affair As according to Cardinal Bellarmine he brav'd Philip the I st King of France to shew that he exempted none But nothing does so evidently discover that one cannot acknowledge the Pope to be infallible but that at the same moment we must acknowledge him likewise above Kings in Temporals as that famous Decision of Pope Boniface the VIIIth has done in the Bull Unam Sanctam approv'd by Leo the Xth in the Council of Lateran and the use which the favourers of the Roman Court make of this Bull to establish its pretensions There this Pope defines That both the one and the other Sword appertains to the Church and to the Pope That the Temporal Sword is subordinate to the Spiritual and the Temporal Authority to the Authority Spiritual That if this Spiritual power deviate from the right it must be judg'd by the Spiritual authority That this power was bestow'd on S. Peter and his Successors and That whoever resists this Subordination of Power resists Order in establishing two Principles like the Manichees Whence he concludes that it is necessary to Salvation that every humane power should submit it self to the Bishop of Rome Cardinal Bellarmine a Iesuite in his Book against Barclay concerning the Power of the Pope proves by this Bull that Kings are subject to the Pope in Temporals and this Doctrine is certain and most indubitable Now that it is saies he a thing constant and evident that the Sovereign Bishop may for just causes be Iudge of Temporals and sometimes depose Temporal Princes we prove by the Extravagant Unam Sanctam de majoritate obedientia which shews us that Sword is subordinate to Sword that is that the Temporal Authority is below the Spiritual and that if the Temporal neglect his duty it shall be judged by the Spiritual And for fear it should be objected that Clement the Vth seems to have revok'd this Bull by the Extravagant Meruit de privilegiis he prevents the Objection by saying that Clement the Vâ—h did not revoke the Bull of Pope Boniface but advertis'd onely that this Bull of Boniface had defin'd nothing new and had onely reviv'd the ancient obligation which men have to obey and submit themselves to the Apostolicall See in the manner he had before declar'd and which this Bull does observe that is to say as well in Temporal things as Spiritual Alexander Carrerius of Pavia in a Book intituled De potestate Primi Pontificis adversus impios Politicos Of the power of the Sovereign Bishop against the impious Politicians which is the name he gives to the French and particularly the Parliament proves by the same Bull that the Superiority over Kings in Temporals is an Article of Faith This Power of the Pope saies he over the Temporals of Kings is confirm'd by the testimony of Jeremiah See I have this day set thee over the Nations and Kingdoms to pull down and to destroy c. as 't is also decided by the Extravagant Unam Sanctam where 't is said that if the Temporal power deviate from the right it shall be judged by the Spiritual declaring that every humane creature is subject to the Bishop of Rome and that this is necessary to Salvation Therefore Boniface writ to Philip King of France in these terms Know that you are subordinate to us both in the Temporal and Spiritual and we do hold and declare them Hereticks who maintain the contrary For there are three marks whereby to distinguish matters of Faith The first is When the Decrees of a Synod are couched in these terms If any one affirm such or such a thing let him be accursed The second when it saies that those who maintain the contrary shall be Excommunicate ipso facto And the third when those of the contrary opinion are reputed and held for Hereticks In fine Cardinal Baronius having in a certain place mentioned the very Bull concludes that none do deny this Determination of Boniface unless such as are excluded from the Church Haec Bonifacius saies he cui assentiuntur omnes nisi qui ab Ecclesia excidit And very well argu'd it were if to be a member of the Catholick Church it were necessary to believe the Pope infallible since there is nothing more trifling and absurd then those Subterfuges which some Authors retire to to put themselves under covert from this Bull because they would fain support the Pope's Infallibility but dare not maintain his Temporal Sovereignty in France The chief of these is Doctour Duval who in his Treatise of the Power of the Pope avows that Boniface the Eighth did establish his Superiority over the Temporalty of Kings through the whole body of his Bull but saies that in all the Bulls there is nothing save the Conclusion which is of Faith and that the Conclusion of this in particular imports onely that every creature is subject to the Pope which is true saies he as it relates to Spirituals Certainly if the Authority of Kings had need of so pitiful a Reply one would conclude it built on a very weak foundation Nullas habet spes Troja si tales habet For what appearance of Reason is there in this learned Doctor 's Solution 1. How does he pretend we should believe that a Pope who makes a Bull onely to establish his Superiority over Temporals which is the thing contested and not over the Spirituals which no body does dispute and that he who speaks throughout his whole Bull of this Superiority in Temporals should in the last line form a Conclusion different from the Principles which he has establish'd and that we are onely to regard this last line 2. The word subesse indifferently signifying a subjection in Temporals as well as in Spirituals is it not clearly express'd and determin'd to Temporals by all that precedes it 3. How shall we ever comprehend what a Bull means but by the way it was then understood when it was made as well by those who oppos'd it as those who defended it and do not we know the troubles which then disturb'd all France and the Church caus'd by this pretence of the Pope maintain'd by his Partisans and contested by all the French 4. In fine has not Boniface himself explain'd his own words by another Bull shorter then this which he sent to King Philip in these terms Scire te volumus quòd in Spiritualibus in Temporalibus nobis subes aliud credentes Haereticos deputamus Whence Carrerius as we have already seen concludes well supposing the Pope infallible that those who disagree concerning the Pope's Superiority over the Temporals of Kings are Hereticks And the French of those times without amusing themselves with Monsieur Duval's Sophistry answered after another manner and sufficiently testified that the opinion of Infallibility was not so much as known in France See an Act of the whole Kingdom against these Bulls of Boniface VIIIth as 't is inserted in the first Tome of the Liberties of the Gallican Church
