sins of the communion of Indulgences of Excommunication of the power of the Pope of the authoritie of Councels of good works of Free-will of Purgatory of pouerty all which he saith are respectiuely pestiferous pernicious scandalous offensiue to pious eares contrary to charity contrary to the reuerence which is due to the Church of Rome contrary to obedience which is the sinew of Ecclesiasticall discipline wherefore being willing to proceede to sentence he with the Cardinals genetals of the regular orders with other Diuines and Doctours both of the one and the other law hath made diligent examination of them Therefore hee condemneth and reiecteth them respectiuely as hereticall scandalous false offensiue to pious eares deceitfull to godly minds and contrary to the Catholike trueth Hee prohibiteth vpon paine of excommunication and infinite punishments that no man should dare to keepe them defend them preach them or fauour them And because the same assertions are found in the bookes of Martin therefore he condemneth them commanding Luthers bookes are condemned to the fire vnder the same paines that none may reade or keepe them but that they ought to be burned as well those which doe containe the foresaid propositions as all the rest Concerning the person of Martin himselfe he saith he The Pope giueth an admonition to Luther and his followers hath many times admonished cited and called him with promise of safe conduct and prouision for his iourney that if hee had come hee would not haue found so many errours in the Court as hee saide and that himselfe the Pope would haue taught him that the Popes his predecessors haue neuer erred in their constitutions But because he hath endured the censures for the space of a whole yeere and hath dared to appeale vnto a future Councell a thing prohibited by Pius and Iulius the second vnder the punishments due to heretikes hee could proceed to condemnation without any more adoe notwithstanding forgetting these iniuries hee admonisheth the said Martin and his protectors to change their opinions cease to preach and in the terme of 60. dayes vpon the same paines to reuoke al the foresaid errors and burne the bookes which in case they doe not hee declareth them notorious and obstinate heretiques After he commandeth all vnder the same paines that they keepe not any booke of the same Martin though it conteine not the like errours Then ordaineth that all men ought to shunne as well him as his fauourers yea commandeth euery one to apprehend them and bring them personally before him or at least chase them out of their Lands and Countreys hee interdicteth all places whither they shall goe commandeth that they bee euery where made knowen and that his Bull ought to bee read in euery place excommunicating whosoeuer shall hinder the publication thereof he determineth that the exemplifications ought to be beleeued and ordereth that his Bull be published in Rome Brandeburg Misna and Mansperg Martin Luther receiuing newes of the condemnation of his doctrine and The Popes admonition cruseth Luther to make a solemne Appeale bookes set foorth a writing repeating the Appeale made to the Councell and making replication thereof for the same causes Furthermore for that the Pope had proceeded against a man not called nor conuinced nor the controuersie of the doctrine heard preferring his owne opinions to the word of God and leauing no place for the Councell he offereth to demonstrate all these things praying the Emperour and all Magistrates to accept this his Appeale for defence of the authority of the Councell thinking that this decree of the Pope bindeth not any till the cause be lawfully discussed in a Synod But men of vnderstanding seeing the Bull of Leo marueiled at it for many causes First concerning the forme that the Pope should proceede to a The Bull of Leo censured declaration with clauses of the palace in a matter which ought to be handled with the words of the holy Scripture and especially vsing periods so intricate and so long and prolixe that it was scarcely possible to draw any sense from them as if he had been to giue sentence in a feodatary cause And it was particularly noted that one clause which saith Inhibentes omnibus ne praefatos errores asserere praesumant is so drawen out in length with so many inlargements and restrictions that betweene Inhibentes and Praesumant there are placed more then foure hundred words Others passing on a little further considered that to haue proposed and condemned as hereticall scandalous false offensiue to pious eares and deceitfull to simple minds 42. propositions without declaring which of them were hereticall which scandalous which false but onely with a word respectiuely attributing to euery one of them an vncertaine qualitie caused a greater doubt then was before which was not to define the cause but to make it more controuersed and to shew more plainely that another authority and wisedome was necessary to determine it Some also were filled with admiration for that it was said that amongst the 41. propositions there were errours of the Grecians condemned long agoe Others thought it a strange thing that so many propositions in diuers points of faith should be decided in Rome by the aduice of the Courtiers onely without participating them to other Bishops Academies and learned persons of Europe But the Vniuersities of Louain and Collen being pleased that there was a colour giuen to their sentence by the Popes Edict publikely burned the bookes of Luther Which gaue cause that he also in Wittenberg all that Schoole being The Popes Bull and the Decretals burned in Wittenberg assembled iudicially and publiquely made to be burned not onely the Bull of Leo but together also the Popes Decretals and after gaue an account to the world of that action in a long manifest published in writing noting 521. LEO 10. CHARLES 5. HENRY 8. FRANCIS 1. A Councell was thought to be necessarie for two causes the Papacie in tyrannie of the Church peruersenesse of Christian doctrine and vsurpation of the power of lawfull magistrates But aswell for Luthers appeale as for these and other considerations euery one became of opinion that a lawfull Councell was necessarie by which not onely the controuersies might bee decided but the abuses also long since brought into the Church might bee redressed and alwayes the necessitie hereof appeared the more by how much the more the contentions increased writings being set forth continually both by the one part and the other For Martin failed not to confirme his doctrine by diuers writings and accordingly as he studied hee discouered more light euer passing some step further forward and finding articles of which in the beginning hee had not thought Which hee sayd he did for the zeale of the House of God But hee was constrained also by necessitie For the Romanists hauing laboured effectually in Collen with the Elector of Saxonie by the mediation of Hierom Aleander that he would deliuer Martin
and vnder their iudgement and hee wrote to those Priests who of their owne braine had reconciled some that they should giue an account to the people The goodnesse and charitie of the Bishops made their opinion for the most part to be followed and by little and little was cause that the Church charitie waxing colde not regarding the charge layd vpon them by CHRIST did leaue the care to the Bishop and ambition a witty passion which doth insinuate it selfe in the shew of vertue did cause it to be readily embraced But the principall cause of the change was the ceasing of persecutions For then the Bishops did eâ—ect as it were a tribunall which was much frequented because as temporall commodities so suites did encrease The iudgement though it were not as the former in regard of the forme to determine all by the opinion of the Church yet it was of the same sincerity Whereupon Constantine seeing how profitable it was to determine causes and that by the authoritie of Religion captious actions were discouered which the Iudges could not penetrate made a Law that there should lye no appeale from the sentences of Bishops which should bee executed by the secular Iudges and if in a cause depending before a secular tribunall in any state thereof either of the parties though the other contradict shall demand the Episcopall iudgement the cause shall be immediately remitted vnto him Here the tribunall of the Bishop began to be a common pleading place hauing execution by the Ministerie of the Magistrate and to gaine the name of Episcopall iurisdiction Episcopall audience and such like The Emperor Valence did enlarge it who in the yeere 365. gaue the Bishops the care ouer all the prizes of vendible things This iudiciall negotiation pleased not the good Bishops Possidonius doth recount that Austin being imployed herein sometimes vntill dinner time sometimes longer was wont to say that it was a trouble did diuert him from the things proper vnto him and himselfe writeth that it was to leaue things profitable and to attend things tumultuous and perplexed And Saint Paul did not take it to himselfe as being not fit for a Preacher but would haue it giuen to others Afterwards some Bishops beginning to abuse the authoritie giuen them by the law of Constantine that law was seuentie yeeres after reuoked by Arcadius and Honorius and an ordination made that they should iudge causes of religion and not ciuill except both parties did consent and declared that they should not be thought to haue a Court. Which law being not much obserued in Rome in regard of the great power of the Bishop Valentinian being in the Citie in that yeare 452. did renew it and made it to be put in execution But a little after some part of the power taken away was restored by the Princes that followed so that Iustinian did establish vnto them a Court and audience and assigned to them the causes of Religion the Ecclesiasticall faults of the Clergie diuers voluntary iurisdictions also ouer the Laitie By these degrees the charitable correction instituted by CHRIST did degenerate into domination and made Christians loose their ancient reuerence and obedience It is denyed in words that Ecclesiasticall iurisdiction is dominion as is the secular yet one knoweth not how to put a difference betweene them But S. Paul did put it when he wrote to Timothie and repeated it to Titus that a Bishop should not be greedy of gaine nor a striker Now on the contrary they make men pay for processes and imprison the parties as is done in the secular Court But the Westerne Countries being separated and an Empire made of Italy France and Germany and a kingdom of Spaine in these foure Prouinces the Bishops for the most part were made Counsellors of the Prince which by the mixture of spirituall and temporall charges caused their iurisdiction to encrease exceedingly Before 200. yeeres were past they pretended absolutely all iudicature criminall and ciuill ouer the Cleargie and in some things ouer the Laitie also pretending that the cause was Ecclesiasticall Besides this kinde of Iudicature they inuented another which they called mixt in which the Magistrate or the Bishop might proceed against the secular which of them tooke the cause in hand first whereby in regard of their exquisite diligence neuer leauing place to the secular they appropriated all vnto themselues and those which remained out of so great a number were comprehended in the end by a generall rule established by them as a ground of faith that euery cause is deuolued to the Ecclesiasticall Court if the Magistrate will not or neglect to doe iustice But if the pretensions of the Cleargie were contained within these bounds the state of Christian Common wealthes were tolerable The people and Princes when they saw it mount to these vnsupportable termes might with Lawes and statutes haue brought the iudgements to a sufferable forme as formerly vpon occasion hath beene done But that which put Christendome vnder the yoke tooke from it in the end all meanes to shake it from the necke For after the yeere 1050. all the causes of the Cleargy being appropriated to the Bishops and very many of the Laitie vnder title of spiritualitie and almost all the rest vnder the name of a mixt iudicature and placing themselues aboue secular Magistrates vpon pretence of iustice denied they came to say that the Bishop had that power to iudge not by the grant or conniuency of Princes or by the will of the People or by custome but that it was essentiall to the Episcopall dignitie and giuen to it by CHRIST And though the Lawes of the Emperours remaine in the Codes of Theodosius and Iustinian in the Capitulars of Charles the great and Lewis the Deboneere and others of later Princes of the East and West which doe all shew plainely how when and by whom this power hath beene graunted and all Stories as well Ecclesiasticall as prophane doe agree in declaring the same grants and customes adding the reasons and causes yet so notorious a trueth hath not had such power but that a contrary affirmation onely without any proofe hath been able to ouercome it which the Canonists haue so farre maintained as to publish those for heretikes who doe not suffer themselues to bee hoodwinckt And not staying heere they adde that neither the Magistrate nor the Prince himself can meddle in any of those causes which the Clergie hath appropriated because they are spirituall and of spirituall things the Laiques are vncapeable Yet the light of trueth was not so put out but that learned and godly men in those first times did oppose that doctrin shewing that both the Premisses of that discourse were false that the Maior that is that the Laiques are vncapeable of spiritual things was absurd and impious For they are adopted by the heauenly Father called the sonnes of God brothers of CHRIST partakers of the Kingdome of heauen made worthy of Diuine grace Of
