugium et in Basilicam S. Euphemia apud Chalcedonem habitare disposuit An. 552. nu 8. from Constantinople to Chalcedon and there lived in the Church of Saint Euphemia taking hold of a Piller or Horne of the Altar And even there though in persecution and affliction he bated z Nihil penitus remisit Apostolicae authoritatis Ibid. nu 9. et 10. not one Ace of his Apostolicall authority but as if he had lived in peace and beene in the Laterane or Vaticane he ascends into his Apostolike Throne a Idem ille locus effectus est Pontificis Romani praesentia eminent cunctisque perspicuum ad judicandum tribunal c. Ibid. nu 10. and high Tribunall and thence by the fulnesse of his Apostolicall power he b Missilia in hostes jacit potentissimaque spiritalia spicula jacit in hostes feritque Ibid. throwes out his darts represseth and prostrateth his adversaries pronounceth sentence c Summa potestatis plenitudine adversus metropolitanos Episcopos iâ—o in ipsum Patriarcham Constantinopolitanum ferre sententiam insuper et perperam facta Imperatoris rescindere magno animo â—ggressus est An. 552. nu 9. against Bishops yea against a Patriarch adnulleth the acts of the Emperour knowing his authoritie to be greater than that Prophets was to whom God said d Jer. 1. I have set thee above
later from the decree of the Councell It was assembled say Baronius ſ Sup. hoc cap. nu 2. and Binius Pontifice resistente contradicente the Pope resisting and contradicting it Whence they inferre that it was an unlawfull assembly not gathered in Gods name In this their reason both the antecedent and consequence are unsound and untrue Did Pope Vigilius resist this Councell and contradict the calling or assembling thereof What testimonie doth Baronius or Binius bring of this their so confident assertion Truly none at all What probabilities yet or conjectures Even as many Are not these men think you wise worthy disputers who dare avouch so doubtfull matters and that also to the disgrace of an holy ancient and approved Councell and yet bring no testimonie no probabilitie no conjecture no proofe at all of their saying Ipse dixit is in stead of all 12. But what will you say if Ipse dixit will prove the quite contrarie If both Baronius and Binius professe that Vigilius did consent that this Councell should be held Heare I pray you their own words and then admire and detest the most vile dealing of these men Hanc Synodum Vigilius authoritate pontificia indixit saith Binius t Not. in 5. Con. §. Concilium Vigilius called and appointed this Synod by his papall authority Againe u Ibid. The Emperour called this fift Synod authoritate Vigilij by the authority of Pope Vigilius Baronius sings the same note It was very well provided saith he x An. 553. nu 23 that this Oecumenicall Synod should be held ex Vigilii Papae sententia according to the minde and sentence of Pope Vigilius who above all other men desired to have a Councell Againe y Ibid. nu 24. The Emperour decreed that the Synod should be called ex ipsius Vigilii sententia according to the minde of Vigilius And a little after It was commendable in the Emperor that he did labour to assemble the Synod ex Vigilij Papae sententia according to the minde and sentence of Pope Vigilius Neither onely did the Pope consent to have a Councell but to have it in that very city where it was held and where himselfe then was Indeed at the first the Pope was desirous z Optavimus frequentissime supplici voce poposcimus eundē coetum ad quēlibet Italia locū aut certe ad Siciliam c. Vigil in Constit apud Bar. an 553. nu 56. and earnest to have it held in Sicily or in some Westerne Citie even as Pope Leo had laboured a Epist Leon. 24 with Theodosius for the Councell which was held at Chalcedon But when Iustinian the Emperour would not consent b Quod quia fieri Serenitas vestra non annuit Vigil loc cit to that petition as neither Theodosius nor Martian would to the former of Leo Vigilius then voluntati c Bin. Not. in Conc. 5. §. Concilium Imperatoris libens accessit very willingly consented to the Emperours pleasure in this matter that the Oecumenicall Councell should be held at Constantinople Say now in sadnesse what you thinke of Baronius and Binius Whither had they sent their wits when they laboured to perswade this Councell to be unlawfull because Pope Vigilius resisted and contradicted the assembling thereof whereas themselves so often so evidently so expresly testifie not onely that it was assembled by the consent and according to the minde will pleasure desire authority and sentence of the Pope but the very chiefe act and royaltie of the summons they challenge though falsely to the Pope the other which is an act of labour and service to be as it were the Popes Sumner or Apparitor in bringing the Bishops together by the Popes authoritie that and none but that they allow to the Emperour 13. Many other testimonies might bee produced to declare this truth That of Sigonius d Lib. 20. an 553. The Emperour called this Synod Vigilio Pontifice permittente Pope Vigilius permitting him that of Wernerus e An. 544. Vigilius jussit Concilium Constantinopoli celebrari Vigilius commanded that this Councell should be held at Constantinople That of Zonaras f An. to 3. in Iustiniano and Glicas g Cui Concilio praerant Eutychius Domnus Vigilius Glic annal part 4. pa. 379. who both affirme that Vigilius was Princeps Concilij the chiefe Bishop of the Councell not chiefe among them that sate in the Councell for there he was not at all nor chief◠in making the Synodall decree for therein he contradicted the Councell but chiefe of all who sued to the Emperour and procured the Councell as being desirous of the same But omitting the rest the whole generall Councell yea and the Popes owne letters put this out of all doubt This say h Coll. 8. p. 584. a the whole Councell even in their Synodall sentence Consensit in scriptis in Concilio convenire Vigilius under his owne hand-writing consented to come together and be present with us in the Synod Againe the Legates sent from the Councell to invite Vigilius said i Coll. 2. pa. 523. thus unto him Your Holinesse knoweth quod promisistis unà cum Episcopis convenire that you have promised to come together with the other Bishops into the Councell and there to debate this question Vigilius himselfe writ k Coll. 1. p. 521. b thus to the Bishops of the Councell We knowing your desire praedictis postulationibus annuimus have consented to your petitions that in an orderly assembly being made wee may conferre with our united brethren about the three Chapters I doubt not but upon such faire and undoubted records every one will now confesse First that if to be gathered by the Popes consent and authority will make a Councell lawfull which with them is an authentike rule then this fift Councell is without question in this respect most lawfull Secondly that Baronius and Binius are shamelesse both in uttering untruths in reviling this holy Synod which they would perswade to be unlawful because it was assembled the Pope resisting it whereas this Councell to have beene assembled with the consent yea as they boast with the authority also of Pope Vigilius not onely other Writers but the Synodall Acts the whole generall Councell the letters of Vigilius and the expresse words of Baronius and Binius themselves doe evidently declare 14. Come now to the Consequence Say the Pope had resisted the assembling of this Councell was it for this cause unlawfull was it no generall Councell What say you then to the second Councell of which Baronius thus writeth l An. 553. nu 2 It was held repugnante Damaso Pope Damasus resisting the holding thereof Will they blot that also out of the ranke of generall and lawfull Synods If not why may not this fift also bee a generall and lawfull Synod though Vigilius had with tooth and naile resisted the same Shall the peevishnesse or perversnesse of
Councell for the honour of the See of Constantinople we have condemned the heresie of Eutyches Thus writ the whole Councell to Leo declaring evidently that act of approving that Canon to be the Act of the whole Synod although they knew the contradiction of the Pope and his Legates to cleave unto it 30. You see now that in every sentence of a generall and lawfull Councell there is an assent of all Bishops and Presbyters they all either explicitè or tacitè or implicitè consenting to that decree whether they be absent or present and whether in that particular they consent or dissent Now because there can bee no greater humane judgement in any cause of faith or ecclesiasticall matter than is the consenting judgement of all Bishops and Presbyters that is of all who have power either to teach or judge in those causes it hence clearly ensueth that there neither is nor can be any Episcopall or Ecclesiasticall confirmation or approbation whatsoever of any decree greater stronger or of more authority then is the judgement it selfe of such a generall Councell and their owne confirmation or approbation of the decrees which they make for in every such decree there is the consent of all the Bishops and Presbyters in the whole world 31. Besides this confirmation of any synodall decree which is by Bishops and therefore to bee called Episcopall there is also another confirmation added by Kings and Emperors which is called Royall or Imperiall by this later religious Kings not onely give freedome and liberty that those decrees of the Councell shall stand in force of Ecclesiasticall Canons within their dominions so that the contemners of them may be with allowance of Kings corrected by Ecclesiasticall censures but further also doe so strengthen and backe the same by their sword and civill authority that the contradicters of those decrees are made liable to those temporall punishments which are set downe in EZra i Ez. 7.16 to death to banishment to confiscation of goods or to imprisonment as the quality of the offence shall require and the wisedome of that Imperiall State shall think fit Betwixt these two confirmations Episcopall and Imperiall there is exceeding great oddes and difference By the former judiciall sentence is given and the synodall decree made or declared to be made for which cause it may rightly be called a judiciall or definitive confirmation by the later neither is the synodal decree made nor any judgment given to define that cause for neither Princes nor any Lay men are Iudges to decide those matters as the Emperours Theodosius and Valentinian excellently declare in k Nefas est eum qui Episcoporum catalogo adscriptus non est Ecclesiasticis negotijs se immiscere nempe ut IudiceÌ„ qui definiat Epist Imp. ad Synod Ephes to 1. Act. Ephes Conc. ca. 32. their directions to Candidianus in the Councell of Ephesus but the synodall decree being already made by the Bishops and their judgement given in that cause is strengthened by Imperiall authority for which cause this may fitly be called a superemineÌ„t or corrobotative confirmation of the synodall judgement The former confirmation is Directive teaching what all are to beleeve or observe in the Church the later is Coactive compelling all by civill punishment to beleeve or observe the Synodall directions The former is Essentiall to the Decree such as if it want there is no Synodall decree made at all the later is Accidentall which though it want yet is the Decree of the Councell a true Synodall Decree and sentence The former bindes all men to obedience to that Decree but yet onely under paine of Ecclesiasticall censures the latter bindes the subjects only of those Princes who give the Royall Confirmation to such Decrees and binds them under the pain only of temporal punishmeÌ„t By vertue of the former the contradicters or contemners of those Decrees are rightly to be accounted either heretikes in causes of faith or contumacious in other matters and such are truly subject to the censures of the Church though if the later be wanting those censures cannot bee inflicted by any or upon any but with danger to incurre the indignation of Princes By vertue of the later not onely the Church may safely yea with great allowance and praise inflict their Ecclesiasticall censures but inferiour Magistrates also may nay ought to proceed against such contemners of those Synodall decrees as against notorious convicted and condemned heretikes or in causes which are not of faith but of externall discipline and orders as against contumacious persons The Episcopall confirmation is the first in order but yet because it proceeds from those who are all subject to Imperiall authority it is in dignitie inferiour The Imperiall confirmation is the last in order but because it proceeds from those to whom everie soule is subject it is in dignity Supreme 32. This Imperiall confirmation as holy generall Councels did with all submission intreate of Emperours so religious Emperors did with all willingnesse grant unto them Of the great Nicene Councell Eusebius saith l Lib. 4. de vita Constant ca 27. Constantine sealed ratified and confirmed the decrees which were made therein The second general Councel writ m Epist Synod 2. post Act. Concil pa. 518. thus to the Emperour Theodosius We beseech your clemency that by your letters ratum esse jubeas confirmesque Concilij decretum that you would ratifie and confirme the decree of this Councell and that the Emperour did so his Emperiall Edict before n Hoc cap. nu 19. mentioned doth make evident To the third Councell the Emperor writ thus o Act Ephes Conc tom 3. ca. 17. Let matters coÌ„cerning religion and piety be diligently examined contention being laid aside ac tum demuÌ„ à nostra pietate confirmationem expectate and then expect from us our imperiall confirmation The holy Councell having done so writ p Act. Conc. Eph. to 4. ca. 8. thus to the Emperour We earnestly intreate your piety ut jubeat ea omnia that you would coÌ„mand that all which is done by this holy and Oecumenical Councell against Nestorius may stand in force per vestrae pietatis nutum et consensum confirmata being confirmed by your roall assent And that the Emperour yeelded to their request his Edict q Imperator sententia Synodi publicè approbata Nestorio exilium indicit Act. Con. Eph. to 5. ca. 11. et lege ult de haeret Cod. Theod. against Nestorius doth declare In the fourth Councell the Emperour said r Act. 6. We come to this Synod not to shew our power sed ad confirmandam fidem but to confirme the faith And wheÌ„ he had signified before all the Bishops his royall assent Å¿ Jn perpetuum quae à vobis termÃnata sunt serventur Jbid. to their decree the whole Councell cryed out Orthodoxam fidem tu confirmasti thou hast confirmed the Catholike faith often ingeminating those joyfull acclamations That
