haue or at any time heretofore haue had Baronius saith Baron an 472. art 3 4 5. That the good Emperour was ouertaken by the wiles and subtilties of Acatius and indeed it were hard if he should haue nothing to say But in vaine did Simplicius oppose against it whether before Leo or before Basiliscus and therefore Gelasius An. 493. which came after changed his stile and not alledging for himselfe either the Nicene Canon as Leo did or the ancient obseruation of the Church as others held himselfe fast to his Tues Petrus This goeth not saith he by any Synodall constitutions Gelas in Epist ad Dardanos but by the verie voyce of the Gospell Tues Petrus c. And why then did his predecessors especially Leo make their verie throats hoarse with crying out and alledging alwayes the Nicene Councell But Gelasius hereupon depriued Constantinople of the right of Patriarchship and hauing so done pronounced openly That the See of Rome might without a Synod of himselfe either absolue those whom a Synod had wrongfully condemned or condemne such as had deserued it and so setteth his See vp aboue all Councels Ib. And againe The Canon saith he hath so ordained that all Churches ought to appeale to this See and from this See to none because this See iudgeth of all Churches and no Church of it as being without spot or wrinkle and yet as much without spot or wrinckle as she was his verie next successor Anastasius see I pray you whither this pretended prerogatiue caried the Church was defamed for the heresie of Acatius which was oppugned by Gelasius and he was indeed a meere Acatian doe Baronius what he can to free him from this imputation Liber Pontificalis For the Pontificall booke in expresse tearmes saith That many Priests and others of the Clergie withdrew themselues from his communion for that without the priuitie or knowledge of the Bishops Priests and Clergie of the Catholike Church he had secretly entertained coÌ„munion with a certaine Deacon of Thessalonica called Photinus who was of communion with Acatius and because he sought meanes vnder hand to call home Acatius which yet he could not effect being preuented by God and stroken by his dreadfull judgement By these Maximes therefore of Gelasius it appeareth what a large step he had made into this tyrannie ouer the Church but yet he forbore to meddle with the ciuil gouernment and it seemeth he prophesied to vs as sometimes Caiphas did Gelasius de Anathematis vinculo when he gaue vs this rule following There were saith he before the comming of Christ some in figure appointed ouer temporall affaires who were both Kings and Priests as was Melchisedech which manner the diuell also imitated in some of his seruants as his custome is euer to attribute to himselfe those things which properly belong to diuine worship in that some of the Heathen Kings were also Priests But since the true Priest and King came into the world there hath not beene found an Emperour which hath taken vpon him the Title of a Priest nor yet a Priest which vsurped the regall dignitie c. But Christ remembring well mans frailtie for his elect sake hath distinguished these two authorities by seuerall offices properly appertaining to either of them so that the Christian Emperours haue need of the Priests for their soules health and the Priests of them for the course of worldlie matters so that the spirituall profession is seperated from the world and a souldier of Christ may not busie himselfe in the affaires of this world neither he who is busied in earthlie affaires may presume to gouerne in holie things to the end that the one supporting the other they might not rebell the one against the other I referre me now vnto the Reader whether Gelasius his successors haue kept themselues within those bounds which hee prescribed and whether they haue not fallen within the compasse of his condemnation as followers of the Pagans and guided by the instinct of the diuell Instinctu diabolico while they thus encroach vpon the temporall estate For what Bellarmine or what Baronius can reconcile those maximes and positions of Gregorie the seuenth called Hildebrand with these of Gelasius And for conclusion we may not forget that because Gelasius wrot once in approbation of certaine writings of Honoratus Bishop of Marseilles whom Gennadius reporteth onely to haue sent him his bookes Baronius inferreth That it belongeth properly to the Bishop of Rome to approue and censure bookes What a little wind will serue to fill the sayles of these mens pride and arrogancie Belike so many learned personages as wrot vnto Saint Augustine Hierosme and others for their approbation of their writings tooke them to be Popes and so did they take others when they Imparted their bookes vnto them which is so absurd and friuolous as nothing can be more And thus come we now to the yere of our Lord 500. 13. PROGRESSION What wicked and vnlawfull meanes men vsed about this time to aspire vnto the Popedome ABout the yeare 500 Italie was all wasted by the Northerne nations An. 500. who swarmed there in great numbers which had been ynough to haue suppressed their ambition had it not passed the bounds of all humanitie But it was such that euerie day it attempted something and for want of worke abroad would sometimes busie it selfe at home Insomuch that it grow an ordinarie matter to put in for the Popedome many yeares before the Pope was dead to get voyces before hand by word of mouth and sometime by deed indented and to procure them by presents and other meanes Synod Roma sub Symmach can 2. 3. as appeareth by the Synod which was held at Rome vnder Symmachus Whereof ensued commonly sedition murders and slaughters insomuch that it was necessarie for the Emperours euen such as they called and accounted barbarous to preuent the mischiefes which vsually ensued of their factious combinations Wherein those holie men would neuer haue beene so eagre a they were had they not needed something else more than they did the sheepe of Christ And yet if we may beleeue Gratian in the middest of all these villanies Symmachus had the face to say D. 40. C. non nos Ennod. in Apâ—log Symmach That Saint Peter had transmitted and passed ouer to his successors together with the inheritance of his innocencie a perpetuall gift of well deforming and what was granted him for the brightnesse and beautie of his deeds belongeth to them who are enlightened with the like holinesse of conuersation For who can doubt saith he but that he is holy whom we see now exalted to so high a degree of dignitie who if perhaps he want merits of his owne yet is he sure to be well furnished with the merits of him which went before him in that place for he either prouideth that none shall be preferred thither out such as are worthie or if any other happen
death Conrade a most innocent and harmelesse yong gentleman of singular hopes and one might say an ofspring of heauen in seeking by the law of nations but to recouer the inheritance of his royall progenitors They stirred vp the Sueuians against the French Conrade against Charles causing them to take vp armes as a spectacle of pleasure and delight to themselues afterwards against these they excited the Spaniards and now they would set vs against the French and Spaniards being our consanguinians and comming heretofore out of Germanie to driue both the one and other out of Italie You must needs remember what that famous Decimist Gregorie the tenth about ten yeres since did with his tenthes and the same will this Honorius the fourth doe with his fourthes Thus this subtill Gregorie to wipe vs of these tenthes he armed against vs the Scythians Arabians and Turkes And if I should not lye I verily beleeue considering the great profits that come in to him by this meanes that be wishes better to them than vs. These of the Order of S. Bernard to whom notwithstanding he professed much kindnesse were faine to redeeme themselues with a summe of 600000 crownes Hereby you may see what his conuentions cost and what summes of money are raised thereby One deceit intrudes another and his Decrees passe vnder the forme rather of subtiltie and deceit than of open equitie and iustice And euen as Sathan transformes himselfe into an Angell of light so doe they inuent meanes and deuises how to cast a mist before the peoples eyes And that these things are no wayes agreeable nor pleasing to Christ our Lord and God the euents and issues except we be vtterly blind doe plainely proue daily effects teach vs and the holie Scriptures in euerie place declare and manifest Wherefore most reuerend Fathers in Christ wake your selues out of this sleepe prouide and succour things almost lost and perished regard and defend the Commonwealth Our predecessors who notwithstanding held not then the Empire did euer shake off the Roman yoke though they were a people expert in armes skilfull in militarie discipline conquerors of nations subduers of the whole world and a terror to mankind not well enduring their Empire so much as ouer confining and bordering countries and shall we not to speake more bitterly basely submit our selues to boyes and effeminats What this Tusculan is I am not ignorant I know well his maners and fashions he is a gold-sucker an vsurer a perfidious man and a seruile slaue to money and coyne I lightly esteeme of his threatnings and appeale vnto the generall Councell of the whole Christian Commonwealth When Probus had vttered these words and all the rest both approued and followed his opinion Tusculan fearing some violence to be offered and therefore not daring to come abroad in a few dayes by little and little they all slunke away And so nothing at all being done in the matter the assembly was dissolued But the Pope for reuenge of this contumelie thundered excommunication against Probus and did what he could to depriue him of his Bishopricke Matthew Paris in Henrico 3. In the like case Mathew Paris the Monke breakes out into this exclamation O the seruile and vaine solicitations of the Roman Court O blind though holie ambition so he speakes by ironie which notwithstanding is oftentimes abused by the counsel of the wicked why doest thou not suppresse thy violence with the bridle of discretion learning wit by things past hauing beene taught and chastised by so often and much experience In thy ruines we are all punished We all suffer and feele with opprobrie a generall confusion Thou didst attempt to create two Emperors in Germanie in whose preferment infinit treasures howsoeuer gotten and brought in must needs be wasted and yet both of them vncertaine and doubtfull of the dignitie And now in the parts of Apulia the Popes armie being twice most shamefully ouerthrowne that is to say once vnder the conduct of William the Cardinall and secondly vnder the Legatship and gouernement of Cardinall Octauian it hath preiudiced the children of the whole Church by stealths and rapines drowned them with opprobries and euen mortally wounded them with anguishes and vexations And to conclude in few words the generall Church which was supposed to be defended by the Roman Court complaines her selfe to haue beene rather in many things aggrauated and opprest These things fell out a little before vnder Alexander the fourth Vnder the same Pope also fell out the controuersies betweene the Diuines of Paris and the Mendicants who of Pharisies becomming the Popes Publicans proued the verie scourge of other ordinarie Pastors and the disturbers of all Vniuersities As also wee haue lately seene that they were rebuked and condemned for many hereticall propositions readie to haue beene excommunicated if they had perseuered and stood in the same And now againe they are censured of a new crime and errour especially the Dominicans being the authors of a new Gospel which they call Eternall by which they meant to haue buried in obliuion the sacred Testament of our Lord Iesus Authors therefore speake of it in these words Rancors and hatreds multiplying betweene the Masters of Paris and the Friers Predicants Math. Paris in Henrico 3. certaine famous Doctors publike Readers were chosen with sound deliberation and aduice that is to say Master William de Sancto Amore or S. Amors Master Otho of Douuay who had worthily discharged themselues in the Artes and Decretalls and then in Diuinitie Master Christian Canon of Beuuais a great Philosopher and afterwards a Diuine Master Nicholas of Baro vpon Aube professor in the Artes Lawes and Decretals being readie to read publikely in Diuinitie Master Iohn of Sechvill an English man the Vniuersitie Rhetoritian and Master Iohn Belim a French man all these being famous Philosophers and professors in the Artes. These men proceeding from worthie parents because the Christian faith began to be much shaken and depraued were out of mature aduice and iudgement chosen to goe to Rome and to moue our Lord the Pope for a reconciliation in the Vniuersitie of Paris and a reestablishment of the Christian faith especially in that this euill threatened a further propagation and encrease and for their charges a common collection was made ouer all the Vniuersitie For it was reported that the Friers preached read and taught certaine new opinions and errours drawne out of a booke of one Ioachim an Abbot whose writings Pope Gregorie condemned and they had written a booke which it pleased them to intitle thus Incipit Euangelium aeternum Here begins the eternall Gospell with some other poynts which it is not requisit to repeat The Predicants on the other side sent their special messengers against the Vniuersitie that they might oppugne the masters face to face The people scoffed at them withdrawing their accustomed almes and tearming them Antichrists hypocrites and the successors of Antichrist false preachers flatterers and misleaders of Princes
is it that the Popedome hauing swallowed vp this poore Church at the word of the Lord in these later times should cast it out againe that so the Gospell might be preached more gloriously than before euen to your selues But now giue me leaue to aske thee againe In all this long space of time where was thy Church and of all loues answer me In those six hundred yeares next after Christ in the whole world was there any that was thy Church and that worshipped burnt incense adorned adored and inuocated Images Doubtlesse there was none such except thou seeke it among the Heathen with Simon Magus not Simon Peter In a whole thousand yeares was there any Church that called the Hoast Lord thought it a god adored it In a whole thousand two hundred yeares that shut it vp in a box carried it about appointed vnto it a proper feastiuall day set it out with pomp to be gazed vpon by the people as in a publike Theatre Againe in a whole thousand yeares after Christ was there any Church howsoeuer otherwise corrupted that placed Christ the sonne of God betweene the hands of a Priest yea created him that sold his sacrifice for money to be offered at all times yea euerie moment of time and in all places That abolished the auncient institution of Christ and Communion of the faithfull bringing into the place thereof their solitarie Masses for the liuing and the dead mumbled vp in a corner That depriued the people of the Cup of the Lord to feed them with the smoke of this pretended sacrifice And since I am entred into it to lay open these monstrous abuses to the view of the world Was there any Church that accused the Scriptures of insufficiencie or imperfection writing bookes to that purpose That forbad the reading of them as being daungerous and deadly vpon paine of grieuous punishment and that by a publike Decree Againe was there any Church in the whole world for six hundred yeares after Christ that beleeued the Pope of Rome to be the Vniuersall Bishop an earthlie Prince armed with both swords spirituall and temporall That for a thousand yeres out of Rome acknowledged him to be Pope and Emperour the Lord of the world the true Spouse of the Church That for twelue hundred yeares did affirme him to be aboue generall Councels the Catholike Church the Scriptures That did affirme or teach That he had power to dispose of the state of our soules by his Indulgences That he could shut Purgatorie open heauen canonize for a Saint or damne to hell at his pleasure whom it pleased him commaund the Angels abrogat the lawes of God and therefore a god and aboue God Adde if you will to make vp the matter What Church in those ages euer knew those multitudes of Monkes the foure Orders of begging Friers the scarlet Cardinals this Pontificall pompe his Ianizaries and Mamalukes and lastly his Iesuites who are as it were the rereward of the Popes armie And yet of these doth your Church now consist and they must be beleeued vpon paine of damnation Herein Bellarmine and Baronius spend their labours and he that abates but a haire of that they affirme let him bee accounted as a Heathen or Publican That man on the other side that beleeues all this especially all those poynts that concerne the Pope though he be otherwise an heretike a prophane person an Atheist yet he is a good Catholike and in the right way It is now then your part to proue this your Church out of the Fathers Councels Histories yea euen your owne for I refuse not any But perhaps thou wilt aske though against the rules of disputation By what apparent reason it appeares that your Church hath erred and how it should bee likely that it hath hitherto receiued Christ his enemie for Christ his Vicar and how and in what part that corruption thou speakest of hath crept in Hearken my friend let not this preposterous presumption deceiue thee the Angels in heauen haue erred our first parents in Paradice haue erred Iacob amongst so many visions of God Israel in the desart in the middest of so many myracles haue erred the Church the Spouse of God vnder the Iudges the Kings in the presence of the Arke in that holie land though reproued by the Prophets verie often in the time of the first Temple and as often vnder the second and that which is more puffed vp with the doctrine of the Law euen to the forsaking of Christ himselfe the crucifying of him with her owne hands and consequently in her owne saluation hath erred What then should hinder but that it may now likewise erre euen to the receiuing of Antichrist that man of sinne the sonne of perdition and the adoring of him since both the one and the other proceed from the same spirit of presumption not to erre both the one and the other foretold by the same mouth by the spirit of God in his word and therefore of like certaintie Doubtlesse the Church then hath erred erred by neglecting the word of God and shall erre as often as she shall forsake the sea-mans compasse without which all things are to it vncertaine the heauens the sea the earth In so much that being left to her own discourse her owne cogitations it is no maruell if she haue erred if she doe erre yea rather it were a wonder and more than a wonder if without that compasse she should hold her course but a moment of time and not bee split in peeces against some rocke or suffer shipwracke vpon some vnknowne shore But whereas thou desirest to know the moment of time when this accident happened vnderstand my friend that this Mysterie was wrought in the darke for Antichrist is compared to a theefe that digs through the wall in the dead time of the night At what watch therefore he began his worke it is your part to know and to tell vs that stand sentinell that haue so long time before beene forewarned by God himselfe by whose either negligence or treacherie he hath inuaded the Roman castle and therefore your Church But thou art perhaps sicke of a dropsie thy bellie is swolne as big as a tunne thy bloud turned into water and yet thou wilt not hearken to the Physitian change the course of thy life vntill he tell thee the verie instant time when thy liuer began to be distempered to bee inflamed to grow drie and to be hardened into a Schyrrus whereas thou shouldest haue beene the first that should haue knowne that if it might be because there is no man so neere vnto thee as thy selfe There is nothing more ridiculous than to thinke that another should know it before thy selfe especially considering it is one of those diseases according to Hypocrates that at the first is most hardly knowne most easily cured afterwards by tract of time the symptomes or accidents belonging thereunto encreasing it is easily knowne hardly cured But yet I will not refuse to