and punishments against poore innocent people who adhere to that religion for conscience sake And how shall they be able to accuse the Pope and his followers when himselfe will be iudge And to appoue his Briefe is nothing else but to consent to their owne condemnation And therefore that they haue alwayes demanded a free and Christian Councel not onely that euery man may freely speake the Turkes and infidels being excluded but that those that are linked together by oathes and other Couenants may not bee Iudges and that the word of God may gouerne and define all the controuersies That they well know that there are learned and godly men in other Nations but withall they assure themselues that if the vnlimited power of the Pope shall be moderated not their Diuines onely but many others who now by reason of oppression hide themselues will labour for reformation of the Church That they will not dispute of the situation and fitnesse of Mantua but they may well say that so long as there is warre in Italie they cannot want matter of suspition That it is sufficient to say of the Duke of that Citie that he hath a brother a Cardinall one of the prime men of the Court. That in Germany there are many Cities as commodious as Mantua where Iustice and equitie doe flourish and in Germanie those secret wiles to take away mens liues are neither vsed nor knowne as they are in other places That in the ancient Councels the securenesse of the place hath euer been first sought for which would not be sufficient there though hee the Emperour were personally present in the Councell For it is knowne that the Popes grant him place in consultations but for power of determining they reserue it to themselues onely That it was knowne what happened to the Emperour Sigismond in the Councell of Constance whose safe-conduct was violated by the Synod and himselfe constrained to put vp so great an affront Therefore they prayed his Maiestie to consider the importance of these reasons There appeared in this same Diet the Bishop of Aix sent by the Pope to inuite them to the Councell But hee did no good and some of the Princes Some of the Protestant Princes would not so much as heare thé Popes Nuncio would not so much as heare him And to make their reasons knowne to the world they printed and published a writing where they laboured principally to answere that obiection that they would not submit themselues to any Iudge that they despised other nations that they refused the supreame They iustifie their actions to the world by writing tribunall of the Church that they had renewed heresies formerly condemned that they were glad of ciuill discords that the faults which they found in the manners of the Court of Rome were small and tolerable They alleadged the causes why it was not fit that the Pope alone nor yet together with his adherents should be iudge they brought the examples of many Councels refused by diuers of the Fathers and in fine implored the ayde of all Princes offering that whensoeuer a lawfull Councell shall bee called they will therein defend their cause and render an account of all their actions They sent also an expresse Ambassadour to the French King to giue him a particular account of the same things who answered that for the Councell he was of their opinion not to approoue it except it were lawfull and in a secure place assuring them that his sonne in-law the King of Scotland was of the same mind The Duke of Mantua to gratifie the Pope granted his Citie for the Councell without considering what he did thinking as others that it could not The Duke of Mantua maketh a grant of his Citie and afterwards recalleth it be effected there being warres betweene the Emperour and French King and Germany opposing it for whose sake it was called But when hee saw the intimation he began to thinke how to secure the place and sent a proposition to the Pope that in regard of the great number of those that would come to the Councel there was need of a great garrison which he would not haue depend vpon any but himselfe and that hee was not able to maintaine it Therefore in case his Holinesse would celebrate the Councell in that Citie he must allow him money for soldiers pay The Pope answered that the multitude would not consist of men of armes nor professed for the war but of Ecclesiasticall and learned persons which one magistrate whom hee would depute to render iustice with a small court and gard was able to keepe in order that a garrison of souldiers would breed a generall suspicion and became not the place of the Councell where all should appeare and bee truely peaceable and that in case a garrison were necessary it were not reasonable to put it into the hands of any but of the Councel it self that is of the Pope who is head thereof The Duke considering that iurisdiction draweth The Pope claymeth right to administer iustice where the Councell shall be celebrated with it absolute soueraigntie replyed that by no meanes hee would haue iustice administred in his Citie but by his owne officers The Pope a very wiseman who seldome receiued any answere which hee did not foresee was much amazed and answered the Dukes man that hee would neuer haue beleeued that by his Lord a Prince of Italy whose family hath beene so much aduanced by the Apostolicall Sea who had a brother a Cardinall that would bee denied him of which neuer any made doubt before which the Law of God and man doth giue him which the very Lutherans cannot denie that is to be supreame iudge of the Clergie a thing which the Duke denieth not to his owne Bishops to iudge the causes of Priests in Mantua That in the Councel none should be present but the Ecclesiastiques who are exempted from the secular power both themselues and their families Which Priests concubines are of Ecclesiasticall iurisdiction is so cleere that the Doctors of Diuinitie affirme that the very concubines of Priests are of Ecclesiasticall iurisdiction and yet he would denie him a Magistrate to render iustice to those men during the time of the Councell The Duke for all this was constant aswell in refusing the Popes Magistrates as also in demaunding pay for souldiers These conditions seeming hard to the Pope contrary as he sayd to the auncient custome and against the dignity The Pope resolueth not to call the Councel at Mantua of the Sea and Ecclesiasticall libertie he would not yeeld vnto them and resolued not to call the Councell at Mantua He remembred very well what happened to Iohn 23. for calling a Councell where another was stronger then hee His purpose therefore was to prolong the time and excused himselfe in a publique Bull saying in substance that though with griefe hee was constrained to depute an other place for the Synod yet hee endured it with
patience because another was in fault and not himselfe and because hee could not resolue so suddenly vpon a conuenient Citie hee deserred the celebration thereof vntill the first of Nouember the same yeere At that time the King of England published a manifest in his owne name and of his nobilitie against the Popes Conuocation as by a person that had no power in a time when Italie was set a fire with warre and in a place not secure adding that hee much desired a Christian Councell but that to The King of England opposeth the Councel by a publique manifest the Popes he would neither goe nor send Ambassadours hauing nothing to doe with the Bishop of Rome or his Edicts more then with the edicts of any other Bishop That the auncient Councels were called by the authoritie of Kings which custome ought now the rather to be renewed because the defect of the Court of Rome are called into question That it was not vsuall with Popes to breake their faith which himselfe had more cause to consider then others beeing most bitterly hated by him for hauing denyed him authoritie in his Kingdome and the reuenew which was payd him That to blame the Prince of Mantua because hee will not receiue so many people into his Citie without a garrison is to mocke the world as also to prorogue the Councel vnto Nouember not saying in what place it shall be celebrated And if the Pope choose the place without doubt it will be in his owne State or of some Prince that is obliged to him Therefore it being impossible that any man of iudgement should hope for a true Councel the best way was for euery Prince to reforme Religion at home concluding in the end that if any man could giue him better directions hee would not refuse to follow them The care of reforming the Court was committed to 4. Cardinals but nothing was done which made the Italians suspect the Popes actions In Italy also there was a generall disposition to interpret the Popes actions in the worser sense and it was spoken freely that though the Duke of Mantua were blamed yet he was not the cause why the Councell was not called whereof there was a manifest argument because the Pope had published a Bull for reformation of the Court and committed the care thereof to foure Cardinals at the same time which notwithstanding was buried in silence though neither the Duke nor any bodie else hindered it from beeing in his power and hauing proposed it immediately after it was assumed to the Papacie it was not so much as spoken of for three yeeres after The The reformation is set on foot againe Pope to withstand these defamations resolued to set the businesse on foote againe first reforming himselfe the Cardinals and the Court that none might obiect against him nor make bad construction of his actions and he elected foure Cardinals and fiue other Prelates whom he so much esteemed that the yeere following hee made foure of them Cardinals giuing charge to those nine to collect the abuses which deserued amendment and withall to adde the remedies by which they might quickly and easily be remooued and to reduce all to a good reformation The Prelates made the collection as the Pope commanded and committed it to writing The fountainâ— of the abuses of the Court. In the beginning they proposed for the fountaine and source of all the abuses the Popes readinesse in giuing eare to flatterers and his facility in dispensing with Lawes with neglect of the Commandement of Christ not to receiue gaine for spirituall things And descending to particulars they noted twenty foure abuses in the administration of Ecclesiasticall matters and foure in the speciall gouernment of Rome they touched the ordination of The particular abuses Cleargie men Collation of Benefices Pensions Permutations Regresses 1538 PAVL 3. CHARLES 5. HENRY 8. FRANCIS 1. Reseruations Pluralitie of Benefices Commendoes Exemptions deformation of the regular order ignorance of Preachers and Confessors libertie of printing pernicious Bookes the reading of them toleration of Apostates Pardoners And Passing to dispensations first they touched that for mariage of those that are in orders for marriages in degrees forbidden dispensations granted to Symoniacall persons facilitie of graunting Confessionals and Indulgences dispensation of vowes licence to bequeath by will the Church-goods commutation of wils and testaments toleration of harlots negligence of the gouernement of hospitals and such other things which they exactly handled expounding the nature of the abuses the causes and originall of them the consequences of the euils which they carry with them the meanes to redresse them and to keepe hence forward the body of These things are set downe at large in the 12. Booke of Sleidan the Court in Christian life a worke worthy to be read and which deserued to be set downe word by word if it had not beene too long The Pope hauing receiued the relation of these Prelats caused many Cardinals to consider of it and after that he might resolue what to doe proposed it in the Consistory Fryar Nicholas Scomberg a Dominican Cardinall of S. Sistus alias of Capua shewed in a long discourse that that time comported The Cudinall of S. Sistus would haue no reformaton at al made not any reformation at all First hee put them in mind of the malice of man which being stopped in one course findeth a worse and that it is better to tolerate a knowen euill which because it is in vse is not so much marueyled at then by redressing that to fall into another which being new will appeare greater and be more reprehended Hee added that it would giue occasion to the Lutherans to bragge that they had inforced the Pope to make that reformation and aboue all he considered that it would bee a beginning to take away not onely the abuses but the good vses also and to endanger the whole state of religion For by the reformation it would be confessed that the things prouided against were deseruedly reprehended by the Lutherans which would be a great abetting to their whole Cardinall Caraffa desireth the reformation doctrine On the other side Iohn Peter Caraffa Cardinal Theatino shewed that the reformation was necessarie and that it was a great offence to God to leaue it and answered that it was a rule in Christian actions that as euill is not to be done that good may follow so no good of obligation is to be omitted for feare that euill may ensue The opinions deliuered were diuers The Pope comandeth the remonstrance of the Prelats to be concealed but a copie of it is sent into Germany by Cardinall Scomberg The King of Denmarke becommeth a Protestant and the finall conclusion was not to speake any more of it vntill another time and the Pope commanded that the remonstrance of the Prelats should be concealed But Cardinall Scomberg sent a copie thereof into Germanie which some thought was done