Iustinian confirmed the fift Councell his imperiall Edict for condemning those Three Chapters which after the Synodall judgment stood in more force than before his severity t Vict. in Chron. an post Coss Bas 13 14.15 c. in punishing the contradicters of the Synodall sentence partly by exile partly by imprisonment are cleare witnesses The sixt Councell said u Act. 18. thus to the Emperour O our most gracious Lord grant this favour unto us signaculum tribue seale and ratifie all that we have done vestram inscribito imperialem ratihabitionem adde unto them your imperiall confirmation that by your holy Edicts and godly constitutions they may stand in firme force And the Emperour upon their humble request set forth his Edict wherein he saith x Edict Constát Pogon Act. 18. Conc. 6. We have published this our Edict that we might corroborare atque confirmare ea quae definita sunt corroborate and confirme those things which are defined by the Councell To all which that may bee added which Basilius the Emperour said in the eighth Synod as they call it I had y Act. 10. purposed to have subscribed after al the Bishops as did my predecessors Constantine the great Theodosius Martian and the rest thereby evidently testifying not onely the custome of imperiall confirmation to have been observed in all former Councels but the difference also betwixt it and the Episcopall subscription the Bishops first subscribing and thereby making or declaring that they had made a Synodall decree the Emperours after them all subscribing as ratifying by their Imperiall confirmation what the Bishops had decreed 33. By this now it fully appeareth what it is which maketh any Synod or any Synodal decree to be and justly to be accounted an approved Synod or an approved Synodall and Oecumenicall decree It is not the Popes assent approbation or confirmation as they without all ground of truth doe fancy which at any time did or possibly can doe this It is onely the Vniversall and Oecumenicall consent of the whole Church and of all the members thereof upon any decree maâ—â— by a generall Councell which truly makes that an approved decree which generall and Oecumenicall consent or approbation is shewed partly by the Episcopall confirmation of that decree made by the Bishops present therein wherein there is ever either an â—â—presse or a vertuall and implicite consent of all the Bishops and Presbyters and so of all the Clergy in the world partly by the royall and imperiall confirmation given to that decree by Christian Kings and Emperours in which there is an implicite consent of all Laickes in the whole Church Kings and Princes assenting not onely for themselves but in the name of all their Lay subjects for whom they undertake that either they shall willingly obey that decree or else by severity of punishments be compelled thereunto If these two confirmations or either of them be wanting the Councell and decree which is supposed to be made therein is neither an approved or confirmed Councell nor decree though the Pope send forth ten thousand Buls to approve and confirme the same But if these two confirmations concurre in any decree of a generall and lawfull Councel though the Pope reprobate and reject that Councell or decree never so often yet is both that Councell an approved generall Councel and the decree thereof an approved or confirmed Synodall and Oecumenicall decree approved I say and confirmed by the greatest humane authority and judgement that possibly can bee either found or desired even by the whole catholike Church and every member whether Ecclesiasticall or Laicall therein And whosoever after such an ample approbation or confirmation shall at any time contradict or contemne such a Councell or decree he doth not nor can he thereby impare the dignity and authority of it but he demonstrates himselfe to be an heretike or at least a contumacious person insolently and in the pride of his singularity despising that judgement of the Councell which the whole Church and every member thereof yea even himselfe also among them hath approved 34. You will yet demand of mee why generall Councels have sought the Popes approbation and confirmation of their decrees as did the Councell of Chalcedon z Rogamus tuis decretis nostrum honora judicium Epist Synod Chal. ad Leonem post Act. 16. of Pope Leo after the end of the Synods and what effect or fruit did arise from such confirmations if it added no greater authority to the Synodall sentence than before it had I also aske of you another question Why did the Councell of Constantinople confirme a Statuerunt 318. Patrum fidem firmam ac flabilem manere oportere Conc. Const ca. 1. the Nicene Synod and the faith decreed therein or why did the Councell of Chalcedon confirme b In definit fidei Act. 5. Confirmavimus Patrum 150. regulam Epist Conc. Chal. ad LeoneÌ„ post Act. 16. Conc. Chal. praedicta concilia firmavit Epist Episc Europae post CoÌ„c Chal pa. 152. all the three former generall Councels or why did their second Nicene confirme all the sixe Synods which were before it saying c Eorum constitutionem integram illabefactabilem confirmamus we confirme the divine Canons and constitutions being inviolable Was not the great Nicene Councell and decree of faith of as great authority before it was confirmed by the second or fourth Councel as afterwards or what greater strength and authority had either it or any of the sixe first generall Councels by the confirmation of the second Nicene Synod which unto all the former is as much inferiour as is drosse or clay to the gold of Ophir If the confirmations of one generall Councell by another give no greater authority unto it than before it had â—â— it is certain by these examples that it doth not what marvell if the Popes confirmation doe not worke that effect If notwitstanding all this the confirmations of former by subsequent Councels bee not fruitlesse truly neither the confirmation of the Pope or any other Bishop that is absent must bee thought fruitlesse though it adde no more authority to the Synod or Synodall decrees than before they had 35. Neither did only general but even Provincial CouÌ„cels yea particular Bishops confirme generall Synods and the decrees therof The Synod at Millane was assembled by the direction of Pope Leo in which the Acts of the first Ephesine Councell per subscriptionem Episcoporum absentium sunt confirmata were confirmed by the subscription of those Bishops who were absent So writeth d Not. in Conc. Rom. 3. tempore Silvestri Binius The like was done after the Councell of Chalcedon for when some began to quarrell at it Leo the Emperour that he might confirmare c Bin. not in Conc. Chalc. § Incipiunt pa. 190. ea confirme the decrees of that Councell published an Edict to that end at the sollicitation of Pope Leo f Epist 73. hoc classico
those subsequent confirmations whether by succeeding Councels or absent Bishops and that was that every one should thereby either testifie his orthodoxy in the faith or else manifest himselfe to bee an heretike For as the approving of the six generall Councels and their decrees of faith did witnesse one to be a Catholike in those doctrines so the very refusing to approve or confirme any one of those Councels or their decrees of faith was ipso facto without any further examination of the cause an evident conviction that he was a condemned heretike such an one as in the pride and pertinacie of his heart rejected that holy synodall judgement which all the whole catholike Church and every member thereof even himselfe also had implicitè before confirmed and approved In which respect an heretike may truly bee called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being convicted and condemned not onely by the evidence of truth and by synodall sentence but even by that judgment which his owne selfe had given implicitè in the decree of the Councell The summe is this The former confirmation by the Bishops present in the Synod is Iudiciall the later confirmation by the Bishops who are absent is Pacificall The former is authoritativè such as gives the whole authority to any decree the later whether by succeeding Councels or absent Bishops is Testificativè such as witnesseth them to be orthodoxall in that decree The former joyned to the Imperiall confirmation is Essentiall which essentially makes both the Councell an approved Councel all the decrees therof approved synodal and Oecumenicall decrees the later is accidentall which being granted by a Bishop doth much grace himselfe but little or nothing the Synod and being denyed by any doth no whit at all either disgrace the Synod or impare the dignity and authority thereof but doth extreamely disgrace the partie himselfe who denyeth it and puls downe upon him both the just censures of the Church and those civill punishments which are due to heretikes or contumacious persons 38. My conclusion now is this Seeing this fift Councell was both for the calling generall and for the proceeding therin lawfull and orderly and seeing although it wanted the Popes consent yet it had the concurrence of those two confirmations before mentioned Episcopall and Imperiall in which is included the Oecumenicall approbation of the whole catholike Church it hence therefore ensueth that as from the first assembling of the Bishops it was an holy a lawfull and Oecumenicall Councell so from the first pronouncing of their synodall sentence and the Imperiall assent added thereunto it was an approved generall Councell approved by the whole catholike Church and so approved that without any expresse consent of the Pope added unto it it was of as great worth dignity and authoritie as if all the Popes since S. Peters time had with their owne hands subscribed unto it And this may suffice to satisfie the fourth and last exception which Baronius devised to excuse Vigilius from heresie CAP. XIX The true notes to know which are generall and lawfull and which either are not generall or being generall are no lawfull Councels with divers examples of both kindes 1. THAT which hath beene said in the former Chapter is sufficient to refute that cavill of Baronius against the fift Councell whereby he pretends it to have neither been a general nor a lawfull Synod because the Pope resisted the assembling and contradicted the decree and sentence thereof but for as much as it is not victory but truth which I seeke and the full satisfaction of the reader in this cause and seeing this point about the lawfulnesse of generall Councels is frequent and very obvious and such as being rightly conceived will give great light to this whole controversie about Councels I will crave liberty to lanch somewhat further into this deepe and explane with what convenient brevity I can what it is which maketh any Synod to bee or rightly to be esteemed a generall and lawfull Councell 2. As the name of Synod doth in his primary and large acception agree to every assembly so doth the name of Councell to every assembly of consultation The former being derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is all one with Coetus and imports the assembly of any multitude which meeteth and commeth together The later being derived of Cilia a Concilium dictuÌ„ à communi intentione â—o quod in unum omnes dirigant mentis obtutuÌ„ Cilia enim oculorum sunt Isiod Mer. in suam Canon collect whence also supercilium imports the common or joynt intending or bending their eyes both of body and minde to the investigation of the truth in that matter which is proposed in their assembly But both of those words being now drawne from those their large and primitive significations are by Ecclesiasticall writers and use of speech penes quem jus est norma loquendi restrained and appropriated onely to those assemblies of Bishops and Ecclesiasticall persons wherein they come together to consult of such matters as concernes either the faith or discipline of the Church Of these because some are lawfull others unlawfull Synods if we can finde what it is which maketh a generall and lawfull Councell it will bee easie therby to discerne which are unlawfull Synods seeing it is vulgarly and truly said that Rectum is index sui obliqui 3. That a Synod be generall and lawfull there are three things necessarily and even essentially required the want of any one of which is a just barre and exception why that Synod is either not generall or not lawfull The first which concernes the generalitie is that the calling and summons to the Councell be generall and Oecumenicall so that all Bishops be called and when they are come have free accesse to the same Councell unlesse for some fault of their owne or some just reason they ought to bee debarred For if the calling to any Synod bee out of some parts onely of the Church and not out of the whole the judgement also of such a Councell is but partiall not generall and the Councell is but particular not Oecumenicall seeing some of those who have judicatory power are either omitted or unjustly excluded from the Synod The want of this was a just exception taken by the Pope Iulius against that Councell of Antioch b Extat tom 1. Conc. pa. 420. wherein Athanasius was deposed by the Arian faction and Gregory of Cappadocia intruded into his See why it neither was nor could be esteemed generall or such as should binde the whole Church by the decrees made by it for said Iulius c Apud Socr. l. 2 ca. 13. et Zozom lib. 3. ca. 9. they did against the Canons of the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because they did not so much as call him to that Synod whereas the Canons of the Church forbid that any decree which should have power to binde the whole Church should bee made without the sentence judgement and