Cardinal of Lorrain writ to Pope Pius the Vth That in France 't was never receiv'd for Legitimate or General and that all the French would sooner die then affirm the contrary Much more that of Lateran which Bellarmine himself durst not assert Oecumenical as not compos'd but of a few Italian Bishops who had no other mark but the ruine of our Canonical Elections and against which the French have alwaies protested as 't is to be seen by the History of the Concordate de Mons. du Puy and in effect the Council of Constance having decided that a Council is superiour to a Pope and the Council of Lateran the contrary one of the two must necessarily be in an Errour and by consequent one of the two is not Oecumenick and so all the world avowing and the Iesuites themselves that the Council of Constance was General Father L' Abbé calling it Constantiense Concilium Oecumenicum decimum-sextum that of Lateran which is repugnant to it in a certain Decision concerning Faith has not been so But be it what it will we may judge from hence that the Iesuites design is in this new Edition of the Councils to favour the pretences of the Court of Rome in all that possibly they can there being nothing she so much desires as to hinder the Council of Basil from being reputed General insomuch as those of the party have presum'd to falsifie a List of the General Councils at the beginning of the Epitome of Augustinus's Canon Law leaving out that of Basil which this learned Arch-bishop had set down as may be seen where after these words Constantiense sub Martino V there is in these falsified Editions Florentinum sub eodem which is ridiculous that of Florence not having been held under Martin the Vth but it sufficiently shews what there was in the uncorrupted Copies after that of Constance Basileense sub Eugenio IV and then Florentinum sub eodem There are a world of other things in this draught of Father L' Abbé which ought not to be suffered in France but above all 't is a thing insupportable that these Disciples of Santarel should dare to treat as Hereticks and persons suspected for their Faith both Priests and Divines better Catholicks then themselves for defending onely the Sovereignty of Kings establish'd by God against those who would subject them to the Spiritual power Thus this Iesuite injures Roger Widdrington an English Priest whom we may believe a very firm Catholick since some temporal Interests might have else been able to make him quit his Religion had he not held it by a divine obligation But because he had several contestations with Bellarmine in favour of Kings L' Abbé is pleas'd to rank him in the same design with Blondel and to speak of him in these terms Non ignoro Davidem Blondellum Rogerum Widdringtonum quosdam alios aut Haereticos aut de Fide saltem suspectos c. The Third means which the Court of Rome makes use of to establish her Pretensions is to defend and gratifie all those who favour her and to decry yea persecute upon all occasions those that are any waies averse and contrary 'T is so meritorious an action in their judgment to maintain that which they call the Rights of the Holy See that even those whom otherwise they have no esteem of for any sense of Piety become recommendable and 't is on the other side so great a sin to prescribe Canons for a limit of this infinite power that whatever Vertue or Piety one might be acknowledg'd to have had before he becomes wicked and Heretical upon an instant I find two memorable examples of both in the 18 Tome of Raynaldus The one is of Laurentius Valla whom he affirms in a certain place to have been an impious fellow and whom in another place he extolls for having exceedingly praised Eugenius the IVth who is one of those Popes that endeavour'd to advance his Authority to the utmost The other is of an Arch-bishop of Mentz a person of great worth and Piety that had some contest with Calixtus the III d touching Canonical Elections This Arch-bishop complains that the Pope did not observe the Concordate which Eugenius the IVth and Nicolas the Vth his Successor had made on this subject with the Princes of Germany and Aeneas Sylvius who was then Cardinal and who writ about it to this Arch-bishop's Chancellor was not able to deny it since what he saies is that if the Elections were Canonical they ought to be confirm'd in virtue of the Concordate and that they were not to be rejected unless saies he the Pope in Council with his Brethren the Cardinals conceive it fit to put in a Person more advantagious to the Church as if this last Clause were not a visible infraction of the Concordate which this Arch-bishop had great reason to complain of since the right of Elections had no more any thing solid if the Pope refusing to confirm them had been acquitted by saying he onely did it to constitute a more fitting person for the Church in place Be it what-ever 't is certain this Contestation concern'd one onely Point of Church-Discipline and another in which the Pope was visibly in the wrong See yet what Raynaldus teaches us Anno 1457. n. 49. That Pope Calixtus the III d wrote to this Arch-bishop of Mentz upon the complaint he made of the non-observance of the Concordate touching Elections I cannot conceive that you should doe any thing against the Authority of the Sacred Roman Church and Apostolical See knowing you to be a learned and prudent Pastor and one that fears God which are contrary to those who offend the Authority and Power of the Holy Church of Rome and of the Sovereign Bishop since whoever presumes to commit this attempt incurrs not onely the pains ordain'd by Divine and humane right but does also commit the most hainous crime of Heresie Thus a man becomes an Heretick and as he saies a wicked Heretick how knowing prudent or fearing God soever he be if he opposes the Pope in any thing which does purely concern the Discipline of the Church whatever reason he may have so to doe Those of Rome have alwaies pursu'd the same course and Bellarmine though one of the most moderate of them forbears not to speak most outragiously against those who defend the Sovereignty of Kings and to treat them as Calvinists Pagans Publicans and Parasites of Kings to the loss of the Kingdom eternal under pretence of conserving to them their Dignity which is temporal And an Italian Author who styles them in the Title of his Book impios politicos addresses these words to them at the conclusion of his Book Away then with these modern insipid Politicians who led with envy and ambition would derive the Authority of States from that of Pilate and of whom those Saints of God have thus prophesied The Kings of the Earth and the Princes are met together