because that was the principall cause which induced the Pope not onely to consent as before but to vse all endeuours that the Councell might be celebrated and which assured the Protestants that neither in Councell nor in any other place where any Minister of the Pope was present they could hope to obtaine any thing The first action began the fifth of April and it was deliuered in the Emperours name that his Maiestie seeing the Turke entred into the bowels of Germany the cause whereof was the diuision of the States of the Empire for the difference in religion had alwayes sought a meanes of pacification and that of the Councel seeming vnto him most commodious he went purposely into Italy to treat thereof with Pope Clement and after not being able to bring it to effect he returned and went in person to Rome to make the same negotiation with Pope Paul in whom he found much readinesse But not being able to effect any thing by reason of diuers impediments of warre hee had finally called that Diet and besought the Pope to send a Legat thither The first action of the Diet in Ratisbon Now he desired nothing but that some composition might be made and that some small number of godly and learned men might bee chosen on either side to conferre vpon the controuersies in friendly maner without preiudice of either of the parties and propose to the Diet the means of concord that all being consulted with the Legate the wished conclusion might be attained Suddenly there arose a controuersie betweene the Catholiques and Protestants about the manner of choosing those that should treat Wherefore the Emperour beeing desirous that some good should bee done demanded and obtayned of either partie power to nominate the persons desiring them to beleeue he would do nothing but for the common good For the Catholiques he elected Iohn Ecchius Iulius Flugius The names of the disputants and Iohn Groperus and for the Protestants Philip Melancthon Martin Bucer and Iohn Pistoria whom he called to him and grauely admonished them to abandon all passion and to ayme onely at the glory of God He made Frederique the Prince Palatine and Granuel Presidents of the Colloquie adding vnto them some others that all might passe with the greater dignity When the assembly was made Granuel published a booke and said it was giuen to A booke giuen to the Emperour as a 〈◊〉 for the future concord the Emperor by some godly and learned men as a direction for the future concord and that his will was they should read and examine it that it might serue for an argument and subiect of what they ought to treat that that which pleased all might be confirmed that which displeased all might bee corrected and in that wherein they assented not meanes might be vsed to reduce them to an agreement The booke contained 22. Articles The creation of man the integrity of nature free will the cause of originall sinne Iustification the Church her signes the signes of the word of God penance after sinne the authoritie of the Church the interpretation of the Scripture the Sacraments Order Baptisme Confirmation the Eucharist Penance Matrimony extreame Vnction charitie the Ecclesiasticall Hierarchie the articles determined by the Church the vse administration and ceremonies of the Sacraments Ecclesiasticall discipline and discipline of the people It was read and examined and some things were approoued some things amended by common consent and in others they could not agree And these were the ninth of the power of the Church the foureteenth of the Sacrament of Penance the eighteenth of the Hierarchie the 19. of the articles determined by the Church the 21. of single life In these they differed and either partie wrote his opinion This being done in the assembly of all the Princes the Emperour required the opinions of them all concerning the things agreed on and the different opinions of the Collocutors and withall proposed the amendement of the state of the Common-wealth as well ciuill as Ecclesiasticall The Bishops reiected absolutely the Booke of the concord and whatsoeuer was done in the Colloquie vnto whom the other Electors and Catholike Princes desirous of peace agreed not and it was concluded that the Emperour as aduocate of the Church together with the Apostolike Legat should examine the things agreed on and if any thing were obscure should cause it to bee expounded and should treat with the Protestants that concerning the things in controuersie they should consent to some Christian forme of concord Caesar imparted all to the Legat and vrged him that the Ecclesiasticall State ought to be reformed The Legat after he had considered of all the businesse answered in writing not more perspicuously then the ancient Oracles in this The Legate speaketh like 〈◊〉 Oracle manner That hauing seene the Booke presented to the Emperour and what was written by the deputies of the Colloquie as well the explications of either partie as the exceptions of the Protestants it seemed that the Protestants differing in-certaine articles from the common consent of the Church in which not withstanding he despaired not that with the helpe of God they might be induced to agree nothing should be ordered concerning the residue but referred to the Pope and the Apostolicall Sea who either in the generall Councell or some other way if there shall bee cause will define them according to the Catholique trueth with regard vnto the times and what shall bee expedient for the Christian Common-wealth and for Germanie But for reformation of the Cleargie hee promised all readinesse and to The exhortatation of the Legat Contarini made to the Prâ—â—â—s that end called into his house all the Bishops and made them a long exhortation First for their manner of liuing that they should abstaine from all scandall and appearance of luxurie auarice and ambition For their familie that they should vnderstand that from it the people made coniecture of the manners of the Bishop that the better to keepe their flocke they should remaine in the most inhabited places of the Diocesse haue diligent watchmen else-where that they should visite the Diocesses giue the Benefices to honest and fit men spend their reuenues vpon the necessitie of the poore flying not onely luxurie but all superfluous pompe make prouision of godly learned discreet and not contentious Preachers procure that the yonger sort be well brought vp because by this meanes the Protestants draw all the Nobilitie vnto them Hee committed this Oration to writing and gaue it to the Emperour to the Bishops and the Princes which gaue occasion to the Protestants to taxe the answere made to Caesar together with the exhortation made to the Prelats alledging for their motiue that the writing being published they should seeme to approoue it if they dissembled the knowledge of it His answere made to the Emperour pleased not the Catholiques because it appeared that he did approue the things agreed on in the Conference But
Apostles and other disciples in Ierusalem who were assembled about the question of keeping the Law And though it may bee said that it was a recourse of the new Churches of the Gentiles vnto the old mother Church frō whence their faith was deriued a custom much vsed in those first ages often rehearsed by Irenie and Tertullian though the letter were written by the Apostles Elders brethren of Ierusalem only yet in regard that not they only but Paul Barnabas also did speake it may well be called a Councel by example whereof the succeeding Bishops thought all Christian Churches to bee but one and likewise all Bishoprickes to be but onely one so framed that euery Bishop held a part thereof not as his owne but so as that all ought to gouerne the whole and euery one to employ himselfe most in that which was particularly recommended to him as S. Cyprian in his little golden booke of the vnity of the Church doth piously demonstrate In case of necessity of any particular Church though the persecutions sometimes waxed warme as many as could assembled themselues to make prouision in common In which assemblies CHRIST and the holy Ghost being president and charity chasing away all humane passion they aduised and resolued of what was fit without ceremonies or formes prescribed But after a certaine time passions of men and charitie beeing mingled together and there beeing a necessity to gouerne them with some order the chiefest man amongst those that were assembled in Councell either for learning or for greatnesse of the Citie or Church whereof he was or for some other respect of eminencie tooke vpon him the charge to propose and guide the action and collect the voyces But after that it pleased God to giue peace to the Christians and that the Romane Emperours receiued the holy faith there happening more difficulties in doctrine and discipline which by reason of the ambition or other bad affections of those that had followers and credite troubled the publike quiet another sort of Episcopal assemblies had beginning congregated by Princes or their Lieutenants to remedie the troubles In these the action was guided by those Princes or Magistrates which did call them together who also were personally present proposing and gouerning the treatie and decreeing interlocutorily the occurring differences but leauing the decision of the principall point for which the Councell was congregated to the common opinion of the assemblie This forme appeareth in the Councels whose actes doe remaine The Colloquie of Catholikes and Donatistes before Marcellinus and many others may serue for example But to speake onely of generall Councels this was done in the first Councel of Ephesus before the Earle Candidianus sent President by the Emperour and more cleerely in that of Calcedon before Martianus and the Iudges by him appointed in that of Constantinople in Trullo before Constantine surnamed Poganatus where the Prince or Magistrate that was President commanded what should bee handled what order obserued who should speake and who be silent and did decide and accommodate the differences in these things And in the other generall Councell the actes whereof are not extant as of the first of Nice and the second of Constantinople the historians of that Age doe witnesse that Constantine and Theodofius did the like Yet in those times when the Bishops themselues did assemble of their owne accord and others medled not the action was gouerned as hath been said by one of them and the resolution taken according to the common consent Sometimes the matter was so easie that it was dispatched in one meeting Sometimes by reason of the difficulty or multiplicitie thereof it was necessarie to reiterate the businesse whence proceeded the many Sessions in the same Councel Not one of them was about ceremony or only to publish what was digested elsewhere but to vnderstand the opinion of euery one and the colloquies discussions disputes and whatsoeuer was done or spoken were called the actes of the Councel It is a new opinion and seldome practised though established in Trent that the Decrees onely are called Actes of the Councel and ought onely to bee published but in the ancient Councels all was giuen vnto all Notaries were present to collect the