thou dissemblest it These Iuglers in the meane time are nor ashamed to tell vs in bookes printed to that purpose That Antichrist is borne at Babylon with the teeth of a Cat with rowling eyes growen to his full stature in an instant made knowen by his miracles and presently marching towards vs with a huge armie What opinion haue these men either of your sottishnesse or their owne sufficiencie that they should thinke to blind you with these fooleries How long shall they with their brazen faces goe scotfree or you euen with the losse of your owne soules with your leaden minds Shall they alwaies lull you asleepe with these fables and will you neuer find a time to awaken neuer haue vnderstanding to discerne them Let me therefore speake vnto you O ye people why doe ye still make delaies Being so often deluded why doe ye not obey the voyce of God thundering from heauen Apoc. 18. v. 4. 9. Goe out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sinnes and that ye receiue not of her plagues And O ye kings so long made drunken why stand ye at a gaze not executing the counsell of the Almightie which cannot be made frustrat nay which in a manner is alreadie fulfilled why doe ye not rather make that beast desolat and naked Apoc. 17. v. 16. and eating her flesh burne her with fire In danger otherwise to lament before her to be partakers of hir punishment her ruine since you haue so long enioyed her pleasures and committed fornication with her But thou O my Sauiour in the middest of this cunctation or rather carelesse securitie awaken and rise vp and come downe and behold the sinnes of this spirituall Sodome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because they are now consummat and come to their ful height Tread the wine presse alone though none of the people none of the kings ioyne with thee Esay 63.3 Gird thy sword vnto thee euen thy two edged sword wherewith that man of sinne shal be slaine the spirit of thy mouth thy holie word And let the wicked at the last cry out standing a farre off for feare of her tormonts Alas alas the great citie Babylon Apoc. 18. v. 10. the mightie citie for in one houre is thy iudgement come Let the godlie sing together and let them repeat it againe and againe Halleluiah Saluation and glorie and honour Apoc. 19. v. 2. and power be to the Lord our God for true and righteous are his iudgements for he hath condemned the great Whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication and hath auenged the bloud of his seruants shed by her hand And let me O Lord sing with old Symion being wearie of this world full of yeres and thirsting after thee Luk. 2. v. 29.30 Now lettest thou thy seruant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes haue seene thy saluation The saluation and deliuerance of thy Church from the hands of her enemies the Lambe victorious and triumphant shortly celebrating the mariage of thine elect with the immaculat Lambe Christ Iesus to whom with the Father and the holie Ghost be all honour and glorie for euer and euer Amen ⧠To the Reader POpe Paule the fift caused himselfe to be pourtrayed in the first page of diuers Bookes dedicated vnto him printed at Rome and at Bolognia as hath beene sayd in the Preface The first words of the Latine inscription are PAVLO V. VICEDEO take the numerall letters and you shall find the number of the Beast Apocal. c. 13. v. 18. PAV 5. L 50. O V 5. V 5. I 1. C 100. ED 500. EO 5. 50. 5. 5. 1. 100. 500. 666. THE MYSTERIE OF INIQVITIE That is to say The Historie of the Papacie Declaring by what degrees it is now mounted to this heigth and what oppositions the better sort from time to time haue made against it THE PREFACE Of the person of Antichrist of the time when and of the place where he was to be reuealed THe Mysterie whose proceedings we here intend to set downe in writing is none other than that which was foretold by S. Paule in his second Epistle to the Thessalonians and the second chapter and more particularly by circumstances and signes described by S. Iohn in the thirteenth fourteenth seuenteenth and eighteenth chapters of his Reuelation which Mysterie time it selfe from age to age hath euer interpreted by euents till now at length all prophesies fulfilled we see it clearely reuealed in these our dayes 2. Thess cap. 2. S. Paule therefore telleth vs That that day of Christ meaning that glorious day of his last comming shall not come vnlesse there first come that Apostasie and notable reuolt that is vnlesse some great part of the Church first fall away from the pure and vndefiled seruice of Christ and vnlesse that man of sinne be first reuealed that sonne of perdition which shall be ringleader and chiefe director in this desperate reuolt lost in himselfe and cause of perdition vnto others and is therefore called by S. Iohn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say a Destroyer Apocal. 9. vers 11. And to the end that none should take offence when these things should come to passe he forewarneth vs of the greatnesse of this reuolt by representing it to our vnderstanding vnder the name of Babylon and of an Horrible confusion comparing him who was to haue the chiefe direction and commaund in this worke Apocal. 17. vers 3. to a woman sitting vpon a Beast of scarlet colour eminent and in euerie respect glorious and consequently admired of all those who should behold her Ibid. vers 8. saue onely those whose names are written in the booke of life insomuch that euen Kings those I meane whom she shall make drunke with the wine of her abhominations shall giue her their authoritie and power to helpe warre vpon the Saints and that Peoples and Nations shall serue her for a seat to sit vpon Ibid. vers 13. The waters sayth he on which she sitteth are Peoples and Multitudes and Nations and Tongues So that that Apostasie and that man of sinne make both together a kind of Estate or Kingdome whereof the Apostasie is the Bodie euen the Papacie which hath long since degenerated from the true doctrine of Christ drenching the world with Idolatrie and Superstition and that Man of sinne is the Head euen the Pope or Romane Bishop in whose person all this power and authoritie is combined and in his name executed Apocal. ca. 13. vers 12. And for this cause maketh S. Paule mention of an Apostasie and of a man of sinne and S. Iohn of a second Beast and of a Whore By which second Beast which exerciseth the authoritie of the first what can be meant but the Romane Hierarchie which hath deriued vpon her selfe all the authoritie of that ancient Commonwealth making the earth to adore the first Beast in the second that is the old
bee so muzled by these excommunications for first Cyprian in his Epistle to Pompeius Cypria in Epist ad Pomp. 74. Among other things saith he which our brother Stephen hath written vnto vs either insolently or vnfittingly or contrarie to himselfe hee hath also added this If any man come to vs for what heresie soeuer making no difference betweene heresie and heresie which yet the Councell of Nice afterward thought fit to make let him receiue imposition of hands in penance nay farther saith he his obduratnesse of heart and obstinacie is such as to presume to maintaine That by the baptisme of Marcion Valentin and Appelles children may be borne vnto God Thus he spake and this he maintained in heat of contention contrarie to what the Church afterward defined because these retained not the forme of baptisme But saith he a Bishop should not onely teach but also learne and he is the best teacher of others who is himselfe euerie day a learner As if he had said That Stephen should doe well to learne religion by conferring with his Collegues not to lay his authoritie vpon them vnder a pretence of custome which not grounded vpon truth saith he Cyprian Epist 71 is nought else but an aged errour Saint Peter saith he the first chosen of our Lord vpon whom also hee built his Church when Saint Paul disputed with him vpon the poynt of circumcision carried not himselfe in this manner neither boasted he that the Primacie was giuen vnto him hee told him not that he was an after commer and that foremost must take vp hinder most or disdained him for that he had beene a persecutor of the Church but submitted himselfe with all willingnesse to truth and reason giuing vs thereby an example of patience not to be selfe-willed in louing that which proceedeth from our selues but rather to account all that as our own which our brethren shal teach vs for our good saluation of our soules And vpon these and the like tearmes he euer holdeth him But Stephen staied not here for he had alreadie written to the Easterne Bishops Euseb l. 7. c. 4. who held opinion with Cyprian declaring vnto them That hee could no longer hold communion with them if they persisted in that opinion as appeareth by that Epistle which Dionysius Alexandrinus wrot vnto Xystus who succeeded vnto Stephen and yet more plainly by that which he wrot to Firmilianus Helenus and others to whom also Cyprian had alreadie dispatched Rogatian his Deacon And the Easterne Bishops vpon the intimation giuen them from Cyprian grew much offended with the insolencie and pride of Stephen and therefore in their answer vnto Cyprian We say they haue cause indeed to thanke him for that his inhumanitie hath giuen vs large testimonie of your faith and wisedome yet deserueth not Stephen any thankes for the good he hath done vnto vs no more than did Iudas for that by his treason he became an instrument of saluation vnto all the world But let this fact of Stephen passe least the remembrance of his pride and insolencie put vs farther in mind of his greater impietie And a little after comming to the fact it selfe Although say they in diuers Prouinces many things are diuersly obserued yet no man by occasion thereof euer departed from the vnitie of the Catholike Church which yet Stephen now presumeth to doe breaking that league of peace with vs which his predecessours so inuiolably obserued He markes not what a flaw he makes in this precious gemme of Christian veritie when he betrayeth and forsaketh vnitie And yet say they Stephen all this while vaunteth himselfe to haue Saint Peters chaire by succession And this no doubt was that which animated him to presume so farre vpon the Churches But made they any whit the more reckoning of his excommunications therefore or did they not rather tell him That thereby he had excommunicated himselfe Surely say they a man full of stomacke breedeth strifes and he that is angrie encreaseth sinnes How many quarels hast thou O Stephen set on foot throughout the Churches and how much sinne hast thou heaped vp vnto thy selfe in cutting thy selfe off from so many flockes For so hast thou done seeing he is a right scismatike which departeth voluntarily from the vnitie of the Church Cyprian Ep. 4. And thou whilest thou wentest about to seperat others from thee hast seperated thy selfe from all other Churches c. Walke saith the Apostle in your vocation in all humilitie of mind in meekenesse and patience supporting one another in loue endeuouring to keepe the vnitie of the spirit in the band of peace c. And hath not Stephen well obserued this precept thinke you when hee breakes off now with all the Churches of the East and anone with those of the South Or hath not he with great patience and meekenesse receiued their embassadours who vouchsafed not to admit them to ordinarie talke giuing order with great humilitie that no man should receiue them vnder his roofe and was so farre from giuing them the Pax that he forbad any man to affoord them lodging Can such a man be of one bodie or of one spirit who is scarcely of one soule in himselfe And see whither this grew in the end He is not say they ashamed to call Cyprian false Christ and false Apostle and a deceitfull workeman For finding his owne conscience surcharged with all these imputations he wisely began to obiect that to another which others might farre more iustly haue laid vpon himselfe Thus then wrot the Churches of the East vnto Saint Cyprian as much offended with the insolencie which Stephen had vsed vpon this occasion so that Pamelius had reason I confesse to say as he did That he would willingly haue left out this Epistle as Manutius had done before him but that Morelius i. Turnebus himselfe had printed it in his edition How farre is all this short of that mild and temperat humour of Saint Cyprian Cyprian Epist ad Inbaianum Edit Paris 70. in Edit Pamelij 73. We saith he will not fall at variance with our Collegues and fellow Bishops for the Heretikes sakes We maintaine in patience and meekenesse the loue of heart the honour of our societie the band of faith and Priestlie vnitie And for this cause at this present by the inspiration of God haue we written a treatise of the Benefits of Patience And at the same time for a lenitife of this sharpe humour he wrot another booke of Zeale and Enuie Such were the essayes of the Bishops of Rome euen in the heat of persecution and such were the wiles of Satan to serue his owne turne and to set forward his worke by their ambition and bad carriage of a good cause But Constantine comming shortly after to restore peace vnto the Churches and as it were to shed forth the sweet influence of his liberalitie and fauour vpon them these sparkes of ambition fostered by his bountie and no waies restrained by
fift booke they proue nothing but this That Iohn vpon the wrong which was done vnto him had recourse to Gregorie who made his cause to be reuiewed in a Synod and his confession being there found Orthodox Gregorie requested the Patriarch of Constantinople to receiue him againe with fauour as one which had beene abused and wronged by such as he had put in trust with the examination of his cause and intreated the Emperour to assist him therein all which sauoureth not of the nature of an Appeale but onely of that ancient recourse which the oppressed vsed to make to the chiefe Sees and which the Bishop of Rome vsed commonly to draw to a consequence of Soueraigntie and Dominion The like is to be said of the case of Adrian Bishop of Thebes whose processe as hee saith Gregorie read ouer for the Appeale there spoken of vpon the accusation which was mixt and partly Ciuile partly Ecclesiasticall belonged properly to the Ciuile Court in the point for which the Emperour in the first instance committed it to Iohn Bishop of Iustineana Prima and secondarily to the Ecclesiasticall Court in that which concerned his deposition And Gregorie there speaketh in verie proper tearmes when he saith That Adrian being wronged by his brethren and fellow Bishop as by his enemies fled to the citie of Rome And againe He is saith he Confugit come to Rome to complaine with teares And in like sort doth Baronius abuse the other examples which he alledgeth Fiftly he saith That Gregorie dealt about his Palls amongst the Archbishops of the East also making vs beleeue that this custome is as ancient as Christianitie is old And wheresoeuer the Bishop of Rome writing to any Bishop saith vnto him Vices tibi meas committo i. I make you my Vicar he inferreth presently That he sent him the Mantle or Pall withall which he bringeth in as if it had now suddenly sprung out of the ground it being a thing which former ages neuer heard of But let vs see vpon what credit though wee now come to enter into an age which was wholly set vpon new fangles and deuises For proofe hereof therefore hee citeth the 55 Epistle of Gregorie lib. 4. whence he collecteth That he bestowed this Mantle or Pall vpon Iohn Bishop of Corinth whereas yet his words are onely these You know saith he that heretofore this Pall was giuen for money but we haue taken a strict order in a Synod Pallium pro Commodo that neither this or any other order shall hereafter be disposed of either by money or by fauour And I see no reason but that by the same argument he might haue said That hee sent him his Orders also True it is that the two Bishops of Rome and of Constantinople pulled who could pull hardest to get all jurisdiction into their hands as if the Church had beene a prey betweene them two and this was the cause that Gregories letters slew so thicke as they did into Greece And so much bee said of the power which he chalenged ouer the Church As for the Emperour Maurice Baronius taketh pepper in nose against him a man otherwise well reported of and much commended by Historians His grieuance is onely this That according to the law of his predecessors he tooke vpon him to confirme Gregorie in his Popedome and is scarce friends with Gregorie himselfe for suffering it In the end he saith That the Emperour was a Tyran Baron vol. 8. an 590. art 2 3 4 sequent and Gregorie forced to doe what he did and that it was of this Maurice that he meant when vpon the fift Penitentiall Psalme he vsed these words That he is no King who maketh the Church a Chamber-maid whom God appointed to be free and Mistresse of the house if so then was Gregorie a notorious hypocrite neither is there any trusting of him seeing that he said one thing and meant another in all the dealings which he had with Maurice For doe but read the Epistle which he wrot vnto Maurice concerning that law which he had made to this effect That no souldier vntill he were dismissed no accomptant without his discharge first had and obtained should take the Frocke vpon him and enter into religion and then tell me whether it be possible for a man to vse greater submission than he there vseth He is answerable saith he for it before Almightie God whosoeuer is either in word or deed found faultie against his gracious Lords And so were I your most vnworthie seruant if in this case I should hold my peace c. Greg. li. 2. Epist 62. 65. Thou wert my good Lord before such time as thou wert Lord of all c. And when I thus presume to speake vnto my Lords what am I but dust and a verie worme of the earth c. Power is giuen from heauen vnto my Lords ouer all men c. and Christ shall one day speake vnto thee saying To thee haue I committed my Priests or Bishops c. And in the end I haue saith hee Meos Sacerdotes now in euerie poynt fulfilled my duetie seeing that I haue yeelded my obedience to the Emperour and haue not kept silence in that which was of my knowledge Who can read this and thinke him a Pope which wrot it And in like manner speaketh he to Theodore the Emperors Physitian My tongue saith he is vnable to expresse the good which I haue receiued of the Almightie and of my Lord the Emperour and what shall I giue againe for all this good but onely this Vestigia pure amare i. To loue the ground he goeth on in the same sence in which he elsewhere often saith Greg. li. 2. Epist 64. ad Dominorum vestigia transmisi i. I haue sent it to the feet of my Lords And at the foot of that Epistle he saith God hath not giuen him power to rule ouer souldiers onely Idem Epist 52. but also ouer Bishops where hee vseth the word Sacerdotibus meaning thereby All men of the Church And shall then Baronius his plea be admitted Baron an 593. art 15. when he saith That Gregorie spake as one which liued vnder a Nero or a Dioclesian especially when he maketh such open protestation That he speaketh the truth wholly without all reseruation and thereupon is so bold in the same Epistle as to say vnto him What wilt thou answer before the iudgement seat of God when he shall say vnto thee at that day Of Notarie I made thee Captaine of the gard of the Captaine of the gard Caesar of Caesar Emperour Was it feare or duetie which drew these words from him But if you will take a true view of the judgement which this man had of the Emperour then read the Epistle which he wrot without all passion to Anastasius Bishop of Antioch Whereas saith he men which are Orthodox in the faith are daily preferred to holie Orders wee haue great cause to render
loth to lose his money came thither in all hast and finding Sergius quietly in possession demaunded of him the money which was promised to him by Paschal Sergius to content him gaue him the Vessell and Crownes of gold which hung vp before S. Peters House and yet all was too little This fell out about the yeare 690. And so within foure yeares after their libertie of election restored to them fell out two schismes next kinne to commotions in the State and the souldiors began alreadie to haue a hand in the election of the Popes as the Praetorians had heretofore in the choice of the Emperours Anastas in Sergio And Anastasius farther reporteth That this Paschal one of the competitors was afterwards thrust into a Monasterie for worshipping of trees for lotteries and other enchantments which he vsed Also we may obserue that after the time of Leo the second the Popes were consecrated by three Bishops namely those of Ostia Port and Velitre as all other Bishops were whereas before he was only consecrated by him of Ostia but after all they grew impatient to see themselues so ordered by the sixt Generall Councell and Iustinian the second sonne to that Constantine of whom they had receiued so manie and so large fauours felt it to his cost OPPOSITION Sigon l. 2. an 692. This Iustinian therefore after the death of his father who had before his death associated him in the Empire following as Sigonius saith the steps of his father wrote presently to Pope Iohn the fift That he had found the holie bookes of the sixt Generall Councell digested and set in order by his father which eftsoones he presented to the Patriarchs Sacra Iustin ad Iohan. 5. in 2. To. Concil and to his Holinesse his Solicitor to the sacred Senat to the Metropolitans and Bishops to the chiefe officers both of his Court and Armie to be read before them and to be subscribed by them to the end that they might neuer hereafter be falsified or corrupted whereof he thought good to aduertise him assuring him that he purposed neuer to depart from them But this dispatch found Iohn dead Lib. Pontif. in Conone and Conon placed in his roome who receiued the letters and the Emperour shortly after vnderstanding of his election spared for no kind of gratulations which are not I warrant you forgotten in the Historie But this Conon happening to die shortly after his election hauing beene all the while sickly Sigon l. 2. de Reg. Jtal. Anastas in Conone and Sergius succeeding in his place Iustinian sent like letters vnto him requiring him to subscribe to this Councell so carefully compared with the Originals and alreadie subscribed by his Lieger Solicitors Sergius because there were some Acts there which pleased him not namely those which concerned the ordering of his See tooke occasion to say that some bodie had falsified the Acts and thereupon he disauowed his Solicitors Anastasius saith his Legats and refused to subscribe vnto them Anastas in Sergio Whereat Iustinian tooke such offence that he renounced the Church of Rome which vntill then he had euer maintained and sent to apprehend Iohn Bishop of Port and Boniface chiefe Counsellor of the See Moreouer Zacharie Protospatarius or as we say High Constable came himselfe to apprehend the Pope But Sergius had taken such order that all the souldierie of Rome was at his deuotion Anastas in Sergio so that Zacharie was faine to submit himselfe and to crie him mercie The pretence of his not subscribing was as Anastasius sayth because he would not consent to errors of nouelties Paul Diacon de gest Longobard l. 6. c. 11. or as Paulus Diaconus reporteth to a Synod of Error as if they had beene Monothelites But the Canons which are come vnto our hands haue no such smell about them but in expresse tearmes they pronounce Anathema against them neither indeed was there anie thing in them that troubled his conscience saue onely that they equalled the Bishop of Constantinople with himselfe And Anastasius seemeth to say as much when he sayth it was by reason of certaine articles there added contrarie to the Rites of the Church and therefore not contrarie to anie article of religion or point of doctrine but in the life of Iohn he speaketh plainely saying it was for certaine articles contrarie to the Romane Church for indeed the Emperor sent him an Orthodox confession of his faith withall And this came vnto the yeare 700. An. 700. Baronius seeketh to discredit and to annihilate the Canons of this Councell Baron vol. 8. an 692. art 1 2. Pseudosynodum but we haue sufficiently justified them elsewhere he calleth it a false and erronious Synod grieuing to see his Head bounded and limited by law and reason as if all the members should thereby fare the worse But let him thanke those Fathers for it and the Popes Legats themselues who were present at it But aboue all Tharasius Patriarch of Constantinople is he which offendeth him for that in the second Councell of Nice he sayth Syno Nice Act. 2. What ignorance is this of some which trouble themselues about these Canons It is a scandale to doubt whether they are of the sixt Generall Councell or no Know all men therefore that that Councell was first assembled vnder Constantine c. And afterwards the same Fathers assembled themselues vnder Iustinian his sonne and then made these Canons and that therefore no man should doubt thereof And is it ynough now to find some little error in the date thereby to reject all these Canons And Balsamon Bishop of Antioch pleaseth him as little Because sayth he that the fift and this sixt Synod had made no Canons this therefore came in supplement vnto them c. and is also reckoned as Generall For although the Westerne Bishops to wit Italians and Latines because they are there touched say it is no Councell and that the Popes Legats were not there c. yet I find looking ouer the old Nomocanon Balsamon in Nomocanone that Basill Bishop of Gortyna Metropolitan of Candie and another Bishop of Candie were there as Lieutenants of the whole Synod of the Church of Rome and not they onely but also the Bishops of Thessalonica Sardana Heraclea in Thrace and Corynth as speciall Legats from the Pope and were called Legats a facie who also had particular iurisdiction as appeareth by the second title of the fift booke Imperiall What spunge can wipe this out or who can thinke that this can be controlled by giuing Balsamon the lye or by saying that he was an heretike Can Gratian endure this injurie who hath canonized these Canons Or the second Councell of Nice Actio 2. 3. or the Popes Gregorie the second and Adrian who haue cited them for good proofe alledging the 83 Canon to justifie their vse of Images Or is it ynough for Baronius to say that these Popes kill the Greekes with their
