Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	church_n	divine_a	faith_n	7,996	5	6.0272	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45953	The intrigues of the conclave, at the choosing of a pope as also a particular relation of what past at the election of Sixtus V, and Clement VIII : to which is added an historical essay, to demonstrate that according to the principles of the Church of Rome, there has not been, nor can be, any true and lawful pope since the election of Sixtus V / written by a gentleman of Rome.	Gentleman of Rome.	1691 (1691)	Wing I277A; ESTC R1571	26,250	36

THE INTRIGUES OF THE CONCLAVE At the Choosing of a POPE AS ALSO A particular Relation of what past at the Election of SIXTUS V. and CLEMENT VIII To which is added An Historical Essay To Demonstrate That according to the Principles of the Church of Rome there has not been nor can be any True and Lawful POPE since the Election of SIXTVS V. Written by a Gentleman of Rome LICENS'D J. F. March 4. 1690 1. LONDON Printed for Largley 〈◊〉 at Sir Edmonbury Godfrey's Head near 〈◊〉 Bridge MDCXCI THE INTRIGUES OF THE Conclave c. THE Doctrine of the Pope's Infallibility upon which hang almost all the Articles of the Romish Religion is a Banter of that Nature that I think the Assertors of it who are generally well enough acquainted with the Court of Rome are much more to be wondered at than the Soothsayers were by Cato if they hold their Countenance when they look upon one another I am sure nothing can equal their Impudence who pretend to be serious in maintaining such a Cause but the Impertinence of those who by Dint of solid Argumenrs endeavor to confute them since there is no considering Person but must know that it is impossible that they themselves shou'd believe what they wou'd fain Put upon the rest of Mankind When we shall here take a View of the CONCLAVE where this Infallible Pope is Forged and behold what scandalous Qualifications generally recommend Persons to St. Peter's Chair as they call it What base and detestable Practices are used by the Managers of the several Parties and Factions to promote those whom they think likely to prove subservient to their private and commonly wicked and abominable Designs I am sure none will imagin that they who are concern'd herein tho' their Blasphemous Cant is all the while of nothing but Divine Inspiration can think their Proceedings to be influenced by the Holy Ghost or indeed desire they should For the better understanding of the following Relation and for the Reader 's satisfaction I shall before we go any further give a short Account of the Manner of the Election of Popes in former Ages together with a more particular Description of the Proceedings of the Conclave in our Times But by the way I cannot forbear taking notice of a very Formal Story that is told us in the Book of the Sacred Ceremonies now used by the Church of Rome which says that St. Peter whil'st Bishop of that See instituted a College of Four and twenty Senators who afterwards in the time of Pope Sylvester were named Cardinals that is Princes of the Church These and no other were to have a Vote or Suffrage in the Election of their Bishop and if any other usurped that Right it was by Intrusion or Violence Now I wou'd fain know whether all those Popes which by the Confession of the said Book itself were chosen either by the Clergy and People in general or nominated by the Emperors for so many Ages together are to be accounted more duly Elected than they that are stiled Schismaticks and Antipopes If not what will become of that uninterrupted Succession which of late Years has been so much boasted of It is certain that for the first Five Centuries the Bishops of Rome were Chosen by the joint consent of the Clergy and People to whom they were accountable for their Administration and so far were they from arrogating that unlimited Authority over the Church which the Popes of the later Ages have pretended to that they were subject in matters of Faith to the Censures of the Clergy of their own Diocess by whom Eugenius the First was interdicted from Celebrating Divine Service until he had renounced the Heresie of the Monothelites After the Death of Simplicius Odoacer King of the Heruli makes a Law under pretence of remedying the Disorders that often happen'd at the Elections of Popes by which he forbad both People and Clergy to proceed to the Choice of any until they first knew his pleasure concerning the Person that was to be Elected This Law was Twenty Years afterwards abolished at the Fourth Council of Rome by the consent of Theodorick King of the Goths But this Arrian Prince toward the later Years of his Reign was so far from preserving those Priviledges which he had restored to the Romans that he took upon him to Create the Popes himself Felix the Fourth deriving his Authority wholly from his Nomination The Gothish Kings that succeeded him followed his Example herein only sometimes they were content to approve of the Person whom the Clergy recommended to them When Justinian had driven the Goths out of Italy he retain'd the same Power over the Popes that they before had assumed both he and his Successors obliging the New Elect to come and demand a Confirmation from them for which they were to pay a round Sum of Money before they could exercise even their Spiritual Function And because of the Distance between Constantinople the then Seat of the Empire and Rome the Exarch of Ravenna had often power delegated to him to enquire into the Merits of the Person Nominated and if he found nothing Objected against him he was to approve of his Election Thus Isacius the Exarch made a Journey on purpose to Confirm Severinm This Custom continued until Constantine the Emperor Sirnamed Pogonatus out of the great Veneration he had for the Sanctity of Benedict the second sent him a Decree wherein it was established That he whom the People and Clergy of Rome should Chuse should for the time to come be forthwith acknowledged for St. Peter's Successor without expecting the Authority of the Emperor or his Exarchs But this Decree was never as I can find much regarded by that Emperor's Successors for the Popes were never Consecrated without their Consent and Approbation When the Empire of the West fell into the hands of Charles the Great he retain'd the same right