voyces who when a Bishop spake and was not contradicted wrote not his proper name but thus The Holy Sinode saith And when many said the same thing it was written The Bishops acclaymed or affirmed and the things so spoken were taken for decisions if they spake in a contrary sense the contrary opinions were noted and the names of the authours and the Iudges or Presidents did pronounce Sometimes some impertinencie did vndoubtedly happen by reason of some mans imperfection but charitie which excuseth the defects of ones brother did couer it A greater number of the Prouince where the Councell was held and of the borders was present but without emulation euery one rather desiring to obey then to giue a law vnto others After the Easterne and Westerne Empires were separated there remained still in the West some marke of the ancient Councels and many were celebrated in Councels gouerned by Princes France and Germany vnder the posterity of Charles the Great and not a few in Spaine vnder the Kings of the Gothes At last Princes being absolutely debarred to intermeddle in Ecclesiastical matters that kind of Councel grew in disuse 1546 PAVL 3. CHARLES 5. HENRY 8. FRANCIS 1. that alone remained which was called by the Ecclesiastikes themselues the conuocation of which Prouinciall Councels was almost wholly assumed by the Pope by sending his Legates to bee Presidents wheresoeuer hee heard there was a treatie to hold a Councell And after a certaine time hee tooke that power to himselfe which the Romane Emperours vsed to conuocate a Councell of the whole Empire and to be President himselfe if hee were present or in his absence to send Legates to be Presidents and to gouerne the action But the Prelats assembled in the Synod being deliuered from the feare of a Secular Prince which kept them in awe as worldly respects the causes of all mischiefes did exceedingly increase which caused also the multiplying of many indecencies they beganne to digest and order the matters in priuate that they might obserue a decencie in the publike meeting Afterwards this was obserued for a forme and in the Councels besides the Sessions they beganne to make Congregations of some Deputies to set in order the matters to bee treated of which in the beginning if they were many were diuided and a proper Congregation assigned to euery one And this beeing not sufficient to remooue all the indecencies because those that were not present hauing different interests made difficulties in publique besides the particular Congregation they made a generall before the Session where all were present which according to the ancient rite is the Conciliarie action because the Session euery thing being done before remayneth but a pure ceremonie But a
of sinne by meanes of the seed and generation saying That as if Adam had not sinned righteousnesse would haue beene transfused not by vertue of the generation but onely by the will of God so it is fit to finde another meanes to transfuse sinne And hee explaned his opinion in this forme that as God made a Couenant with Abraham and all his posteritie when he made him father of the faithfull so when he gaue originall righteousnesse to Adam and all mankinde hee made him seale an obligation in the name of all to keepe it for himselfe and them obseruing the commandements which because he transgressed he lost it as well for others as himselfe incurred the punishments also for them the which as they are deriued into euery one so the very transgression of Adam belonged to euery one to him as the cause to others by vertue of the Couenant so that the action of Adam is actuall sinne in him and imputed to others is originall because when hee sinned all mankind did sinne with him Catarinus grounded himselfe principally for that a true and proper sinne must needs bee a voluntary act and no other thing can bee voluntary but the transgression of Adam imputed vnto all And Paul saying that all haue sinned in Adam it must bee vnderstood that they haue all committed the same sinne with him He alleadged for example that St. Paul to the Hebrewes affirmeth that Leui paid tithe to Melchizedek when hee paid it in his great Grandfather Abraham by which reason it must bee said that the posteritie violated the commandement of GOD when Adam did it and that they were sinners in him as in him they receiued righteousnes And so there is no need to run to lust which infecteth the flesh whence the soule receiueth infection For it cannot bee vnderstood how a spirit can receiue a corporall passion and if sinne were a spirituall blemish in the soule it could not first be in the flesh and if it be corporall in the flesh it can work none effect in the spirit That the soule by ioyning it selfe with an infected body doth receiue spirituall infection is an vnconceiueable transcendencie He prooued the couenant of God with Adam by a place of the Prophet Osea by another of Ecclesiasticus and by many places of Saint Austin That the sinne of euery one is the act onely of the transgression of Adam hee proued by Saint Paul when hee saith That by the disobedience of one man many are made sinners and because the Church hath euer vnderstood that sinne is nothing else but a voluntary action against the law of which kind there was none but that of Adam and because Saint Paul saith That death entred by originall sinne which entred onely by actuall transgression And hee brought for the principall proofe that though Eue did eate the apple before Adam yet she knew not she was naked nor that shee had incurred the punishment but onely after Adam had sinned Therefore Adams sinne as it was not his alone but of Eue too so was it also of all his posteritie But Fryar Dominicus Soto to defend the opinion of Saint Thomas and of the other Diuines from the obiections of Catarinus brought a new exposition Dominicus Soro crosseth the opinion of Catarinus and said that Adam sinned actually in eating of the forbidden fruit but after he remained a sinner by an habituall qualitie caused by the action as by euery bad action such a disposition is bred in the minde of the actor by which though the act be past he remaineth and is called a sinner that Adams action was transitory nor had existence but while hee wrought that the habituall qualitie remaining in him passed into the posteritie and is transfused as proper vnto euery one that Adams action is not originall sin but that consequent habit which the Theologues call priuation of righteousnesse which may be wel expounded cōsidering that man is called a sinner not only when hee transgresseth actually but after also vntill the sinne bee cancelled not in regard of the punishments or other consequences of sinne but in regard of the preceding transgression it selfe as that which maketh a man crooked vntill hee bee straightned againe who is said to be so not by an actuall action but by that effect which remaineth after the action is past Hee compared originall sinne to crookednesse as it is indeede a spirituall obliquitie for the whole nature of man being in Adam when hee made himselfe crooked by transgressing the Precept the whole nature of man and by consequent euery particular person remained crooked not by the curuitie of Adam but by his owne by which hee is truely crooked and a sinner vntill hee bee straightened by the grace of God These two opinions were sharpely disputed and euery one pretended that his owne should be receiued by the Synode But in the consideration how originall sinne was remitted they agreed How original sin is renutted all that it is cancelled by baptisme and the soule restored pure into the state of innocencie though the punishments which follow sinne bee not remooued that they may bee an exercise for the iust And this all of them expounded by saying that the perfection of Adam consisted in an infused qualitie which adorned the soule made it perfect and acceptable to God and exempted the bodie from mortalitie And God for the merit of CHRIST giueth vnto those that are regenerated by baptisme another quality called iustifying grace which wiping out euery blemish in the soule maketh it pure as was that of Adam yea in some it worketh greater effects then originall righteousnesse but onely that it worketh no effect in the bodie whereby mortalitie and other naturall defects are not remooued Many places of Saint Paul and the other Apostles were alleadged where they say that baptisme washeth cleanseth illuminateth and purifieth the soule so that no condemnation spot or wrinkle remaineth It was exactly discoursed how if the baptised haue no sinne sinne can passe into their children Whereunto Augustinus answered with examples onely as of a circumcised father the sonne is borne vncircumcised and of a blinde man one that can see and of a pure graine one clad in straw Catarinus answered that the Couenant was made with Adam onely and that euery one hath sinne by imputation of that of Adam so that the intermediate Parents haue nothing to doe therein and if the forbidden fruit had beene eaten not by Adam but by one of his sonnes his posterity had not sinned and if Adam had sinned after hee had begotsonnes his sinne had beene imputed to them though borne before Soto disputed against it that if Adam had sinned after his sonnes were borne those would not haue beene obnoxious vnto it but their posterity should The common voyce was that the sixt Article was hereticall for saying there remaineth in the baptized something worthy of death and the seuenth for leauing remainders of sinne in the baptized and the eight
not absolutely necessarie There was another opinion also to be condemned which said That the Sacraments were not necessarie in the Church because it is certaine they are not necessary to euery one yea that some are incompatible as Order and Matrimonie Yet the more common opinion was that the Article should bee condemned absolutely for two reasons one because the necessitie of one is sufficient to make the Article false as it lieth the other because they are all necessary in some sort some absolutely some by supposition some by conueniencie and some for greater vtilitie But many maruailed that Articles of Faith should bee established in such multiplicity of equiuocation For whose satisfaction when the Canons were composed there was added condemning him that held the Sacraments not to be necessarie but superfluous inlarging by this last terme the signification of the first Many were of opinion that the other part of the Article ought to bee omitted because it was defined in the last Session that faith onely was not sufficient and Marinarus sayd that the distinction of the Sacrament in vow was vsed by the Schoolemen but was vnknowen to antiquitie and full of difficulties For in the Acts of the Apostles when Cornelius the Centurion was instructed the Angel sayd his prayers were acceptable to God before hee knew the Sacrament of Baptisme and other particulars of Faith and all his familie hearing the Sermon of Saint Peter receiued the holy Ghost before they had been instructed in the Doctrine of the Sacraments and after the holy Ghost receiued they were instructed concerning Baptisme by Saint Peter so that hauing no knowledge of it they could not receiue it in vow and the Thiefe vpon the Crosse then onely illuminated by the vertue of CHRIST knew not the Sacraments nor could make any vow of them And many holy Martyrs conuerted in the heate of persecution by seeing the constancie of others and presently taken and put to death one cannot say but by diuination that they knew the Sacraments and could make a vow Therefore it was better to leaue that distinction to the Schooles and to put it in the Articles of faith The common opinion was to the contrarie saying that although the words of the distinction were new and scholasticall yet one must beleeue that the thing signified was taught by CHRIST and is an Apostolicall tradition and for the examples of Cornelius the Thiefe and Martyrs it is to bee vnderstood that there are two sorts of vowes of the Sacrament the one explicite the other implicite and at the least this second is necessarie that is that they had not the vow actually but would haue had it if they had been informed These things the others granted to be true but not obligatorie as Articles of faith The difficulties in which they could not agree where referred to the Synod that is to the generall Congregation As it hapned also in the third Article which though euery one thought to be false yet all did agree that in regard of the necessitie and vtilitie Baptisme Concerning the dignity of the Sacraments doth proceede in regard of the signification Matrimony in regard of the dignitie of the Minister Confirmation in regrad of diuine worship the Eucharist but because one cannot say without a distinction which is more worthy it is better to omit the Article which cannot bee vnderstood without subtiltie