candlesticke Were there therefore before no eyes no candles in the Church Againe Nicholas the second Leo Ostiens l. 3. c. 25. that he might extend the signification of the word Simonie in despight of Henrie the third made a law That no man could accept of a Church or any Ecclesiasticall office either freely or for money from the hands of a Lay man An. 1056. Whereas that which is said to be freely giuen doth properly exclude Simonie makes no difference betwixt the Lay and the Clergie This Nicholas did also increase vnder the minoritie of Henrie by another occasion Robert and Richard Guischar who were come from Normandie to follow the warres in Calabria against the Sarasins had there set footing with happie successe Robert called himselfe Duke of Apulia and Calabria Richard held Capua and ouerranne the countrie euen to the gates of the citie of Rome both the one and the other were excommunicated by the See of Rome But Nicholas called in his excommunication vpon condition they should hold their seigniories in fee farme of the Church of Rome swearing faith and loyaltie thereunto and paying for a yerely rent twelue pence for euerie yoke of Oxen from whence there arose matter of new contention with the Empire and the Emperour And these things bring vs to the yere 1060. But the progression was no lesse in the corruption of manners and doctrine than in tyrannie ouer the Church Touching manners the sinne of Sodome by the rigorous execution of those lawes that concerned single life had taken such root in the Roman Clergie Petriâ— Damian Lib. qui inscribitur Gomerrhaeus cui praefixa Epist Leonis 9. Baron an 1049. Art 10. seq that Petrus Damianus enforced to betake himselfe to an Hermitage writ a book intituled Gomorrhaeus in which he deciphers al the kinds therof wherein they did riot and sensually passe their time And he dedicated the book to Leo the 9 whose helpe he imploreth against this great and grieuous sin Wicked brambles thornes and nettles haue filled the field of our Lord and Master which grow out of the strength of the flesh and the doung of corruption for all flesh hath corrupted her wayes insomuch that not onely a floud of waters seemes not sufficient to wash away the filth thereof but this great and grieuous wickednesse cries for that Gomorrhaean fire from heauen that burnt the fiue Cities And hereupon by this admonition of Damianus Leo made some lawes and ordained some punishments for this sinne But presently after it appeared that he lost the grace and fauour of Leo And afterwards Alexander the second obtayning the Popedome gets this booke from the authour thereof vnder colour to lend it to the Abbot of Saint Sauiour but in deed to suppresse it making the reason thereof to be his ouer-plaine dealing in that he had expressed the matter in more obscene or grosse termes than was fitting As if such filthinesse could be stirred but there must rise a stinke Whereupon Damianus in an Epistle to Hildebrand and Stephen Cardinals eagrely complaines yet not without a manifest flout And indeed saith he is this a token of Priestly clenlinesse or rather an argument of papall puritie But as touching doctrine In the time of Victor the second about the yere 1055 was brought in the redemption of Penitentiaries vnder pretence that sins multiplying An. 1055. men were not able to endure a penance for so many yeares deferred And besides sometimes men may dye before the penance be accomplished Wherefore in fauour of the rich it was ordained that either for mony possessions or any thing else equiualent therunto they might buy it out Baron an 1055. Art 9. seq according to the number of the yeres appointed and agreed vpon And of this it was that Damianus saith Thou art not ignorant that when we take lands and possessions of Penitenciaries according to the proportion of the gift we release them in the quantitie of their penance Which he himselfe did to the Archbishop of Millan in his legation whereupon saith Baronius He sheweth that the goods of the church shall increase by these ransomes which in time shall grow to a custome Petrus Damiar in Epist ad fratres Baron an 1056 Art 6. 7. But it pleased him that the poorer sort should redeeme those yeares with corporall afflictions a certaine number of Psalmes sung in the Church fasts with bread and water fillips whips and the like whereupon saith the selfesame Damian Tria scorparum millia three thousand lashes with a whip or a holy-bush with the singing of certaine Psalmes doe supply one yeres penance c. And so he calculates it that twentie Psalters sung with discipline should serue for the penance of a hundred yeres Petrus Damianus in Epist ad Defiderium Cassinatem So farre at the last did this corruption of doctrine proceed that Petrus Damianus prescribed to the Monkes that liued vnder his obedience in the same Hermitage that euerie day with their Canonicall houres they should say the seruice of the virgin Marie And saith Baronius As he was the author hereof in his monasterie so it is manifest that from the same sourse it sprang that in all the West churches not only the Monkes but Clergie and Lay men and women by the admonition of Pope Vrban did euery day their taskes And he acknowledgeth to be of the same age and inuention the custome of whipping themselues in imitation of Dominicus Loricatus The masse vpon Mundaies for the dead that are in Purgatorie vpon Friday in honor of the passion on Saturdaies in the honour of the Virgin to the end that superstition with the Popedome should ascend to their highest pitch Alexander the second succeeded Nicholas the second who taking aduantage of the minoritie of Henrie for he was then about eleuen yeares of age was chosen either by the decree of Nicholas Leo Ostiens L. 3. ca. 20. or the bould counsell of Hildebrand Which Agnis the mother of Henrie vnderstanding to be done without her commaund called a Councell at Basill where by the consent of most of the Bishops of Italie Cadalous Bishop of Parma was created Pope who was called Honorius the second Now was Italie diuided in two parts by these two Popes who raised their forces and bare armes one against the other And Henrie himselfe sent Hanno Archbishop of Collen who in the same Sinod reproched Alexander the second and told him that he had no power to enter into the chaire without the commandement of the Emperour and therefore he was either to leaue it againe or to giue a reason of that he had done But Hildebrand answereth him the interpreter for the most part of the Popes in those daies that Alexander was suddenly consecrated without the authoritie of Henrie to auoyd some imminent tumults And that the church of Rome his spirituall mother tooke more care of his right than his mother Agnis who was tied vnto
lust of the souldier to commit all manner of wickednesse whatsoeuer For we learne sufficiently out of histories what manner of men for the most part they returned from thence being all polluted with the abhominations of the Cananites To the same remedies they had euer recourse consecrating their children if they had any to the selfesame warres and giuing such goods as they had to expiat their sinnes On the otherside euerie vnskilfull souldier carried with a feruent desire of this warre fell vpon the Iewes against whom they had libertie as they thought to offer any violence and if they did not presently turne Christians to massacre them at their owne pleasures to the great scandall of Christian Religion as if there had beene no other meane to conuert them to the Faith of Christ And therefore in many Prouinces the souldiers preparing themselues to depart fell vpon the miserable people making their ruine to beare the charge of their voyage Insomuch that we read of tenne or twelue thousand slayne in one place an euident argument of that false and adulterat zeale wherewith they were carried and a manifest presage of an vnfortunat end We are not to forget by the way amongst other things that that Godfrey of Buloin that was the first who by assault entred Hierusalem was the selfesame who before vnder the commaund of the Emperour Henrie was the first that scaled the walls of Rome Let no man doubt that there wanted in those times wise men who looked more inwardly into the nature of this expedition Auentine beleeuing those that writ before him saith that it was a report spred amongst the common people Auent li. 5. that this voice was heard from heauen Deus vult God will haue it so whereupon all sorts of people from all parts ran to those warres some from their Kingdomes some from their Cities their Castles their flocks their Temples their families their wiues their children their fields their plonghes and into Asia past by flockes Captaines Gouernours Tetrarches Bishops Monkes who vnder a shew of Religion Berthold in Chron. committed all manner of wickednesse They carried a Goose saith he before them saying it was the holie An. 1096. Ghost and that Charles the great was come againe into the world As for the Iewes wheresoeuer they met them they slew them except they did presently conuert and whosoeuer refused to turne they spoyled of his goods Some of the Iewes out of their loue to their Law slew each other others for the time dissembling Christianitie relapsed from Christ to Moyses And these were the exploits of Peter the Hermit the authour and procuror of these warres Sigon de regno Jtaliae li. 9. A voyage whereof Sigonius himselfe in the middest of his panegyrique could not temper himself but that he gaue his judgement in these words Vrban saith he applied his mind to the recouerie of Hierusalem which had beene a long time held by the Sarasens an enterprise not so famous for the increase of pietie Gulielm Malmelsburiens li. 4. as renowned for the glorie therof in future times Which expedition to the end he might colour with some deuotion he ordayned that no Clergie or Lay man should eat flesh from Shrouetide to Easter Thus doth superstition alwayes increase with hipocrisie The controuersie touching the inuestiture of Bishops pretended by the Popes to the preiudice of Kings and Emperours did still continue though not without some difficultie and resistance Waltramus de inuestituris Episcoporum especially in Germanie Waltram therefore Bishop of Naumburg writ in his time of this matter against the Pope his reasons were That Hadrian in a full Councell was of opinion with Charles the great and his successours that it belonged to them to inuest Bishops yea and to confirme the Bishop of Rome except some certaine Bishops of Italie who by an auncient graunt from the Kings were to be consecrated by the Pope In which graunt he comprehendeth the Abbies and other regall dignities That Gregorie the great euen before this agreement had by Letters admonished Theodorick Theodobert Brunichild to inuest without simonie and that himselfe was not consecrated but by the consent of Mauritius the Emperour That Pope Leo and his successors obserued the same towads Otho and his and that vnder payne of excommunication And therefore it is verie strange that Gregorie the seuenth should go about to alter it and that vnder absolution That the Popes are to take good heed that God doe not vnbind in heauen what they bind vpon earth which many times comes to passe by the glorie of precedencie which sets mens spirits on fire when the successors goe about to change the Decrees of their predecessors And if any man reprehending them they shal answer that The iudgements of Rome are not to be reuoked why then doe they reuoke those of their auncestors that made for the Emperours why doe they scandall the little flocke of Christ why vnder the shaddow of Religion doe they gather euen with open hands all vnto themselues since that our Sauiour saith Giue vnto Caesar those things that are Caesars c That in Spaine Scotland England Hungarie the Kings vsed this right purely and entirely In France a long time before Hadrian the consecrated Kings and gouernors of the Palace inuested the Bishops that is to say Dagobert Sigebert Theodoricus Hildericus Pepinus Theodebertus by whom Remaclus Amandus Odemarus Antbertus Elisius Lambertus and other holie Prelats were inthronised and setled in their seats without respect of the maner of their inuestiture whether it were done by word or by the staffe the ring yet it was no matter But we must know that that homage that is done vnto the king vnder the name royaltie is before the consecration And that from the time of S. Peter to Siluester it was not so both because the Emperours were heathens and the Churches poore but afterwards being enriched by kings and endowed by other good men they made new laws especially hauing gotten into their possession Lands and great reuenues yea became Lords of Townes and Cities into which places they might withdraw themselues against the enemie That it fell out verie happily that the Emperors put themselues into the gouernement of the Church of Rome which had beene so often rent with schismes in the election of their Bishops and could neuer obtaine any setled peace without their mediation All this he saith with many other good reasons too long to rehearse Trithemius in lib. de scriptorib Ecclesiast And in the selfesame sence writ Venericus Bishop of Verseil in Italie dedicating his booke to the Pope himselfe which he intituled Of the discord of the Kingdome and Priesthood It was at this time also that we haue the Apologie of Sigebert Abbot of Gembloux for the Emperor Henrie mentioned by Auentine in his fift booke In France Vrban hauing ordained Yuo Abbot of S. Quintine An. 1072. bishop of Chartres by the deposition of Iefferay
arising in the Church of Rome through the dissention of two Popes it is our duetie to call both parties and according to equitie and iustice to decide the controuersie The day therefore being come he ordayned fasting and publike prayers for the good successe of this Councel then declared he first vnto them That albeit the conuocation of Councels rightly appertayned vnto him For so saith he haue Constantine and Theodosius and also Iustinian besides those of later time Charles the great and Otho Emperours done Neuerthelesse the authoritie of defining and deciding this great and important businesse he thought fit to commit to their wisedome and iudgement Radeuicus l. 2. cap. 64.65 For since it pleased God to ordaine them Priests in those things that belonged vnto God It is not saith he our parts to iudge of you to whom God hath giuen power to iudge of vs Onely we exhort you saith he that you so carrie your selues in this businesse as you will answer the matter at the iudgement seat of God This done he retired himselfe from the Councell leauing the examination thereof to the Church and Ecclesiasticall persons that is to say to fiftie Archbishops and Bishops and Abbots without number besides Embassadours from diuers Prouinces who promised they would stand to whatsoeuer should be decreed in this Synode So the Bishops and all the Clergie continued in the canuasing of this cause the space of seuen daies at length the lot fell to Octanian called Victor the fourth the Councell or rather the Court giuing their sentence for him and condemned Roxland called Alexander the third who being lawfully summoned proudly refused to appeare Blondus and Sigonius say his reason was That he that ought to iudge all men ought not to be iudged of any man But Radeuicus in his narration seriously admonisheth the Reader that in the inquisition of the veritie of this act a man respect not his words but the writings that came to his owne hands which are inserted into this worke and will not seeme tedious to the Reader But first he produced an Epistle of the Chanons of S. Peter of Rome to Frederick Jdem l. 2. c. 66. wherein after they had bewailed the corruption of Rome as the Prophets before deplored the state of Ierusalem in these words For the sinnes of the Prophets and the iniquitie of the Priests they haue wandered like blindmen in the streets for the face of the Lord was turned from them They declare that in the time of Adrian one Boson whom they call the first borne of Satan possest the sorts and holds of S. Peter by corrupting the gard who were inforst by oth to giue their faith vnto him But Rowland seeing the lawfull election to fall vpon Octauian without any contradiction ascended the same fort and there lurked with his associats in a hollow vault of Neroes I say the same vault whereinto the Romane Nero fled through feare of the Romans yet could he neuer afterward attaine the pontificall Mantle for all the care and diligence of his followers Radeuic l. 2. c. 66.67.68.69.70.71.72.73.74.75.76 And heere let the Reader note a peece of strange diuinitie that from a mantle cast vpon the shoulders of a man whether by right or by wrong by freewill or by force an argument should be drawne of a lawfull or vnlawfull election especially his that is accounted the chiefe Bishop of the Christian Church They come afterward to the act of the Councell which being plainely and simply propounded by the Author by all circumstances iustifieth the election of Victor and weakeneth and disableth that of Alexander But yet it is continually a question An immantatus Rolandus nec ne which is perpetually denied by all Then was made a catalogue of all those that had giuen their consent with Victor and Rowland himself said to his partakers De me non facietis ridiculum â—bi est Papa ite ad eum obedite Make not me your laughing-stocke the Pope is there goe to him and obey him The Councell therefore being led by these and the like proofes pronounced sentence which was likewise ratified by the Emperour being presented vnto him The Presidents of the Councell writ into diuers parts of the world that for these causes aforesaid they had chosen Victor and abandoned Rowland whom they had curst with booke and candle to the Deuill himselfe because in the life of Adrian he would haue made a confederacie that none but of the number of the confederats should be chosen Pope and these Synodall letters were signed by Pâ—regrinus Patriarch of Aquileia with his suffragans Arnaldus of Menze Artenicus of Breâ—e Hellinus of Treuers Renaldus of Collen Wickman of Magdeburge for Germanie with their followers For France the Archbishops of Bizanson Arles Lion Vienna with their suffragans The Embassadors of the Kings of England Hungarie Denmarke grounding themselues vpon the commaunds and letters of their Lords and an infinite number of Bishops Abbots and Prelates of Italy and Lords of the Empire as well within as without Italy did likewise subscribe thereunto And the Embassadours that were sent from the Councell to worke a quiet approbation of what was done in that Councell was the Bishop of Collen into France of Verdune into Spaine of Prague into Hungarie Which to this end be it spoken that it might plainely appeare how justly and vprightly Frederick carried himselfe in that Councell against the practises that were afterward made in diuers parts by Alexander The Abbot of Vrsperge made a short abridgement of all this businesse There is law ynough saithe he that the election of Rowland being disproued Octauian should be iudged the right and lawfull Bishop of Rome c. And Rome continued in confusion through conspiracies that that might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet They that rise vp against me shall be confounded and againe My seruant shall be replenished with ioy c. Alexander had no sooner vnderstood these things but he was the more eagre and forward to excommunicat Victor and Frederick but first he sent to Milan the Cardinall of Anaigne who excommunicated all those cities that fauoured Frederick and joyned in a firme league with his enemies But doubting it would not fall out well for his aduantage to hold a Councell in Italie resolued with himselfe at the Spring of the yeare 1162 to passe into France An. 1162. being the bolder because Lewis the younger and Henrie the second King of England were yet wauering and doubtfully affected the one towards the other and that those of the Order of the Cistertienses who then bare great sway in France would be readie to take his part He arriued at Montpellier about Easter where he was receiued in the Kings name by Theobald Abbot of S. Germaine neere Paris from whence departing within some few dayes he held a Councell at Claramont in Auergne where he cursed and excommunicated Victor Frederick and all that tooke their part Frederick in