Subjects and Primitive Example had been so positively describ'd and secur'd by that admirable Institution of Christianity that all who profess themselves of that Belief Disciples of that Religion and who pretend so much to extraordinary Illumination from the fatal examples of the Event of all Rebellions since the very first defection of Lucifer to this period of ours should be sufficiently convinc'd of their duty to Kings as God's Vice-gerents on Earth and of that irrefragable Truth That those who resist shall receive to themselves Damnation But since a sort of Monsters there are who neither believe Moses nor the Prophets no nor God himself who rose from the dead to assert and plant the Doctrine of Obedience to the Civil Magistrate by the Preaching of his holy Apostles and their Successors till of late what moral Confidence can a Prince repose in the Pretences of any who are thus sworn and addicted to their Tenents I speak here as to the Jesuites in particular and to those who of late lay at his Majestie 's feet out of that Religiouâ— pretence the Tenderness of Conscience without ever shewing either Religion or Conscience in any their Actions or Writings hitherto relating purely to his Majestie 's Interest the Church of England or her Friends whiles the years of her most barbarous Persecution continu'd but which if they had done I would here turn Apologist in their Cause and plead it with affection But say those of the Church of Rome what is the Disloyalty you lay to our charge Name us the Persons and produce the Instances The Answer is short That whiles the Doctrine of Deposing Kings whatever is pretended remembring that of Charles the Vth Vocem esse Jacobi manus autem Esau abetted by so many late Decrees of Popes remains uncondemn'd there is reason sufficient for Princes to be jealous of favouring a Party who suck in those Principles with their Milk as many of them at least as are Alumni of the Jesuites and who by the Papists own acknowledgment are not worthy to be consider'd no not as to Exemption from the most rigorous of our Laws against them 'T is the same Author who frankly confesseth that F. Parsons did most deservedly draw it upon that whole Order by his continual and intolerable Practices against the Crown'd heads of this Nation from whence he inferrs that neither can his Majestie be safe for reasons unanswerable to any that shall take the pains but to survey their Tenents and the voluntary Obligation into which they have precipitated themselves Slaves to the Pope as they are and to that Theological Bawd the Doctrine of Probability But would they now cut off this Objection at once and give just satisfaction to the Charge as most assured I am divers of his Majestie 's loyal Subjects of their persuasion in many other things earnestly contend for though with the sacrifice of that whole pragmatical Order which thus has set the World in Combustion let them and the intire Party subscribe to all Doctrines which deny the Pope's authority of Deposing Kings and releasing Subjects from their Oaths of Allegiance and let the Pope himself approve it and cause an Index expurgatorius to be made of all those Authors we have enumerated and the Books that more lately maintain and favour it since even all this were little enough to secure his Majestie from too just apprehension whiles that sacrilegious Thesis asserting the Pope's Dominion over Temporals and Infallibility even extra Generale Concilium is yet publickly cherish'd which enables him to rescind all this in a moment and Absolve to morrow what he Obliges to day and make that to pass for the undoubted Word of God which is in truth the very Doctrine of Devils For if as a most pious and learned Prelate of our Church has explain'd it truly and ex animo they are otherwise affected they should doe well to unsay what hath been said and declare themselves by publick Authority against such Doctrines and say whether or no their Determinations shall be de Fide If they be then all those famous Catholick Doctors Tho. Aquinas Bellarmine Creswel Mariana Emanuel SÃ c. are Hereticks and their Canons teach Heresie and many of their Popes to be condemned as Heretical for practising and teaching Deposition of Princes by an Authority usurped against and in prejudice of the Christian Faith But if their Answers be not de Fide then they had as good say nothing for the danger is not at all decreased because if there be Doctors on both sides by their own assertion they may without sin follow either but yet more safely if they follow the most receiv'd and the most authoriz'd And whither this Rule will lead them I will be judged by any man that hath consider'd the Premisses Briefly either this thing must remain in the same state it is and our Princes be still expos'd to so extreme hazards or else let his Holiness seat himself in his Chair condemn these Doctrines vow against their future Practice limit his Ordo ad spiritualia contain himself within the limits of Causes directly and merely Ecclesiastical disclaim all power so much as indirect over Princes Temporals and all this with an intent to oblige all Christendom Which when I see done I shall be most ready to believe that nothing in Popery doth either directly or by necessary consequence destroy Loyalty to our lawfull Prince but not till then having so much evidence to the contrary Thus far this reverend Prelate And that this is likewise the sense and as I affirmed earnest desire of all the honest men of the Romish Church is most convincingly as well as boldly and loyally asserted by that learned Remonstrant R. Carron whose Vindication of what I here produce against the Jesuites and other Popish Errors that zizania as he truly styles it of Infallibility c. the subject of the ensuing Treatise I find publish'd since this Preface was finish'd and I heartily wish it may produce an Effect sutable to the attempt of that candid and ingenuous Person that so though we have many other failings to charge them withall they may yet lessen by degrees and as God shall please to enlighten them till we come to a perfect and consummate Reconciliation In the mean time with what forehead my Lord can this Faction cry out against us as cruel or at our Sanctions as unjust whilst his Sacred Majestie has a faculty commensurate to his Piety and a Prerogative which can gratifie his merciful nature without reversing what his Predecessors have enacted who reign'd in such prosperity not so much because they executed the Penalties as for that they had the power to doe it and did use it prudently and I confess I was infinitely pleas'd to find it avow'd by a Romanist that they were themselves the occasion of those Sanguinary laws as they would brand them and to justifie them too as the forecited Author