Another opinion was that all the respects of dignitie ought to bee expressed And another that the clause should bee added to the Article that is according to the diuers respects This opinion was most followed but did much displease those who could not endure that the Synode should abase it selfe to these scholasticall fooleries for so they called them and beleeue that CHRIST would haue these weake opinions brought into his faith Although that the fourth Article ought to bee condemned yea that it was necessary to amplifie it condemning the doctrine of Zuinglius in particular The fourth Article is generally condemned who will haue the Sacraments to bee but signes by which the faithfull are discerned from infidels or Actes and exercises of the profession of Christian faith hauing no other relation to grace but as signes that one hath receiued it After they treated of condemning those who denye that Sacraments doe conferre grace to him that putteth not a barre or doe not confesse that grace is contained in the Sacraments and conferred not by vertue of faith but Ex opere operato But comming to expound how they are contained and their causalitie euery one did agree that grace is gained by all Whether the Sacramēts do confer grace Ex opere operato those actions that excite deuotion which proceedeth not from the force of the worke it selfe but from the vertue of deuotion which is in the worker and these are said in the Schooles to cause grace Ex opere operantis There are other actions which cause grace not by the deuotion of him that worketh or of him that receiueth the worke but by vertue of the worke it selfe Such are the Christian Sacraments by which grace is receiued so that there be no barre of mortall sinne to exclude it though there bee not any deuotion So by the worke of Baptisme grace is giuen to the infant whose minde is not mooued toward it and to one borne a foole because there is no impediment of sinne The Sacrament of Chrisme doeth the like and that of extreame vnction though the sicke man hath lost his memorie But hee that hath mortall sinne and doth perseuere actually or habitually cannot receiue grace by reason of the contrarietie not because the Sacrament hath not vertue to produce it Ex opere operato but because the receiuer is not capeable being possessed with a contrarie qualitie Though they all agreed in this yet they differed because the Dominicans did affirme that how be it grace is a spirituall qualitie created immediately by GOD yet it is an instrumentall and effectiue vertue in the Sacraments which causeth a disposition in the soule to receiue it And therefore it is said that they containe grace not that it is in them as in a vessell but as the effect in the cause alleadging a subtill example as the chezill is actiue not onely in scabling the stone but in giuing forme to the Statue The Franciscans The Franciscans and Dominicans cannot agree about the manner ho 〈…〉 the Sacraments doe containe grace said that it could not be conceiued how God being a spirituall cause can vse a corporall instrument for a spirituall effect as is grace they did absolutely deny all effectiue or dispositiue vertue in the Sacraments saying they haue no vertue but by the promise of God that so often as they shal be administred he will giue his grace to them Therefore it is sayd they doe containe it as in an effectuall signe not by any vertue of their owne but by a Diuine promise of infallible assistance to the ministerie Therefore
read the Protestation which he held written in his hand Hee began with the Emperors vigilancie and diligence to reunite Christendome diuided into diuers opinions of religion Hee shewed what requests he had made to Adrian Clement and Paul himselfe to perswade them to call the Councel vnto which the rebels of Germany refusing to submit hee had compelled them to obedience by force of armes wherein though the Pope to shew he would not bee wanting to the publique cause did contribute some small assistance of men yet it may be said that the warre is finished onely by the Emperours forces In which while hee was busied behold the good worke begun in Trent was interrupted by a pernicious attempt of transferring the Councel vpon pretences neither true nor probable to this purpose onely that publike quiet might be hindered notwithstanding the more godly and sound part of the Fathers did oppose and remaine in the place That the name of the Councel should bee giuen to those not to those who are retired to Bolonia honoured by his Holinesse with the name of his adherâ—nts whose will hee preferre 〈◊〉 before the prayers of the Emperour and Ferdinand and Princes of the Empire not regarding the good of Germany nor the conuersion of those 〈…〉 to reduce whoâ—â— seeing they are content to submit to the Councell of Trent 〈…〉 remayneth nothing but to reduce it to that Citie For which being requested in the foresaid names by him the Ambassador he hath giuen an answerefull of câ—â—nning but voyde of reason Wherefore seeing that the Euangelicall requisitions made by him the Emperours Ambassadour to his Holinesse the 14. and 27. of December and the 16. of Ianuarie by other Proctors of his Maiestie in Bolonia haue beene neglected in both places hee did then protest that the departure from Trent and Translation of the Councel to Bolonia were voyde and vnlawfull will bring contention into the Church and put the Catholique faith and religion in danger and doe for the present giue â—eandall to the Church and deforme the state thereof That all the ruines scandals and dissentions which will arise ought to be imputed to his Holinesse who though hee is bound to prouide against them euen with the losse of his blood yet doeth fauour and cherish the authours of them That the Emperour in defect and fault of his Holinesse will imploy all his forces to make prouision herein according to the forme set downe by the holy Fathers and obserued by consent of the whole world Then turning to the Cardinals hee said that the Pope refusing to take care for the peach of religion vniting of Germany and reformation of manners if they also will be negligent he made the same protestation vnto them and leauing the writing which he had in his hand he departed The Pope considering the Protestation of Mendoza and aduising of the businesse with the Cardinals saw he was in a strait and that to be taken for The Pope 〈◊〉 â—â—te to make himselfe Neutrall and Iudge in the cause a party and to haue the contention turned against him was much against his reputation neither was there any remedy but by finding a way to make himselfe Neutrall and Iudge betweene them who approoue and who oppugne the Translation To doe this it was necessary to decline the Protestation that it might seeme not to bee made against him but before him against those of Bolonia in which not beeing able to dissemble sufficiently hee resolued to lay to the Ambassadours charge the transgressing of his Masters Manda 〈…〉 thinking that the Emperour seeing his dexterity in blaming his Minister that hee might not breake with his Maiestie would imitate him and proceede as if hee had protested against those of Bolonia acknowledging the Pope for Iudge Therefore on Wednesday the first of February calling Mendoza into the Consistory hee made a very long answere and sayd in substance That to protest was a thing of bad example vsed by those who haue shaken off obedience or are not constant in it That himselfe and the Colledge of Cardinals are sorry for that vnexpected action in regard of the fatherly loue hee hath alwayes borne the Emperour and because it was done when it was least looked for hauing made warre and gained The answere of his Holinesse to the Protestation the victory against his owne and the Churches enemies and beene assisted by the Popes men maintayned with his immense charge which succours were great and came in fit time and deserued not such a reward after victory that is that the end of the warre should bee the beginning of protesting against him But he did â—itigate his griefe because the Ambassadour had exceeded the bounds of the Emperours Commission in which hee haâ—â— commanded his Proctors at Bolonia to protest to the Legates and to him to protest against the Councel of Bolonia in presence of the Pope and Cardinals but not against the Pope That the Emperour had done the office of a modest Prince knowing the Pope to bee the onely lawfull Iudge in the cause of Translation which if he should refuse to determine then the Protestation against him should take place and therefore that it was more fit that if the Fathers remaining in Trent had cause of complaint against those of Bolonia they should make the processe before him But the Ambassadour had peruerted the order leauing the petition which ought to bee made and requiring an vndue proiudiâ—e against the Councell so that the act of the Proâ—estation falling of it selfe there was no need of an answere Yet to cleere all mens minds hee would make one And first for that hee taxeth him as negligent and commendâ—th the Emperour as industrious he said hee would not detract from the good meaning and actions of his Maiostie but yet that hee did precede him as in age so in diligence Hee said hee had euer desired the Councell and shewed it by effects And here hee discoursed of all his actions done to this end and how others did crosse him and sometimes the Emperour himselfe with diuers wars Hee added that to iudge whether the causes of the Translation bee lawfull or no was reserued to himselfe That to praise those of Trent was to praise those who were separated from the Church That he refused not nor euer did that they should returne to Trent so that it might bee done lawfully and without offence of other Nations That to thinke onely Trent fit to celebrate the Councel was to wrong the holy Ghost which is worshipped and present in all places Neither ought regard to be had that Germany hath need of a medicine foâ— by that reason there should be a generall Councel held in England and also where That a commodious place is not sought for those for whom the lawes are make but for those who make them which are the Bishops That often times Councels haue beene made out of the Prouinces where the heresies haue raigned That hee knoweth why he was
The letters The Abbat readeth a protestation being recited the Abbat read a Protestation containing a narration of a Protestation made by Termes in Rome saying That the King after hee had taken vpon him the defence of Parma seeing that those laudable things which hee had done were reprehended vsed great care that Paul Termes his Ambassador should giue an account of all to the Pope Colledge of Cardinals to take from them all sinister opinion shewing that the taking of the Duke into his protection was the effect of a pious humane and kingly minde wherein there was no cunning or priuate gaine but respect onely of the Church as appeared by the propositions of accord which aymed at nothing but that the Church might not be robbed and Italy preserued in peace and libertie And if the Pope thought this a cause to put all Europe into warre he was sorry but it could not be imputed to him hauing not onely accepted but offered also all honest and fit conditions Neither could the dissolution of the Councell assembled bee prescribed to him praying the Pope to consider what mischiefes would accompany the war and to preuent them with peace Which if his Holinesse will not regard but desire rather to set Europe on fire and hinder the Councell giuing suspicion that it was called not for the good of the Church but for priuate interests excluding from it a most Christian King hee could not choose but to protest to him and the Colledge that he could not send his Bishops to Trent where the accesse is not free and secure and that he could not esteeme that a generall Councell but priuate from which he was excluded neither could the people or Prelates of France be obliged to the decrees of it Afterwards he protested that he would come to the remedies vsed by his ancestors in like occurrences not to take away his due obseruance from the Apostolique Sea but to reserue it for better times when armes shall bee laid downe which are dishonestly taken vp against him desiring of his Holinesse that this Protestation might bee registred and giuing him a copie of it to peruse These things hauing beene already protested in Rome he desired should be likewise protested in Trent with the same instance that they might be registred in the actes of that assembly and that there being a publike instrument made of it he might vse it in time and place When the Protestation was read the Speaker hauing talked with the President answered in substance That the Kings modesty in his letters was gratefull to the Synode that it doth not accept the person of the Abbat but as it is lawfull that warneth him to bee