de vit Constant c. 6 saith Constantine assembled this Oecumenicall Councell hee called the Bishops by his letters and his call was mandatory for Mandatum erat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad hanc rem Constantine commanded that they should come The very Synod it selfe writeth thus in their Synodall letters We are assembled m Citantur verba tum à Socr. lib. 2. ca. 6. tum à Theodor. lib. 1. ca. 11. by the grace of God mandato Imperatoris and by the mandate of Constantine the Emperour so Christopher son translates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both in Socrates and Theodoret. Of the second their owne Synodall Epistle to Theodosius witnesseth We came n Epist Synod Conc. Const 1. apud Bin. to 1. Conc. pa. 518. hither ex mandato tua pietatis by the command of your Imperiall highnesse Of the third Councell the Synodall acts and Epistles are cleare witnesses Your Highnes hath cōmanded o 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iussit suo pio edict Act. Conc. Ephes to 4. ca. 11. by your holy Edict the Bishops out of the whole world to come to Ephesus Againe the synod p Act. Conc. Ephes to 2. ca. 1. being assembled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Edict decree authority and appointment of the Emperour and the like is repeated I think not so little as threescore times in those Acts. And as they came at the Emperors command so would they not depart without his leave and licence We beseech q Epist Synodi ad Imper. to 2. Act. Conc. Eph. ca. 17. your piety that you will at length free us from this exile and the Emperour granted their request for injungit r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to 5. Act. Conc. Eph. ca 11. eis he commanded injoyned them to returne to their owne Cities and againe Regio ſ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ibid. mandato imperatum est singulis Episcopis there was a mandate to all the Bishops by the Emperour to returne to their owne Provinces Of the Councell at Chalcedon the whole Synod saith in their Epistle to Pope Leo This t Epist Syn. Chalc. post Act. 16. holy and generall Synod was assembled by the grace of God sanctione Imperatorum and by the sanction or decree of our most holy Emperours Againe this synod was gathered ex decreto u Conc. Chalc. Act. 1. pa. 1. Imperatorum by the decree of the Emperours secundum jussionem according to his command And the like is repeated almost in every action Of the fift we shewed before that it was called Iussione x Conc. 5. Coll. 8. pa. 584. a. piissimi Imperatoris by the command of the most holy Emperour Iustinian Of the sixt it is usually said it was assembled secundum y Conc. 6. Act. 1.2.3 reliquis Imperialem sanctionem aut decretum and the like by the Imperiall sanction or decree And the whole Councell in their prosphoneticall oration to the Emperour saith z Conc. 6. Act. 18 pa. 89. a. unto him your mansuetude hath congregated this holy and great assembly Of their second Nicene it is said that it was assembled per. a Conc. Nic. 2. Act. 1. pa. 297. a act 2. pa. 308 b. act 5. pa. 338. b. pium Decretum Sanctionem Mandatum by the holy Decree Sanction and Mandate of the Emperors of that which they call the eighth the synodall definition expresseth Quod à b Conc. 8. Act. 10. pa. 897. a. Basilio Imperatore coactum that it was assembled by Basilius the Emperour and the whole Synod cryed out We all thinke so we all subscribe to these things And Pope Stephen in his letters to Basilius speaking of this Synod saith c Epist Stephan post Conc. 8. pa. 900. Did not the Romane See send Legates to the Councell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 te imperante Raderus and Binius translate it but it is rather to be read ad imperium and summam jussionem tuam the Pope sent Legates not when Basilius was Emperour which was no great honour or token of duty to be done but at the most high command of Basilius which testified his subjection and duty to the Emperour whom the Pope in that same Epistle acknowledgeth to be the highest d Quam vis supremam Christi in terris personam formamque geris Steph. Ep. eadem p. 890. b. person who here upon earth sustaines the person of Christ and in the sixt Action of the same e Conc. 8. act 6. pa. 886. a. Councell it is said Imperator hanc Synodum coegit the Emperour assembled this Synod 12. Thus all those Councells which are usually reckoned for generall and approved for the space of a thousand yeares were all called by Imperiall jussion and command the religious Emperours exercising that right in commanding all Bishops even the Popes to such Councels all the Bishops even the Popes by their willing obedience acknowledging that authority and power to be in the Emperours and therefore they gladly obeyed those imperiall jussions and commands And as they were all assembled by Imperiall calling so were they all governed by Imperiall presidency That Constantine was President in the Nicene Pope Stephen in the Epistle lately cited expresly witnesseth Doe you not remember saith he f Steph. Papa in Epist ad Basil Imper. post 8. Conc. what Pope Silvester said in the Nicene Synod praesidente ibi S. Constantino Saint Constantine being President therein His owne Acts in the Councell of moderating g Euseb lib. 3. de vit Const ca. 13. and repressing the jarres of the Bishops of burning h Ruff lib. 1. c. 2 their bookes of accusations and quarrels of drawing them to unity that with one consent they should define the causes proposed doe manifest the same for all these are acts of the Imperiall presidency That Theodosius was President in the second may appeare not onely for that he was present i Ipsoque praesente Theodosio Epist Iustin post Conc. 5. pa. 605. a. therein and present no doubt as Constantine had beene before as a moderator of their actions but that small remainder of the Acts of that Councell import also the same for he directed and that by his Mandatum k Insuperque mādaret Imperator ut diligens inquisitio sieret Sozom. lib. 7. c. 6 what the Bishops should doe and when they out of their partiall affections would have preferred each his owne friend to the See of Constantinople the Emperour perceiving that corrected their partiall judgement Iussit l Sozom. lib. 7. ca. 7. inscribere chartae hee commanded them to write a bill of such men as they thought fit for the place himselfe nominated Nectarius and though many of the Bishops at first contradicted that choice yet he drew them all to his sentence and so the whole Synod consented upon the ordination of Nectarius 13. For the holy Ephesine Synod all the Acts are full of this Imperiall
conservabimus we will bee equall and indifferent Iudges betwixt both parties 16. In the second Nicene though by the fraud of Anastasius there be not many yet are there some prints remaining of this Imperiall Presidencie We have received say the Emperours o Conc. Nic. 2. a Act. 1. pa. 300. letters from Hadrian Bish of Rome sent by his Legates qui et nobiscum in Concilio sedent who also sit with us in the Synod Those letters jubemus publicè legi we command to be publikely read according to the use in Councels and we command all you to marke them with decent silence After that you shall reade two quaternions also sent from the Bishops in the East and the whole Synod obeyed the Imperiall commands Pope Hadrian himselfe was not ignorant of this right in the Emperours when sending his Pontificall and Cathedrall judgement concerning the cause of Images hee said thus unto them We p Epist Hadr. Papae ad Imp. lecta in Con. Nic. 2. Act. 2. in sine Epist offer these things to your highnesse with all humility that they may bee diligently examined for we have but perfunctoriè that is for fashioÌ„ and not exactly gathered these testimonies and we have delivered them to your Imperiall Highnesse to be read intreating and beseeching your mansuetude yea and as if I were lying q Et veluti praesentes genibus ad voluti et corâ vestigia pedum volutando Ibid. at your feete I pray and adjure you that you will command holy Images to bee restored Thus hee When the Pope cals the Emperours his r Dominis pijssimis Constantino et Irene Hadrianus servus servorum Dei Inscript Ep. Haar Lords and submits both his owne person to their feet and his judiciall sentence to such tryall as they shall thinke fit doth not this import an higher Presidency in the Emperour than either himselfe or his Legates had in the Synod Nay it is further to be remembred which will remaine as an eternal blot of that Synod that Irene the Empresse not contenting her selfe with the Imperiall which was her owne rightfull authority intruded her selfe into the Episcopall also she forsooth would be a Å¿ Synodus illa Nicena mulierem InstitutriceÌ„ sive Doctricem habuisse perhibetur quod non solum divina legis documentis sed ipsius naturae lege inhibetur Car. magni l ber dict Capitulare de non adorand Jmag. lib. 3. ca. 13. Aliud est matremfamilias domesticos erudire aliud Antistitibus sine omni Ecclesiastico ordine vel publicae Synodo docentem interesse Jbid. Doctrix in the Councell she present among the Bishops to teach the whole Councell what they should define in causes of faith Perversas Constitutiones tradere shee tooke upon her to give Constitutions and those impious also unto them Those Constitutions backed with her sword and authority the Bishops of the Councell had not the hearts and courage to withstand All which is testified in the Libri Carolini which in part were written t Quod oâ—us aggressi sumus cum coÌ„hibeÌ„tia Sacerdotum non arrogantiae supercilio sed zelo Dei et veritatis studio Carol mag praesatio et Cap. ultimum illius libri fuisse Caroli agnoscit Had. in sua Epist 3. ca. 25. pa. 281. a. and wholly set forth by Charles the great being for the most part composed by the Councell at Frankfourd u Libri Carolini scripti videntur in Concilio FraÌ„cofordiensi Bell. lib. 1. de Conc. ca. 8. § Primo quia and approved by them all in that great synod A truth so cleare that Pope Adrian in his reply to those Caroline bookes denyeth not Irene to have done this which had easily and evidently refuted that objectioÌ„ and discredited those Caroline Bookes for ever but hee x Hadr. Epist 3.3 ca 53. defends her fact by the examples of Helena and Pulcheria to which this of Irene is so unlike that for this very cause she is by the whole Councell of Frankford y Lib. Carol. lib. 3. ca. 13. consisting of three hundred Bishops or thereabouts resembled to the tyrannizing and usurping Athalia Lastly when that whole Synod came to the Kingly City for the Imperiall confirmation of their Acts seeing it is expresly testified by Zonaras z Commentaria in regia Praesidentibus Imperatoribus recitarunt quae statim obsignata sunt Zonar to 3. in vita Iren et Const and Paulus Diaconus a Ingressi sunt omnes Episcopi in regiam et praesidentibus Imperatoribus una cum Episcopis lectus est tomus et subscripsit tam Imperator quam mater ejus Paul Diac. histor misc lib. 23. in an 8. Const that the Emperour was President in that assembly of the Bishops why should it not by like reason be thought that both himselfe when hee was present and in his absence the secular Iudges his Deputies held the same Imperial Presidency in the Nicene Synod 17. For that which they call the eighth generall Councell both the Emperours Deputies are called Presidents i Magnificentissimi praesides dixerunt Act. 9. § Lecta and in the sixt seventh eighth and tenth actions it is expresly said Presidentibus Imperatoribus the Emperours being Presidents yea and both of them by their very actions declared their Presidencie The Popes Legate k Repugnantibus Apost sedis legatis utpote quod sententia Rom. Pontisicum condemnati audiri iterum non deberent Bar. an 869. nu 27. would not have permitted Photius and his Bishops to bee heard the Emperours Deputies over-ruled l Advocentur cum Photio Episcopi quoque Photiani quod nisi fiat literam in hac Synodo scribemus nullam Verba Iudic saec in CoÌ„c 8 Act. 4. pa. 883. b. them as was fit in that matter yea they said to the Photian Bishops Imperator m Verba Bahanis in Conc. 8. citata à Nich. Cusan lib. 3. Concor ca. 20. jubet et vult the Emperours will pleasure and command is that you should speake in your owne cause Of the Emperour they intreat liberty to defend themselves Rogamus domine n Conc. 8. Act. 6. verba sunt Metropolitae Caesariensis pa. 886. b. Imperator we beseech you our Lord and Emperour that without interruption we may defend our cause When the bookes of Photius were brought into the Synod and burned in the midst thereof this was done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 o Act. 8. p. 893. a the Emperour commanding it and many the like 18. Now these eight are all which are accounted by them in the number of generall and approved Councels for the space of more than a thousand years after Christ Of al which seeing it is now cleare that they were both called by Imperiall authoritie and governed by Imperiall Presidencie it hence appeareth that as by the warrant of the Scriptures and example of the ancient Church before Christ so also by the continued practice of the whole Catholike