still and transfer'd it to those of his Race The German Emperors kept it as long as they could but when they grew weak and feeble the Popes instead of submitting to their Approbation pretended that they had a Right to dispose of even the Empire it self so that at last tho' not without a great deal of Squabling it was carried and Decreed by Nicholas the Second That the Election of the Popes should entirely remain in the power of the Cardinals This Canon was afterwards confirmed by several Popes and Councils Alexander the Third ordained That he only should be esteemed Canonically Elected that had the Votes of at least Two Thirds of the College of Cardinals and this is that way of Election that has obtain'd ever since and which we are now going to describe After the Funeral Rites of the Deceased Pope are Celebrated the Cardinals enter the Conclave which is held for the most part in the Vatican where in a long Gallery are erected small Apartments called Cells hung with Purple Cloth for the reception of every Cardinal

Seal upon it But when he came to be Sixtus the Fifth he made it his Chief Care and Study to Mortifie those that had Ad anced him Matthei was made a Cardinal amongst the first that he promoted Este finding himself deceived in this as well as his other Expectations was so Netled thereat that to be Revenged of the Pope he sent the Original Contract made between them to Philip the Second King of Spain His Catholick Majesty was so far concern'd at the Scandal that must necessarily arise from hence to Holy Church that in the Year 1589 he sent the Duke of Sessa his Ambassador to Sixtus to intimate to him the necessity of a General Council concerning his Simoniacal Election and to require the Cardinals Created by his Predecessors to appear at the said Council which he design'd to hold at Sevil. But upon the Duke of Sessa's coming to Rome the Pope Dies so the design of this Council for a New Election came to nothing Sixtus his Simoniacal Entrance into the Chair being thus Notorious to all the World it necessarily follows that all the pretended Cardinals of his Creation had no lawful Authority to Act as such Yet we find after his Death that of Fifty Three Cardinals that made up the Conclave Twenty Five of his making bore the greatest sway therein who under the Conduct of Montalto Nephew to Sixtus were the Authors of Vrban the Seventh's Election A few Days after they did the like for Gregory the Fourteenth and next to him for Innocent the Ninth But let any unprejudiced Romanift in the World Judg of the Validity of their Election We have already seen how powerful that Party was in the Conclave of Clement the Eighth who was himself one of Sixtus his Creatures and owed his Advancement wholy to the rest so that he was under a double Incapacity of being Chosen The Spaniards tho' they above all other Roman Catholicks are the most Devoted to the Holy See were sensible enough of the Unlawfulness of Clement's Election especially when he began to Act contrary to their Interest for when he Absolved Henry the Fourth and thereby acknowledged him King of France They did not stick in several Books written by them to that purpose publickly to Aver That he had no Authority to admit that Prince into the Communion of the Church he having nothing to do therein himself for if Sixtus say they was guilty of Simony then by the 〈◊〉 of Julius the Second he was no true and lawful Pope and consequently could not make Cardinals nor they who derived their Power from him Elect a Pope Now I might carry down the same Argument to prove the Invalidity of the Election of all the succeeding Popes but left it should be worn Thred-bare the Conclave of this Clement has furnished us with a fresh one but in the first place it will be covenient to premise that according to the Canons He that hath the Suffrages of Two Parts in Three of the Cardinals ought from that very Moment to be accounted duly Elected and he that is set up during his Life is no other than an Antipope As for the Ceremonies of Inthronisation Adoration or Kissing the Foot they are no more than the Effects and Consequences of a true Election and no way Essential to it which as the Canon In Nomine Domini does allow may be omitted if opposed either by Force or Cunning of any that Dissent from the rest This we have seen to have been exactly the Case of San Sevarina he was taken from his Cell by above Two Thirds of the Cardinals and carried by them into the Chappel and there placed in the Pontifical Chair and publickly Acknowledged and Adored as Pope and ought certainly to have continued so notwithstanding his being Cheated of his Right by the Infidelity of his Followers and the Tricks of his Adversaries who made shift to cause Aldobrandino to Jostle him out of the Holy Chair But tho' He kept possession of it yet was his Title very much question'd and disputed at Rome as well as in Spain nor can I see any Reason in the World why he ought not to be counted an 〈◊〉 and Antipope I● I thought it worth the while I might proceed to make out that none of the succeeding Popes had any better Title But I think there is enough said not only to prove a Failure in the Succession but to Unchurch the whole Communion ●o as it is impossible for it to be ever restored For allowing the abovementioned Persons to have been Intruders into the Holy Chair neither the Cardinals of their Creation nor those whom they Elect can have any other Authority than what they received from them And the Holy See and Sacred College being thus become Heretical and Schismatick this Contagion of necessity must diffuse itself into the whole Communion For the Fountain Head being once poysoned it is impossible for the streams that flow from it to be uncorrupted So that according to the present Constitutions of that Church it is not in the power even of a General Council to Reform it I shall conclude with my Advice to our Romish Friends that they would henceforward cease to cavil at some pretended Irregularities which they would fain make us believe they have espied in the Conduct of our Reformers since our Church is not at all founded upon the sandy Foundation of Human Authority And tho' we have the greatest Veneration imaginable for those great Men yet we still acknowledge them to have been Men and consequently not exempt from a possibility of Erring FINIS