perturbarent quia tunc Concilii Sententia esset potiùs attendenda This Pope you see acknowledg'd that in things concerning the Catholick Faith the Pope being of one opinion and the Council of another that of the Council was to be chosen Now this were ridiculous if the Pope were Infallible in Decisions touching Faith since there is no opinion which we ought to prefer before a man that is Infallible And therefore Pope Eugenius what-ever he pretended to place himself above all Councils durst never arrogate that of Infallibility Dionysius Rikel Carthusian term'd the Extatick or Illuminated Doctor as having through all his Works joyn'd an illuminated and inflamed Piety with his profound skill in Divinity in his Treatise of the Authority of the Pope and Councils having in several passages spoken highly of that of the Pope does notwithstanding acknowledge that in Council one cannot dispute the having this advantage above the Pope That a Council cannot erre in matters which pertain to Faith and good manners and that the Pope may erre there The power of a Council saies he is in this greater then the Pope's that Iesus Christ has promis'd to his Church or the Council which is her Representative an infallible direction and divine assistance which shall never fail So as a Council can neither erre in matters of Faith nor in what regards good manners forasmuch as it is immediately led by the Holy Spirit in the Determination of these things And therefore the Pope himself is in these things to adhere to the Churche's Determination that is to the Decrees of the Council as to an Oracle and regulation of the Holy Ghost whereas the Pope being obnoxious to erre in points of Faith good manners and other matters necessary to Salvation methinks men should not acquiesce in his judgement as the onely certain opinion because he is not an infallible rule nor yet a foundation so establish'd but that it may deviate from the Truth This holy Monk saies the same thing in a Sermon upon S. Hilarie and excepting onely those Authors who are notoriously ingag'd in the Interests of the Roman Court all the knowing Divines of that Age spake the same Language I observe onely Pope Adrian the VIth who having taught the same Doctrine before he was exalted to the Pontificate did not onely not retract it afterwards but caus'd his Works to be printed at Rome in which we may yet reade these words namely in his fourth Book of Sentences If by the Roman Church saies he you understand him who is the Head of it 't is certain pray mark the term that this Head of the Roman Church viz. the Pope may erre even in things appertaining to Faith by defending an Heresie by his Determination or Decretal Si per Ecclesiam Romanam intelligatur Caput ejus certum est quòd possit errare etiam in iis quae tangunt Fidem Haeresin per suam Determinationem aut Decretalem asserendo See what this holy and knowing man has written being then a private person and what it was he so approv'd when he was Pope so little did his Advancement blind him as it has done many others or make him forget what he ow'd to Truth to gratifie his new Dignity with advantages which he believed Iesus Christ never imparted to him It is not here necessary to alledge the Parisian Doctors opinions so well known to the World and to the Iesuites themselves who term the opinion against Infallibility Sententia Parisiensium but we must not omit the sense of the whole Faculty in a Body in this celebrious Declaration of the Faith which she made by order of Francis the I st and which was afterwards verified in Parliament so as in France it held a particular force of a Law and a publick Ordinance Having therefore receiv'd a command of the King to reduce into Articles the principal Points of Faith attacqu'd by Hereticks she declares That General Councils cannot erre in Points of Faith and regulation of good manners Certum est Concilium Generale legitimè congregatum universalem Ecclesiam repraesentans in Fide morum determinationibus errare non posse But for the Pope see what she saies of it all It is no less certain that there is one Sovereign Bishop by divine right in the Militant Church to which all Christians ought to submit and who has likewise power to conferre Indulgences Nec minùs certum est unum esse jure Divino Pontificem in Ecclesia Militante cui omnes Christiani parere tenentur qui quidem potestatem habet Indulgentias conferendi This different manner of speaking of Councils and the Pope in two Articles which immediately follow attributing Infallibility to the Council and none to the Pope sufficiently states the different sentiments which these Doctors had both of Councils and Popes upon this subject For I think not my self oblig'd to refute the extravagancies of a certain Writer of these times who pretends to prove by the Obedience which these Doctors teach is due to the Pope as if by that we acknowledg'd his Infallibility By the same argument he may prove that not onely all Bishops in particular but that all Abbots and Abbesses Priors Prioresses are infallible because they are promis'd obedience But he should have learn'd that in promising obedience to the Pope men are so far from acknowledging an entire submission of belief to his Decisions that the Divines say expresly and amongst others Mons. Duval Summo Pontifici parendum esse sive errare possit sive non Which signifies but this That men should not Dogmatize the contrary to what he has decided and with this caution yet nisi Error sit intolerabilis as Gerson affirms Such as has been the common sentiment of our Parisian Divines till Mons. Duval who would have introduc'd Opinions into the Sorbon totally repugnant to these ancient Maxims But as 't is customary with those who engage in quarrells against what is universally receiv'd it has hitherto been with much wariness For he did in that manner assert the Pope to be infallible in matter of Faith that in the same breath he likewise taught 't was no matter of Faith to believe it Non est de fide Summum Pontificem esse infallibilem He holds moreover that the Opinion of his not being infallible is neither rash nor erroneous Non est erroneum neque temerarium temeritate opinionis dicere Summum Pontificem in decernendo errare posse And speaking concerning the Decision of a Pope against a Doctor of Paris he saies That this Definition of Sixtus the IVth is not of Faith but onely very certain because saies he the Definitions of the Sovereign Bishops have not the certitude of the Catholick Faith till they be first received by the Universal Church or a General Council And thus whatever the Doctor 's design be and those of his gang to advance the Authority of the Pope they have been yet oblig'd to acknowledge that a Divine