Church for a thousand years together these rights of calling and ordering generall Councels doe belong and were acknowledged to belong onely to Kings and Emperours they called and commanded the Bishops the Bishops came at that call and command they governed the assemblies in those Councels all the Bishops without murmuring or so much as once contradicting willingly submitted themselves to that Imperiall government And by this may now easily be discerned wherein the lawfulnesse or unlawfulnesse of any Synod consisteth For wheresoever to Imperiall calling and Imperiall Presidencie there is added the rightfull use of that Imperiall authoritie in seeing liberty freedome diligent discussion of the causes and all due synodall order preserved in any generall Synod the same is and ought to bee truly called a generall lawfull Councell But what generall Councels soever have beene heretofore or shall bee at any time hereafter either assembled by any other than Imperiall and regall authority or governed for the observing of synodall order by any other than Imperiall Presidencie or misgoverned by the abuse thereof they all are and are to bee esteemed for no other than generall unlawfull Councels 19. Suffer mee here to propose some examples of each kinde partly in the ancient partly in the later times of the Church In the order of lawfull generall Councels principally and by a certaine excellency above all the rest are the five first approved Councels to bee reckned The first at Nice the second at Constantinople the third at Ephesus the fourth at Chalcedon the fift at Constantinople in the time of Iustinian unto these the Sardicane and that at Constantinople under Mennas are to bee added like two Appendant Synods the former to that at Nice the later to that at Chalcedon For the sixt which was held at Constantinople in the time of Constantinus Pogonatus I am out of doubt and doe firmely hold it to have beene both generall and lawfull But I mention it apart by reason of that scruple touching the Canons thereof concerning which I intend if ever I have opportunity to make a severall tract by it selfe For their second Nicene and the next unto it to wit that at Constantinople in the time of Basilius and Hadrian the second besides that there are just exceptions against their lawfulnesse in regard of the proceedings used therin it may be justly doubted whether either of them may be esteemed generall specially considering that the Councell at Frankford utterly condemned p Synodus qua ante paucos annos sub Irene Constantino congregata ab ipsis non solum septima verū etiā universalis erat appellata ut nec septima nec universalis haberetur dicereturve quasi supervacua in totum ab omnibus in Conc. Francofordensi abdicata est Aim lib. 4. ca. 85. Similia habet Ado Vien in Chron. Hincm Rhem. in lib. contra Hincm Land ca. 20. Rhegino Hermann Strabus Fuld Egolis Monac alii quam multi that second Nicene and decreed that it should not bee called a generall Synod and in very like manner did the Councell at Constantinople held in the time of Pope Iohn the eighth or as some call him the ninth the next successor to Hadrian the second condemne q Quarius Canon Concilii Constant sub Johan 8. superiores synodos adversus Photium habitas Nicholai Hadriani temporibus explodit rejicit imo ut de Synodorum numero tollantur jubet Fran. Turrian lib. de 6 7 8. synod pa. 95. that Councell which they call the eighth held in the time of Hadrian the second Now although by the judgements of these two Councels those other which they reckon for the seventh and eighth be wholy repealed and that most justly yet if the authority of these Synods were omitted there are so many and so just exceptions against the two former that I am out of doubt perswaded that neither of them ought to stand in the order of generall lawfull Councels nor will any I suppose judge otherwise who shall unpartially examine the Acts of them compare them with the histories of those times If any at all after the sixt be to be ranked in the number of generall and lawfull Councells I would not doubt to make it evident if ever I should proceed so farre in this argument about Councels that the Councell held at Constantinople in the time of Constantinus Iconomachus whom they incontempt have with no small token of their immodesty nicknamed Copronimus that this ought to bee judged the seventh that at Frankford the eighth and that at Constantinople which even now I mentioned held in the time of Pope Iohn the eighth or as some call him the ninth the ninth of that order For both the generality of all these three is by the best Writers acknowledged and all of them were called by Imperiall authority governed by Imperiall presidency and that in a lawfull free and synodall manner as if ever I come to handle the Councels of those times I purpose to explaine This rather for this time I thinke needfull to observe that as a Councell may be generall and yet not lawfull so may one be both generall and lawfull and yet erroneous in the decrees thereof which one point rightly observed shewes an exceeding difference betwixt those five first generall Councels with the Sardicane and that under Mennas and all the rest which follow the fift Synod The former which were all held within the six hundred yeares after Christ in the golden ages of the Church are wholly and in every decree and Canon orthodoxall and golden Councells no drosse nor dramme of corrupt doctrine could prevaile in any one of them and so they are and ever since they were held were esteemed not onely generall and lawfull but in every part and parcell of their decrees holy and orthodoxall Councels approved by all Catholikes and by the whole Catholike Church But in all generall Councels which follow that fift which were held after the 600. yeare and in those times wherein dross and corruption began to prevaile above the gold in them all there is some one blot or other wherewith they are blemished and by reason whereof although they be both generall and lawfull yet are they not in every decree holy and orthodoxall nor approved by the succeeding ages of the Church Such in the sixt is the 2. 52. and 53. Canons in that under Constantinus Iconomachus the 15. and 17. definitions in that at Frankford their condemning of the fact of the Iconoclasts which untill the decree for breaking them downe was repealed by the Councell at Frankford was both pious and warranted by the example of Hezekias dealing with the brazen serpent In that under Iohn the 8. their denying of the holy Ghost to proceed from the Son And these examples which I have now named are all the examples of generall and lawfull Councels which as yet have beene held in the Church 20. Wee come now to unlawfull Synods wherein it is very
explaned in their Gravamina z Gravam opposita Conc. Trid. Causa 1. pa. 21. where the first reason of their rejecting the Trent assembly is this quod ea illegitime contra manifestum jus indicta sit because it was appointed and gathered unlawfully against manifest right seeing the Pope who called it hath no authoritie to summon or call a Councel Of the same judgement were other Princes When Hieronimus Martinengus a Epit. rerum in orb gest sub Fer. an 1561. apud Scard loc cit was sent as Legate from the Pope to call some out of England to that Trent assembly in the time of the late Queene of renowned and blessed memory è Belgio in insulam traijcere prohibuit she would not suffer him to set foote in her dominion about such businesse Nec b Ibid. diversum ad Reges Daciae Suetiae missus responsum retulit and the Kings of Denmarke and Swetia gave the like answere that the Pope had no right to call a Councell So justly did they dislike and contemne the going to that Synod even for this cause and that most justly esteeming it for no other than a Conventicle or unlawfull assembly 25. Said I unlawfull that is too soft and mild a word that and all the other nine with it by reason of that Papall calling were unlawfull in the highest degree even Antichristian For the authoritie whereby those Synods were called belonging in right to Emperours and Kings and being tyrannically usurped by the Pope as he by intruding himselfe into the Imperiall royalties and lifting up himselfe above all the Vicegerents of God here in earth that is above c 2 Thess 2.4 all that is called God did thereby proclame himselfe to bee that man of sinne and display his Antichristian Banner So on the other side those Bishops and others who came at his Papall call and yeelded obedience to him in such sort usurping did eo ipso in that very act of theirs receive the marke of the beast and not onely consent but submit themselves to his Antichristian authority and sight under the vety Ensignes and Banner of Antichrist But of this point I have before d Sup. ca. 13. intreated where I shewed that all even the best actions how much more then such tumultuous and turbulent attempts when they are performed in obedience to the Pope as Pope that is as a supreme Commander are turned into impious and Antichristian rebellions against God 26. This rather is needfull to bee here observed that not onely generall but even Provinciall or Nationall Synods are in all Christian Kingdomes to bee called onely by Imperiall not at all by Papall or Episcopall authority yea and they are so called in every well ordered Church For although there goe not forth a particular and expresse Edict or mandatum from Kings to assemble them yet so long as Kings or Emperours doe not expresse their will to the contrary even that summons which is sent from Primates or other Bishops subject unto them hath virtually and implicitè the Imperiall authority by which every such Synod is assembled The reason whereof is this The holy Nicene Councell decreed e Placuit annis singulis per unamquamque Provinciam his in anno Concilia celebrari Conc. Nic. Can. 5. that for the more peaceable government of each Church there should be two Provinciall Synods yearely held by every Primate Those holy Fathers meant not as the continuall practice throughout the whole Church doth explane so strictly to define that number of two as that neither moe nor fewer might be kept in one yeare But they judging that for those times a competent and convenient number they set it downe but yet as an accidentall ceremoniall and therefore mutable order if the necessitie and occasions of any Church should otherwise require That which is substantiall and immutable in their Canon is that Provinciall Synods shall be held by each Primate so often and at such times as the necessity and occasions of their Church shall require and the chiefe Iudge of that necessity and sitting occasions is no other than hee to whose sword and authority every Bishop is subject and without whose consent first obtained they may in no place of his Kingdome assemble together without the note of tumult and sedition This Nicene Canon as all the rest when Constantine f Quae ab Episcopis erant editae regulae Constantinus sua consignabat et confirmabat authoritate Euseb lib. 4. de vita Const ca. 27. and other suceeding Emperours and Kings approved as who hath not approved that holy Councel they then gave unto it the force of an Imperiall law according to the rule omnia g Lib. 1. Cod. de Veter jure enuc et lib. 2. Decretal tit 23. ca. sicut noxius in Glossa nostra facimus quibus nostram impartimur authoritatem wee make that our owne Act and our law which wee ratifie by our authoritie And Iustinian more plainly expressed this when he said h Novel 131. ca. 1. Sancimus vicem legum obtinere sanctas regulas we enact that the holy Canons of the Church set downe in the former Councels the Nicene the Constantino-politane Ephesine and Chalcedon shall have the force and stand in the strength of Imperiall lawes By this Imperiall assent it is that when the wisedome of Christian Emperours and Kings doth not otherwise dispose of calling Synods in their dominions Primates may call the same two or moe or fewer in any yeare as necessitie shall perswade but whensoever they call any the same are called assembled and celebrated by the force of that Imperial authoritie which Kings and Emperours have either given to that Nicene Canon or which they in more explicite manner shall impart unto the Primates or Bishops in their Kingdomes 27. Now if Provinciall Councels may not nor ever are lawfully held in Christian Kingdomes without this authority how much lesse may generall and Oecumenicall the occasions of which being rare and extraordinary the calling also of them is extraordinary and both for the time place meerly arbitrary at the will of those who have Imperial or regal authority To say nothing how inconvenient it is even in civill government and how dangerous unto Christian States that all the Bish of a Kingdome should leave their own Churches naked of their guides and Pastours and goe into farre and forraigne Countries without the command of their Soveraigne Lords especially goe at the command of an usurping Commander and that also if he require though their owne Soveraignes shall forbid or withstand the same of the mischiefe and danger whereof the example of Becket among many like may be a warning to all Kingdomes But leaving that to the grave consideration of others thus much now out of that which hath beene said is evident that seeing all those ten forenamed Synods were called and assembled by no other authority than Pontificall and seeing