taking him vpon the right hand leadeth him in and after diuine seruice followed him out where Alexander mounting his palfrey the Emperour holding his stirrop did him all the honour and reuerence he could But for shame he durst not tell the rest For the Emperour being prostrat before him Alexander putting his foot vpon his neeke said It is written Thou shalt walke vpon the Aspe and the Basilick and shalt tread vpon the Lion and the Dragon Frederic answered Not to thee but to Peter whose successors I obey The Pope replied pressing his foot the harder Et mihi Petro Both to me and Peter This pride being in the sight of all the people neuerthelesse was patiently endured by Frederick partly fearing worser things through the great priuiledges that Alexander had bestowed vpon this Commonwealth namely The marying of the Sea euerie yeare with a ring c. and partly at the instance of his sonne Henrie who exceedingly desired the kingdome of Italie Some adde That his sonne Otho being taken by the Venetian gallies was set at libertie vpon this condition Baronius in the meane time endeuoureth to make this historie doubtfull although he relateth it at large by his owne confession out of that famous Chronicle that is kept in the Librarie at Venice and his reason is let the Reader judge whether it be otherwise that there is no likelihood that a Pope so mild and patient would commit so arrogant so insolent and so monstrous an act But first we must agree vpon that pretended equanimitie and modestie and the prodigious pride of Gregorie the seuenth in receiuing Henrie the fourth to doe penance and we shall easily giue credit hereunto But it is most certaine and the Venetian historie affirmeth it and the Iesuites themselues doe triumph therein so farre are they with Baronius from blushing at it Now the Romans in regard of this submission by their embassadors inuite him to Rome which he accepted vpon condition that the Senators chosen by them should take vpon them an oath of fidelitie to the Church of Rome before they entred into that office An. 1178. An. 1180. And so in the yeare 1178 he came into the citie and the yeare afterward 1180 he held a Councell at Lateran where he ordained That if the Cardinalls could not agree in the election of the Pope the Pope might bee chosen by two of the parts and whosoeuer being chosen by the third part should carrie himselfe as Pope should be depriued of the Communion and so he declareth the ordinances made by Victor the fourth Paschal and Calixtus the third arch heretikes to be of no force And judge the Reader into what scruple of conscience he brought by these vaine and idle ordinances the best and greatest part of Europe But he died not long after hauing more valiantly ouercome Sigon de regno Ital. l. 14. than moderatly handled his enmitie with Frederick as Sigonius saith seeming no doubt vnder these mild words to conceale that shamefull and horrible act which he was not willing to expresse Neither were this fit to be omitted being both an argument and an augmentation of the Papall authoritie That this Alexander was the authour of that law whereby the canonizing of Saints should be only in the power of the Bishop of Rome Extra de reliquijs sanctorum venerat c. 1. It is not lawfull saith he that any should be worshipped for a Saint without licence from the Pope By which law he chalenged to himselfe the authoritie of the ancient Bishops of the Panims who placed whom they pleased in the number of the gods and to giue the greater lustre he began with S. Bernard who was famous for his sanctitie then followed Thomas of Canterburie whom he pronounced Martyr because he defended his pontificall vsurpations against the kings royal authoritie in England When notwithstanding it is a thing worthie the noting that after his canonizing it was publikely disputed among our Sorbonists that he was damned for rebelling against the King the minister of God Casorius Monach in Dialog l. 8. c. 69. Another law he also made that none should weare the Archbishops pall vnlesse he had taken an oth of fidelity to the Pope Farthermore he called to this Synod all the Churches of the west but those which either for the distance of the places or through other impediment could not appeare were punished by the purse which redeemed the fault of their absence which was saith Neubrigensis more dishonestly exacted than payed Gulielm Neubrig l. 3. c. 2. We must likewise remember that he was Vicar vnto him that saith in the Gospell I will giue thee all these Kingdomes if thou wilt fall downe and worship me for he graunted to Alfonsus the first Duke of Portugall the title and dignitie of a King Baro. An. 1179. art 16. 17. vpon condition he should doe him homage and pay him yearely a reuenew of two markes of gold which by a letter from Innocent the third to King Sancius euidently appeareth finding himselfe greeued that since that time his successours had neglected the paiment thereof giuing him to vnderstand that he had taken order with his Legat Ramerius to leuy the same by Ecclesiasticall authoritie OPPOSITION This is an opposition worthie the noting against the Papall tyrrannie when so great an Emperour so great an Empire bent their wits and endeauored with the vtmost of their courages to resist and impugne it the Romans themselues shut their gates because they knew him insupportable But the opposition did best appeare when these Popes mutually striued with curses execrations to put down each other and pronouncing one another Antichrists in their Synodes but it shal not be amisse to note some of the principall Auentinus expresly telleth vs Auent l. 6. that the greater part neutrum Pontificem recipiebant would receiue neither of the Popes vsing that saying of the Apostle all things are yours be it Paul be it Apollo be it Peter one faith one God and one Father of vs all and the wordes of Christ there is but one master and yee are all brethren And furthermore he addes that Gerochus Bishop of Richemberg writ much vpon this controuersie and the title of his booke is de Antichristo This Gerochus was afterward Bishop of Halberstat deposed as Sigonius saith through the treatie of a peace with Alexander Sigon de regno Jtaliae l. 14. and Vlrich instituted into his place In England in the yeare 1164 Henrie the second assembled all the principall of his Clergie at Clarendon to confirme auitas consuetudenes An. 1164. the customes of his ancesters to the end they should serue as a barre betweene the vsurping enterprises of the Clergie and the Kings Iustices and the customes are comprehended in 16 Chapters recited by Mathew Paris the most important are as followeth Mathew Paris in Henrico 2. That the Churches which hold in fee of the King be not graunted in perpetuitie without
sufficient for euery man if he confesse his sinnes priuatly to God That Baptisme ought to be done with common water without the mixture of oyle That Churchyards haue been inuented for gaine for the earth is all one euery where to burie in That the world is the temple of God and that they that builded Churches Monasteries and Oratories would reduce the maiestie of God into a narrow strait as if a man should find his diuine goodnesse more propitious there than else where That the Priests vestments that ornaments of the altar robes caps Chalices dishes and other the like vessels are little worth and of no moment That a Priest in what place or time soeuer may consecrate the body of Christ and administer the same to others vsing only the words of the institution of the Sacrament That it is in vaine to implore the fauour of Saints who raigne in heauen with Christ who can no way helpe That a man loseth his time in singing or saying his Canonicall houres That no day a man may cease from his labour except the Sunday and not the feasts of Saints That to obserue the fasts ordained by the Church is of no merit Which opinions the Author who had looked more inwardly into them carried by that malice he bare towards them setteth downe maliciously ynough in his owne words but being rightly vnderstood nothing differed from the true doctrine if distinctly set downe as well in their confession as in ours At the least they free themselues from their false accusations which charge them with errours against the due obedience to Magistrats and against a lawfull oath and diuers others mentioned by Rainerius And much more they defend themselues from the sorceries or diuinations by lots which the malice of the time had blazed abroad although sorcerers wicked persons were and also are in diuers Prouinces called Waldenses and from that putting out of candles to commit whoredome one with another auncient subtilties of the diuel to defame the first Christians and by him renewed againe when it pleased God to send the light of the Gospell Frederick the second therefore in the costitutions which he made against them accused them not but for seperating themselues from the Church of Rome and from the ceremonies and seruices thereof without imputing any other crime vnto them Petrus de Vineis li. 1. c. 25.26.27 as appeareth in the Epistles of Peter of Vineis his Chancelor And also Claudius Seisellienses Archbishop a man of great credit vnder Lewis the twelfth although he had written a booke expresly against them he acknowledgeth them to be a good people vpright and honest innocent and irreprehensible in their conuersation and obseruations of the commandement of God Notwithstanding they were excommunicated by Iohn de Bellamaine Archbishop of Lyon at the commaundement of Alexander the third and soone after were summoned to the Councel of Lateran but they would not appeare because they knew they should haue the Pope both their judge and aduersarie Guido de Perpinian pag. 79. de haeresibus Whereupon he proceeded against them with all persecutions as warres slaughter spoils massacres and whosoeuer could most cruelly pursue them obtained forgiuenesse of all their sinnes But at length through the great prouidence of God it came to passe that through their dissipation and scattering abroad were gathered together a great number of Churches ouer all Europe as shall bee hereafter declared We may adde That some writers of this Age albeit aduersaries tell vs that there was held a conference at Realmont among the Albienses where disputed on their side Ponticus Iordanus Arnoldus Aurisanus Arnoldus Otho Philibertus Caslienus and Benedictus Thermensis On the other side Peter de Castro nouo a Monk of the order of the Cistertians and the Popes Legat and also Rodolphus deputed by the Pope Didacus Bishop of Erenenses and Dominicus a Canon of the same Church both Spaniards And there were chosen as Arbitrators two of the Nobilitie Bernard of Villa noua and Bernard of Arre and of the Comminaltie Raimond Godeus and Arnold Riberia There they say Guilielm de Podio Laurentij Noguier en l'historie Tolouse that these Doctors of the Waldenses did constantly affirme That the Church of Rome was not the holie Church nor the spouse of Christ but a Church polluted with the doctrine of the diuell and that Babylon whom S. Iohn describeth in his Apocalyps the mother of fornications and abhominations ouerwhelmed and drowned in the bloud of Saints That the Masse was not instituted by Christ nor his Apostles but a humane inuention and many the like things and so departed not agreeing vpon any thing 49. PROGRESSION The contentions and seuerall differences betweene the Emperour Frederick Pope Lucius the third Of the voiage to the Holie Land by the Emperour and the Christian Princes for the recouerie of Hierusalem from the Souldan with the death of the said Emperour and of the troubles that afterward arose to his sonne Henrie The solemnitie and manner of the coronation of the Emperour ALexander the third held the seat two and twentie yeares which happeped to few either before or since and in all this time it fell out so happily for him that the Antipopes liued not long so that by these mutations he aduanced not a little his owne affaires Foure the one after the other had opposed themselues against him whereof euerie one being entred the throne labored with new slights either to doe or vndoe The onely power of Frederick made head against him being often disturbed as wel in Germany as in Italie through the rebellions which Alexander had stirred vp against him whereby the cities and Princes tooke occasion vnder the colour of his Ecclesiasticall reformations to reuolt Neither did the ambition of his sonne Henrie lesse troble him who at what price soeuer would be King of Italie yet feared least the death of his father then engaged in the Popes warres might surprise him in that estate and so much the rather because the Popes seemed to be Arbitrators of the greatest part of the Empire of Italie Alexander therefore being dead and Hubald Cardinall of Ostia named Lucius the third elected in his place according to the order decreed in the Councell of Lateran by the Cardinalls onely without the consent of the Clergie and the people Henrie to persuade his father to be at peace with Italie omitted no meanes or opportunitie whatsoeuer but first of all remouing all lets procured the friendship of Lucius the third who hauing a desire to gratifie the citie of Lucca where he was borne Frederick at his request soone granted that no other money should be currant through all Tuscane Marchia Romania and Campania but that which should be coyned in Lucca in the Emperours name Lucius in the meane time did no better agree with the Romans than his predecessors who when hee sought to put downe the Consuls they cruelly chastising his faction and threatning himselfe worse
Epist 1. That which our embassadours haue reported vnto you beleeue it as a thing most true none otherwise than if S. Peter had by oath confirmed it Doth it not seeme vnto you that the sentence of deposition hurteth the Maiestie of the Empire For our conscience assureth vs of our integritie we haue God with vs whom we call to witnesse that we haue neuer had any other end than to bring Church-men to perseuere in the true faith such as it was in the Primitiue Church when they imitated the humilitie of Christ and life of the Apostles for then Clergie men were often woont to see the Angels to shine in myracles to heale the sicke raise the dead and subdue Princes not with enimies but with holinesse whereas they that liue in this age are giuen to the world and drunken with delights Deum humeris induunt they counterfeit God and choke our religion by the superfluitie of their riches To withdraw from them then these superfluous riches that hurt them and ouerwhelme them with so great damage is it to doe against charitie To the performance therefore of this worke together with vs we inuite all Princes for they which lay aside superfluous things doe serue God the better and yee ought to take order that God may be well serued And at length the Author a famous Lawyer in his time concludeth And these are perhaps the things for which in those times they thought Frederick to deserue the name of the enemie of the Church But yet Historians are not silent Math. Paris in Henrico 3. An. 1249. that he was impoysoned Mathew Paris Potionatus the Chronicle of Augsburg Veneno extinctus Killed by poyson and Sigonius himselfe others say stifled with a pillow cast on his mouth namely to hasten his time whereof Manfred his bastard sonne was suspected whom notwithstanding saith Sigonius Compilatio Chronolg apud Pistorium he left heyre with his other brethren for which cause many discharged him of it without doubt for to burthen therewith Pope Innocent which Cuspinian doth expresse in these tearmes Manfred saith he choked him with a pillow hauing beene corrupted whether by his enemie and who was a greater or by the Pope And thus are we brought to the yeare 1250. An. 1250. All this passed whilest S. Lewis made warre in the Holie Land who there lost the battell and fell prisoner into the hands of the Souldan neither do Historians dissemble who was the author of this ouerthrow The brethren saith Paris of the king of France entreated the Pope in the behalfe of the said king and of themselues that he would make peace with Frederick humbled and humbly offering satisfaction to the Church according to the honour he bare to the vniuersall Church The said brethren also of the king namely the Earles of Poitou and of Prouence layd to his charge That by his couetousnesse all this misfortune was happened for the Pope saith he had hindered the crossed souldiers corrupting them with money from going to the kings succour and had absolued from the vow of their peregrination them which before he had crossed for the Holie Land by the preaching Friers and Minorites Moreouer he had sold the crossed souldiers to Earle Richard and other great men as in times past the Iewes were woont to sell sheepe and doues in the Temple whom Christ in his wrath cast forth as it is in the Gospell This is the testimonie that historie giueth to this Innocent contrariwise of Frederick Auentine saith That he was without doubt the most potent Auent l. 7. and the most profitable Prince to the Commonweale of Christendome that had beene since Charlemaine and without contradiction the most wise Witnesse Nicholas Cusan Bishop of Brixen Cardinall of Rome a man euerie way most learned and Egidius Romanus Archbishop of Bourges in Gaule a famous Philosopher and Peripatetick who in the bookes that he wrot of the institution of a king to the Westerne Emperours of France exhorteth them to follow him for example The same Frederick caused all the bookes of Aristotle and many others both sacred and prophane all the treasure of Philosophie to be by most learned interpreters translated out of the Greeke and Arabian tongues in which he had taken pleasure from his youth He gaue great priuiledges yea the Burgesie of Rome to all the people of Prussia and of Sarmatia because they had forsaken the seruice of false gods for to embrace Christian pietie His power his strength his prudence his high courage his experience in militarie affaires his neerenesse for he made his abode in Italie contrarie to the custome of the auncient Emperours gouerned Germanie by his sonne and onely twice went out of Italie into Germanie was dreadfull and suspicious to the See of Rome Which Gregorie the ninth denied not but freely confessed And because the Empire flourished more than was to the liking of the Roman Cardinals placuit it was their pleasure not onely to bruise and breake it with discords but also to bring it into ashes and to cast downe Frederick from the highest step of humane things There remaineth summarily to quote what commodities these three Popes persecutors of Frederick haue brought vnto the Church in counterchange of so many discommoditie Innocent the third and Honorius the third approued the rules of Francis and Dominick Gregorie the ninth canonized them Chronic. Martini Platina in Innocentio 4. and Anthonie of Padua besides and Innocent the fourth not to seeme inferiour vnto them enregistreth in the same Calender Edmund of Canturburie Stanislaus of Cracouia and Peter of Verona And we haue seene what myracles they did by these Friers and from that time forth you shall hardly meet with any Pope that maketh not some Saints Let the Reader judge with what warrants these men can place others in the kingdome of heauen which by so horribly wicked actions make themselues vnworthie to liue vpon earth Johannes de Oppido Extra de Celebr Missarum C. sane cum olim Durandus in Rationa l. 41. Nauclerus Gener 42. vol. l. Math. Paris in Henrico 3. Sigon de regno Jtaliae l. 18. Extr. C. Propos de Concess praebend causa 25. q. 1. 16 glossa Plat. in Jnnocentio 4. Also Innocent the third ordayned Transubstantiation Honorius made the Hoste to bee on the knees adored and to bee carried to sicke persons with burning torches Gregorie the ninth that hee might not remayne behind ordayned the little bell which being rung warneth all men to adore it the Salue Regina also for to be sung in Churches and the Aue Maria when the bell tolleth Alexander the third Innocent the third Honorius the third Gregorie the ninth made many Decrees the most part to authorise the Church of Rome in her pretended fulnesse of power Innocent the third went so farre as he feared not say We can according to the fulnesse of power dispence of the law euen aboue the law which the Glosse