to Excommunicate or deprive them of their Kingdoms What occasion had Iean d' Albret given that for all this was despoil'd of his Estate Really one cannot offer a greater injury either to the Church or Pope himself then this attributing of so odious a power to him And the Church will have reason to say to these preposterous defenders of her Interests as Iacob said to his Children Simeon and Levi upon the Sack of Sichem Turbâstis me odiosam fecistis me Chananaeis Pherezaeis habitatoribus terrae hujus You have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the Land Besides in celebrating the first Advent of the Son of God himself she testifies that all the Kings of the Earth and even the most fierce of Tyrants had no reason to have been jealous of the coming of this new King for that he who gives to his the Kingdom of Heaven ravishes not from Princes the Kingdoms of the Earth Non eripit mortalia Qui Regna dat coelestia But our Popes take it for an honour done them when men attribute to them praises quite contrary to what the Church gives Iesus Christ and Kings are in danger of their Empires since they can take from Princes both their States and Kingdoms But doubtless when they shall have consider'd how unfortunate these pretences have prov'd to them and how odious they still are they will easily themselves acknowledge the truth of these excellent words which the Advocate general Mons. du Mesnil has in those Memoirs of his upon the procedures of Rome against the Queen of Navarre inserted amongst the Liberties of the Gallican Church Whilest the Popes of Rome pursu'd the footsteps of Charity and Christian Humility confining their power to the Spiritual Government establish'd by God in his Gospel without arrogating to themselves a magisterial temporal or worldly Dominion so long they received universal reverence and sincere obedience from all men But no sooner did they or any of them exalt themselves by assuming an Authority not onely as Peers but Superiours to Kings but they became in danger of losing their own Authority and that too which they would have usurped from others and have created trouble both to the Kingdom of God and of his Church Certainly those Popes who shall but consider these Christian and pious Reasons will never suffer themselves to be surpris'd with the Flatteries of those about them and will understand that 't is not the Interest of the Holy See which these Sycophants look after but their particular profit Nor do they alwaies dissemble their low and unworthy pretences nor are they afraid sometimes to sooth the Pope as one would do the Turk or great Mogul by those profusions of mony which he spends on his Courtiers Let the Italians saies that Italian Carrerius lift up their heads above all Nations of the Earth for that singular grace and favour which God has done them in bestowing on them a spiritual Prince namely the Bishop of Rome who has chased great Kings and mighty Emperours from their Thrones to set others in their places to whom so many potent Kingdoms pay'd tribute so long as never any thing has been seen like it and who divides such riches amongst those of his Court as never any King or Emperour hath done before But these so lofty Elogies in the eyes of these base and interested spirits appear but Sacrilegious to those who truely honour the grandeur of the Spiritual Authority of the Pope It is the very same in the matter of Infallibility the politick Theologues thinking to procure a great advantage to the Pope by publishing this Doctrine never considering that on one side they put a very great obstacle to the re-uniting of Hereticks who are more scandaliz'd with this pretension then with all those Points of our Faith in which we disagree and on the other that by this Doctrine they make the Pope in danger to deceive himself and expose the Church to Schisms and Divisions For 't is this pretence of Infallibility which may induce Popes to neglect to take the legitimate and ordinary waies of deciding Points of Faith who by the consent even of Cardinal Bellarmine himself ought to assemble Councils and there onely regularly examine Controversies of Religion which they will hardly ever be brought to doe so long as they are persuaded that they are Infallible without obligation to any other forms Nor let them alledge how great an advantage it is the having an infallible Authority in the Church to which there is so easie an access as if the verity of things depended upon their commodiousness Were this so we must also conclude that Popes are impeccable too at least in the Government of the Church for who would question but that were likewise very commodious for hindring the Damnation of so many persons by these unlawful Dispensations which persuade them that what-ever the Pope permits is as truely lawful as if God himself had said it whereas really there is nothing more true then what an Ancient has affirm'd namely That the greatest part of Dispensations are nothing else but a more easie descent into Hell with the Pope's permission Facilis descensus ad inferos cum bona venia Papae But as this Impeccability would be exceedingly advantagious if indeed God had bestow'd it upon Popes so on the contrary there can nothing be more pernicious then the Flattery of those who goe about to attribute it to him since it the more imboldens them blindly to pursue their own Passions without fearing to offend God And this is what those Cardinals and Prelates chosen by Paul the III d for the Reformation of the Church affirm'd really to have succeeded by means of some Persons who would needs persuade some Popes that their Wills were a sufficient Rule for their Actions whence it follow'd that what they pleas'd was lawful and hence say they have as from a source and spring flow'd such an infinity of abuses and intestine maladies as have reduc'd the Church to such a condition as her recovery seems in a manner to be desperate We may affirm the same of Infallibility It would be an extraordinary Priviledge but the Scripture having assur'd us that Every man is a Lier unless some Authority not inferiour to it have exempted us from that Rule 't is a great unhappiness to believe one's self Infallible because there is nothing that we are more propense to then the falling into Errour by presuming we cannot erre And on the other side it may truly be said that the likeliest means of rendring Popes infallible were to persuade them that they are not so to the end a holy fear may alwaies preserve them in an humble and salutary diffidence of their own sense and incline them to a diligent research of those waies and expedients which God has established to assure them of his divine Truths Paris the 1. of February 1662. FINIS An ADVERTISEMENT upon the following