et qui non audierlut Ecclesiam fuerunt habiti ut Ethnici et Publicani ut legitur de Anastasio et Liberio Resp Synodalis Conc. Bas pa. â—05 a. et pa. eadem b. enumerat Ioh. 12. et alios of the Church in judging and deposing Liberius and Iohn the 12. by the very words of Bellarmine himselfe If the Bishops saith he u Bell. lib. 1. de Conc. ca. 21. §. Denique in a Synod can convince the Pope of heresie possunt eum judicare deponere they may judge and depose him And if in any cause he have a superiour Iudge then is he not supreme Seeing then by all these besides infinite moe it is not onely proved but demonstrated that the Pope is not nor ought to be held as supreme Iudge but may in some causes be both judged condemned and deposed and seeing by Bellarmines owne confession none can be judge in his owne cause or of his adversaries towards whom he professeth open enmity but onely the supreme Iudge it inevitably followeth upon the Cardinalls owne words besides evident reason that the Pope neither was in the Councell of Trent nor can be in any Councell a lawfull Iudge either of Protestants or in those causes which he then undertooke to judge in which himselfe was a party and Reus seeing then he should be Iudge in his owne cause which equity and reason the law both divine and humane doe constantly prohibite 34. Adde hereunto the judgement of the ancient and Catholike Church I doe never reade or almost remember the holy Councell of Chalcedon but with a kinde of amazement I admire the rare piety prudence integrity moderation and gravity of those most glorious Iudges who supplying the Emperours place when he was absent were the Imperiall Presidents in that Councell Had they or such like Presidents beene wanting at that time it may justly be feared considering the eagernesse and temerity that I say not the insolency of the Popes Legates in that Synod that the Councell of Chalcedon had proved a worse Latrociny than the second Ephesine was In that Councell both these causes now mentioned fell out the one in Dioscorus the other in Athanasius Bishop of Paros Dioscorus came and sate down in his place among the other Patriarks Bishops as one who would be a Iudge in the causes proposed for in ancient Councels there was a different x Eusebius et Theodoretus in ordine accusantium sedent sicut et vos in loco accusatorum sedetis Conc. Chal. Act. 1. pa. 13. a. place and seats for the Bishops who judged and gave sentence in the Councell and for others who were actors whether plaintiffs and accusers or Rei and accused Now because Dioscorus himselfe was the partie who was called into question and to be judged and equity forbids a man to bee Iudge in his owne cause The Councell and by name the Popes Legates to whom the rest therein assented tooke this just exception thereat and said y Act. 1. Conc. Chal. pa. 5. a. Non patimur we cannot indure this wrong to be done ut iste sedeat qui judicandus advenit that Dioscorus who is to bee judged sit as a Iudge in his owne cause upon which most just and equall motion the glorious Iudges who were Presidents for order commanded Dioscorus to remove z Dioscoro secundum jussionem gloriosiss Judicum resideÌ„te in medio Ibid. from the Bench as I may say of Iudges and to sit in the middle of the Church which was the place both for the Accusers and Rei and Dioscorus accordingly sate there as the glorious Iudges had appointed Vpon the very same ground of equitie did the religious Emperour command in the second Ephesine Synod that if a Epist Theodos et Valent. ad Diosc extat in Actis Conc. Chal. Act. 1. pa. 5. b. any question or cause fell out to be debated concerning Theodoret whom he commanded to be present that then absque illo Synodum convenire the Synod should asseÌ„ble judge that cause without Theodoret he should have no judicatory power in his own cause And the like he further coÌ„manded coÌ„cerning that holy Bish Flavianus He some others had before in the Synod at Constantinople beene Iudges against Eutiches and condemned him An higher even that generall Councell at Ephesus which proved a Latrociny in the end was called to examine b Nunc vos convenistis ut eos qui judicaverant judicciis Elpidij dierum nomine Imper. in Concilia b. Ephes recitatur vero in Conc. Chal. Act. 1. pa. 13. b. that judgment of Flavianus and the rest whether it was just or no. The Emperour commanded c Ibid. those who had beene Iudges of late in loco eorum esse qui judicandi sunt now to bee in the place of Rei such as were to bee judged A demonstration that if Theodosius or Martian or such like worthy and equall Iudges as they were at Chalcedon had been Presidents for order in their Trent assembly the Pope though hee had beene as just and orthodoxall as Flavianus much more being in impiety and heresie farre superiour to Dioscorus should not have beene permitted to sit among the Bishops of the Councell nor have so much as one single decisive suffrage or any judicatory power in his owne cause much lesse have had such a supremacie of judgement that his onely voyce and sentence should over-rule and over-sway the whole Councell besides 35. The other example is this Athanasius Bishop of Paros being accused d Conc. Chal. Act. 14. per totuÌ„ of sundry crimes was called to triall before a Provinciall Councell at Antioch held by Domnus Bishop of that See unto whose Patriarchall authority Athanasius was subject when hee refused to come after three citations hee was deposed by that Synod and Sabinianus by the same authority made Bishop of Paros in his roome In the Councel at Chalcedon Athanasius came complained of wrongfull extrusion and desired of the generall Councell that his Bishopricke might be restored unto him pleading for his refusall to come to trial at the Synod at Antioch nothing else but this e Dicat Athanasius cur tertâ—ò evocatus à Conci io Antiocheno non occurrit Athanasius dixit Quoniam inimicus meus erat ipse qui judicabat et rogo haec relegi et veritateÌ„ probari Ib. pa. 127 b. Solum quia sunt inimicus esset ipse qui judicabat clamavit à sancta Chal. Synodo ad causas illatas sibi examinandas reservatur Epist 8 Nich. 1. § Veniamus that DoÌ„nus who was the chiefe Iudge in that Synod was his enemy and therefore hee thought it not equall to be tryed before him though he was his owne Patriarch The glorious Iudges gave order that the accusations against Athanasius should within eight moneths bee examined by Maximus then Bishop of Antioch and a Synod with him and if he were found guilty of those crimes or any other worthy deposition
hortatur Casus Vergerius vero qui periculum suum intelligeret recusat ibid. that as by reason of their want of this Imperiall presidency they had many disorders so by reason they excluded that Presidency they had nay they could have nothing in them at all but disorder 40. You see now the severall kinds of unlawfull Councells as well by want of Imperiall calling or of Imperiall Presidency as when neither is wanting by the abuse of that Imperiall authority in the Synod And though the unlawfulnesse of those ten later Synods doth now appeare to be farre greater than of those ancient Councells before mentioned seeing in all the ancient there was not onely a lawfull calling but a lawfull presidency also both which were wanting in the other tenne besides the unlawfull proceedings which were equally in both or rather farre worse in the later yet is there one especiall difference that is principally to be remembred which issuing from the former diversity of unlawfulnesse makes a greater oddes than at the first one would imagine and this it is When the unlawfulnesse of any Synod ariseth as in their tenne Synods it doth from the want of the first condition that is of lawfull calling and authority to assemble and judge be the consultations and proceedings of such Synods otherwise never so orderly and their resolutions never so just and true yet for making of any Canon or Decree or giving any synodall judgement there is an invalidity in all such Synods and a meere nullity in all their Decrees Canons and Iudgements They had no authority to assemble in a Synod much lesse o Si legitima synodus non fuit planum est nulla authoritatem potuisse habere nullius roboris sunt illius canones Bell. lib. 2. de Pont. ca. 18. §. Caeterum §. Ac deinde Sententia à non suo Iudice dicta nihil firmitatis obtinet Greg lib. 11. Epist 56. have they any authority to make a Law or give judgement in that Synod That which is invalid in the spring and originall must needs in all the subsequent actions derived from thence depending thereon retain the same invalidity And seeing it is neither multitude nor learning nor wisdome but authority which is the fountain and foundation of all Lawes Canons and Iudgements where this authority is wanting in any person or assembly it is as impossible for such a person or assembly to make a law give any judgement or pronounce any judiciall sentence as to erect an house in the ayre or build without any foundation And truly this toucheth at the quick all those ten Councels which wanting authority to assemble them were no other but tumultuous seditious and unauthorized assemblies There was no more strength validity or vigour in any of their Decrees to binde as lawes or synodall judgements than there was in such Edicts as Spartacus and Catiline in Rome or Iacke Cade in this Kingdome should have published and set forth specially in that which he like another Pope intended to be his fundamentall law That all lawes should proceed out of his mouth Those which they untruly call the Canons Decrees or Iudgements of those Synods are onely the opinions resolutions and consultations of so many seditious men which cōvened and conspired together in those conjurations synodall Decrees or Ecclesiasticall Lawes and Iudgements they were not they could not be In the head they are nipt and tainted with a nullity of authority they beare this tainture and nullity throughout every part and parcell of their determinations 41. But when the unlawfulnesse of any Synod ariseth as in the ancient Councels at Arimine Millane and Ephesus it did from the want of the other condition that is of orderly proceedings onely the Bishops being both lawfully called and having a lawfull President the case is here farre different their acts and sentences though they bee unlawfull yet are they truly judiciall and have the authority of synodall judgements and therefore doe binde others though not in conscience to accept them as true yet with patience to submit themselves to their censures till by like authority they be revoked and repealed Even as in civill Courts though an unjust or partiall Iudge either for feare favour hatred desire of lucre or any other perturbation of minde shall wilfully pervert justice and due proceedings and pronounce an unjust sentence yet is this act judiciall and stands in force of a judgement till by the like or higher authority it be reversed because such an one had authority and rightfull power to judge and give sentence in that cause though he abused his authority to injustice and wrong Right so it is in synodall and Ecclesiasticall assemblies when they are lawfully called and authorized to heare and judge any matter their want of due orderly and just proceedings makes their judgment unjust and shewes them to be wicked and malicious conspirators against the truth but it doth not make the decree to be no judgment or no judiciall sentence of a Councell The corruption is now in the branch not in the root the abuse of their authority makes not a nullity in their act It hinders not them to bee truly and rightfully Iudges but it demonstrates them not to bee upright good and just Iudges it shewes their sentence to be wicked and impious but it hinders it not to be a judiciall sentence Whereof that one among many in the Ephesine Latrociny is a cleare example In it p Flavianum et Eusebium ab omni Episcopali dignitate judicamus esse alienos Conc. Ephes in act Con. Chal. act 1. pa. 57. b. Eusebius Bishop of Dorileum was most wickedly and unjustly deposed from his See yet this their unjust sentence stood in force till by the like authority of another generall Councell at Chalcedon it was repealed for in it Eusebius sate not at the first as a Iudge but as an accuser q Et Eusebius et Theodoretus in ordine accusantium sedent Con. Chalc. act 1. pa. 13. a. of Dioscorus and in the place of accusers He entreated the holy Councell that all the Acts r Conc. Chalc. act 3. pa. 66. and Iudgements at Ephesus viribus carere might be adnulled and declared to be of no force and that hee might enjoy as before that sentence he did Sacerdotali dignitate his Episcopall dignity and See The holy Synod consented to his just request received him as a member ſ Nam act 6. pa. 101. b. Eusebius Dorilei subscribit definitioni fidei inter alios of the Councell restored him to his See and adnulled all the acts of the Ephesine Latrociny requesting t Praesens omne Concilium deprecatur Imperatorem quatenus pia lege sanciat neque Synodum illam Ephesinam 2. nominati neque quidquam quod actum est in eteneri Conc. Chalc. act 10. p. 115. §. Anatolius pa. 116. Omnes eadem dicimus the Emperour to ratifie and confirme that their Iudgement 42. Such an