contemners of ordinarie Pastors and their supplanters creepers into royall chambers and adulterators of confessions as they that roaming ouer vnknowne Prouinces administred a libertie and boldnesse of sinning All these complaints being heard the Pope commaunded that this new booke which they called The eternall Gospell should secretly and with as little scandall as could be to the Friers be burnt with some other inuentions which were said to proceed from Ioachims erronious braine This execution therefore was closely and priuily performed and with as little scandall as possible might be to the Friers through the speciall diligence of Cardinall Hugo and the Bishop of Messina both which were of the Predicant Order so as this tumult at that time ceased and slept The opinions of this Gospell were these That God the Father raigned vnder the Law and the Sonne vnder Grace but by the rising of the foure Orders Mendicants the holie Ghost began then to raigne and so should doe while the end of the world and that from this time forward they onely should be saued that beleeued in this new Gospell That Christs Gospell was not true perfect nor sufficient to saluation as also his Sacraments were of little esteeme but if this new one were compared with that it as farre exceeded it as the Sunne doth the Moone and so consequently that the Church which should be grounded on this new Gospell would in the same proportion excell the other precedent The authors notwithstanding of these inuentions which were to be extirpated the Pope did tollerat and support because any thing whatsoeuer seemes just and equall to them so it make for their prerogatiue and power and they were afraid especially least these their hucksters should grow out of grace with the people by whose tongues and talons so much good bootie and spoyle came vnto their hands Wherefore that same William of S. Amors one of wonderful estimation amongst good men both preached writ against them declaring in his sermons That he affected aboue all other crimes to be zealous in discouering of hypocrisie because this brought more damage and preiudice to true pietie than all the other besides as also in that the Church was now ouergrowne with the same sinne and no bodie for feare of the Pope and Prelats durst lay hand to the irradication of it Amongst others wee read at this day a booke of his intituled De periculis mundi seu nouissimorum temporum which begins thus Quia nos vacantes sacris Scripturis Matth. Paris in libro de Antichristo c. printed at Basil in the yeare 1555 and no wayes to be suspected of falsitie seeing Mathew Paris in a great volume that he writ against Antichrist comprehends the same wholly and entirely ascribing it to the Vniuersitie of Paris and this questionlesse because it was made and publisht by authoritie thereof especially in that hee alwayes speakes in the Plurall number In which booke he conuinceth them That they preached vnsent or at least without a Mission canonicall against and contrarie to the veritie of the sacred Scriptures and fraudulently concealing that which should most principally be deliuered That they crept into houses and insinuated into the peoples priuities by confessions Gulielmus de Sancto Amore lib. de periculis mundi edito Basileae An. 1555. whom by this means they bring vnder their power the easier to commaund and rule them And they call themselues Generall aiders and supporters of the Church preferring themselues before all men euen before the religious Orders themselues And to appeare the more holy they deuise new and superstitious traditions That they loued the highest places at inuitements the chiefest chaires in Synagogues reuerences and low bowings in the open market places and of men to be called Rabbies That they vaunted of the great good they did in the Church of God boasted of their owne and their followers myracles and chalenging the prayse of that they neuer performed That vnder pretext of humilitie they insinuated themselues into the Courts of Princes and affect to be reputed Courtiers That they smoothed the defects of men and arrogantly assumed a farre greater zeale than that of ordinarie Pastors That at first men entertaine them joyfully but at last they grow wearie of them the which happened quite contrary with the true Apostles That they asked with importunitie and receiued indifferently not to releeue necessities but to prosecute their delights and pleasures To conclude That they solicited and sued to obtaine letters commendatorie from great men And here the Reader may obserue the maners and carriage of these Neotericke Pharisies The same man deliuered in a certaine sermon Duo Conciones Gulielmi de Sancto Amore in Antilogia Basileae edita An. 1555. That Christ chose plaine and simple men to preach but Antichrist on the contrarie for the propagation of his falsities and errours made election of men of a double heart subtile and expert in worldlie policies and not onely Antichrist himselfe made choyce of such but also his members and champions No maruell therefore though they persecute the professors of the Christian faith to death seeing Iohn saith in his Apocalyps I saw a beast rise out of the sea that had seuen heads and seuen hornes this beast was intended by Antichrist and his followers And certaine yeares after Iohn de Poliaco Williams disciple and Laurence an English man defended these propositions publikely in Sorbon In a sermon of his he particularly admonished the Church Laurentius Anglicus in defensione Gulielmi de Sancto Amore Tractat. Cauendum esse à Pseudoprophetis Serm. 2. in die Philippi Jacobi Thomas Cantipratensis in Apibus mysticis That a great danger hung ouer her head by the Monkes That they were the seducers and ministers of Antichrist of Antichrist who was hard at their doores But when the Pope had suppressed the scandall of this new Gospell least it might haue prejudiced his affaires taking an occasion of reuenge against William of S. Omers and some other his like for the denunciation of these truthes whether by right or wrong he published and declared him for an heretike as also he complained of him to our Princes that had need of his helpe and fauour and caused him to be expelled out of the Vniuersitie which remained as it were desart and forsaken exciting in like manner Thomas Bonauentura and others to write against him so as all true Diuinitie yeelded to Sophistrie and Paul to Aristotle But so the Mendicants on the other side euen seazed on the Diuinitie Scholes and the Canonists on the Ciuilians chaire that so all points were decided by Gratian and Lombard and of the holie Scriptures there was not so much as any mention in scholes Out of their studies therefore from this time forward came bookes easie to be smelt by their verie titles as Summae Repertoria Quodlibeta Rosaria Legendae Specula in Sententias Decreta Ordines Monachorum Regulas Confessiones Tractatus de
of Iuda is written with an yron penne with the point of a Diamant as if he should say it is indelible But all these things pretend not impossibilitie but onely difficultie because the peruerse are hardly corrected or reformed For in the third of Ionas it is sayd Who knowes whether he may be conuerted and acknowledge God It is therefore said in the 26 of Ieremie Doe not withdraw the word for it may be they will heare and euerie one may be conuerted from his euill way At last he concludes with a serious exhortation to repentance conuersion and amendment of life This is that Nicholaus Oremus who by Charles the fift his persuasion our king and surnamed the Wise turned the whole Bible into the French Tongue Many copies of the same are to be found at this day in the libraries of the noble families of this land but especially there is one in the kings librarie wherein Charles testifies by his owne hand writing That this Bible was translated by his commaundement And here we may fitly set downe That Charles the Sage was the Author of a booke written by Alanus Charterius his Secretarie whose title was Somnium Viridarij The Gardens Dreame printed at Paris aboue an hundred yeares since against the Papall tyrannie both spirituall and temporall That booke stifly maintaines and so consequently our king Charles That the Roman Church from Constantines dayes had obtained prioritie through a silent and voluntarie consent of the Churches not that it had any authoritie properly ouer them as also because there did reside in that place many famous men who out of their charitie were verie carefull to admonish brotherly the other faithfull and these men againe embraced their admonitions as the rules and precepts of learned men which seemed wonderfull beneficiall and profitable They also were subiect to their censures to preserue the vnitie of the faithfull and this their voluntarie obedience was in stead of a formall election though no wayes by any diuine or humane lawes they were no more tyed to the commaunds and institutions of the Roman Church or the Pope than the Pope himselfe was to him or his Churches And the reason hereof certainely was because they had not yet ouer them any supreme Christian Prince to comprehend and keepe them within order and vnitie the which is most plaine and perspicuous because we cannot gather out of any place of the holie Scriptures That by the commaundement of Christ of any one of the Apostles or of any primitiue Councell that the Churches or Bishops in generall were subiect to the Church or Bishop of Rome no not in those things that appertaine to rites Ecclesiasticall Which in no apparance Christ and his Apostles would haue omitted if it had concerned the saluation of the faithfull much lesse in that which concernes iura coactiua lawes of constraint not onely ouer Clerkes but ouer secular Princes themselues the which the Popes take vpon them against the expresse precepts and iniunctions of Christ and his Apostles And therefore the Church and Bishops of Rome obtained prioritie out of the commendable ends aboue mentioned from Constantine the first Christian Emperour which afterwards they persuaded the world but most falsly that they held ex iure diuino by law diuine further extending the same ouer all Kings and Princes as also that they are to gouerne during a vacancie in the seat Imperial Which the later Popes haue presumed to ratifie by many Decretalls by which out of a plenarie power they pretend to create or depose kings and they not obeying their Decree in this poynt are subiect to interdict and excommunication All which propositions are sharpely refuted in that booke the Pope being reduced to these tearmes That both he and the Church of Rome had no further authoritie ouer other Churches than what by the same Churches was voluntarily conferred vpon them Hereunto let vs annex That Edward the third king of England after he had oftentimes complained in vaine to the Popes of the exactions wherewith the Churches of England were continually pressed hee at length determined to free England from that jurisdiction which the Pope vsurped in England Wherefore in the yeare 1374 he ordained An. 1374. That the Bishops afterwards should be created by himselfe and so other inferiour Ministers by the Bishops and thereupon not long after it came to passe that the Pope lost the tenthes which before time he vsed without checke or controll to impose vpon the Clergie As also it was prohibited vnder grieuous paines That for the obtaining of any benefice in England no man should repaire to the Pope wheresoeuer he were and the Peter pence which were yearely payed to Rome were quite put downe The which when Gregorie the eleuenth vnderstood he was mightily vexed and exclaimed That this was nothing else but to diuide the Christian Church to annihilat Religion and to cut off all lawes both diuine and humane Wherefore he first dealt with Edward to reuoke this law but after this Popes death Polidorus l. 19. schisme arising in the Church saith Polidore there was no other of his successors that minded this matter till Martine the fift wrot letters of great vehemencie and persuasion to king Henrie the sixt but both the one and the other receiued a like answer which was That the Decree of a Councell or Parliament that is of England could not be abrogated without the authoritie of another Councell or Parliament which he would presently cause to be summoned the which notwithstanding was neuer performed At this verie time S. Bridget and Katherine of Sienna were celebrated for Saints both supposed to haue receiued diuine reuelations from aboue and therfore they were canonized both of them notwithstanding conceiuing verie well what manner of monster the Pope was And Bridget being borne in Scotland and maried in Suethen came to see Vrban the fift who was then at Montefiascone neere Rome supposing by her journey to haue gained great Indulgences And yet in her reuelations she calls the Pope a murderer of soules the disperser and deuourer of Christs sheepe more abhominable than the Iewes more despightfull than Iudas more vniust than Pylat worse than Lucifer and that his seat should sinke like a weightie stone the Apocalyps sayes like a mill-stone and that his assistants should burne in a sulphurous and inextinguishable fire Afterwards she reprehends the Bishops and other Priests that through their default the doctrine of Christ is cleane neglected and almost abolished the diuine wisedome and knowledge was by the Clergie conuerted into wicked and vaine sciences That they were leapers and dumbe men turning all Gods commaundements into one onely saying Da pecuniam giue money To conclude she affirmes that she saw the blessed Virgine speaking thus to her sonne Rome is a fertile and plentifull field when Christ made answer So indeed it is but of Cockle and Darnell But yet she said she was admonished in a vision to go to Rome rather to
Court of Rome Secondly I will confute the writings and sayings thereof as erronious and lesse Catholike Thirdly I will declare out of most true grounds that the Court of Rome is wholly erronious and sick in the state of damnation c. And he handleth each of these in order At last after many complaints despairing that it would suffer reformation and much lesse that from it selfe any were to be expected The onely sonne of God saith Paul vouchsafe to reforme his Church himselfe And to shew that it was not his opinion alone he plainely saith in his Preface All men truely doe inwardly murmure but none crie out And the Doctors themselues that sat nere Boniface the ninth seeing this so manifest corruption partly could not dissemble it and partly were diuided in opinions concerning the remedie thereof Theodorick à Niem saith Many also skilfull in the Law Theodor. à Niem l. 2. c. 32. by reason of the continuation of Simonie in the Church of Rome in the time of the sayd Boniface would publiquely argue and hold That the Pope could not commit Symonie yea in benefices and goods Ecclesiasticall by interuention of gaine or couenant of money What will they not say as that harlot in the Apocalyps I sit as Queene neither can be a widow I cannot erre And what readier way is there vnto all mischiefe The Authour addeth Which seemed vnto me verie vniust seeing that at least it is vnciuile and against good manners if that which ought to be giuen gratis to persons worthie be gaunted for vile gaine of money to the vnworthie and that the Pope who is ouer all and from whom others ought to take example of life should be so defiled with such a crime not being able to punish another for that wherein himselfe offendeth for it is a shame for the Doctor that the fault should rebuke himselfe For this cause euen among the common sort the Popes authoritie is abased blamed and defamed namely in this saith he that dispensations which should bee done with great deliberation of his brethren he did them in his Chamber after the maner of Merchants being himselfe Bullator scriptor forsan numerator the maker of the Bulls the writer and teller of mony But he also addeth In his life time some Doctors in Diuinitie and others learned in the sciences grieuing that Symonie was so commonly and openly committed in the Court and that many Iurists and others obstinatly affirmed that it might be so done arguing to the contrarie determined conclusions which they reduced into volumes yet with great feare That the Pope in selling Ecclesiasticall benefices by bargaine made was a Simmoniack that is the successour of Simon Magus not of Simon Peter because he is not established for to sell them but to bestow them freely on persons worthie But in all Nations there arose vp some that passed further Vincent at Venice about the yeare 1400 An. 1400. a great Preacher and famous for holinesse who freely condemned all the Roman Hierarchie Prophetiae editae Parisijs in 8. ex varijs authoribus collectae ibi Epist S. V incentij affirming That religious persons that ought to be the way of lyfe vnto soules are throughout the world become vnto them the way of perdition That Priests fish for honours but not for maners That the bishops none excepted haue no care of the soules of their Diocesse That they sell the Sacraments for money yea he passeth so farre as to pronounce the Pope to be Antichrist himselfe In a certaine Epistle also printed at Paris entituled The Epistle of S. Vincent he saith That Antichrist is alreadie in the world whom he expected not to come from the Iewes or from auntient Babylon but alreadie beheld him raigning at Rome In Bohemia Mathius Parisiensis wrote a great volume de Antichristo where he proueth that he is come by this That fables and humane inuentions beare sway in the Church That images are worshipped Saints are adored in Christs stead euerie Citie and each person choseth out some one of them for to worship as their Sauiour whom by consequent they place in Christs seat That our Lord himselfe had fortold Loe here is Christ loe there That the Monkes themselues haue left him and haue sought vnto themselues other sauiours in whom they boast as Frauncis Dominick and others The word of God being neglected they bring in their Monkish rules That such like hypocrites raigning in the Church are those Locusts of which the Apocalyps speaketh Neither is it to be doubted but that Antichrist is come who hath seduced all the Vniuersities and all the Colledges of learned men so that they now teach nothing sound neither can they any more giue light to Christians by their doctrine But God hitherto as seed raised vp godly Doctors who inflamed with the spirit and zeale of Elias both refuted the errours of Antichrist and discouer him to the world And he inferteth in this Booke the opinions of many famous men nere to those times concerning this matter amongst whom he extolleth the Diuines of Paris who perceiuing the tares of the begging Friers to grow brought to light againe and published the booke of William de S. Amour Of the perils of the last times which before time Alexander the fourth had laboured to abolish These Doctors saith he in his Preface faithfull in Christ c. Whose multitude was then the health of the world acknowledging partly that most wicked Antichrist and his members and his â—â—â—re and parly prophesying for the time to come haue openly and nakedly reuealed these things for the holie Church and her gouernours to take heedof In England Iohn Puruey Disciple of Wickliff wrote many bookes in defence of his doctrine but among others a Commentarie vpon the Apocalyps the Title whereof was Ante centum annos There he openly saith Seuen yeares are passed since generally the Pope of Rome was published to be that great Antichrist by the Preachers of the Gospell namely from the yeare 1382. And behold how God worketh in our infirmities his owne glorie I neuer had written such like things against Antichrist and his if they had not imprisoned me for to make me hold my peace And then it was God infused his spirit into him so much the more that beeing deliuered he might speake so much the more boldly although by force of torments he had beene constrained by the Archbishop of Canterburie to abiure This booke was since set forth in Germanie in the yeare 1528 where he applieth that famous prophesie in the Apocalyps from point to point to the Church of Rome and out of the 10 and 11 chapters it is manifest that he wrot the same lying fettered with yrons in prison Lastly the Waldenses in this time euery where for the testimonie of the truth submitted themselues to the fire for in Saxonie and Pomerania in the yeare 1490 An. 1490. there were taken of them foure hundred and more and examined
