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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42563	The Council of Trent no free assembly more fully discovered by a collection of letters and papers of the learned Dr. Vargas and other great ministers, who assisted at the said Synod in considerable posts : published from the original manuscripts in Spanish, which were procured by the Right Honourable Sir William Trumbull's grandfather, envoy at Brussels in the reign of King James the First : with an introductory discourse concerning councils, shewing how they were brought under bondage to the Pope / [translated] by Michael Geddes ...	Geddes, Michael, 1650?-1713.; Vargas Mejia, Francisco de, 1484-1560.	1697 (1697)	Wing G445; ESTC R16012	203,517	370

to his Majesty in the Year 1545. Vainly imagining at that time that something might have been done in earnest at Trent and that the time of our redemption was come but since it would now only trouble your Lordship to read it I forbear to send it to you but shall cite Things out of it as there shall be occasion being prepared whenever your Lordship shall command it and there shall appear any hopes of its doing any good to write a Book upon the same Subject if it shall be thought necessary There is one thing I am always positive in which is That whatsoever Spain is in possession of and doth justly defend that she ought not to suffer it to be called in question nor seek to have it granted by the Council no not though it were free and much less from such a Council as this for it is our business to be always Defendants and not Plaintiffs and especially considering how things are carried here where it is plain the Pope and his Ministers will carry whatever they have a mind to though never so much to our prejudice This is what I have always said and advised Your Lordship will see by this that the first Chapter of the Memorial that was delivered to the Legate relating to Benefices with Cure was not well weighed it being prejudicial to Spain which ought to keep it self upon the Defensive Whoever he was that drew up that Memorial was not throughly acquainted with these Affairs as appears by his having said that the Rule of Language ought to be observed as if that were the whole business or the sole Reason why Benefices should be bestowed only on the Natives Whereas in truth it is an Institution founded on Divine Natural and Humane Justice that as to all sorts of Benefices the Natives ought to be preferred to Strangers notwithstanding they do understand the Language which besides ancient Custom has several Grants to confirm it This with several other Prescriptions for the obviating of Frauds shall at some time or other be published in the Books which I have writ concerning these Affairs the last of which are in defence of the said Pragmatica the first confirming it by the Common Law of Nations and the second by the Municipal Laws of Spain This is all I shall say of Reformation and as to their way of handling Doctrines I have a great deal to say of it I gave your Lordship some time ago an account of the Legate's Conduct here but I have now some thing to add It troubles one to see how those matters are managed and determined here the Legate doing whatever he has a mind to without either numbering or weighing the Opinions of the Divines and Prelates hurrying and reserving the substance of things which ought to have been well weighed and digested to the last Minute the Major part not knowing what they are a doing I mean before the fact for believing that Christ will not suffer them to Err in their Determinations I shall bow down my head to them and believe all the Matters of Faith that shall be decided by them I pray God every body else may do the same But what is chiefly to be noted is That the Eminent Divines that are sent hither by his Majesty namely the Dean and Professors of Lovain Persons so famous for Learning and Piety are never called to the making of the Canons and Doctrines nor suffered to see whether there be any thing amiss in them This is a great fault and is much complained of to the great discredit of all they do a great many taking occasion from thence to have no great regard for their Decrees fearing they may hereafter minister Matter to Controversies It is necessary his Majesty should write warmly concerning this matter to his Ambassador namely Don Francisco commanding him to concern himself earnestly therein for it is a shame that things should be carried thus and such great and eminent Divines should be brought from the end of the World only to Dispute one hour in a Session without being ever so much as thought of after that is over whereas when Matters of Faith are to be determined they ought to be examined with great Application and people ought to tremble when they are about to define new Articles or to declare such as have formerly been determined by the Church and not to pass them as they do in a hurry the Pope's Ministers being for making Articles of Faith of divers Disputable Opinions and against declaring other things which would be of great Moment in remedying the Abuses which are crept into the Aministration of the Sacraments As to all which the Pope and his Ministers are for the fore-mentioned and other Ends continually upon their guard and they having got the Managery and Authority of the Council intirely into their hands do reckon they have got a great prize in Carrying things as they do So that if God do's not by some extraordinary Ways provide for his Church there is no hopes left of ever seeing it either united or reformed for what was it but such doings as these and the taking no care to reform innumerable Abuses that has destroy'd so many Provinces and Kingdoms and it is Justly to be feared that what is done in this Council may endanger the destroying of the rest But that the Church should be reduced to this estate and that Heresies should so much prevail is the accomplishment of what St. Paul saith in the 2d Chapter of his 2d Epist to the Thessalonians Vnless a Departure come first c. Which words are applied expressly by St. Anselm and others to the Church of Rome on account of the fore-mentioned Vices and Abuses which we now see by Experience which Text though it has other Interpretations may God bestow better things on us than we deserve The Legate runs on precipitating things as I writ your Lordship formerly whose design at present is to finish what remains of the Sacrifice of the Mass and of the Sacrament of Order in the Session of January intending in two Sessions more to conclude the whole business dispatching that of Matrimony in the first and in the second that of Images the Veneration of Saints the Monastical Vows and I do not know what other things and so conclude I have it from a good hand that four days ago he received a Letter from Cardinal Maffeius who sent him word that the Council would be shut up in May and that he needed not therefore to lay in provisions for any longer time Your Lordship may be pleased to Joyn this to what has formerly been written to you to the same purpose I must tell you farther that this Council drawing so near an end is what all people rejoyce at here exceedingly there being a great many who wish it had never met and for my own part I would to God it had never been called for I am mistaken if it do not leave things worse than it