non re seu honore non potestate Bell. lib. 1. de Pontif. Rom. ca. 24. § â—orro and Binius k Binius verba Bellar. repetit et ait id patere ex Conc. Nic. Can. 7. notis in Epist 3. Anaclet to 1. Conc. pa. 105. not in Conc. Nicen. ca. 7. pa. 31â— a. professe though it was but a single Bishorick subject as both Ierome l Hoc ibi in Conc. Nic. decernitur ut Palestinae Metropolis Cesarea sit et totius Orientis Antiochia Hier. Epist ad Pammach contra Johan Epis Hieros and the Nicene m Habeat Aelia honoris consequentiam post Antiochiam Metropoli propria dignitate servata Conc. Nic. Can. 7. Councell declare to the Bishop of Antioch as his Patriarke and to the Bishop of Cesarea Palestina for there is another in Cappadocia as his Metropolitane yet for honor of our Saviors resurrectioÌ„ in that place it had the name of n Hieros limitaâ—â—â—â—scopus scâ—â—bat loco sed nullâ— Archi-Episcopo vel Episcopo praeerat Bell. loc cit Patriark and preeminency in Councels o Nam sedit 4. loco in Concilio Niceno et subscribit ante Episcopum Caesariensem in Conc. Nicene et Constant ut ex subscriptione liquet et in Conc. Chalc. Act 5. to the Bishop of Caesarea Not to the authoritie and power of a Patriarke for that it had and had it justly long before this fift Councell even by the decree and judgement of the Councell of Chalcedon Iuvenalis p Epist 62. Leonis had sued for it in the Ephesine Councell but the Bish of Antioch as it seemeth then being unwilling to manumit him as it were free him from his subjection Cyrill resisted it writ to Pope Leo praying him to do the like But after long contention both parties being throughly agreed the matter was brought to the Councell of Chalcedon where Maximus and Iuvenalis the Bishops of both Sees first of all and before the whole Councell professed that they were both willing that q Placuit mihi ait Maximus et Iuvenali propter multam contentionem ut sedes Antiochena habeat duas Phaenicias et Arabiam sedes autem Hierosolymorum habeat tres Palestinas et rogamus ex decreto vestrâ— haec firmari Conc. Chalc. Act. 7. pa. 105. the Bishop of Antioch should hold the two Pheniciaes and Arabia and the Bishop of Ierusalem should hold the three Palestinaes and they both requested the whole Synod to decree confirme and ratifie the same The whole Councell thereupon by their decree coÌ„firmed the same all the most revereÌ„d Bishops cryed r Ibid. We all say the same and we consent thereunto After them the most glorious Iudges in the name of the Emperor added Imperiall authority and the royall assent to the Synods decree saying Firmum etiam per nostrum decretuÌ„ sententiam Concilij in omni tempore permanebit hoc this shall abide firme for ever by our decree and by the judgement of the Councell that the Church of Antioch have under it the two Pheniciaes and Arabia the Church of Ierusalem have under it the three Palestines Thus the Iudges The same Decree of this Councell at Chalcedon is expresly testified both by Evagrius Å¿ Evag. l. 2. ca. 18 and Nicephorus t Nic. Callist lib. 15. ca. 30. So untrue it is which Guil. Tyrius and out of him Baronius avoucheth that the Church of Ierusalem was first made a Patriarchall See or had the Provinces and Metropolitanes of Casarea and Scithopolis annexed unto it by the fift Councell that it is undoubtedly certaine that it had with the title and dignity true Patriarchal authority and power over divers Provinces together with their inferiour Bishops conferred upon it with a plenary consent of the whole Church in the Councell of Chalcedon And that you may see the most shamefull dealing both of Bar. and Binius in another place where their choller against this fift Councell was not moved they acknowledge that truth for intreating of the Councell at Chalcedon In this seventh Session of it saith Baronius u An. 451. nu 124. and the like doth Binius x Not. in Conc. Chalc. pa. 184. b. was the controversie coÌ„posed betwixt the Bishops of Antioch IerusaleÌ„ and the cause being judged the two Pheniciae and Arabia were given to the Bishop of Antioch and the three Palestines were adjudged to the Bishop of Hierusalem ex quibus jam perspicuè â—â—paret jus Metropolis in Hierosolymitanam Ecclesiam esse translatum whence it doth evidently appeare that the right of the Metropolis which before belonged to the Bishop of Caesarea was translated to the Bishop of Ierusalem So they who yet in hatred against the Acts of the fift Councell with faces of Adamant deny that truth which here they confesse to be cleare and conspicuous 3. But saith the Cardinall y An. 553. nu 246. the decree of Chalcedon was made post absentiam Legatorum when the Popes Legates were now gone and so they being absent is to be held invalid O the forehead of the Cardinall Were the Popes Legats absent were they gone Truly they were not onely present at this decree and consenting unto it but after it was proposed by Maximus and Iuvenalis they were the very first men that gave sentence therein whose sentence the whole Councell followed For thus it is sayd z Conc. Chalc. Act. 7. pa. 105. a Pascasinus and Lucentius the most reverend Bishops and Boniface a Presbyter these holding the place of the Apostolike See said by Pascasinus These things betwixt Maximus and Iuvenalis are knowne to be done for their good and peace nostrae humilitatis interloquutione firmantur and they are confirmed by the interloquution of our humility ut nulla imposterum de hac causa sit contentio that never hereafter there should be any contention about this matter betweene these Churches Is it credible that the Cardinall could be so audacious and impudent as to utter such palpable untruths Vnlesse he had quite put off I say not modesty but reason sense and almost humane nature Let this stand for the second capitall untruth in this passage 4. Yet Pope Leo himselfe saith Baronius a Loco citato withstood that Decree of the Councell at Chalcedon because it was prejudiciall to the rights of other Churches and by reason he consented not it was not put in execution as it was after this Decree of the fift Synod Had the Cardinall and his friends beene well advised they would feare and bee much ashamed once to mention the resistance of Pope Leo to the Councell at Chalcedon either in those Patriarks or in the other of Constantinople for first the resistance of Leo which was meerely ineffectuall demonstrates that the Popes contradiction with all his might and power can neither disanull nor infringe the judgement of a generall Councell which is no small prejudice to his Princehood or Princely
is shewed to have dyed an 436. then certainly the other to Dioscorus must needs bee a forgery whereby Iohn is shewed to live an 440. Againe if that to Dioscous be truly his as Baronius e Hactenus Theodoreti ad Diosc Epistola Bar. an 440. nu 29. assures you wherin Iohn is said to live an 440. then certainely the other to Domnus must of necessity bee a forgery wherein Iohn is said to be dead an 436. And as either of these two Epistles demonstrates the untruth and forgery of the other so they both demonstrate the great vanity of Baronius who applauds them both who wil make good what they both do affirm that is the same man to bee both dead and alive a Bishop and no Bishop at the selfe same time and by these worthy reasons doth the Cardinall refute his owne witnesse Nicephorus who by giving eighteene yeares to Iohn shewes plainly that Iohn and Cyrill dyed within one yeare which account perhaps gave occasion to the exscriber of the Synodall Acts to thrust in the name of Iohn whom upon Nicephorus account hee thought to live after Cyrill whereas in very deed hee dyed somewhile before Cyrill 27. His fourth and last reason is drawn from a Canonicall Epist of Cyrils to Domnus which is set done in the adjections to Theodorus Balsamon whence it is out of all doubt saith the Cardinall f Bar. an 553. nu 44. that Iohn dyed before Cyrill seeing Cyrill writ unto his successor Domnus But howsoever the Cardinall vanteth that this reason will leave no doubt yet if you observe it there are two great doubts therein The former is whether that Epistle be truly Cyrils And besides other reasons that one point which the Cardinall himselfe mentioneth may justly cause any to thinke it none of his for as the Cardinall g Nullus alius nomine Domnus inscriptus legitur qui tanta polleret authoritate ut ad libitum quod dictū est deponere atque restituere Episcopos posset Bar. an 553. nu 44. saith the Author of that Epistle ascribes such authority to Domnus that he might ad libitum at his pleasure put out Bishops and at his pleasure restore them Now there is none that knowes the learning moderation and wisedome of Cyrill that can thinke Cyrill ever to have written in such manner either to any Metropolitane or to any Patriarke specially seeing Cyrill was not ignorant of that Canon of the Councell at Antioch h Conc. Antioch sub Iulio 1. can 9. let not a Metropolitane doe any thing in such causes without the advise and consent of the other Bishops in the Province 28. The other doubt is whether that Domnus to whom this Epistle is written bee the same Domnus that was Bishop of Antioch and successor to Iohn The Cardinall is much troubled in removing this doubt and hee windes himselfe divers wayes Sure it is saith Baronius i Vnde apparet non inferioris sedis aliquem esse potuisse ejus nominis Episcopum an 553. nu 44. that hee who had such authoritie must needs bee some eminent Bishop and not one of an inferior See True but hee might bee a Metropolitane and so have inferiour Bishops under him and yet bee no Patriarke Againe saith hee k Certè quidem in scrie Episcoporum Orientalium qui Concilio Ephesmo et Chalcedoneusi interfuerunt nullus alius ejus nominis Dominus inscriptus reperitur c. Jbid. There is no Domnus else but this Domnus Bishop of Antioch mentioned either in the Councell of Ephesus or Chalcedon who had such authority as to depose and restore Bishops ad libitum As if Domnus of Antioch might doe it ad libitum But in such lawfull manner as Domnus of Antioch might doe it there were others called by the name of Domnus and those mentioned in those very Councels who might upon just cause and by due and Canonical proceeding depose and restore their inferiour Bishops looke but into those Councels and you will admire both the supine negligence of the Cardinall in this point and his most audacious down-facing of the truth for to omit others both in the Conventicle of Ephesus and the Councell of Chalcedon there is often mention of Domnus Bishop of Apamea a Metropolitane Bishop as the words of Miletius l Act. 3. Conc. Chal pa. 75. b. doe witnesse I Miletius Bishop of Larissa speaking for Domnus the Metropolitane Bishop of Apamea and for this Domnus hee subscribed m Act. eādem pa. 81. et Act. 6. pa. 101. a. And that you may see how fraudulently the Cardinall dealt in this very point he neither would set downe that Epistle nor acquaint you with that which in Balsamon n Sic enim in margine illius Epistolae notatur videtur tempore Cyrilli emissa esse Romam hujus Alexandrini Sacerdotis Appellatio is expresly noted that Peter the Bish whom that Domnus unto whom Cyrill writeth had deposed was Alexandrinus Sacerdos a Bishop of the patriarchall diocesse of Alexandria what had Domnus of Antioch to doe with the Alexandrian Bishops So cleare it is by Balsamon that this Domnus unto whom Cyrill writ was not Domnus of Antioch as the Card. I feare against his knowledge avoucheth 29. Thus you see all and every reason which the Cardinall bringeth Iohn to bee dead seven yeares before Cyrill not only to be weake and unable to enforce that Conclusion but withall to bee full fraught with frauds and untruths So that if I had not found more sound and certaine reasons to perswade this I could never by the Cardinals proofes have beene induced to thinke that an errour in the Inscription of Theodorets Epistle But seeing upon the undoubted testimonies in the Councell of Chalcedon it is certaine that Iohn dyed before Cyrill I willingly acknowledge a slip of some writer in that Inscription but yet the Epistle it selfe must bee acknowledged truly to bee Theodorets which is all that the Synod avoucheth and which is that which the Cardinall undertooke to disprove but by no one reason doth offer to prove the same And even for that errour also in the Inscription I doubt not but those who can have the sight of the Greek and Originall yea perhaps of some ancient Latine copies of the Acts of this fift Councell shall finde either no name at all or which I rather suppose the name of Domnus expressed therin in stead of which whereas some ignorant audacious exscriber hath thrust in the name of Iohn it is not nor ought it to bee any impeachment at all to the Synodall Acts unlesse the Cardinall will acknowledge his owne Annals to bee of no credit because in them Pascalis is written by some such errour for Pelagius Iohn for Vigilius Iustinus for Iustinianus Theodorus for Theodosius Sexta for Quinta Foelicianus for Celestianus and a number the like in other causes most of these slips pertaining to this very cause of the Three Chapters of which wee doe entreate CAP.