Iohn the three and twentieth for an expedition beyond the sea whereupon some Popes afterwards vnder other pretences would haue continued them but the cause of them ceasing they were to cease too neither could they be any longer tollerated especially at this time wherein Italie France Germanie and England were at peace and amitie one with the other And here they spent much time in the vnfolding of those exactions that were then in force Where they proue That neither the Pope nor the Church of Rome could by law impose any thing vpon Churches or Churchmen since he was not their Lord but Christ onely That these exactions are contrarie to the minds of their founders whose successors complaine vnto the king That the goods giuen to Churches are transferred to other vses yea to the vtter ouerthrow of Church and Commonwealth and all orders therein concluding in the end That the whole nation would neuer pay them vnder what pretence soeuer they were demaunded It were too tedious a thing here to repeat all their reasons the principall are these Annuities seeme to bind men to fall into heresie taking the word in the larger sence that is to say That it is lawfull to buy things spirituall or for spirituall to giue siluer or things temporall c. Item He that is so promoted seemeth to commit simonie and periurie Which they proue by that obligation that was required of Patriarches Archbishops Bishops c. You c. by the Apostolike permission and authoritie granted to you in that behalfe doe freely offer and promise of your own wills to giue for your common seruice to the Chamber of your most holie Father and Lord in Christ Pope Alexander and the holie and sacred Colledge of reuerend Fathers and Lords in Christ of the Church of Rome that is to say the Cardinals c. so many Florins of gold of the Chamber of good and lawfull weight c. with diuers other clauses verie strait which they were to sweare vpon the Euangelist and vnder paine of excommunication c. There flourished in these times the Cardinall Zabarella a famous Lawyer Zabarella de schismate circa annum 1406. who writ of schisme he feareth not to say That the defenders of the Pope had so corrupted the Canon law with their Glosses that there was nothing so vnlawfull which they thought not lawfull for them to doe in so much that they extolled him aboue God himselfe making him more than God From whence sprang infinit errors the Pope chalenging vnto himselfe a right ouer all inferior Churches and making small account of all inferiour Prelats in so much saith he that if God giue not his helping hand to the present state of the Catholike Church it is in danger of an vtter ouerthrow But at the next Councell it shall be necessarie to restraine this power and to confine it to that which is lawfull since it is a power subiect to that of the Church as it appeares in the fifteenth of the Acts wherein and not in him doth the fulnesse of power reside and in a generall Councell which representeth the Church In so much that the Church neither can nor euer could transferre that power in such sort to any one but that it euer remained wholly in her selfe not in the Pope whom she had euer power to depose And therefore it is vaine that they commonly boast of That he that is judged by the Church cannot be judged by men but by God alone It is in the power of the Emperor saith he to call Councels which plainely appeareth by the example of Constantine Iustinian Charles who did preside and were chiefe Iudges ouer them as it appeares by the first vniuersall Nicene Councell and others where when matters of faith were treated of the lay people were likewise present Neither is it lawfull for the Pope to hinder the calling of Councels by the intermission whereof the Church incurreth great danger whilest the Popes gouerne it after the manner of secular Princes not Ecclesiasticall Prelats And that which is more the Emperour if hee doubt thereof may demaund of the Pope a reason of his faith and if he be accused of any manifest crime proceed likewise against him by a course of law and to depose him he being the principall Aduocat and defender of the Catholike Church As touching the pretended fulnesse of power he saith That Saint Peter neuer had it but that he was one of the chiefe Apostles and ministers to whom in as much as he bare the person of the Church the keyes were deliuered For as well at Antioch as at Rome he tooke vpon him the administration of his part or portion no otherwise than the rest did And therefore the Pope commaunding nothing but what is just and lawfull is to be obeyed But whereas it is said that he is solutus legibus not subiect to lawes it is to be vnderstood of his owne lawes and not the law of God whereunto he is bound as well as others We must therefore beware least that honour be done vnto him whereby we may make him equall with God nay in any sort to adore him since S. Peter himselfe would neuer endure it but vtterly refused it Acts 10. And whereas it is commonly said That the Church cannot erre he saith it can no way be vnderstood of the Pope or of the Church of Rome but of the Church of Christ and the congregation of the faithfull And that euerie particular member of the Church is bound to be carefull for the preseruation of the Catholike faith And this he saith he hath presumed to write in this manifest danger of the Church moued onely with a zeale of God and his glorie and not any hope or expectation of reward In like manner writ our Clemangis Archdeacon of Bayeux in his booke Of the corrupt estate of the Church which was produced in the Councell of Constance where he setteth downe by what degrees the Church rose to her temporal height and her spirituall declination at one and the same time and by what subtilties the Pope got all to himselfe and fatted himselfe by staruing others Afterwards comming to particular corruptions Nicholaus Clemangis in lib. de corrupto Ecclesiae flatu They beare more patiently saith he the losse of ten thousand soules than of ten shillings what say I more patiently yea they beare the ruine and losse of soules without any motion of the mind whereof there is with them not onely no care but no thought at all whereas for their owne priuat domesticall losses they presently grow furious He saith likewise a little after The studie of Diuinitie and such as make profession thereof are made a mocke and ieasting stocke which is most monstrous to the Popes themselues who preferre their owne traditions farre before the commaundements of God Now that worthie and excellent function of preaching sometimes attributed to Pastors onely and proper vnto them is of that base account with them that they
thinke nothing more vnworthie or more vnbefitting their dignitie The Monkes are rauening Wolues in sheepes clothing diuels transformed into Angels of light Scribes Pharisies hypocrites painted sepulchres to whom hee applies that prophesie of Paul against false Prophets in the last times 2. Timoth. 3. and the like places The Monasteries of men and women are so many brothell houses their diuinitie meerely scholasticall and that properly which S. Paul would decipher in these words Jdem in Epist de Theolog. studio They dote about questions and strife of words c. Their fruits are like those of the lake of Sodome outwardly faire but inwardly smoke and ashes Ecclesiasticall persons are simoniacall no man hath Orders without argent no man put backe that brings money be he neuer so wicked To such an excesse are they growne in lasciuious wantonnesse that their people the better to defend their wiues chastitie will haue no Priests except they haue concubines The traditions of men euen the least are more esteemed than the lawes of God which whosoeuer shall omit or commit any thing against them shall bee grieuously punished The Legends of Saints are read in stead of Scriptures and consequently the Saints brought into the place of God But because all these corruptions diuers other the like are defended vnder the onely name of the Church he ouerthroweth this foundation Idem in Tractatu contra Simoniacos Notwithstanding saith he the authoritie of the Church militant be great because founded vpon a firme rocke c. yet we are not to attribute vnto it the titles of the Church triumphant That it cannot be deceiued That it cannot sinne for many times it deceiueth Idem contra noua Sanctorum festa and is deceiued I doe not say in matters of faith c. but of fact or manners or iudgement c. And writing to a scholer of Paris touching certaine ordinances of the Councell of Constance Truely saith he it seemeth not conuenient to me to proue the Acts of the Councell by the Councell Jdem ad Scolasticum Parisicus c. but if all the Acts of the Councell be definitions of faith when some produce many Decrees of the holie Fathers and Synods on the contrarie part see what a thing it is this schisme still hanging and in so great varietie of things and opinions and controuersies of learned men to ordaine so many articles of faith whereas it seemeth vnto me to be not onely conuenient but necessarie that those other constitutions or determinations which they affirme to be alledged by others in the contrarie part should be interpreted in behalfe of the truth and of faith and proued not to be contrarie to these least otherwise the Church might seeme to erre in matter of faith determining the contrarie And whereas you say That the Decrees of the Fathers are not woont to depend vpon reason Truely with your good leaue be it spoken if the question be of faith or matter in controuersie it is their manner to rest themselues vpon reasons especially drawne out of the Scriptures or the definitions of the holie Fathers from whose footsteps they depart not without great reason c. And as for that place of Saint Augustine which you alledge c. I should not beleeue the Gospell if the authoritie of the Church did not compell me Truely it seemes strange at the first view that he should seeme to preferre the authoritie of the Church trauelling vpon the earth before the authoritie of the Gospell since in many things that may be deceiued this neuer and that the authoritie of the Church as touching the root and foundation thereof consists principally of the Gospell neither can the institution power edification thereof be drawne from any other so expresly and certainely as from the Gospell especially since Paul himselfe saith thereof If an Angell from heauen preach vnto you otherwise let him be accursed otherwise that is a contrarie Gospell He therefore answereth That S. Augustine neuer thought any such thing but was to deale with the Maniches who had their Scriptures proper to themselues and receiued not ours As if he should say It is not out of mine owne particular iudgement that I receiue the Gospell for Canonicall Scripture but the authoritie of the Church which hath acknowledged it to be such That is to say of the Primitiue and Apostolike Church which hath appointed the Canon of the Scriptures some of those being yet liuing that writ them Apostles Euangelists Disciples of the Apostles who could giue testimonie to the truth of these Scriptures that this or that man was the Author of this or that booke being directed by the spirit of God which being inspired from aboue ought to be the rule of our faith and Church To be briefe saith he thou art not ignorant that both Christ our Law-maker and his Apostles preaching the law and faith vnto vs alledged many times their proofes out of the old Testament and the sayings of the Fathers and Prophets to confirme their owne than which we can propose vnto our selues no example more certaine for our imitation since his actions are a most infallible instruction of our manners and actions c. And therefore it is not their parts who hold the Councell by a certaine bolnesse and libertie to doe what pleaseth them to thinke with themselues Wee are the generall Councell let vs carrie our selues boldly we cannot erre They that were at the Councel of Pisa defined and caused it to be published That they by a new election at the instance of certaine ambitious men had taken away the schisme and restored the peace of the Church And yet who is so blind in the Church that by experience of things apparently seeth not how much this opinion deceiued both themselues the whole Church For saith he of what kind of men for the most part doe Councels consist doubtlesse of Lawyers Canonists rather than Diuines of temporal persons whose care is of the things of this world not spirituall How then canst thou hope for a reformation of the Church from them If then saith he they assemble themselues for the recouerie of the temporall peace of the Church there is no necessitie that we should presently beleeue that they are come together in the name of Christ First because they know not whether it be expedient for the health of the Church and that Christ hath determined by this meanes to heale this diuision For what else are temporall afflictions wherewith the Church is oppressed but bitter potions and medicines whereby temporal auarice pride and wantonnesse is beaten downe And who will say that they are assembled in the name of Christ who with this mind seeke the vnitie of the Church who neuerthelesse are so many that they can hardly be numbred These carcall sonnes of the Church doe not onely not care for spirituall things nor haue any feeling of them but persecute those that are according to the spirit as since the time of
say If we admit the Councell to be kept the Lay-men will come and take away our temporaltie But as by the iust iudgement of God it came to passe that the Iewes lost their place which would not let goe Christ so by the iust iudgement of God it will come to passe That because wee will not let the Councell be called wee shall lose our temporaltie and I would to God that not also our bodies and soules too To that which at last he replied That the Councell of Basil was not lawful Yea rather answereth he it dependeth on the Councell of Constance if that were a true one then also this No man hath seemed to doubt whether that were lawfull nor likewise of whatsoeuer was there decreed for if any should say That the Decrees of that Councell are not of validitie hee must needs also confesse that the deposition of Iohn the foure and twentieth by vertue of those Decrees was of no force If they were of force neither could the election of Pope Martin hold good being done whilst the other was yet liuing If Martin was not Pope then neither is your Holinesse who were elected of the Cardinals by him created it importeth therefore none more than your Holinesse to defend the Decrees of that Councell And let the Reader note the argument of the Cardinall against the Papists which call into doubt the authoritie of these two Councels and consequently the vniuersall vocation and succession of Rome whereas Iulian maintaineth on the contrarie That there hardly is found any grounded on so manyfold authoritie And therefore hee defendeth the Decree whereby is affirmed That the Councell is aboue the Pope by the same reasons and examples as the Fathers of the Councell of Basil It was the ordinarie question of that time in which besides the decision of the Councell of Basill the greatest learned men in particular defend the sentence of the Councell And Aeneas Syluius before he came to the Popedome in the Historie of the Councell of Basil which wee haue aboue abridged had plainely declared his mind Aeneas Syluius Epist 54. 55. In his Epistle also to Gaspar Schlicke the Emperours Chauncellour wherein he approueth the Councell of king Charles the seuenth for the re-vnion of the Church It is lawfull saith he for secular Princes to assemble whether the Clergie will or no and neuerthelesse an vnion may be made thereby for hee should be vndoubtedly Pope whom all the Princes obeyed I see no Clergie-men that will suffer martyrdome for the one nor for the other partie Wee all of vs haue the same faith that our Princes haue if they did worship Idols wee would worship them also And wee would not onely deny the Pope but euen Christ also if the secular power did vrge it because charitie is waxed colde and all faith is perished How euer it be wee desire peace be it by another Councell or by an assembly of Princes I weigh not for wee are not to contend for the name but for the thing Call bread if thou wilt a stone and giue it me when I am an hungrie Let it not be called a Councell let it be called a Conuenticle a Congregation a Synagogue it mattereth not prouided that schisme be taken away Therefore that which the king of France writeth pleaseth me exceedingly and I would sticke to his opinion for he seemeth to permit to our king to wit of the Romans the assembling of this congregation How farre is he from them who acknowledge no Councell but that which the Pope is author of And not without cause truely considering what he writeth of the Councels of his time to Lupus of Portugal Jdem Epist 10. Now the Church is a play such as we see of the ball whilest with the strokes of the players it is stricken to and fro But God beholdeth these things from on high and although he seldome inflict on earth deserued punishments on men yet in his last iudgement hee leaueth nothing vnpunished But so soone afterwards as he sat on that chaire of pestilence hee retracteth yea when first the Cardinals hat touched his head he changeth his mind and declineth to the left hand as appeareth in his last Epistles In the same maner spake Laurence Valla a Senator of Rome and wrot a booke of purpose against the Donation of Constantine at the time when Pope Eugenius caused the Emperour Sigismund to sweare vnto it and otherwise would not crowne him and if you aske what was the state of the Church in his time I say Laurentius Valla de Donatione Constant and exclaime saith he that in my time there hath beene none in the Popedome either a faithfull or a wise Steward so much wanteth it that he hath giuen bread and food to the familie of God that the Pope maketh warre on peaceable people and nourisheth discord betweene the chiefest cities the Pope with his consumeth both other mens riches and his owne The Pope pilleth not onely the Commonwealth more than Verres or Catilina or any other robber of the common treasurie durst do but also makes a gain euen of Ecclesiastical goods and the holie Ghost which Simon Magus himselfe detesteth And when he is of some men admonished and reproued of these things he denieth them not but confesseth them openly and boasteth of it as lawfull and by any meanes will haue the patrimonie of the Church giuen by Constantine wrested out of the hands of them that occupie it as if that being recouered Christian religion would be more happie and not rather more oppressed with wickednesse luxuries and lusts if yet it can be any more oppressed and that there is any place further left for wickednesse c. And in the meane time Christ in so many millions of poore dyeth with hunger and nakednesse c. There is therefore no more religion no holinesse no feare of God and which I speake with horrour impious men take the excuse of all their wicked crimes from the Pope For in him and in them which accompanie him is the example of all wickednesse so that we may say with Esay and S. Paul against the Pope and them that are about him The name of God is blasphemed because of you among the Gentiles Yee which teach others teach not your selues Yee who teach that men should not steale yee play the robbers Yee which teach to abhorre sacriledge commit the same Yee which glorie in the Law and in the Papacie by preuarication of the Law dishonor God the true high Bishop And if the Roman people by too much riches lost veram illam Romanitatem that true Roman heart If Salomon also for the same cause fell through the loue of women into Idolatrie thinke we that the same is not done in the Pope and in the rest of the Clergie Yea so farre is he carried that he saith Alledge no more vnto mee thy Dabo tibi claues c. I will giue thee the keyes c. to proue thence thy
maleficorum Bodin alledgeth out of the booke of Iacob Sprenger Inquisitour of witches a strange dispensation of this Nicholas A certaine German bishop was sicke whom Nicholas greatly loued he vnderstood by a witch that his sicknesse came of witchcraft from which he could not be deliuered but by a contrarie charme by which the witch herselfe that had bewitched him must die He therefore sendeth in post to Nicholas entreating leaue of him to be cured by the witch which dispensation Nicholas granteth with this clause Of two euils auoyd the greater The Bull being receiued the witch vnder the Popes authoritie and at the Bishops entreatie setteth her hand to the businesse about midnight the Bishop was restored to health and at the verie same instant the disease passed into her that had bewitched him whereof she dyed And they would make vs beleeue that this Pope dyed of griefe for the losse of Constantinople but his denying of succours to the Greekes persuadeth vs to the contrarie From this shipwracke he gathered about him some learned Grecians but that was properly to build vp the sepulchres of the Prophets whom before he had suffered to be murdered But Alphonsus Borgia who succeedeth him by the name of Calixtus the third made a shew of repairing that fault and presently denounced warres against the Turkes saying that hee had made a vow to that end a long time before knowing but whence had he this prophesie that he should be Pope and shewed written and subscribed with his owne hand in a certaine booke these words following I Pope Calixtus make a vow to almightie God Platina in Calixto 3. and to the holie indiuisible Trinitie That I will persecute the Turkes most cruell enemies of the Christian name by warre cursings interdictions execrations and to conclude in whatsoeuer manner I can and yet was he alreadie decrepit with age He imposeth therefore a tenth on all the Clergie and publisheth a Croysado throughout all Europe according to custome granting full remission of sinnes to all that contributed to it so that once in his life and once at his death he were confessed yea and giuing authoritie to whomsoeuer would giue fiue ducats to absolue and dispence in many cases And there were set forth to sea onely sixteene gallies vnder the charge of the Patriarch of Aquileia Alphonsus king of Naples and Philip Duke of Bourgondie were admonished to crosse themselues for those warres which they made shew of But as the businesse was for a brunt onely with great earnestnesse stirred forwards so also it easily rested And then saith Platina ad Pontificia negotia animum adijciens Applying his mind to the affaires of the Popedome he began to canonize Saints one Edmund in England one Vincent in Spaine and others Which Bessarion seeing especially how rashly and indirectly the same was done These new Saints saith he make me doubt of the old Gulielm Langaeus in Praefat. suae Hist But it behoued them also in this to imitat the chiefe Bishops of the Pagans Moreouer for a supplie in stead of yeelding succours to the Greekes he ordaineth a bell to be tolled euerie day betweene noone and euening at the sound whereof whosoeuer did on their knees mutter ouer three Aue-maries and Pater-nosters should haue three yeares and three fortieth parts of Indulgences Also hee appointed a generall Procession or Letanie euerie first Sonday of the moneth in which whosoeuer assisted should obtaine seuen yeares and seuen fortieth part of Indulgences besides a prayer in the Masse