in the same place the eleuenth of October to receiue the answere which shall bee made to the Kings letters and forbiddeth the Nuncij to make an instrument of the present action but ioyntly with the Secretary of the Councell And nothing else beeing to bee done the Session was ended Then the Abbat demaunded an instrument of the action but could not obtaine it When Termes had protested in Rome though many did not know of the The censure of this Protestation act yet it was beleeued that the Pope would deferre the Councell because it must needes bring forth new diuisions if such a principall Nation did resist But he deceiued the world not for any desire hee had to celebrate it but for that he would not seeme to be cause of the dissolution being resolued that if it were separated without him hee would answere with an open mouth to whosoeuer should desire it again that he had done his part and would do no more But the Protestation made in Trent a place so conspicuous was presently published euery where and gaue matter of discourse The Imperialists esteemed it a vainity saying That the act of the maior part of the vniuersality is euer esteemed lawfull when the lesser being called either cannot or wil not be present that all are called to the Councell and the Frenchmen also might haue come without passing by the Popes territories but in case they could not yet their absence doth not derogate from the Councell because they are not neglected but inuited It was said to the contrary that to call in words and to exclude in deeds was not to inuite and for the Popes territories one might goe from France to Trent without passing by them but not without passing by those of the Emperour and the maior part hath full authoritie when the lesser cannot appeare and is silent because it is presupposed to consent and when it will not appeare because it is accounted contumacious but when it doth protest it bath its place and especially if the impediment proceed from him that calleth the action in absence cannot be of force And the Counsellors of the Parliament of Paris said some thing more The Decrees of Councels do not binde the Churches absent That it is true that the authoritie of the whole vniuersalitie is transferred into the maior part when the cause is common to all and nothing belongeth to particular men but when the whole belongeth to all and euery one hath his part the assent of euery one is necessary Et prohibentis conditio potior and the absent not giuing their voyces are not bound Of this sort are Ecclesiasticall assemblies and bee the Councell as populous as it will the absent Churches are not bound if they thinke fit not to receiue it This hath alwayes beene vsed in ancient times that the Councels beeing ended the Decrees should be sent to be confirmed to the Churches that were absent in which otherwise they had no force which euery one that readeth Hilarius Athanasius Theodoretus and Victorinus who handle this particular may see plainely And iâ— happened sometimes that some part of the Canons were receiued by some Church and some left out as euery one thought fit for their necessities manners and vses And S. Gregorie himselfe doth witnesse that the Church of Rome did not receiue the Canons of the second Councell of Constantinople nor of the first of Ephesus Wisemen not considering the subtilties said that the King had giuen that Councell an vncurable wound For it hauing no other ground then Christian charity and the assistance of the holy Ghost it would neuer bee beleeued that these were present in an assembly against which a most Christian King persecutor of all Sects with the adherence of a kingdome not blemished in Religion did protest in that forme And they brought an experience for proofe For they said that the Presidents retyring to consult with the Emperours Ambassadours did shew who guided the Councell And which was of more importance when these fiue had consulted and imparted nothing to any body else the Speaker sayd The holy Synod doth receiue the letters And what was that holy Synode And likewise the Abbats exposition The Presidents take vpon them the authority of the Councell beeing read the answere resolued
Rome there was no neede of a new determination and immediatly answere was made that the Conseruatories of these should by no meanes bee touched Whereupon the Fathers of the Synode who were adherents of Rome beeing entred into this opinion the others who were fewer were forced to be content with the exception and there was some hope and some meanes vsed to pacifie them The sixth point was concerning the Priests apparell wherein it was easily concluded to ordaine that all the Ecclesiastiques of holy Order or Beneficed men should bee bound to weare an habite fit for their degree according to the appointment of the Bishop giuing him power to suspend the transgressours if after admonition they shall not obey and to depriue them of their Benefices if after correction they shall not amend renewing herein the constitution of the Councel of Vienna which notwithstanding was not much fitted to those times prohibiting vpper garments laced and of diuers colours and frockes shorter then the vestment and red and greene breeches chequered things disused which haue no neede of prohibition The vse of all Christian Nations was most ancient that to imitate the mildenesse of CHRIST our LORD all the Ministers of the Church should bee neat and cleane from mans blood neuer receiuing to any Ecclesiasticall order any person defiled with homicide whether voluntary or casuall and if any Clerke committed any such excesse either willingly or by chance all Ecclesiasticall function was immediatly taken from him This hath beene and is now inuiolably obserued by other Christian Nations vnto whom dispensations against the Canons are vnknowen but in the Latine where rich men may easily make vse of them it is obserued onely by the poorer sort It being proposed in the fourth and fifth Article to moderate the abuse it was ordained in the seuenth head that a voluntary homicide should for euer remaine depriued of all Order Benefice and Ecclesiasticall office and when there shall bee cause to dispence with the casuall homicide the commission of the dispensation shall bee directed to the Bishop onely or if there bee cause to the contrary to the Metropolitane or next Bishop They saw that this Decree did not serue to moderate the abuses but to make the dispensations dearer For the Popes hands were not tied concerning voluntary homicide and for casuall the decree was obserued in not committing the cause to any but the Bishop but to dispence directly without committing it to another was not taken away first making the proofes in Rome or dispatching the dispensations vnder the name of Motu proprio or with other clauses with which the Chancery doth abound when it hath cause to vse them A certaine sort of Prelates seemed to hinder much the authority of Bishops who for their reputation in the place where they dwelt obteined power of the Pope to punish the faults of the Ecclesiastiques of that place and some Bishops also pretending that their Priests receiued scandall and bad example from those of the next Diocesses obtained authority to chastise them Some desiring that this disorder should bee remedied by reuoking wholly such authorities and perceiuing that it would distaste many Cardinals and great Prelates who abused them they found a moderation that they should vse them yet without preiudice of the Bishop ordayning in the eighth poynt that they might not proceede but in presence of the Bishop or his deputie There was another way to subiect the Churches and people of one Diocesse to the Bishop of another by vniting the Churches of one to the Churches or Benefices of the other which though it were prohibited in generall termes in the seuenth Session yet it beeing not so plainely done as some desired an expresse declaration was demanded Whereupon it was resolued in the ninth point that all perpetuall vnions of the Churches of one Diocesâ—e to the Churches of another should be prohibited vnder what pretence soeuer The Regulars made great instance to keepe their Benefices and to regaine those which they had already lost by the inuention of perpetuall Commendaes and many Bishops for sundry respects were willing to assist them They were desirous to propose that these perpetuall Commendaes should bee quite taken away but fearing to bee contradicted they were content onely to desire they should bee moderated The Presidents on the other side seeing the hazard that this matter dangerous for the Court should bee set on foote themselues proposed a light remedie to hinder all treatie of a better And this was that Regular Benefices vsually giuen in title to religious men when they shall bee vacant hereafter shall not bee conferred but vpon men professed of that Order or to some person who is to receiue the habite and take vpon him the profession This was the tenth poynt which did not much import the Court of Rome in regard as many Commendaes were alreadie made as could bee and the Prelates had no great desire to obtaine more though it would haue beene an honour for the Churches if the regular Abbats had resided But in regard of the fauour extended to the Monkes not to take more from them then was taken already a counterpoize was added in the next point ordaining that they could not haue secular Benefices though with cure Which howsoeuer it speaketh onely of those who are translated from one order to another ordaining that none should bee receiued but with condition to remaine in the Cloyster yet by parity of the reason or by an argument of greater reason it hath beene vnderstood generally of all And because the patronage of Churches was graunted in Court by grace and to make the grace the greater power giuen to depute an Ecclesiasticall person with faculty to institute him that is presented this disorder was remedied in the twelfth head ordaining that none should haue right of Patronage but the founded of the Church or hee that hath competenly indowed with his patrimoniall goods one already founded And for remedie of the second disorder it was forbid in the 13. head that the Patrone though he had a priuiledge to doe it should not make the presentation to any but the Bishop While these things were handled Iohannes Theodoricus Pleniagorus and The Ambassadors of the Duke of Wittenberg arriue in Trent with commission to present the confession of their faith Iohannes Eclinus Ambassadours sent by the Duke of Wittenberg to the Councell arriued in Trent with order to present publiquely the confession of their doctrine whereof mention hath beene made and to say withall that Diuines would come to expound it more at large and defend it if securitie and safe conduct were giuen them according to the forme of the Councell of Basil They went to the Count Montfort the Emperours Ambassadour shewed him their Mandate and tolde him they had commission to propose some things in the Councell This being related by the Count to the Legate hee answered that as others Ambassadors did first present themselues to the Presidents in the name