DISCOURSE IT has been long said that in the precedent Discourse there have been laid the grounds of pernicious Consequences c. that divers things have been taken out of the Notes upon the Pope's Infallibility formerly made by the same Author But since there has been nothing alledg'd against what was solidly discussed in these Notes touching the Authority of the Councils of Constance and Basil it is thought pertinent to adde it here A REFUTATION OF Certain Cavils with which some Theologues endeavour to elude the Authority of the Councils of CONSTANCE and BASIL THE Sense of the Church upon the point of Infallibility did never more perspicuously appear then in the times of the Councils of Constance and Basil so venerably esteem'd by all France 'T is well known that the Doctrine of the Superiority of a Council above the Pope does necessarily destroy his pretended Infallibility because all Authority which is inferiour seeing it may be corrected 't is impossible it should be infallible since an Authority that is infallible cannot be corrected It follows then of necessity that if the Pope be inferiour to a Council he is not infallible All Divines are agreed upon this consequence and there is none who maintain the Infallibility of the Pope but they likewise maintain that he is superiour to a Council Moreover if Popes be inferiour to Councils it follows clearly that they are not onely fallible but it is also as evident that they have actually erred seeing Leo the Xth has defin'd the contrary in the Council of Lateran It is therefore certain that the Superiority of a Council above a Pope does by necessary consequence involve his Fallibility Now this Superiority was clearly decided in the 4th Session of the Council of Constance where the Council declares Concilium Generale habere à Christo immediatam Authoritatem cui omnes obedire tenentur etiam si Papalis dignitatis existat And thus the Fallibility of the Pope was defin'd by this Decree The novel defenders of the Superiority of Popes above Councils exceedingly torture themselves about this Decree of the Council of Constance For they cannot deny but that Pope Martin the Vth elected by this Council did confirm it in all things which had relation to Faith Now the Authority of General Councils is matter of Faith which forces them thus to precipitate themselves upon Solutions so ridiculously weak that it is strange any Divines should be found who durst propose them In the first place they affirm that the Council of Constance is approv'd by Martin the Vth in his quae Conciliariter gesta sunt but that this Decree was not made Conciliariter because say they it was made without Examen and therefore was not approved 'T is easie to see how dangerous an Answer this is since if men be once permitted to distinguish in Councils after this manner between Decrees examin'd and not examin'd the way is open to weaken all their Authority For how many matters are there which having been very well examin'd before Councils have been call'd have no need of being re-examin'd for a long time after whilst all Prelates and Divines remain agreed concerning them But there is no necessity of insisting upon this since this Solution is founded onely upon manifest Falsities there being in the world nothing more untrue then the pretence of those Authors that the Decrees of the 4th and 5th Session about the Superiority of Councils were not of the number of those things which were decreed Conciliariter For 't is remarkable that the order of the Council of Constance was first to propose and examine matters in the particular Congregations of the principal Nations of Christendom and then they were said to have been decreed Nationaliter After that they were propos'd again in the publick Sessions and when they were concluded there then they were pronounc'd to have been determined Conciliariter Whereas that which had onely been decreed by the Nations and not in the publick and general Session of the Council was never said to be determin'd Conciliariter but Nationaliter onely This is the true explication of these two words as appears by the place it self which these Authors would pervert For they have not any thing to alledge on this subject save what we reade in the conclusion of the Council which was in the 45th Session A Cardinal having said according to the custom Domini ite in pace and a Dominican gotten up into the Pulpit to preach the Embassadors of the King of Poland and Duke of Lithuania asked the Pope in the name of their Masters That before the Council were dissolv'd he should cause to be condemn'd in a publick Session or else declare for condemn'd the Book of a certain Frier one John Falkenberg which notoriously maintain'd divers horrible Errours and Heresies and which had already been lawfully condemn'd for heretical by the Deputies as to what concern'd the Faith and which had likewise been concluded by all the Nations of the Council and by the College of Cardinals That unless this were consented to they did protest denial of Iustice in the name of their Masters and would appeal to the next Council Which being done the Acts added Our holy Father the Pope replying said That he would inviolably hold and observe all and every the things which had been determin'd concluded and decreed in matters of Faith by the present Council Conciliarly and that he would never in any kind contradict it That so he approved and did ratifie all that had thus Conciliarly been done and no otherwise whatsoever Dixit respondendo ad praedicta Quòd omnia singula determinata conclusa decreta in materiis Fidei per praesens Concilium Conciliariter tenere inviolabiliter observare volebat nunquam contraire quoquo modo Ipsáque sic Conciliariter facta approbat ratificat non aliter nec alio modo See here the onely foundation of Cajetan's distinction and the sole reason which he alledges to pretend that Pope Martin the Vth did not approve the Decrees touching the Superiority of Councils as not done Conciliariter But by the very same he evidently approves that he has approv'd them since the Pope includes in his Approbation whatsoever had been determin'd Conciliariter and excludes but what having been concluded by the Nations had onely been determin'd Nationaliter and not Conciliariter forasmuch as it was not propos'd in the publick and general Sessions of the Council so as had been the condemnation of Falkenberg's Book which he refus'd to ratifie for reasons not known to us Now it is evident and no waies doubtful but the Decrees touching a Council's Superiority were first examin'd and concluded by the Nations and afterwards establish'd and determin'd in two publick and general Sessions of the Council that is to say in the 4th and 5th where 't is noted that these Decrees were first of all deliberated and concluded by all the Nations Certa Capitula per modum Constitutionum