for victorie against the Infidels which who so sayd should also merit three yeares of Indulgences In the meane time if the safetie and good of Christendome had beene seriously thought vpon there was offered a verie notable occasion Antonin part 3. tit 22. c. 14. for Iohn Vaiuode in that verie time ouercame Mahomet in that famous battell neere Belgrade whom his forces being diminished and he left of our men he could not follow But Calixtus howsoeuer forgat not to looke to his owne affaires and therefore Alphonsus king of Naples being deceased and Ferdinand his bastard hauing obtained his place he presently prouided for the chiefest Bishoprickes of the realme which he durst not doe in the kings life-time And which is more saith Antoninus by Bulls he declared Antonin part 3. tit 22. c. 16. that the realme of Naples vacant pertained to him alone as a feoffee of the Church commaunding Ferdinand to forgoe it and that neither he nor any other whosoeuer vnder paine of excommunication should call himselfe king of that kingdome but that if any pretended there any right the businesse should first be discussed by him who dissolueth all oathes of fidelitie or homage which any had yeelded vnto him He likewise wrot to the States of the kingdome That Ferdinand was not the sonne of Alphonsus but one supposed And this he did that he might transferre the kingdome to Iâ—igni Borgia his nephew or his sonne From which sentence Ferdinand moued with anger appealeth Francis Sforcia Duke of Milan his father in law was also grieuously offended protesting to leaue nothing vnattempted whereby the state of his sonne in law may be defended Pandolf Colenuc lib. 5. Donatus Bossius But thereupon Calixtus dieth who a little before had framed the office or seruice of the Transfiguration with the like Indulgences as hath the feast of Corpus Christri For it was meet that the Popish religion being meerely humane should from day to day encrease with humane inuentions Aeneas Syluius called Pius the second a man of great knowledge I would hee had beene of like conscience An. 1458. succeeded this Calixtus in the yeare 1458 but the Papall chaire soone discouered what a manner of man he was He had bin Scribe in the Councell of Basil Platina in Pio 2. Register of the Apostolike letters one of the twelue which were ordained Censors of the Councell yea had many times sat chiefe among those that had beene deputed touching matters of faith and was twice chosen amongst them which conferred benefices and if any thing of moment were to be determined by the nations he was euer chosen chiefe for Italie He was moreouer appointed embassadour in the Councels name thrice to Strasbourg once to Trent twice to Constance once to Franckford and twice into Sauoy authour or furtherer of all things that were done in this Councell the Acts whereof he writeth downe in two bookes out of which his opinion thereof is manifest ynough In so much that when Eugenius was deposed and Felix set in his place he was sent by Felix embassadour to the Emperour Frederick to declare vnto him the just causes of his election on which occasion admiring the dexteritie of his wit he drew him to his seruice He being sent to Rome by Frederic to deale with the Pope about his coronation was enticed with the delights of the Court of Rome and in fauour of Nicholas sold the renunciation of Felix Whereupon he was
first created Bishop of Triesté and after Cardinall by Calixtus and by degrees according to the encrease of his dignities he changed his stile as appeareth to whomsoeuer readeth his Epistles which hee himselfe hath distinguished by degree Till at length being made Pope he thought nothing better than to reuoke his former and more laudable Acts by his Bull set forth concerning that matter bearing the title of Retractation and the things which before he had seemed to detest in other Popes hee himselfe now both praysed and aduanced forward This is manifest by the Bull which beginneth Execrabilis dated in the second yeare of his Popedome whereby he forbiddeth to appeale from the sentences of the Pope to the future Councell pronounceth all such appeales of Emperours Kings Bishops c. to be voyd vaine execrable and pestiferous excommunicateth such as haue appealed not to be absolued but at the poynt of death He also subiecteth Vniuersities Colledges and other corporations to the Interdict and inflicted vpon all the punishments of high treason and heresie and the Notaries or letter-carriers witnesses and others which were at those Acts c. In another Bull also which beginneth In minoribus agentes directed to the Vniuersitie of Colonia An. 1463. in the yeare 1463 hee professeth That it repented him that hee wrot the Dialogue and other bookes for the authoritie of the Councell saying that he had persecuted the Church of God ignorantly as did S. Paul contrariwise affirming the authoritie of the Pope to bee aboue the Church by the same texts which before he had expounded in a farre other sence Wherefore hee declared That the Pope is the soueraigne Monarch of the Church whose sinnes are left to the judgement of God so that no man may take knowledge of them And neuerthelesse at the end he reuerenced saith he the Councell of Constance which had decreed the contrarie But here Bellarmine inuenteth a notable distinction That the later Sessions are approued not the first because in the first the Councel was placed aboue the Pope and yet notwithstanding in that Councell Martin the fift had beene chosen and what hee had caused to be ordained in the later tooke force and vigour onely from the first Sessions whereby it was judged That the Councell may judge the Pope arraigne him condemne depose and punish him and chuse another in his roome all which they had practised on Iohn the foure and twentieth Benedict the thirteenth and Martin the fift deposing the two former and electing the third and both the Sessions former and later proceeding from one same spirit and from one and the same authoritie But it troubleth them that they know not which way to turne themselues when they are demaunded what was the vocation of Martin Eugenius and others which hath no ground but on the onely decision of this Councell and the Councell of Basil And here we might set before the eyes of Syluius what he hath said of this Councell and that of Basil which now he condemneth and that not being a young man as he said but a man of perfect age and honoured with principall dignities Where is there in the world such a companie of Fathers Where so great light of knowledge Where the wisedome Where is the goodnesse that can be equall to the vertues of these Fathers O most perfect fraternitie O true Senat of the world c. So that these things may not honestly now be denied But as the eye of reason is other than the eye of passion so is the judgement of an vpright mind other than of corrupt desire of Syluius sitting in that most honourable assemblie which he describeth vnto vs than of Pius the second raigning in that contagious chaire And he had cast out a speech of an expedition into Asia against the Turkes in the assemblie of Mantua Bulla quae incipit Quoniam vt proxime in summa Constitution Iohan. 5. Stella in Pio 2. whither the embassadours of many Princes were come from all parts and vnder pretence thereof had imposed a tenth on the whole Clergie yea euen vpon all the profits of the Roman Court but he could not bring it to effect perhaps because he arrogated too much to himselfe with the Princes which were of greatest power For saith Stella for the augmentation of the Papall Maiestie he feared neither Kings nor Dukes neither peoples nor tyrants but if they saw any offending that is to say not obeying in all poynts his desire he persecuted them so long both by warre and by censures till he perceiued them to be recouered And for this cause became he an aduersarie to Lewis King of France who went about to diminish the libertie of the Church in his kingdome to Borsio d'Este because he fauoured Sigismund Malatesta and the affaires of France against Ferdinand He persecuted with terrible execrations Sigismund Duke of Austria for that he had chastised the Cardinall of S. Peter ad Vincula Hee deposed also the Archbishop of Mentz iudging ill of the Roman Church and set vp another in his roome He deposed likewise the Archbishop of Beneuent for attempting new matters against his will and for that he would betray Beneuent to the Frenchmen And he brought many townes of Campania into the power of the Church of Rome Neither doe histories conceale that he confirmed the kingdome of Naples to Ferdinand reuoking the Bull of Calixtus the third and that in fauour of the mariage of Anthonie Picolhuomini his nephew with the sister of the wife of Ferdinand whose dowrie was the Earledomes of Maldeburg and Celano Whereby hee began to set himselfe against the rights of our France Monstrelet addeth Monstrelet vol. 3. That it was commonly thought that Ferdinand had giuen Pius a verie great summe of gold partly to be absolued of his crimes and partly that he might peaceably enioy his kingdome But his ambition cannot not better be knowne than in his 396 Epistle where hee offereth and promiseth the Empire of the Greeks to Mahomet king of the Turkes if he would become a Christian and succour the Church that is to say his faction that hee might the more easily rend Christendome which he vexed with continuall warres presuming to persuade him that that Empire depended on him and was in his gift and that so his predecessors had giuen the Empire of Germanie to Charlemaine It seemeth that to him also is to be ascribed that extraordinarie pompe of Corpus Christi day for that which is commonly boasted of the Temple of S. Peter very fitly agreeth with the Roman superstition which neuer is brought to his full height Antoninus Campanus Bishop of Arrezzo in the life of Pius saith He celebrated at Viterbium the feast of the Eucharist with an vnaccustomed brauerie the citie being vnder foot spread with scarlet ouer head couered with linnen in which starres of gold shined as in the firmament so that the procession went not seeing the skie betweene flowres strewed an ynch thick
than milke more splendent than precious stones or polished Saphires but now their face is blacker than a coale and they are not knowne to wit for good By this deformation and spot of the Court and of Clergie-men especially of the Prelats Ecclesiasticall censure seemeth to be weakened and obedience diminished Why is this but for the contemptible life and workes of Prelats because they seeke their owne and not what is Iesus Christs But the reformation and amendment hereof belongeth to the Pope who as head of the rest ought to performe it De Censi Rom. l. ◠Q. 7. Cum Pastoris 6. q. 1. ex merito 1. q. 1. Fertur ver Hinc igitur and diligently looke to it But he that would correct others ought first looke to himselfe and them that be about him Because the life of the Pastour is an example to others And if the head languish the rest of the members are infected and when the Pastor is wounded who will applie the medicine to cure the sheepe Whereupon when the Physitian is sicke it will be said vnto him Cure thy selfe c. And to this purpose he bringeth many Canons Of Indulgences So often as sayth hee the Pope went forth in publike on some feastiuall day was giuen a plenarie Indulgence against the custome of auncient Popes notwithstanding that by such vndiscreet and superfluous Indulgences the keyes of the Chruch are contemned and penitentiall satisfaction weakened De poenis remiss c. Cum ex eo § Ad haec Out of this consideration it followeth that about giuing of expectatiue graces greater consideration ought to be had and not thus giuen euerie where on all sides and indifferently because by so great a multitude and confusion for the most part benefices are granted to persons vnworthie great matter of contention ariseth thereby Againe By the euill example and scandall which they giue to Lay men they seeme that they are come to this that S. Bernard speaketh in his sermon vpon these words of the Gospell I am the good shepheard And because it is verie long let the Reader take the paines to see it in the booke it selfe wherein he discourseth of all the corruptions of the Roman Church in his time At Padoua taught Anthonie Rozel a famous professor of the Ciuile Law who in his booke of Monarchie affirmeth That the Pope is not Lord of the world That he hath no power ouer the Emperor no temporall sword neither any authoritie aboue other Bishops There is extant besides other Treatises of the same Author Of the power of the Emperor and of the Pope and of both the swords and of the authoritie of Councels printed at Venice in the yeare 1487. Neither feared also Roderick Sanchio a Spaniard Bishop of Zamora Roderic Zamorens in speculo vitae humanae excuso Argetorti apud Iohan Pris An. 1507. and Referendarie of Paul the second to say in his booke Of the Myrror of mans life That the Pope doth not applie himselfe to wisedome nor to laudible studies neither for the peace and quiet of Christian people but onely vnto earthlie things That the Prelats doe not neither can teach for that they are altogether vnlearned giuen to their bellie and to whoredome and yet bind on the backes of poore Christians diuers insupportable burdens of traditions which in the Primitiue Church either were not at all or were left to mens libertie In the Primitiue Church saith he the faithfull were not bound with the commandements censures and pains of so many Canons Decrees Neither were there then so many snares of laws constitutions of excommunications or censures from which the faithfull though neuer so careful fearful can by no means be safe or warrant themselues There was not so many fasts cōmanded nor vigils nor silences nor Diuine Seruice for day and night enioyned daily to be sayd Lastly there was not so many feasts to be kept nor so often confession and communication of the bodie of Christ nor so many obediences to be yeelded c. So that of the Prelats of the Church may be rightly sayd that of Christ Which bind vnsupportable burdens c. Whence saith he if any of the like things were obserued in the Primitiue Church it was onely voluntarie which as then was no sinne to transgresse because it was not then forbidden And yet notwithstanding this same wretch was not ashamed to flatter Paul the second in the same booke That the Pope is not onely ordained to humane principalitie but to diuine Jdem cap. 1. l. 2. neither to commaund onely ouer men but also ouer Angels not for to iudge the quicke onely but the dead not in earth alone but in heauen also not to rule ouer the faithfull onely but ouer Infidels Aduanced saith he to that verie same dignitie to that same iurisdiction and power and to the principalitie ouer the whole world So that hee blushed not to applie vnto him the places of tha Prophets and of the Psalmes which the holie Ghost hath onely spoke and meant of the onely Sonne of God and he most highly extolleth him aboue that stammering Moses and his brother Aaron both together So that truth and flatterie two contraties proceed out of one and the same mouth In Germanie Herman Ried wrot a booke wherein he represented the corrupt maners of the Clergie by a comparison of what they ought to bee Herman Ried de vita honestate Clericorum and what in his times they then were There are saith he many Clergie-men who follow not the counsell and sentences of the Fathers receiue not the holie Scripture but despise the canons of the holie Fathers These are They which hate and deride vnderstanding and Catholike men who weigh the grieuousnesse of the crimes of the Clergie and endeauour with watchfulnesse to crie out against their false dealing Yea they affirme them to be fantasticall men Hierome de norma viuendi c. 5. disturbers of the peace hauing corrupt and polluted consciences c. And so is verified of them that saying of S. Hierome There is not a crueller beast in the world than an euill Clergie-man or Priest for he suffereth not himselfe to be corrected neither will he euer heare the truth c. Such and the like are by their Prelats permitted publikely so to liue Prouided that they giue euerie yeare a certaine sum of money to their Officials Moreouer how many are there publikely tainted with Simonie insomuch that not being able to conceale their simonie to shift if off they expresse it with other tearmes persuade themselues that so the word simonie be not heard it wil not be perceiued It is say they an ordinance or statute of the Church Others more subtilly to shift it off doe say That the Pope doth it by his fulnesse of power who may in such things dispence admit and ordaine And that then it is simonie and sinne onely when the Pope did forbid it or ordaine
Sic moriens nullos credidit esse Deos. As Sixtus when he liued mockt God so he When that he died beleeu'd no God to be Trithem de scriptorib Eccles Fra. Leandro Alberti de viâ—is illustribus Ordinis Praedicatorij Alani de Rupe Compend Psal terij Mariani de Myrac Rozarij liber vnus An. 1483. And yet this good man in the meane time writ bookes of the conception of the Virgine Marie authorised that execrable booke of Alani de Rupe a German and Dominican Frier forged and preached for Gospell a certaine Rosarie gathered out of the Virgine Maries Psalter and thereupon instituted a new Societie for the credit whereof Iames Sprenger Prouinciall of Germanie deuised certaine myracles which Sixtus approued and defended with his Bulls and Indulgences There was likewise a booke printed in the beginning whereof we read That the Virgine Marie entring into the cell or chamber of this Alani the doores being locked and hauing wouen a ring with her haire maried her selfe therewith vnto him offering her selfe vnto him to be kissed and her breast to bee handled and sucked in as familiar manner as a wife to her husband Many other the like blasphemies there were in that booke by which let the Reader consider in what a bottomelesse gulfe of impietie the superstitious minds of men were by these Atheists ouerwhelmed Innocent the eighth a Genowais of the familie of Cibo succeeded in the yere 1483 after such a predecessor it was a hard thing to bee thought execrable and yet he was no whit better than the former that he should fill Rome with seditions Italie with fire and sword it was nothing strange since it was a matter long since determined That there was no mischiefe that befel Italie but through the Popes He tooke from Virginius Vrsinus the gouernement of the Apostolike Palace to gratifie Cardinall Iulian who then began to shew his force whereby the citie was brought into great danger Yea he troubled all Italie by defending the Earls of Aquila against Ferdinand their King and Lord Onuphr in Innocent 8. Enforced thereunto saith Onuphrius by the counsell of men ill aduised whereby he got nothing but charge ruine and dishonour Seeking therefore a meanes to supplie his wants and to fill his treasurie he followed the steps of Sixtus He ordained fiftie two Plumbatores Bullarum Bullists by which meanes he got six and twentie thousand crownes Certis Ecclesiae prouentibus attributis As a subsidie out of the reuenewes of the Church He added six and twentie Secretaries who paid euery one as it were for a fine two thousand fiue hundred crownes which came to sixtie thousand crownes He put to sale the office of the President de Ripa and created thirtie officers who payed two hundred crownes apeece and this was said to restore the Church He made peace with Ferdinand because he could not otherwise chuse whom neuerthelesse vnder a pretence of non-payment of tribute he excommunicated depriued him his kingdome and pronounced Charles king of Fraunce who had promised him to come presently with his armie the lawfull heire which he afterward in his owne person performed grounding himselfe vpon the last will and testament of Renat king of Sicilie and of Charles the Earle du Maine his brother who transferred all the right they had vpon him But Innocent had no other purpose but by this meanes reuersing all the Bulls of his predecessours to be reuenged vpon Ferdinand As touching his priuat life let vs giue credit to Volateran though in tearms somewhat too honest he expresse his dishonestie Iohn Baptista Cibo a Genowais after the death of Sixtus sat in the chaire and was called Innocent the eight He was heretofore a poore boy brought vp with the seruants of Alphonsus king of Sicilia but yet of excellent beautie From thence he came to Rome where he was receiued into the familie in Contubernio of Philip Cardinal of Bononia Afterwards he was made Bishop of Sauona and then of Melfe and Dataire of Sixtus who made him in the end Cardinall for his sweet and ciuile cariage wherein he exceeded all men vsque ad vitium euen in vice it selfe For he many times embraced men of basest conditions Is the Popedome to be gotten by such meanes and manners He had before his Popedome sixteen children eight sonnes and eight daughters of which there were onely two lyuing when he obtayned the See whom he endeauoured to raise to the charge of the Church distributing saith the Historie a great masse of money gathered by his indulgences for an imployment against the Turke to his children and kinsfolke Others add That he was the first of all the Popes that openly made his boasts of his bastards and contemning all auntient discipline tooke care to enrich them Onuphrius saith That his sonne Frauncis and his daughter Theodorina his bastards hee enriched beyond reason To Frauncis he gaue certaine Townes neere the Citie and married him to the daughter of Lawrence de Medices and Theodorina to Gerard Vsumar of Genoa a man verie rich Hereupon saith Marullus in an Epitaph Quid quaeris testes sit mas an foemina Cibo Respice natorum pignora certa gregem Octo nocens pueros genuit totidemque puellas Hunc merito poterit dicere Roma Patrem Why seekest thou witnesse to proue Cibo a man Looke on his brats faire gages deny 't if thou can Eight bastard sonnes he got and as many daughters Worthily then may Rome count this man a Pater His Epigrams alwayes alluding to that triall of the sex ordayned after the deceipt of Pope Ioane But he concludeth Spurcities gula auaritia atque ignauia deses Hoc octaue iacent quo tegeris tumulo Vncleanesse auarice sloth gluttonie Are here Octaue intombd where thou doest lye And least there should be no place left for superstition they made men beleeue at that time when Petrus Consaluus de Mendoza repayred the Church of the holie crosse that there was a fragment of the title of the crosse of Christ written in three Tongues found inclosed in the wall This cosinage the letters themselues bewraied for in stead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was barbarously written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with an e in the accusatiue case plurall were all those famous Roman Antiquaries blind At that verie time Baiazet the Emperour of Turkie sent vnto him for a present the poynt of that speare of Longinus wherewith the side of Christ was wounded that he might thereby win him to set a surer gard ouer his brother Gemes whom he had then in his power of that Longinus whose name they deriued from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who knowes not these fooleries and knowing them can endure them From hence there sprung a wonderfull haruest of indulgences vnder Alexander the sixt his successour Summa constitut in Bulla cuius initium admirabile sacrament Bulla cuius initium Apostolicae camerae in sum constitut Hieron Marius in Euseb cap. Onuphr