has a Mystery in it but above all from the clause they have inserted into the Canons of Reformation which is Salva semper in omnibus sedis Apostolicae authoritate which is telling the World in plain terms that what the Pope does not like shall signifie nothing for notwithstanding the Power of dispensing when there is just cause is always excepted yet the Legates knowing it would be more for their advantage to have it expressed they had it done but this being notorious to every Body and having formerly had occasion to speak of it I shall prosecute it no farther 2. Whereas the Design of the Legates was so to manage all matters that nothing but what they had a mind to and was in their secret Commission should be able to pass they erected three Classes one for each Legate in which such of the Prelates as were most in their favour were to report matters now these three Classes meeting in sundry places at the same time to treat of the same Subject the Legates did manage that to their advantage with an Artifice beyond what is to be imagined their Design therein being to pump the Prelates so before hand as to find how they intended to vote and having discovered that the three Legates did according to their Custom cabal together at Night and having conferred Notes took their measures accordingly in either going on or in sending advice to Rome or in negotiating with People by certain methods that they have to change their minds and this they have done so often that it is now taken notice of by every body neither can there be any course more pernicious or more destructive of the liberty of the Council and what makes it the worse is that it is done forsooth under a pretence of Religion and that things may be the better examined Quia falli labi decipi humanum est sed sub specie Religionis turpissimum atque execrabile Farthermore The Legates by the help of the discoveries they make in their several Classes do learn what things they may propose in the General Congregations and when it is best to do it and so when they judge it to be most for their purpose they have Matters disputed in a particular Congregation by the Divines to have them ready when they shall think fit to propose them in a General Congregation which they do commonly suspend upon some pretence or other till they have consulted Rome which being done the Legates do very artificially conduct Matters as they have ordered them that is such Matters as they have a mind to have determined For as to those that are not approved of they are by some means or other stifled notwithstanding the whole Council is for their being passed Farthermore There are several Inconveniencies in their way of Voting for the Legates when they judge it to be for their advantage that every one should declare his Opinion at large do permit them to do it but when it is most for their purpose that they should only say placet or non placet to any thing they have proposed they then oblige them to Vote so In the ancient Roman Courts as Aulus Gellius tells us in the 7th Chapter of his 14th Book there were two ways of making Laws either per discessionem or per sententias singulorum exquisitas of which the last was most in use and is certainly the best way The way of Voting in former Councils was That every one was permitted to speak his mind freely and notwithstanding they who have writ thereof do observe that the Synods did many times answer to what was proposed to them with placet or non placet it is nevertheless to be considered that when nothing is to be done in a Session but only to pronounce the Decrees which are already agreed on in that case there is no inconvenience in answering with placet which prevents the Action being spun out to an unnecessary length though at the same time the Prelates were left to their liberty to Vote otherwise if they pleased and to approve or contradict as they thought good which is all we know of the way of Voting used in the ancient Councils our Writers being silent as to that which is of greatest moment which are the Congregations that were antecedent to the Sessions and wherein Matters were examined and concluded and whereon indeed the whole stress of the business lay all that was done in the Sessions being only to publish what was before agreed on In which Congregations if every Prelate was not permitted to Vote singly and to speak his Mind freely it was an imposition upon them and the Fathers who were there as Judges must have appeared only as Parties in being compelled to answer to what was proposed with credit or non credit As to which Point there have been here so great prejudices and so little liberty that it would be a long business to set down the whole thereof Farthermore The Legates formerly contented themselves with an honorary Presidency in Voting first and delivering their Opinions of things as the other Fathers did whereas having now usurped an authoritative and coercive Presidency they ought not to Vote in any case nor to deliver their Opinion but to propose only and suffer every one to Vote freely to act otherwise being an imposition and a pre-judging of the Cause and a means of Terror in which as in every thing else great Excesses have been committed the Legates having many times when they have proposed a thing declared their Opinion of it giving their non placet to things before the Fathers could give their placet nay in the middle of Voting when they have observed any Prelate not to Vote as they would have him they have taken upon themselves to speak to it before another was suffered to Vote doing it sometimes with soft Words and at other-times with harsh letting others to understand thereby how they would have them Vote many times railing at the Prelates and exposing them to scorn and using such methods as would make one's heart bleed to hear of and much more to see So there was one who in the face of a General Congregation called all the Prelates Vulpeculas who were for having the Clause Universalem ecclesiam repraesentans added which could not be obtained to the great detriment of the Council and the great reproach of those who were called so all which notwithstanding the Legates go on still with their dicant Patres libere which considering how they carry things I wonder with what face or conscience they can pronounce those words Farthermore Passions and hard Words are not wanting here and that among some of the Cardinals from which no less than from their agreement the Legates derive advantage the honour of the Apostolical See and the Pope's pleasure and displeasure being daily set before the Prelates to intimidate them Farthermore In the ordering of the Decrees which they were to pronounce in the Sessions