XXXV That Baronius himselfe followeth many forged writings and fabulous narrations in handling this cause of the fift Councell as particularly the excommunication ascribed to Mennas Theodorus and others and the narration of Anastasius 1. YOV have seene all the exceptions which their great Momus could devise against these Acts to prove them corrupted either by alteration or mutilation or which is the worst of all by additions of forged writings But alas who can endure to heare Baronius declame against corrupted false forged or counterfeit writings Quis tulerit Gracchos better might Gracchus invey against sedition or Verres against bribery than Baronius against the using of false and fained writings Aethiopem albus derideat hee should first have washt away those foule blemishes out of his owne Annals more blacke herewith than any Aethiopian and then have censured such spots in others Were his Annals well purged of such writings their vast Tomes would become a pretty Manuall They who have occasion to examine other passages in Baronius will finde the truth hereof in them for this one concerning the fift Councell Pope Vigilius and the cause of the Three Chapters from which I am loath to digresse I doubt not but whosoever will compare the Cardinals Annals with this Treatise wil easily perceive that all which hee hath said in defence of the Pope relyeth on no other nor better grounds but either forged writings or if truely written by the authors yet on some fabulous narration and untruths which from them the Cardinall hath culd out as onely sit for his purpose Suffer me to give a tast hereof in some of them 2. The first in this kinde is a supplication to Vigilius or a briefe confession made unto him by Mennas Bishop of Constantinople Theodorus Bishop of Caesarea and divers other Easterne Bishops inserted in the beginning of the Constitution of Vigilius and much applauded by the Cardinall a Bar. an 572. nu 19. in this cause and this to bee a meere fiction is by many evident proofes before mentioned easily discerned The occasion of it as the Cardinall tels us b Ibid. et nu 20. was to humble themselves to Pope Vigilius and acknowledge the injuries they had done in writing and declaming against c Vigilio non acquu vit sed eâ—â— plane despexiâ— eique insultavit c. Ba. an 551 nu 3. him and his Synodall Constitution for Taciturnity concerning the Three Chapters Now seeing that whole matter is fictitious for neither was there any such Synod ever held nor any such decree ever made the confession which is grounded on them must be like them fabulous and forged 3. The contents bewray the dulnesse of the forgerer the Easterne Bishops professe there to imbrace the foure former Councels and all the Acts thereof in all causes judgements and Constitutions made with consent d Vniversa ab eisâ—em Synodiâ— Communi coâ—sensu cum Vicarijs sedis Apostolicae judicia conservamus c. in Exemplo confess quod extat in initio Constituti Vigilij of the Popes Legates Why the Easterne Bishops knew right well that some Canons were concluded both in the Councells of Constantinople and Chalcedon not only without but quite contrary to the minde of the Pope and his Legates as namely that about the dignity of Constantinople which they notwithstanding the resistance of the Legates both approved and knew it to have beene ever held in force by the judgement of the Catholike Church but specially by the Bishops of Constantinople whose Patriarchall dignity which they ever after the second Councell enjoyed was both decreed and confirmed by those Canons Never did the Easterne Bishops in those dayes nor long after esteeme the Popes owne much lesse his Legates consent so necessary to any Synodall Decree but that without them the same might bee made and stand in force as the judgement of the generall Councell and whole Church And to goe no further what an unlikely and uncredible thing is it that Theodorus and the rest in one yeare should make this confession to accept no more of those Synodall decrees then the Pope or his Legates were pleased to allow and the very next yeare after contrary to that their confession themselves hold a Synod and make a Synodall decree in this cause of the Three Chapters not onely without the Popes consent or presence either of himself or his Legate but even contrary to his definitive sentence made known unto them the deviser of that confession shewes himselfe plainely to have beene some of the Vaticane favourites who living perhaps in the time of Gregory by this intended to infringe the dignity of the See of Constantinople and those Canons which were concluded both in the 2. and 4. Councell whereas the Easterne Bishops notwithstanding the contradiction and resistance of the Pope held them ever in as great authority and reverence as any Canons in all the foure former Councels 4. Againe what a silly devise was it to make Mennas Theodorus and a great number of Bishops to aske pardon of the Pope for that wherein they professe themselves no way to bee guilty I have e De injurijs beâ—titudini vestrae factis ego quideÌ„ nullam feci c. Ibid. done no injuries to your Holinesse yet for the peace of the Church veluti si eas fecissem veniam postulo I pray you forgive mee that which I never did as if I had done it Can any man thinke this the submission of wise men of such stout and constant mindes as Mennas and Theodorus besides the rest had or what could bee devised more repugnant to that which Vigilius is made to say in his excommunication f Extat inter Epist Vigilij post Epistolam 16. of Theodorus Thou scandalizing the whole Church and being warned entreated threatned by me hast refused to amend nunquam à pravâ intentione cessasti and never hast thou ceased from thy wicked designe nor to write and preach novelties so he cals the condemning of the Three Chapters yea after the Constitution for silence to which thou hadst sworne thou hast openly red in the Pallace a booke against the Three Chapters thou hast beene the fire-brand and the beginner of the whole scandall thou hast despised the authority of the Apostolike See Thus saith the Excommunication Was Vigilius well advised thinke you to accept as a satisfaction and submission for so many and so hainous crimes of insolency contempt perjury sacriledge and the like this confession at the hands of Theodorus wherein he doth in effect give the Pope the lie saying and avouching I have written no bookes at all contrarie to that Decree of Silence made by your Holinesse and for the injuries which have beene done to your holinesse and to your See eas quidem non feci truely I have done none at all Is not this a worthy submission the Pope saith he hath done innumerable and very hainous injuries to him such as deserved the censure of
qua Rex in doing that which none but a King can doe so a King or a Bishop or any other offendeth God as a King or Bishop in doing against that duty which none but they are to doe 45. Now what is said of all Sciences Arts and mysteries that is in due proportion to be applyed to that greatest mysterie of mysteries and Craft above all Crafts to their Pope-craft or mysterie of Iniquity He is the sheepheard to feed all the Physitian to cure all the Counsellor to advise all the Iudge to decide al the Monarke to command all hee is all in all nay above all hard it is to define him or his duties hee is indefinite infinite transcendent above all limits above all definitions above all rule yea above all reason also But as the Nymphs not able to measure the vastnes of the Gyants whole body measured onely the compasse of his thumbe with a thred and by it knew and admired the bignesse of his Gygantean body so let us consider but the thumbe or little toe of his Holinesse fault and by it conjecture the immensity of this eldest sonne of Anak Pasce oves confirma fratres must bee to us as the Nymphes thred or line for these two are the Popes peculiars in which are contained all the rest and they reach as farre as heaven and hell they are the Popes duty quatenus hee is Pope If at any time or upon any occasion hee swarve from this line if by his doctrine he cast downe his brethren instead of confirming them or give them poyson in stead of good food he offends not now as Swines-snout m Sunt qui Sergium 2. prius dicant os porci vocatum et ob turpitudinem cognomenti Sergij nomen sumpsisse eamque consuetudinem ad posteros manasse c. Plat. in vita Serg. 2. nor as Peter n Dicimus quidem quod Innocentius hoc dixit non ut Papa sed ut Petrus de Tarantasia In Extrav Johan 22. Tit. 14. de verbor signif ca. 5. Greg. 13. antea Hugo dictus à Boncompagnorū familia oriundus Anto. Cicar in ejus vita of Tarantasia nor as Hugh Bone companion but quatenus Papa even as Pope in that very Pastorall and Papall duty which properly and peculiarly belongeth to him as Pope Lay now this line and thred to Pope Vigilius and his Epistle did he confirme Anthimus Theodosius and Severus in the faith when he told them that by Gods o Vigil in epist apud Liber loc cit helpe both before and then also he held the same faith with them and that was Eutycheanisme and that they were joyned to him in the charity which is in Christ or was this wholsome food which hee the great Pastor of their soules set before them Accursed be all that deny one and affirme two natures to have beene in Christ If this bee hereticall doctrine seeing Pope Vigilius fed them and confirmed them in this faith then certainely he taught heresie as Pope that is hee exercised his Papall office even that of feeding and confirming his brethren which is peculiar to the Pope as Pope to the teaching and approving of heresie at this time 46. If yet wee shall goe somewhat more precisely and exactly to worke according to line and measure those acts of feeding and confirming doe but in a very equivocall sense for their doctrine is full of Equivocation agree to other Bishops but still a maine difference or odds is to bee observed betwixt the Popes feeding and confirming as hee is Pope and all others when any other Bishop teacheth heresie because his teaching is subordinate and fallible one may nay he must doubt or feare to feed on such food he must still receive it with this caution or tacit appeale of his heart if his holinesse commend it for an wholesome diet of the soule But if the Pope teach any heresie if hee say that the Sunne is darke the left the write hand poyson an wholesome food Eutycheanisme or Nestorianisme the orthodoxall faith here because there is no higher judge to whom you may appeale you are bound upon salvation without any doubt or scruple at all to eate and devoure this meate you may not judge nay you may not dispute or aske any man whether it be true or no the Popes teaching is supreme and therefore infallible indubitable this is to teach to feed to confirme as Pope for none can thus teach or feed but onely the Pope as Pope So the same hereticall doctrine when it is taught by the Pope as he is a private man is a private instruction without any publike authority to teach when by him as a Presbiter it is an instruction with publike authority to teach but without judicatory power to censure the gainsayers when by him as a Bishop it is both with pulike authority and judicatory power to censure suspend or excommunicate the gainsayers but yet subordinate and fallible including a virtuall appeale to the highest tribunall of the Pope when by him as Pope it hath all the former conditions both publike authority to teach and judiciall power to censure and which is the Popes peculiar prerogative as Pope to doe those with infallibility of judgement and supremacy of authority such as none may refuse or doubt to beleeve and embrace 47. If any will here reply with the Sophister Thrasimachus his subtilty in Plato p that the Pope as Pope teacheth not amisse q Plat. lib. 1. de Repub. but as hee faileth in the Popes duty as hee wants skill or will to performe that office This must bee acknowledged as true indeed for in the strictest sense of all what the Pope is as Pope that must inseparably agree to every Pope and the manner of his teaching as Pope must inseparably agree to the teaching of every Pope even as Logicians q Per hanc conditionem quatenus ipsam notatur quod praedicatum inest subjecto secundum propriam subjecti naturam Iac. Zab. com in ca. 4. lib. demon text 36. say that what agreeth to a man a bird or a tree quatenus talia as they are such must agree to every man bird and tree But this quirke and subtilty will not helpe their cause nor excuse the Pope from erring as Pope for as in this sense no Pope as Pope doth erre because then every Pope should erre in all doctrines which hee teacheth so neither in the same sense doth any Pope as Pope teach the truth for then every doctrine of every Pope should bee true Againe as according to this sense no Pope as Pope so no Bishop as Bishop no Presbyteras Presbyter doth erre or teach heresie for did hee in his teaching erre as Bishop or Presbyter then every Presbyter and every Bishop and so even the Apostles themselves should erre in their teaching But as Vigilius or Liberius when they taught Arianisme Eutycheanisme or Nestorianisme did this not simply as Popes but as persons not knowing as in
authoritie to preach publikely and therefore such a decree is as fully authorized confirmed and approved as if all the Bishops and Presbyters in the world had personally subscribed in this manner I confirme this Decree Hereof there is a worthy example in the third generall Councell No Presbyters at all were therein not in their owne right Very many Bishops were personally absent and present onely by their Legates or Agents as almost all the Westerne Bishops and by name Celestine Patriarch of Rome Some no question upon other occasions neglected that businesse as it may be the Bishops of Gangra and of Heraclea in Macedonia who were not at this Councell Divers others wilfully and obstinately refused to come to that holy Synod as by name Nestorius Patriarch of Constantinople Iohn Patriarch of Antioch and some forty Bishops who at the same time while the holy Councell was held in the Church at Ephesus held a Conventicle by themselves in an Inne in the same Citie and yet notwithstanding the personall absence of the first the negligent of the second and wilfull absence of the last the holy x Epist Conc. Ephes ad Imper. tom 2. Act. Con. Ephes epist 17. generall Councell saith of their Synodall judgement given by those who were then present that it was nihil aliud quam communis concors terrarum orbis sensus consensus nothing else but the common and consenting judgment of the whole world How could this be when so many Bishops besides three Patriarchs were either personally or negligently or wifully absent How was there in that decree the consent of these Truly because they all even all the Bishops in the world did either personally or by their Agents expresse or else in such a tacit and implicit manner as wee declared wrap up their judgement in the Synodall decree made by the Bishops present in the Councell 28. But what if many of those who are present doe dissent from that which the rest being the greater part doe decree Truly even these also doe implicitè and are in reason to bee judged to consent to that same decree For every one is supposed to agree on that generall Maxime of reason that in such an assembly of Iudges what the greater part decreeth shall stand as the Act and Iudgement of the whole seeing otherwise it would be impossible that such a multitude of Bishops should ever give any judgement in a cause for still some in perversenesse and pertinacie would dissent Seeing then it is the ordinance of God that the Church shall judge and seeing there can no other meanes be devised how they should judge unlesse the sentence of the greater part may stand for their judgement reason enforceth all to consent upon this Maxime Vpon this is that Imperiall Law grounded Quod y Dig. lib. 50. leg 19. major pars curiae effecit pro rato habetur acsi omnes id egerint what the greater part of the Court shall do that is ratified or to stand for the judgement of the Court as if all had done the same And againe Refertur z Dig. lib. 5. tit 17. de Reg. Iuris 160. ad universos quod publicè fit per majorem partem That is accounted the act of all which is publikely done by the greater part Vpon this ground is that truly said by Bellarmine a Lib. 2. de Conc. ca. 11. §. At. That whereon the greater part