caetera diuina in the Church of the holie Crosse of Hierusalem said to be found in the time of Innocent the eighth Can any man doubt but that hee hereby mocked the Crosse of Christ That man who in the yeare 1494 in his rage published with his owne mouth a pardon for thirtie thousand yeares to as many as would say a certaine prayer before the Image of Saint Anne the mother of the blessed Virgine Benedicta sit sancta Anna mater tua ex qua sine macula peccato processisti c. Where were now the Dominicans who preached a contrarie doctrine This is that man who diuided the world amongst the Princes gaue to Ferdinand of Aragon and to Isabel of Castile the West Indies discouered at that time by Colombus But by what right if not by that wherewith he bound himselfe before to the Prince of the world euen to him that said vnto Christ All this will I giue thee if thou wilt fall downe and worship me OPPOSITION Now in the Historie of these three Popes described by their owne friends and followers wee haue a kind of hidden or rather publike Opposition against their tyrannie For is there not here a liuelie picture of Antichrist whose name onely as Painters vse to doe they haue concealed Alâ—eric de Rozate inâ— bene a Zenon â—â—ol 6. num 18. c. de Quadrieâ—â—â—i praescriptis leauing to vs not onely to diuine who he should bee but to pronounce this verie man to be the man of sinne euen Antichrist himselfe Let vs neuerthelesse see amongst other Authors of that age whether it will not more manifestly appeare Albericus de Rozate an excellent Lawyer defendeth as many had done before That the Empire depended not vpon the Pope That the Emperour needed not his confirmation That they who thought otherwise were guiltie of treason and their goods to bee confiscated That the Popes Jdem in verbo Romae according to the present state of their affaires haue sometimes exalted sometimes depressed the Empire to the end they may get vnto themselues a power both ouer temporall and spirituall And these are his verses Curia Romana non petit ouem sine lana Dante 's exaudit non dantibus ostia claudit The Courts of Rome without the wooll refuse the sheepe Giuers they heare against no giuers the doores they keepe As likewise that of the Donation of Constantine I haue heard of men of great credit that there was then heard a voyce from heauen saying To day is the poyson of Aspes sowed in the Church of God and they say that this is to be found in the auncient authentique writings and so doth the said M. Iohn of Paris report in his booke of the Papall and imperiall power C. 21. Hieronimus Paulus Catalanus a Canon of Barcelone and Doctor of both lawes Chamberlaine to Alexander the sixt in his booke of the practise of the Apostolike Chauncetie feares not to say That the Donation of Constantine was not de facto Read Laurentius Valla and Pope Pius in his Dialogue neither haue I read any thing of any such Donation in any approued writer especially those that haue written that age or the next vnto it For neither doth Eusebius who was a diligent writer and enquirer into Christian affaires make mention thereof c. nor Ierome nor Augustine nor Ambrose nor Basil nor Iohn Chrysostome Amian nor Beda nor Orosius And it is apparent that for aboue three hundred yeares after Constantine the Emperours had the gouernement of the citie by Dukes Presidents and Exarches vntill the time of Innocent the second as it plainely appeareth in the Histories and Chronicles To which purpose he alledgeth many places out of the Digests the Code and the new Constitution And in the life of Phocas the Emperor we read that Pope Boniface obtained the Panteon of him Which is that Church that is called Maria retunda If therefore you will know from whence the Church had her lands and reuenues see the Acts of Charles the Great of Pipin and of Pius in the sayd Dialogue and the collections newly gathered by Bartholmew Platina the Liberarie keeper in one great volume wherein he hath gathered all the instruments appertaining to the state of the Church as touching their temporalties especially the acquisition of their lands reuenewes and rights vnto them vpon the reuiew whereof I haue likewise bestowed some paines Of the sayd Donation and cure of the leprosie of Constantine read that which Remus the Bishop of Padua hath writ at large in his historie of the liues of the Popes Both the one and the other the Donation and the Cure grounded vpon one and the same vanitie Hieron Marius in Eusebio Captiuo Mancinellus was yet more bold who vpon a solemne day about the houre of procession mounting vpon a white horse according to the custome made an Oration at Rome before all the people against Alexander the sixt openly reprehending his abuses his scandalous life and foule abhominations and hauing ended his speech exemplified it before their eyes Alexander therefore caused him to be apprehended and commaunded both his hands to bee cut off which were no sooner healed but vpon another feastiuall day with the like boldnesse he spake againe But by the commaundement of Alexander his tongue was presently cut out Machiauellus Historiae Florentin l. 1. whereof he died Machiauel the Secretarie of Florence in his historie saith plainly That vntill the time of Theodoricus king of Lombardie the Pope had no temporall jurisdiction yea was hardly acknowledged to haue any superioritie in causes Ecclesiasticall aboue the Church of Rauenna but that power and authoritie that it hath it got afterwards by diuers guiles and subtilties sometime taking part with the Greekes sometimes with the Lombards vntill they had ouerthrowne both the one and the other But especially their greatest power they attained vnto by the wicked abuse of their excommunications indulgences and publication of the Crosse but yet so that at what time they thundered most in countries and kingdomes most remote they were in greatest contempt at Rome hauing much adoe to reside there notwithstanding they promised not to intermeddle with ciuile causes but Ecclesiasticall onely Hee likewise saith That they were the authors of all the warres in Italie after the time of Theodoricus king of the Gothes and in his owne time of all those troubles that were in Italie That the Cardinals were but simple Curats of the Parishes in Rome increasing afterwards by little and little in wealth and honour and pride and titles and habiliments as the Popedome and the contention for the Popedome increased And in the handling of this subiect he concludeth the first booke of his Florentine historie which it shall not bee amisse for the Reader to take a view of Guicciardine also the Standard-bearer of the Church of Rome writ the like discourse in the fourth booke of his histories but the place was carefully rased out but
it was afterwards printed by it selfe at Basil in 8o. in Italian Latine French The title of the booke is Francisci Guicciardini loci duo c. which it were not labour lost to read Baptista Mantuanus a Carmelite a man famous for his learning in those times in many places but especially in his ninth Eclogue freely describeth the state of the Church of Rome in his time which he saith was in such sort degenerated that the shepheards and their dogs were become rauening wolues and those whom they should feed and defend they deuoured But let that which he hath in his third booke of Calamities be to vs in stead of the rest Petrique domus pollûta fluente Marcescit luxu nulla hîc arcanareuelo Non ignota loquor licet vulgata referre Sic Vrbes populique ferunt sic fama per omnem Iam vetus Europam mores extirpat honestos Sanctus ager scurris venerabilis ara Cynaedis Seruit honor andae Divum Ganimedibus Aedes Quid miramur opes recidiuaque surgere tecta Thuris odorati globulos cinnama vendit Mollis Arabs Tirij vestes venalia nobis Templa Sacerdotes Altaria sacra Coronae Ignis Thura preces coelum est venale Deusque And Peters house defil'd pines with excesse I name not things vnknowne nor secrets I rehearse Things common let me speake all countries say the same Yea through all the parts of Europe it is the same That honestie from Rome is fled that holie place Serues jeasters buggerers the Altars doe disgrace The houses of the gods with Ganimedes are fild Why doe we admire their wealth the houses they build Arabia Frankincense and Cinamon sells The Tirians goodlie garments Rome all things else Temples and Priests Altars and Crownes they fell for pelfe Fire Frankincense prayers heauen and God himselfe And all this in Italie Neither were they silent in Germany for it is noted that about these times the prouerbes were verie common The neerer to Rome the worse Christian In the name of God begins all mischiefe for this was the beginning of their Bulls He that goes once to Rome sees the man of sinne he that goes twice knowes him hee that goes thrice brings him home with him that is to say being neere the man of sinne is made like him But among the learned many haue left behind them a good testimonie of their conscience Iohn of Vesalia a Doctor and Preacher at Wormes was accused before the Inquisitors for holding these propositions That Prelats haue no authoritie to ordaine new lawes in the Church but to persuade the faithfull to the obseruation of the Gospell That the best interpreters of the Scriptures expound one place by another because men obtaine not the spirit of Christ but by the spirit of Christ That the Doctors be they neuer so holy are not to be beleeued for themselues and the Glosse as little That the commaundements of the Church bind not to sinne That the elect are saued by the onely mercie of God That the Popes Indulgences are vaine and so are the Chrisme Lent difference of meats holie-dayes auricular confession pilgrimages to Rome c. But for as much as he impugned the opinions of Thomas the Frier-Preachers who were of the Inquisition were moued against him Diether also Archbishop of Meniz to auoyd that suspition of heresie the Pope had of him was enforced to yeeld vnto them in so much that without any respect of his yeares or his long sicknesse they proceeded against him whereby he was enforced to reuoke his opinions He that writ his examination which bare date the yeare 1479 saith and takes God to witnesse That he was compelled to that recantation that he made and the burning of his bookes Examen Magistrate Iohannis de Vesalia Moguntia 1479. M. Engeline of Brunswic a great Diuine and M. Iohn Keiserberg withstanding it both men learned and free addicted to neither part especially it seemed to M. Iohn Engeline that they had taken too precipitat a course with so great a personage yea he feared not to affirme that most of his articles yea the greatest part might verie well be defended There are many bookes of his extant and among the rest a Treatise of Indulgences where he peremptorily affirmeth That the supremacie of the Pope is a humane inuention That the Church militant may erre That all things necessarie to saluation are contained in the Scriptures There liued at the same time but somewhat younger Doctor Wesellus of Groning called The Light of the world who in a certaine Epistle of his saith That he did expect that the Inquisitors hauing condemned Vesalius would haue come vnto him hauing defended his opinion both at Paris and at Rome against diuers articles of the Church of Rome And he feareth not to say That many of the Court approued it though it differed not much from the opinion of the Waldenses as we may gather by his writings Iohan. Wesellus de subditis superioribus In his booke of Subiects and Superiors he affirmeth That the Pope can erre and that erring we ought to resist him That by his simonie and wicked gouernement he made it to appeare that he had no care either of God or the good of the Church That his commands bind no farther than they are agreeable to the word of God That his excommunications are no more to be feared than those of any other learned and godlie man for so did the Councell of Constance hearken rather to Iohn Gerson than Iohn the 24 and all good and godlie men to S. Bernard sometime than to Pope Eugenius the third Philip. Melancton in vita Rodolfi Agricolae His workes are to be read printed by pieces at Leipsic Antuerpe Basill Also in this countrie his familiar friend Rodolphus Agricola was verie famous a man worthily accounted one of the lights of this darke age who was of the same opinion And Iosquin of Groning then yong witnesseth That he had often seene them both send forth many a sigh and grone to thinke of the doctrine of the Church so much deformed Gocchius Pupperus a Priest and Curat of Malin in Brabant taught the same reformed doctrine almost in all the Articles especially in that of the free justification of a sinner by the bloud of Christ rejecting all the glosses of Sophisters and Schole men betaking himselfe wholly to the Scriptures and namely to that which S. Paule teacheth vs That those interpretations which they commonly alledge differ from the word of God and smel of the heresie of Pelagian That they haue turned Christianitie into Iudaisme and Pharisaisme His bookes are Printed in Germanie namely Of grace faith the dignitie of the holie Scriptures and others In the Vniuersitie of Tubingue Paulus Scriptoris a Doctour in Diuinitie expounding the fourth booke of the Master of sentences openly condemned transubstantiation as not being grounded vpon the holie Scriptures whom the Augustinians the Disciples of Iohn Stauffich Prouinciall followed with diuers
it so that as many as would not worship the Image of the Beast that is the glorie of this Empire renewed in him should be killed 2. Thess 2. v. 9.10.11 And this in the meane time saith Saint Paule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not so much by open force as by the effectuall working of Sathan c. and in all deceiuablenesse of vnrighteousnesse or as Saint Iohn sayth Apoc. 13. v. 12.15 by the enchauntment and cup of that Harlot of that Roman Courtisan who hath so made drunke the Kings and Princes of the earth with her flatteries and enticements that they striue who shall most bee set on fire with her loue and ruinat each other to get highest into her fauour so drunken are the inhabitants of the earth with the wine of her fornication miserable people whose Princes for to win her fauour made them drinke downe all her inuentions abuses Indulgences Iubilies Croysados as they call them and other abhominations without number and without measure that being stricken with giddinesse they might lose the vse of their sences Now is also this Antichrist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 surnamed The man of sinne not without mysterie not without a notable emphasis And truely in this Seat more than in any other State we may easily obserue verie many Neros Caligulas Heliogabales monsters of all kind vniustice of tyrannie of impietie prophane Necromancers Atheists and worse if may be and of which their owne Histories doe euerie where testifie For which cause it was beleeued by many That so great was the pestilent infection of this Chaire that with the contagion thereof it instantly infected whomsoeuer sat in it So that because impietie in so high a degree should bee ordinarie and vsuall it gaue occasion to Saint Paule to call him the man of sinne and to Saint Iohn to tearme him the Whore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by excellencie In which sence the Euangelists sometimes a prostituted woman a sinner because shee maketh a continuall trade of sinning But let vs yet enter a little further Antichrist is properly called The man of sinne not onely because hee daily practiseth sinne but because hee seeketh gaine by sinne because he soweth planteth produceth and multiplieth sinne by innumerable cunning practises In a word if we beleue him he abolisheth all sinnes of omission and commission bee they neuer so haynous and horrible Yea which is more for to get in greater store of money that which is with God no sinne that which is indifferent hee by his lawes and prohibitions maketh to be sinne and exaggerateth it farre aboue that which is truely sinne Which things are sufficiently proued by the bookes of the Taxes of the Apostolicall Chauncerie and sacred Penitentiaries which yet are sold at Rome printed at this verie time in Paris at the signe of the Golden Sunne in Saint Iaques street and these bookes are no lesse commonly vsed among his brokers than Kalenders with husbandmen or the booke of Customes and Entries among merchants In which bookes are sold and taxed at a deere rate dispensations and absolutions of all kinds of consanguinitie carnall spirituall in regard of degrees or for want of age for imperfection of members naturall or accidentall or according as they are more or lesse noble or profitable for irregularitie for vicious promotion or ministerie without promotion what kind of consecration by their owne rules may thereupon follow for bastardize for Bigamie for all manner of maimes or for murder of all kinds of a Clergie-man of a Lay-man of father mother sonne brother sister wife c. And these same much lesse taxed than of the least Priest Also for impoysonings enchauntments witchcraft sacriledge simonie and their kinds and braunches for lapsu carnis fornication adulterie incest without any exception or distinction which I abhorre for sodomie brutalitie so they particularly expresse them Of which most horrible and enormous crimes the absolution is rated at a lesser price than is any the least dispensation for the eating of flesh of butter milke or cheese on dayes forbidden by the Pope Neither are they ashamed to adde in these plaine words These kind of graces are not giuen to the poore because they are destitute of goods and meanes and therefore for them there is no comfort And it is to bee noted That in our time they censured by their Index Expurgatorius made by the commaundement of the Pope and of the Councell of Trent that famous man amongst them Claudius d' Espense because he had sayd Claud. Espensaeus in Epist ad Tit. c. 1. writing vpon the Epistle to Titus That it was a great opprobrie to the Church that those bookes came to the hands of men but much more that they were put in execution in which more impunitie and wickednesse might bee learned in a moment than in all the Summists together Let the Reader vouchsafe to see the place it selfe so he take heed it be not an edition corrupted by their falsifyings But let vs prosecute seeing the matter so requireth both the merchandise and the merchants They sell dispensations for oathes for commutation of vowes for Offices Breuiaries Prayers Psalters for appointed houres for to say them after an other manner than is vsed in their Diocesse or after the Romane fashion or also for to say them backwards What inuentions to get money Also for reducing Masses to the proportion of the fruits permission to say them both before day-light and twice in a day Dispensations also of meats for the person Familie Kindred Colledge Citie Diocesse or Prouince all taxed by proportion Leaue to carrie about the Corpus Domini which they call here to carrie God to play once twice thrice a yeare or oftner to change his name surname and signe Cui bono to passe from one Monasterie to an other to visite the holy Sepulcher to vse Trafficke with Infidels by carying vnto them Marchandize lawful and vnlawful for the Iewes to haue their Synagogues publike or priuat for the Christians to eat of a beast killed by a Saracen When in the meane time these good Bishops as we haue seene haue made no conscience to take a yearely pention from the Turke So that in things indifferent and in things wherein conscience ought to be vsed they make no difference but determine according to their own pleasure they are often more scripulous in friuolous matters than in matters of weight and farre more rigorous and stricter in the obseruation of their owne inuentions than of the Commaundements of God And how farre and wide how diuersly is Simonie extended and spread abroad amongst them is it not by them forcibly thrust vpon the whole world That heresie which they deriue from Simon Magus the prophane selling of all things which they will haue to be accounted holie how farre is it from S. Peter Indulgences for a certaine price generall or particular for buriall before the Altar in the Quire in the body of the Church on the left side or