grant by which means things are thrown into such a terrible Confusion that the Catholicks as well as the Protestants are for having the Council suspended among other things saying openly that they do not care to be judged by one Nation and that though the Council should be continued never so long it would never make such a Reformation as is necessary nor will have any other effect but the lessening of the Authority of Councils and that in case His Majesty should do his Duty in urging to have such a Reformation he will undoubtedly embroil himself thereby with the Pope But supposing there were no harm in that so long as His Majesty does nothing but what is his Duty and convenient for the Service of God The worst of all is that no fruit can be expected from any such endeavours since they will thereupon either translate or dissolve the Council as they shall think most convenient to the robbing of Councils of that Authority which is the only refuge and remedy the Church has when disturbed by Controversies about Religion it being most certain that the Germans on the Terms they are on at present will not only not receive this Council but they will pretend that they are released from the Observation of the Interim which was to last only till the definition of a Council and will impugn this and that with too much colour among their own People who are not rightly informed of the Authority of the Church for the Council to which the Controversie was remitted not having adjusted it there can be no agreement And as it is certain that they will insist on their Religion so His Majesty will die sooner than consent to it For which and several other Reasons which have been weighed by His Majesty he is come to a resolution to write to his Embassadours about it As to what you write to me particularly I have communicated it three several times to His Majesty who continues fixt not to do any thing therein without the advice of his Embassadours whom he will have to send their opinions to him in writing which considering that his Embassadours are Men of Integrity and will keep whatever is done secret he takes to be the best Course This is made still the more difficult by the present State of things in which if the resolution his Majesty has taken has its effect there will be no necessity of entertaining any thoughts of that other Course It would do well therefore that you should propose what you have to offer as a thing I had writ to you about or spoke to you of when you were here and that you should write likewise to His Majesty desiring that your Letter may be kept secret and recommending Secrecy as to all things that are done at Trent In fine now we are on these Terms you must not fail to employ all your industry and diligence that what His Majesty is compelled by the iniquity of the times to condescend to may be done as much to his advantage as it is possible The following part is lost A Copy of a Letter of the Bishop of Arras to Dr. Vargas Magnificent Sir DEsigning to return Answers to all the Letters I find my self indebted to you for when His Majesty does the same to his dispatches I shall not inlarge in this which I write only on the occasion of Secretary Erastus going to Trent to advise you of my being in health thanks to God for it and extreamly desirous to have something wherein I may serve you which whensoever any occasion shall offer I shall do with an intire good Will Our Lord preserve you A Copy of a Letter of the Bishop of Arras of the 16th of February 1552 in answer to a Letter of Dr. Malvenda of the 27th of January 1552. Magnificent Sir I Was overjoyed at my coming to know the Fiscal Vargas by sight and discourse and though I had always reckoned him a very able Minister yet I do now find him to be a much greater Man than I thought he was I have been informed by him of all the difficulties you have encountred with as well in the business of the safe Conduct for the Protestants as in the Propositions which have been made The Legate must not certainly have studied the Affairs of Germany much nor the Books that are wrote therein that he is so much offended at what they have said in the Council The said Fiscal carries His Majesty's entire resolution as to all Affairs which he knows very well how to report He has acquainted me with the pains you have taken notwithstanding your sickness would not allow you to do what you would have done otherwise I was glad to hear him speak so well of the Bishop Castellamar of whom you know I had a good opinion before That Prelate may rest satisfied that whenever there is occasion I shall not forget to represent his Merits to His Majesty I pray God it may be of advantage to him Being desirous to do something for the Study of Barcelona I ordered a Memorial to be given in about it some days ago in conformity of what the Procuratour Gualby had writ to me concerning it Before we left Ausburg I desired His Majesty to give Dr. Gregory Lopez leave to go to a place whither I would gladly have sent him but could not obtain it His Majesty alledging that the Court having no other Spanish Physician but him and Olivares could not possibly spare him and much less can it be expected now that His Majesty should give way to his going to the Council since the Queen of Bohemia has with great importunity got Olivares to go with her It is a wonderfull thing to me that so many Spanish Prelates should not have brought a Physician with them or that being so near to Italy they should not all this while have sent for some Eminent Doctour who I suppose might have made a good business of it I do assure you I have done in this all that was possible for me and I can do no more Our Lord preserve you From Inspurg the 16th of February 1552. A Copy of the Bishop of Arras's Letter of the 9th of November 1551 in answer to two Letters of Dr. Malvenda's of the 12th of October and the 8th of November 1551. Magnificent Sir I Find my self two Letters in your debt the last of which came to me since I arrived here where if any thing can make me dispense with the Commodities of this place it will be my being so near Trent that we can almost shake Hands together I am infinitely glad that the Session was celebrated with so much Authority but the thing that troubles me is the resolution they are come to about the ways of proceeding having left the old known Methods and which is worst of all there is no remedy for it for though they know well enough what would be most convenient they will never yield to it so that without running a