called them and then to end the Councell And if any thing were opposed to this deseigne they might shew that the fault was not in them Many who read these occurrences will maruell that the Pope from whom all consultations of farre lesse moment were wont to proceed is not named Which they will cease to doe when they shall know that hee was aduised from point to point of all the accidents and deseignes and that when those of Wittenberg were arriued and newes came that more were expected hee answered his Legate and Nuncij that the Protestants should bee entertained with as much courtesie as was possible knowing it was necessary in such cases to suffer some indignity willing them to vse discretion because patience winneth honour in the end That they should abstaine from all publique Colloquie in matter of religion either by writing or by word of mouth That they should endeauour by perswasions and hopes to gaine some of the Protestant Doctours and should spare no cost The Pope was aduised of euery thing that was done yet nothing hapned that might make him alter his purpose But when hee vnderstood that the Emperours Ambassadours had giuen the Protestants hope to moderate the Papall authoritie and said that they expected to see a gate laide open by their negotiation that afterwards they might second it and bring in those things which they had deseigned and that the Fathers did hold it necessary to restraine it Why the Pope is aliened from the Emperour hauing other intelligence that all the Spaniards were of that minde and that the Emperour did deseigne to aduance himselfe by debasing the Papacie and did cherish the Protestants to shew that it did not proceed from him his mind was aliened from him and turned to the French King Hee therefore hearkened to the treaty of the Cardinall Tornon in the Kings name which being executed the dissolution of the Councell would follow without his paines or without shewing that he did desire it The Session beeing made the Protestants though they perceiued that the Safe Conduct was not enlarged as they desired dissembling the knowledge of it did demand it and an authenticall copie was consigned by the Emperours Ambassadours to the Ambassadours of each Prince Who hauing read it did complaine that promises were not kept and required the Synods answere to their expositions and to their requests made concerning the manner of proceeding in the Councell The Imperialists perswaded them to goe on with dexterity saying as before that with time they should obtaine all but seeking things distastfull and before there was opportunity euery thing would be more hard That it was not necessary to expresse in the Safe Conduct that they might exercise their religion in their houses in regard it was vnderstood to be granted because it was not forbid That nothing should bee done to their disgrace was plainely expressed in that good and reall vsage was promised and besides that publique prohibitions will be made to all which will be of greater force For the reasons to be alleadged in Councell the same was said in substance that the Scripture shall bee the ground but when there is controuersie of the meaning of it it will bee necessary that the Councell should be iudge For it is dumbe of it selfe without soule and as ciuill Lawes hath neede of a Iudge to giue it life which in matter of religion is the Councell as hath been obserued euer since the Apostles time The Protestants receiued the Safe Conduct but with Protestation that they did it onely to send it to their Princes The Protestants receiue the safe conduct with protestation 33. Articles concerning Matrimony aâ—e giuen to be discussed The Presidents to examine the Sacrament of Matrimony as was decreed making a generall Congregation and choosing Deputies gaue foorth 33. Articles in that matter to be discussed by the Diuines They ordained also that the Deputies should make the Canons as the particulars were examined Some Congregations were held and sixe Canons framed Whereupon the Protestants complained to the Emperours Ambassadours that the hope that with time they should obtaine a reuiew of the things decided was quite taken away because they proceeded to new decisions while their Diuines were expected The Emperours Ambassadours could not obtaine of the Whereof the Protestant Ambassadors do complaine Presidents to stop their proceeding which they hastened with all diligence that either the Protestants might not come to Trent or if they came might finde all decided For the reexamination the Pope the Court and all the The Papaline doe desire to proceed the faster Prelates were resolued to denie it constantly And they thought that they might with better ground denie the reuision of many things then of a few But the Emperour whom it did much concerne to bring the Protestants to Trent but nothing at all to haue the matters reexamined aduised by his Ambassadours of what the Protestants complained and how they were hindered But are stopped by the Emperour to goe to the Councell sent a man to Trent with commission to goe to Rome also to negotiate that all action might be deferred for some few dayes shewing that that haste did precipitate the businesse gaue suspicion to the Protestants and made them more vnwilling to goe to the Councell He gaue order also that his men should bee commanded not to proceede and should Protest against the Papalins if perswasions would not serue This resolution of the Emperour signified in Trent caused a generall Congregation to be called where it was resolued to desist from all Conciliary act during pleasure of the Synode But the Pope was displeased with that which was done and disdaining Wherewith the Pope is displeased at the Emperour for other causes also wrote to Trent that suspending the actions as few dayes as was possible they should for reputation of the As also with the attempt of Ferdinand against the Bishop of Veradine Councell resume them without respect Another cause which besides this had prouoked the Pope and Cardinals was that Ferdinand desiring to possesse Transiluania which was assaulted by the Turkes on the other side vpon pretence to keepe it for the young sonne of Iohn Vaiuode George Martinaccio Bishop of Veradino a man of excellent wisedome and great reputation in that Countrey was willing to keepe it in liberty and to auoyd greater danger not being able to contest with the Turkes and the house of Austria at once made choyce to ioyne himselfe with these by whom counterpoysing the Turkes he held all in an euen balance Those of Austria knowing that by gaining of this Prelat they should wholly obtaine their purpose Ferdinand besides other things which hee did to oblige him more vnto them promised him a pension of eighty thousand Crownes and the Emperour obtayned of the Pope with great instance to create him Cardinall and which was seldome vsed to send the Cap and to giue him leaue to weare the scarlet
discourse of the Ambassadour Lansac was receiued with The Legates are much trobled with the speeches that pasted concerning Reformation great applause made in an assembly of many Ambassadours and Prelates in which hee concluded that if the reformation proposed and demanded by the Emperour was so feared and abhorred yet at the least a way ought to bee found out without making new constitutions to cause those things which haue beene established in ancient Councels to bee obserued by remoouing the impediments which doe nourish the abuses The Legats caused the propositions of the Imperialists and all the instances made vnto them in matter of reformation vntill that day and their owne answers to bee put together and an abstract to bee made of the Constitutions of the Assembly in France and of the demands of the Spanish Prelats all which they sent to the Pope and told him it was impossible to entertaine them any more with And send to 〈◊〉 the Pope words and that it was necessary to shew the world by some effect that they haue a purpose to handle this matter and to giue satisfaction in some sort to the Ambassdours of Princes especially in that which they desire for the interest of their Countreys yet with such circumspection as that they may not preiudice the Papall authoritie or prerogatiues of the Church of Rome The Pope seeing the instruction of the French King which did import the prolonging of the Councell was much displeased For he had conceiued hope that all which did remaine to be discussed might be defined in the next Session of the 12. of Nouember or if not yet that the Councell would bee concluded suspended or dissolued in the end of the yeere at the latest He therefore answered the French Ambassadour residing with him who desired the points of doctrine might bee deferred vntill the comming of their Prelats and the matter of reformation handled in the meane time that hee was informed that the Cardinall of Loraine meant to tarrie vntill the surprise of Burges to attend the King to Orlience so that his departure out of France would be very late and perhaps neuer and that it was not iust to entertaine so many Prelates in Trent vpon disseignes so remote that the demaunds for delay were not made because the French-men desired to goe to the Councell but to put himselfe and the Prelats to more charges protesting that if his money were consumed by this meanes he should not be able to continue in assisting the King He made it a greater matter that their Prelats had been expected eighteene moneths and himselfe lead along with diuers friuolous excuses He complained of his condition that if the Councell vseth any respect towards him which it doth but seldome the Ambassadours there present say it is not free and yet themselues to desire him to ordaine a dilation which is a thing more vniust and more abhorred by the Fathers then any other His conclusion was that when hee had assurance or likelyhood of their comming he would endeuour that they should be expected saying hee had giuen order to bee aduertised by an expresse Currier of the Cardinals departure that hee might presently employ himselfe in the businesse and in the meane while hee thought it not iust that the Fathers should be idle He sayd the matter of reformation was more fit to bee deferred then this of doctrine which doth not concerne him as being a good Catholique who will vndoubtedly not dissent from others But in matter of reformation it is fit to heare him because it doth concerne him as beeing a second Pope hauing many Benefices and a reuenue of three hundred thousand Crownes of Church liuings whereas himselfe hath but one Benefice wherewith hee is content that notwithstanding hee had reformed himselfe and all parts of the Court to the hinderance and losse of many of his officers and would do more but that he saw plainely that by diminishing his reuenues and by weakening the forces and the sinewes of his Stae hee encourageth the aduersaries and exposeth all Catholiques who are vnder his protection to the iniuries of his enemies And for the Countreys which are not subiect to him in temporall matters he said the ouerthrow of discipline did arise from themselues and from the Kings and Princes who with vnfit and importunate requests doe force him to make extraordinary prouisions and graunt vnusuall dispensations that his condition was miserable who if hee did denie vnfit requests made vnto him euery one complained of the iniury if he granted them all the inconuenience ensuing was ascribed vnto him and men began to speake of reformation as the Kings Ambassadours had done in Trent in such generall termes that it cannot bee vnderstood what they meane Hee said let them come to particulars and say what they would haue reformed in the Kingdome and they shall haue satisfaction in foure dayes that the Prelats in Poisi haue made many constitutions which he wil confirme when he shall be requested but to stand vpon vniuersalities only and to find fault with all that is done without proposing any thing sheweth they beare no good affection The fourth ranke of Theologues remained who were to handle the superiority The superiority of Bishops aboue Priests of Bishops aboue Priests Those who spake first followed the doctrine of Saint Thomas and Bonauenture who say a Priest hath two powers one to consecrate the Body and Blood of CHRIST and the other to remit sins in the former wherof a Priest is equal in regard a Bishop hath not greater authority then a simple Priest but inferior in the later because not the power onely of Order but of iurisdiction also is required Others added that it was a more excellent action to giue authoritie to consecrate then to consecrate and therefore that the Bishop was superior in this also who cannot only doe it himselfe but ordaine Priests and giue them authority But this beeing disputed sufficiently they returned to handle the Articles of the Hierarchie as being the same with this point of superiority and the question beeing whether it doth consist in Order iurisdiction or in both Antonius of Mont. Alcino a Franciscan said it ought not to be vnderstood of an imaginary superiority consisting in preeminence or perfection of action but in superioritie of gouernement so that it may make lawes giue commands and iudge causes as well in the Court of Conscience as in the externall which superiority is to bee discussed because it is denied by the Lutherans He said there must be an authority in the Church to gouerne it the vnitie whereof could not otherwise be preserued Hee prooued it by the example of Bees and Cranes saying that in enery particular Church a speciall authority was necessary to gouerne it which was in the Bishops who haue part of the charge the totality whereof is in the Pope as Head of the Church which containing authority to iudge and to make Processes and Lawes it must