priùs per singulas quatuor Nationes conclusa deliberata legit publicavit And 't is said at the end of the Session that the Council had uniformly approv'd and concluded them Quibus Articulis sive Constitutionibus lectis dictum Concilium eos eas uniformiter approbavit conclusit Were it not then altogether shameful and most impudent to presume to deny that Martin the Vth had approv'd these Decrees since he has so expresly approv'd whatsoever was determin'd in the Council Conciliariter and that 't is as clear as day the Decrees were determined Nationaliter Conciliariter In like manner we see that the two latter Annalists of the Church Spondanus and Raynaldus to give some colour to this Cheat change either in the whole or in part the subject and occasion which caus'd Martin the Vth to say that he onely approv'd that which had been done Conciliariter For Raynaldus Anno 1418. n. 2. falsly supposes that Martin the Vth speaks these words upon the Fathers of the Council demanding a confirmation of the Acts Cùm veteri more saies he à Patribus Martinus rogatus esset ut Concilii Acta Apostolicâ authoritate confirmaret ità ipsum respondisse tradunt Acta S. D. N. Papa dixit respondendo ad praedicta nimirum postulata quòd omnia singula determinata c. Which is a notorious Forgery since one need onely reade the Acts to see that the Fathers of the Council did not ask for a Confirmation of the Acts and that it was not to answer this demand that he saies what is reported by Raynaldus but that he might not consent to what was requir'd by the King of Poland's Embassadors concerning the condemnation of Falkenberg's Book so as it is not to be deny'd but this Historian has committed a shameful Falsification in feigning the Pope to answer what was never demanded of him and in adding those two words nimirum postulata in Italick Characters to the word praedicta to make that agree to the demands of the Fathers of the Council which has relation onely to the words of the Polonian Embassadors Spondanus durst not be altogether so bold with the Truth nor deny these words of Martin the Vth to have been spoken upon occasion of the Polonian's demand But he suppresses the protestation of Appealing to the future Council because that had too evidently shew'd how false that which he imagines is That it was on design and in collusion with Martin the Vâ—h that these Embassadors deferr'd their demand till this last Session that so they might have an opportunity to observe what Decrees of the Council he did approve by his Apostolical Authority and what he did not approve lest if they had mov'd it before they might have excited some murmure and trouble among the Fathers by reason of that which had been decided after an ambiguous manner touching the Authority of a Council above a Pope and their power of reforming the Church both as to its Head and Members which Pope Martin would not receive nor approve by taking these Decisions absolutely and in the precise significations of terms All which is but a pure imagination without any manner of ground For besides that the Polonians who appeal'd from the Pope to the Council could not be suspected to have conspired with him since there is nothing which Popes more abhorre then these Appeals to Councils the answer of Pope Martin the Vth puts no distinction between the Decrees which are found amongst the Acts of the Council as if he had approv'd the one without the other but shews on the contrary that he approv'd all these Decrees and that he did not deny his Approbation but as to what did not appear in these Acts as concluded in the Council for having been determin'd onely by the Nations such as was the condemnation of this Book of Falkenberg It cannot therefore be maintain'd with the least pretence of likelihood that Martin the Vth did not approve the Decrees of the Council of Constance touching the Superiority of General Councils And that which makes it yet more evident is that Pope Eugenius the IVth though he continually strove to preferre himself above Councils durst not yet openly oppose those Decrees of Constance nor reject them as not approv'd by Martin the Vth his Predecessor but pretends onely that the Council of Basil had abus'd them by applying them to an ill sense Quòd Concilium Constantiense in malignum sensum pertraxerint because it had taken occasion upon this Definition to depose him and to create another Pope But towards the latter end of his life the Emperour Frederick and the Princes of Germany who kept themselves in a Neutrality between the Council of Basil and this Pope being willing to come to an agreement with him one of the Conditions of the Accord was That Eugenius should by a Bull make the same profession which had already been made in Germany by his Legates concerning the Power Authority and Preeminence of General Councils representing the Catholick Church militant These are the very terms of the Harangue which was made by Aeneas Sylvius in the name of these Princes Alterum est ut professio Potestatis Authoritatis Praeeminentiae Generalium Conciliorum Catholicam Militantem Ecclesiam repraesentantium per tuos Oratores facta tuis Literis approbetur To which the Pope consented by his Bull as 't is recited by Raynaldus Tom. 18. ad ann 1447. n. 15. where he declares That he embraces and reverences the General Council of Constance its Decree FREQUENS by which this Council took upon it an action of Superiority over Popes in ordaining them to convoke and assemble Councils every ten years and disabling their power of retarding this term but onely to advance it and all its other Decrees as likewise all other Councils representing the Catholick Church militant That he did acknowledge their Power their Authority their Honour and their Eminence as his other Predecessors had done from whose foot-steps he would not deviate Concilium autem Generale Constantiense DecretuÌ„ FREQUENS alia ejus Decreta sicut caetera alia Concilia Catholicam Militantem Ecclesiam repraesentantia ipsorum Potestatem Authoritatem Honorem Eminentiam sicut caeteri Praedecessores nostri à quorum vestigiis deviare nequaquam intendimus suscipimus amplectimur veneramur But the reflection which Raynaldus makes upon these words of Eugenius shews us what the faith and candor of those persons is 'T is a thing saies he that deserves observation that Eugenius by those Letters gives no more Authority to the Decree of the Council of Constance beginning with the word Frequens but what Martin the Vth had done before Now this very Author pretends An. 1433. that Martin the Vth had not approv'd the Chapter FREQUENS of the Council of Constance but that on the contrary he had abridg'd it by the Dissolution of the Council of Siena so as according to this Author the sense of