doth consent est verum decretum Concilij is the true decree of the Councell even of the whole Councell Vpon the equitie of this rule was it said in the Councell at Chalcedon b Act. 4. p. 90. b. when ten Bishops dissented from the rest Non est justum decem audiri It is not just that the sentence of ten should prevaile against a thousand and two hundred Bishops Vpon the equitie of the same rule did the fift generall Councell truly constantly judge c Coll. 6. p. 576. b that the Councell of Chalcedon even in that definition of faith which they all with one consent agreed upon condemned the Epistle of Ibas as hereticall although they knew that Maximus with Pascasinus and the other Legats of Pope Leo in the Councell of Chalcedon adjudged that Epistle to be orthodoxall How was it the consenting judgement of the whole Councell of Chalcedon when yet some did expresse their dissent therein How but by that implicit consent which all give to that rule of reason that the judgement of the greater part shall stand for the judgment of the whole which the fift Councell doth plainly signifie saying d Ibid. pa. 563. b. In Councels we must not attend the interloquutions of one or two but what is defined in common ab omnibus aut amplioribus either by all or by the greater part to that we must attend as to the judgement of the whole Councell But omitting all the rest there is one example in the Councell of Chalcedon most pregnant to this purpose 29. All e Haec omnes dicimus haec omnibus placent Act. 16. pa. 137. a. the Councell save onely the Popes Legates consented upon that third Canon decreed in the second and now confirmed in this fourth Councell that the See of Constantinople should have Patriarchall dignity over Thrace Asia and Pontus and have precedence before other Patriarches as the next after the Bishop of Rome The Legates following the instructions of Leo were so averse in this matter that they said f Ibid. pa. 137. b. not without some choler Contradictio nostra his gesti◠inhaereat Let our contradiction cleave to these Acts and so it doth to the eternall disgrace both of them and their master The glorious Iudges notwithstanding this dissenting of the Legates and of Pope Leo himselfe in them said g Ibid. concerning that Canon That which we have spoken that the See of Constantinople ought to be the second c. Tota Synodus the whole Councell hath approved it Why but the Popes Legates approved it not they contradicted it True in this particular they dissented But because they as all other Bishops even Pope Leo himselfe consented unto that generall Maxime That the judgement of the greater part shall stand for the judgement of the whole Councell in that generall both the Legats of Leo and Leo himselfe did implicitè and virtually consent to that very Canon from which actually and explicitè they did then dissent For which cause the most prudent Iudges truly said Tota Synodus the whole Councell hath approved this Canon either explicitè or implicitè either expressely or virtually approved it Neither did onely those secular Iudges so esteeme the whole generall Councell it selfe professed the same and that even in the Synodall Relation of their Acts to Pope Leo The universall h Sancta universal Synod Leoni Relat. Synod post Act. 16 Synod said thus We have condemned Dioscorus we have confirmed the faith wee have confirmed the Canon of the second
lawfully assemble they could not but onely by Imperiall it hence clearly ensueth that for defect of lawfull calling and assembling they are all of them no other than unlawfull Councels Againe seeing no Synods are congregated in Christs name i Congregari in nomine Christi nihil aliud est quam ab eo congregari qui habet à Christo authoritatem congregandi Bell. lib. 1. de Conc. ca. 17. § At hoc but such as are assembled by him who hath from Christ authority to assemble them which in Christian Kingdomes none hath as wee have shewed but onely Kings and Emperours and seeing none of those ten were assembled by them it hence further and certainly ensueth that never one of those ten were gathered in Christs name and if not in Christs then sure in no other but in the name of Antichrist and so all of them in respect of their calling not only unlawfull but even Antichristian Councels 28. After their calling consider their proceedings for as those Councels were unlawfully assembled so were they also unlawfull by defect of the other essentiall condition which is due and synodall order for they all not onely wanted synodall freedome and order but which is worse they wanted that which is the onely meanes to have synodall freedome and order observed in any generall Councell and that is the Imperiall Presidencie in none of them was the Emperour in them all k Addamus his 8. primit reliqua generalia Concilia in quibus omnibus sinè controversia Pontifex Rom. praesedit Bell. lib. 1. de Conc. ca. 20 § Si ergo the Pope was President In the first Laterane Calistus l Papa Calixtus 2. coram innumera multitudine Cleri et populi eidem Concilio Viennensem nominat Vsper diceret Lateranensi ut et Bin. agnoscit notis suis in illud Cōc praesedit Abb. Vrsper ad an 1119. et huic Concilio praesedit Pontifex Bin. notis suis ad id Conc. pa. 1317. b in the second Innocentius m Synodus maxima Romae praesidente summo Pontifice Junocētio celebratur Otho Frising lib. 7. ca. 23. the second in the third Alexander n Omnes scriptores fatentur eidem Concilio Pontificem Romanum praesedisse Bin. Not. in Conc. Later 3. § Oecumenicum to 3. pa. 1351. the third in the fourth Innocentius o Ei Pontifex Rom. praesedit Bin. not in Conc. Later 4. to 3. Con. pa. 1466 b the third and the like might bee shewed in the rest but that Bellarmines words may ease us of that labour who speaking of all those ten Councels saith p Bell. lib. 1. de Con. ca. 20. § Si ergo In eis omnibus sine Controversia Pontifex Rom. praesedit the Pope without doubt was President in them all 29. Nor was this an Episcopall Presidencie a preheminence only precedence before other Bishops in the Synod such as any Bish to whō the Emp. pleased to confer that dignity might lawfully enjoy when he gave it to none by name it then by his tacit consent or permission fell as it were by devolution upon the chiefe Bishop that was present in the Councell Such a Presidencie though it bee not due to the Pope seeing in the ancient Councels hee neither had it nor grudged that other should have it yet are wee not unwilling to allow that unto him if contenting himselfe therewith hee would seeke no more But the Presidencie which hee now desires and in all those ten Councels usurped is meerely Imperiall the Presidencie of governing the Synod and ordering it by his authority and power the very same which in all the generall Councels for a thousand yeares after Christ the Emperour held and had it as one of his Royalties and Imperiall rights none of all the Catholike Bishops in those Councels ever so much as contradicting much lesse resisting the same For any Bishops most of all for the Pope to take upon them such a Presidencie utterly overthrows all liberty and order in Councels for by it all the Bishops are to be kept in awe and order and the Pope who of all other is most exorbitant and farthest out of square ought by this to be curbed reduced into order Even as when Catiline took upon him to bee the Ruler and guide to his assembly and a punisher of disorders among them though all the rest willingly submitted themselves and that with a solemne oath q Hos ut se nefando jurejurando adstringerent adegit puerum enim mactavit juramentoque inito super ejus visceribus eadem ipse cum alijs comedit Dio Cass lib. 37. to bee ordered by him in their actions yet for all this order they were no free Romane Senate but a Conjuration of Conspirators striving to oppresse r Catilinam luxuria primum tū egestas in nefaria Concilia opprimendae patris impulere Senatum confodere totam rempub funditus tollere et quicquid nec Hannibal videretur optasse L. Flor. lib. 4. ca. 1. the Romane State liberties and ancient lawes Right so it is in these Synods when the Pope who is the Lord of misrule and Ring-leader of the Conspirators takes upon him this Presidencie to order Councels though the rest not onely consent but binde themselves by a sacred oath ſ Ego Nic. ab hac hora fidelis ero S. Petro et Ecclesiae Romanae dominoque meo Papae Papatum adjutor ero ad defendendum Forma est juramenti secundum quam jurant Episcopi et hodiè omnes recipientes dignitatem â Papa Extra de jurejur ca. Ego N. lib. 2. tit 24. ca. 4. to be subject to his authoritie this very usurpation of such Presidencie doth eo ipso exclude and banish al liberty synodall order makes their assemblies meere Conjurations against the truth and ancient faith of the Church 30. How could it now be chosen but that whatsoever heresie the Pope with the faction of his Catilinarie Conspiratours embraced should in such Councels prevaile against the truth The Imperiall authority was the onely hedge or pale to keepe the Pope within his bounds that being once removed he said he did he decreed what he listed The rule of his Regiment was now the old Canon of Constantius Quod ego volo pro Canone sit the proofe of all their decrees was borrowed from their predecessors the old Donatists Quod t Aug. lib. 2. cöt Ep. Parm. ca. 13. volumus sanctum est Not Emperours not Bishops none might controule him or say unto him u Quid excogitare verum vel verisimile possunt quibus non vel Rex vel Casar non populus non clerus non generalis Synodus non denique tota Ecclesia dicere potest cur ità facis Cl. Espen in cap. 1. ad Titum pa. 76. Domine cur ita facis The Bishops were tyed to him by an oath x De quo supra cap. Ego N. Extra de jreujur to defend the Papacy that
is his usurped authority and defend it contra omnes homines against all that should wag their tongues against it The Emperours and Kings saw how Hildebrand had used and in most indigne manner misused Henry the 4. how Alexander y Alexander Imperatori jussit ut se humi prosterneret et Imperatoris collum pede comprimens ait Scriptum est Super Aspidem et Basiliscum ambulabis Naucl. an 1177 the third had insolently trodden on the necke of Fredericke what could they nay what durst they doe but either willingly stoop and prostrate themselves or else be forced to lye downe at the Popes feet and say unto him Tread on us O thou Lion of the Tribe of Iudah and according as it is written Set thy foot super Aspidem Basiliscum Could there possibly be any freedome or order in such Synods where the onely meanes of preserving freedome and order was banished Might not the Pope in such Councels doe and decree whatsoever either himselfe his will or faction would suggest unto him Say they had neither swords nor clubs nor other like instruments of violence in those Synods they needed none of them This Papall presidency was in stead of them all It was like the club of Hercules the very shaking of it was able and did affright all that none no not Emperours durst deale against it The removing of the Imperiall presidency made such a calme in their Synods that without resistance without any need of other further violence the Pope might oversway whatsoever he desired 31. And truly it may bee easily observed by such as attentively reade the Ecclesiasticall stories that together with the standing or fall of the Empire either the ancient faith or heresies prevailed in the Church So long as the Emperour being Christian retained his dignity and Imperiall authority no heresie could long take place but was by the Synodall judgement of Oecumenicall Councels maturely suppressed the faction of no Bishop no not of the Pope being able to prevaile against that soveraigne remedy But when once z Ab an 730. ad an 800. Gregorie the second Zachary and their succeeding Popes to Leo the third had by most admirable and unexplicable fraud subtilty clipt the wings and cut the sinewes of the Easterne Empire themselves first seizing upon the greatest part of Italy by the meanes of Pipin and then erecting a new Empire in the West the Imperiall authority being thus infringed the Easterne Emperour not daring the Westerne in regard of the late curtesie received from the Pope being not willing and neither of them both being able now to match and justle with the Pope this which was the great let and impediment to the Popes faction and the discovering of the man of sinne being now removed there was no meanes to keepe out of the Church the heresies which the Pope affected then the Cataracts of heresies being set open and the depths of the earth nay of the infernall pit being burst up heresies rusht in and came with a strong hand into the Church and those hereticall doctrines which in six hundred yeares and more could never get head passing as doubtfull and private opinions among a few and falling but as a few little drops of raine grew now unto such an height and outrage that they became the publike and decreed doctrines in the Westerne Church The Pope once having found his strength in the cause of Images wherein the first triall was made thereof no fancie nor dotage was so absurd for which he could not after that command when he listed the judgement of a generall Councell Transubstantiation Proper Sacrifice the Idoll of the Masse to which not Moloch nor Baal is to be compared their Purgatorian fire their five new-found proper Sacraments condignity of workes yea Supererogation and an armie of like heresies assayled and prevailed against the truth The Imperiall authority being laid in the dust and trampled under the sole of the Popes foot no meanes was left to restraine his enormous designes or hinder him in Councels to doe and define even what he listed And as the Imperiall authority which he so long time had oppressed is in any kingdome more or lesse restored and freed from his vassalage the other heresies which arose from the ruine and decay thereof are more or lesse expurged out of that Kingdome and the ancient truth restored therein Yea and still though but by insensible degrees shall hee and his authority wast a 2 Thess 2.8 and consume till not onely all the ten b Apoc. 17.12.16 hornes of the Beast that is all the Kings whose authority he hath usurped and used as his hornes to push at Gods Saints shall hate the Whore that Romish Babylon and make her desolate and naked and burne her with fire but till himselfe also being despised and contemned of his owne lovers shall together with his adherents be utterly abolished and cast into that Lake of Gods wrath 32. You see now how unlawfull those Synods are by reason of the defect of Imperiall presidency you will perhaps demand whether by the want thereof there happened any particular disorder in them or ought contrary to freedome and synodall order whereunto I might in a word answer that there neither was nor could there bee ought at all done in any of those ten Synods with freedome and synodall order For though otherwise their proceedings had beene never so milde temperate and equall yet even for that one defect of Imperiall presidency and excluding the same whatsoever they did was disorderly and they all nothing but synods of disorder But yet for further satisfaction of that question let us omitting all the rest consider among very many some few particulars concerning their youngest and dearest baby of Trent Was that equall dealing in Paul the 3. at the beginning of his Trent assembly to conspire c Cum Conciliū jam haberi inciperet Imperator et Pontifex clanculum unâ de armis ad Protestantes domandos suscipiendis concilium inter se inierunt Gen. Exam. Trident. Conc. sess 3. nu 5 and take secret counsell with the Emperour to make warre against the Protestants and root them out of the world The Italian Franciscan in his Sermon before Ferdinand stirring up both him and others to this butchery Exere vires tuas plucke up your spirit and strength and root out that pestiferous kinde of men nefas enim est for it is unlawfull to suffer them any longer to looke upon the light neither say that you will doe it it must be done even now at this present and without any delay d Ioh. Sleid. Comment lib. 16. an 1545. Thus did he give the watchword and sound an alarme to their intended Massacre whereupon there ensued bellum e Gent. loc cit nu 6. cruentum calamitosum a bloody and cruell warre against the Protestants concerning which divers of the Princes of Germanie said in their Letters to the Emperour Wee