fornication and to confine the dispensutions also with in the limits which shall be spoken of in reciting the Decrees There was some contention also about the ninth poynt in which Superiours Whether one may be forbid or forced to marry are forbidde to force their subiects to marry with threats and punishments naming the Emperour and Kings Gulielmus Cassodorus Bishop of Bacellona opposed and saide that it could not bee presupposed that great Princes would meddle in mariages but for great causes and for the publique good that threats and punishments are then bad when they are vsed contrary to order of law but penall precepts conformable to the law are iust and can not bee reprehended If there be any case he said in which the Superiour may iustly command a mariage he may force the celebration of it by penall commands alleading also that it is a thing decided by the Diuines that iust feare doth not cause an inuoluntary action Hee desired that lawfull causes might be excepted and those Superiours only comprehended in the Decree who doe compell against iustice and order of the law saying that many cases may occurre in which the necessity of the publique good doth require the celebration of a mariage which hee that would say that a prince could not command and cause by compulsion to bee celebrated should offend against the law of God and man To this reason he added an example that in the yeere 1556. the second of Ianuary Paul the 4. sent a monitorie to Dame Ioan of Arragon wife of Ascanius Columna that she should not marry any of her daughters without his leaue or if she did the matrimony though consummated should be void which that most wise and sincere Pope would not haue done if Princes had not power to marry their subiects in case of the publique good In the point of not mentioning Princes he was followed by many and the name of the Emperour Kings and Princes was taken away But for the residue hee was much opposed with this reason onely that Matrimony is an holy thing in which the Secular power hath no authority and if there be any lawfull cause to compell any to marry it must be done by the Ecclesiasticall power onely The relation of the monitory of Paul raised a great wispering in the Congregation and afterwards gaue matter of diuers discourses Some sayd he did it not as Prince but as Pope and that he had reason to doe it in regard Ascanius Columna being a traytor vnto him he would not haue him get new adherences by mariage of his daughters by which hee might bee confirmed in his contumacie Others said that the Pope as Vicar of CHRIST hath no traitors intemporall matters and that the opinion of those who thinke that mariages may be made void by Apostolique authority is not well grounded except it bee by course of law or generall canons but not for particular persons and that for this neither reason can be brought nor example found Some denied that one might ground himselfe vpon such actions of popes which shew rather how farre the abuse of their power can stretch then how farre the lawfull vse thereof is extended And there was no lesse difficulty because the Decree did comprehend fathers mothers and other domesticall Superiours who might compell their children especially daughters to marry and it was considered that to come to excommunication in cases of this kind was very hard Yet those who before had defended that children were bound to obey their Fathers in this particular did maintaine it A temper was proposed that hauing first commanded politique Superiours vpon paine of excommunication domesticall Superiours should bee admonished not to compell their children against their will But the same men still opposed and said it was not iust to take from fathers that power which God hath giuen them And in the end it was resolued to take this part quite away But the bishop of Barcellona and some few besides were not of the same opinion as to say that as the authority of fathers and other domesticall Superiours ouer mariages was manifest or at the least not to bee doubted and therefore not to bee spoken of so the same consideration ought to bee had of the authoritie of Politique Superiours The Congregations assembled to discusse this point beeing ended the last whereof was the last of Iulie they beganne to speake priuately of secret mariage And both parties continuing in their owne opinions some said that the difficulty doth presuppose a doctrine of faith and therefore cannot bee determined beeing contradicted by a notable number This troubled them much who desired they should bee made voide and thought that they were wholly barred from all possibility to obtaine it At this time a difficulty arose though priuate yet very contentious A difficulty about censuring the Archbishop of Toledo For the Deputies concerning the Index hauing giuen the worke of Bartholomeus Caranza Arch-bishop of Toledo to some Diuines to bee perused and they hauing related that nothing worthy of censure was found in it the Congregation did approoue it and made publique faith thereof at the petition of his Agent But because the booke and the authour were vnder the censure of the Inquisition of Spaine the Secretary Castellunne complained to the Count of Luna and the Count to the Fathers of that Congregation desiring a retractation The father 's not inclining to reuoke the Decree because they thought it iust the bishop of Lerida either mooued by the Count or for some other cause beganne to speake against it and to taxe it alleadging places of the booke which by a bad interpretation did seeme to deserue censure and which was more touched the iudgement and conscience of those Bishops The Arch bishop of Prague the chiefe of that Congregation in defence of himselfe and his colleagues complained to the Legates desiring they would shew themselues in the businesse and protesting not to assist in any publique act vntill the Congregation had due satisfaction The Cardinall Morone interposed and made peace with these conditions that no other copie of the faith made should bee giuen and that Lerida should giue satisfaction of words to the Congregation and to Prague in particular and that all should bee forgotten on both sides And the Count of Luna with vnresistable entreaties got the testimonie out of the hands of the Agent of Toledo and so this stirre was appeased The Legates gaue the Articles of reformation to the Ambassadours in number thirty eight that they might commend to their consideration what pleased them before they were giuen to the Fathers to bee discussed which 38. Articles of Reformation Articles were diuided and one halfe allotted for the next Session and the other for the Session following for the reasons which shall bee related hereafter The Count of Luna perswaded the other Ambassadours to demaund that deputies might be elected for euery Nation to consider what was fit to be reformed because the modell
iudge yet there is no doubt but that in the declaration they would say they meant the Ecclesiasticall onely And they thought it an vsurpation of temporall authoritie to punish Seculars with infamie and incapacitie of dignities Neither did they approoue the constitution against conculinaries any a yeere in excommunication that they should be punished by the Ecclesiastique because excommunication is the extreme last and greatest of Ecclesiasticall punishments according to the doctrine of all the Fathers so that to passe that was to enter vpon the Temporall power and the rather because they giue themselues power to course concubines out of their countreys deriding the secular Magistrates by imploring their arme if there shall bee need which is as much as to affirme that ordinarily the execution of this banishment may be made by the Ecclesiastique himselfe The Decree of reformation in the first Article was noted either of defect or of presumption For if the Synode had authoritie to giue Law to the Pope especially in things so iust it was not fit to doe it by way of narration or by obloquitie of words But if it ought to receiue Law from the Pope it cannot bee excused for hauing passed its bounds because it doeth sharpely reprehend the former actions of this and other Popes though it doeth it obliquely Those that were seene in the Ecclesiasticall stories said that to draw all the causes of Bishops to Rome was a new policie to make the Court great whereas all the examples of antiquitie and Canons of the Counsels of those times doe shew that the causes of Bishops though of depositions were handled in the countries of each of them Those who expected a prouision against the abuse of pensions seeing what was decreed in the 13. Article did iudge that the matter would passe to a greater corruption as the euent also hath shewed The fourteenth Article was commended by euery one because it did seeme to take away the Annates and paying for Bulls dispatched at Rome for collation of Benefices But in progresse of time it appearing that those remained still and that there was not so much as any cogitation either to remooue or moderate them they remembred that onely the small abuses of other Churches being prouided against the saying was verified that onely moates were taken out of the eyes and beames neuer Euery wise man thought that this age was not worthy of that Decree for the vnitie or at the most dualtie of Benefices and that it would not be obserued but in the poorer sort onely Likewise for the examination in concurrence in the collation of Benefices euery one did prognosticate that it would bee deluded by some sinister interpretation And the prophecie was quickly verified For in Rome within a short time they began to declare that concurrence was not to bee obserued in case of resignation but that hee onely was to bee examined to whom the resignation was made which was as much as to abolish the Decree for the most part because the better sort were excluded by resignation and hee onely preferred who pleased the resignant and Benefices are not vacant for any other cause but casually The Decree of the cognition of causes in the first instance was quite destroyed by the exception added that is except those which the Pope will commit and call to himselfe For causes were neuer taken from the lawfull tribunals but by commissions and auocations of Popes and now the cause of the disease was preserued and the symptom onely cured And howsoeuer the adiunct for vrgent and reasonable causes did seeme to moderate the matter wel yet men of vnderstanding knew that it was as much as to say for any arbitrary cause But in the last poynt which was in expectation so many moneths touching the essentiall liberty of the Councell seeing it was declared that the meaning of the Synod was not to change the manner of proceeding nor to make any addition or diminution of the old constitutions wise men said that concerning this Councell it was a declaration contrary to the fact and published when it did no good neither was there any more vse of it then of a medicine applyed to a dead body And some mocked and said that it was as much as the consolation of an honest man whose wife had brought him children by other men and said she did it not to doe him wrong But by an example giuen to posteritie it did teach how all violence and exorbitancie might bee vsed in Councell from the beginning to the end and all inconuenience done excused by such a declaration yea iustified and maintained for lawfull At this time besides the aduice of the Session helde three other sorts of distastfull newes came into France The first was the Popes answere about the hundred thousand crownes The second the protestation made in Councell and the displeasure taken at it in Trent and Rome The last was the sentence against the French Bishops and the citation of the Queene of Nauarre The French-men hauing much considered on these things resolued The Alienation of Ecclesiasticall reuenues in France not to treate any more with the Pope for his fauour in the alienation but to execute the Kings Edict approued in Parliament without any consent of his Holinesse This being suddenly performed few buyers could bee found as well because men doe not easily resolue to lay downe their money as because they were disswaded by the Ecclesiastiques who told them that the sale wanting the Popes confirmation would not hereafter be esteemed to bee good This was a hinderance to the King and no fauour to the Clergie For the sale was made but it was done at a low rate neither was there raysed more then two millions and halfe of Francks small in regard of the things aliened seeing that it was made at twelue for an hundred whereas it had beene a small price if they had giuen an hundred for foure And it is worthy to bee repeated heere that amongst the things solde one was the iurisdiction which the Arch-bishop of Lions had held vntill that time ouer that citie which was sold at the outcry for thirty thousand Francks But the Bishop complained so much that in supplement of the price he had giuen vnto him 400. crownes yeerely Concerning the protestation made in Councell the King wrote to his Ambassadors the ninth of Nouember that hauing seene what the Cardinall of Loraine had written against their protestation and heard the relation made by the Bishop of Orlience of all things done in Trent he was pleased with it as also with their retire to Venice and commanded that de Ferrieres should not depart thence vntill he had new order which should bee when hee was aduised that the Articles were so reformed that the rights of the King and of the Gallican Church were not put in question And he wrote to the Cardinall of Loraine that himselfe and his Counsel knew that his Ambassadors had protested vpon great and iust