the words of Eugenius were That he receives embraces and reverences the Decree FREQUENS as far as his Predecessors and that his Predecessor having neither receiv'd embrac'd nor reverenc'd it neither did he receive embrace or reverence it Could one offer a greater injury to Pope Eugenius then to take the words of his Bull in a sense so estranged from Christian sincerity and think that he would juggle with the whole German Church by so gross a Delusion But that which does yet farther ruine all these Sophisms is that Pope Pius the II d in the same Bull where he retracts that which he had written for the Council of Basil against Pope Eugenius formally approves the Council of Constance and in particular that Decree touching the Authority of General Councils Cum his saies he Generalis Concilii Autoritatem Potestatem complectimur quemadmodum aevo nostro Constantiae dum ibi fuit Synodus Universalis declaratum definitúmque est Veneramur enim N. Constantiense Concilium cuncta quae praecesserunt à Romanis Pontificibus nostris praedecessoribus approbata So that if it be pretended that Pius the II d would maintain that the Pope were superiour to a Council one must also necessarily pretend that he manifestly contradicted himself But it is enough to refute this false Distinction that he not onely authorizes the Council of Constance in general but particularly in that which it has defin'd concerning the Authority of Councils The Second Reply whereof these modern Authors make use is That the Council of Constance does not define the Authority of all General Councils but that onely which it has during a Schism when there is no lawful Pope in the Church But this Solution as novel as the former is manifestly ruined by the same words of the Council of Constance which expressly particularize that it defines the Authority of all General Councils and not onely its own in particular Item declarat saies the Council in the Article immediately following after what I have cited quò quicunque cujuscunque statûs dignitatis etiam Papalis existat qui Mandatis Statutis seu Ordinationibus aut Praeceptis hujus Sacrae Synodi cujuscunque alterius Concilii legitimè congregati super praemissis seu ad ea pertinentibus factis vel faciendis obedire contumaciter contempserit nisi resipuerit condignae poenitentiae subjiciatur debitè puniatur There can be nothing then imagin'd more frivolous then such an imagination that the Council of Constance spake onely of its own Authority and not of that of other Councils since it clearly decides that the Popes who despis'd the Determinations of any General Councils whatsoever are worthy to be punish'd Moreover Pope Pius the II d in the fore-alledg'd passage formally acknowledg'd that this Council has determin'd the Authority of Councils in general and not its own in particular Generalis Concilii Authoritatem Potestatem complectimur quemadmodum aevo nostro Constantiae dum ibi fuit Synodus Universalis declaratum definitúmque est In like manner the whole Church in receiving the Council of Constance has uniformly understood that it has defin'd the Superiority of a Council above the Pope Therefore France and the Faculty of the Parisian Divines which have particularly adher'd to this Council have likewise alwaies embrac'd this Doctrine nor have ever admitted any other as Major affirms in c. 18. Matt. Superiùs saies he ostensum est quòd Augustinus alii Doctores tenent partem quam insequimur nempe Concilium esse supra Papam hanc tenuerunt varii Cardinales Ioannes Patriarcha Antiochenus Petrus de Aliaco Cardinalis Cameracensis Nicolaus de Cusa Doctor vocatus Christianissimus Ioannes Gerson Cancellarius Parisiensis nunquam satìs laudatus nostra Facultas Parisiensis à diebus Concilii Constantiensis in qua plures habebis exercitatos Theologos quà m in duobus vel tribus Regnis quae sic hanc partem fovent quòd nulli licuit asserere oppositum probabile See here what has been the Iudgment of the Faculty of Paris till Mons. Duval appear'd on the stage The Council of Basil held 12 years after renew'd these Decrees of the Council of Constance of the second Session Anno 1432. And because Eugenius the IVth would remove it to Bologna the Council having maintain'd that it was not in the power of the Pope because a Council was above him Eugenius was fain Anno 1434. to revoke all that which had been done against the Council and to declare by a Bull that it had been lawfully continu'd from the beginning till then whereupon he sent new Legates thither besides Cardinal Iulian who had continu'd all the while there which in the 17th Session swore to maintain the Decrees of the Superiority of a Council which were yet farther renew'd in the 18th Session All this shews that Bellarmine had no reason to affirm that the Superiority of a Council above the Pope was not defin'd till the 33th Session when Eugenius had broke the Council by adjourning it to Ferrara it being evident that the Decrees of Constance were there several times renew'd during the time that the Council was acknowledg'd for Oecumenick by Eugenius himself and by consequence certain it is that the Decisions of the former Sessions are the Decisions of an Oecumenical Council representing the Church universal and approv'd by a Pope FINIS Ouid interest an Ferro an Veneno perimas Mariana l. 1. c. 7. See the Life of P. Boniface in Binnius's Collect of Councils Bellarm. de Pontif. Ro. l. 5. c. 6. Adversus Edicta Reg. p. 145. Cap. 7. sect 14. Mariana de Rege l. 1. c. 6. In Concert Eccles. Catholic Anno 1583. Treveris excusâ p. 22. In Philopat 106. See also Bellarm. cont Barcl to prove the Doctrine Catholick Platina in vita Greg. 7. p. 67. 1 Cor. 7.15 Act. 10.13 1 Cor. 15.25 Carolus Rufinus Consil. 109. ◠1. Henry II. Henry IV. In Mark 's Church at Venice Psal. 91.13 De Inst. Sacerd c. 13. In Apol. c. 37 Vestra omnia implevimus c. * Cunradus Brunus de Haeret. l. 3. c. ult n. 13. Creswel ad Edict Regi Ang. p. 151. sect 2. n. 160 c. * De Princip l 1. c. 26. p. 178. Vide Fr. Bozium Eugub de Temp. Eccles. Monar l. 2. c. 1. p. 264 265 c. Bell. Apol. advers Reg. Ang. cap. 3. Vide English statutes 24 H. 8. c. 12. and the very first words of Magna Charta John 11.52 In Verbo Clericus Baronius in Paraenesi ad Venetos pag. 47. Tractat. de haeres de Temp. Eccles. Monarch l. 1. c. 3.11 De Laicis c. 7. In Pact Car. V. cum Clem. VII See the Book intituled The Jesuites reasons unreasonable p. 2. published by a Roman Cath. p. 9 10 c. Brunus de Haeret. l. 3. cap. 15. Bishop of Down and Conner Ser. on 5. Nov. * Charity maintained by Cath. c. 7. * Remonstrantia Hibernorum contra Lovanienses