Bishop there did very readily embrace his Cause and without hearing of the other side pronounced him innocent and so absolved him Which Fact of his was afterward approved by Boniface the first and Caelestinus the first pretending as it seemeth that as in all Civil Causes for these Western parts there lay Appeals to the City of Rome so in all Ecclesiastical Causes when Men received as they thought Injury under any of the Patriarchs or other Bishops they might if they would appeal to the Bishop of that See And to justifie that their ambitious Challenge they forged a Canon of the Council of Nice as it was directly proved in the African Council holden at Hippo about the Year 423. Whereupon the Bishops of the said Council in which number St. Augustin was one perceiving what the Bishops of Rome meant by that sleight viz. that if once they might obtain a Power to receive Appeals from all the Churches within the Empire they would shortly after grow to challenge some Universal Authority over all the said Churches did to prevent the same make two Decrees That if any Clergyman would appeal from their Bishops they should not appeal but to the African Councils or to the Primates of their Province adding this Penalty That if any did appeal to the transmarine Parts à nullo intra Africam in Communionem suscipiatur And their second Decree is thus set down by Gratian Primae sedis Episcopus non appelletur Princeps Sacerdotum vel summus Sacerdos aut aliquid hujusmodi Sed tantù primae sedis Episcopus Vniversalis autem nec etiam Romanus Pontifex appelletur It is strange to consider how the Bishops of Rome were vexed with this Council and how from time to time they sought to discredit it as also what Shifts and Devices their late Proctors have found out to the same Purpose but all in vain For the Truth of that whole Action is so manifest as it cannot be suppressed by any such Shifts or Practices whatsoever Placet eis John Overall CAP. IV. ALthough the said Council of Africk troubled the Bishops of Rome as is abovementioned Yet shortly after some other new Occasions happen'd which stung them more sharply For about the Year 451. when the City of Constantinople was grown to be in very great Honour it seem'd good to the Fathers of the Greek Church and others assembled in the General Council holden at Chalcedon to make this Canon following The ancient Fathers did justly grant Priviledges to the Throne of Old Rome because that City bare then the chief sway and with the same Reason 150. godly Bishops being moved did grant equal Priviledges to the Throne of New Rome rightly judging that the City of Constantinople which was then honoured with the Empire and Senate should enjoy equal Priviledges with Old Rome and that in matters Ecclesiastical she ought to be extolled and magnified as well as Rome being the next after her Against this Canon Pope Leo stormed exceedingly and the whole Council it self in respect of the said Canon is of later Years sought to be discredited But the great and main quarrel betwixt New Rome and Old Rome began about the Year 586. when John the Patriarch of Constantinople not contenting himself to have equal Priviledges with the Bishops of Rome would needs be accounted the Vniversal Bishop Which Challenge did the rather move the Bishops of Rome because they found that Mauricius the Emperour inclined greatly to his desire Whereupon Pelagius the second and after him Gregorius the first as fearing the Issue that might ensue of that Contention to the great prejudice of the Church of Rome they blew successively both of them a hasty Retreat and pretended very earnestly that it was utterly unlawful for any Bishop to seek so great an Authority over all other Bishops and Churches And first Pelagius opposing himself against the said John Patriarch of Constantinople wrote thus to certain Bishops Let none of the Patriarchs ever use this so prophane a word For if the chief Patriarch be called Vniversal the name of the other Patriarchs is derogated from them but far be it from the mind of every faithful Man so much as to have a Will to challenge that to himself whereby he may seem in any respect how little soever to diminish the honour of the rest of his Brethren But Gregory in this point exceedeth He telleth Mauricius the Emperour and others in sundry of his Epistles That it is against the Statutes of the Gospel for any Man to take upon him to be called Vniversal Bishop That no Bishop of Rome did ever admit of that name of singularity and profane Title That John his endeavour therein was an Argument that the times of Antichrist drew near That the King of Pride was at hand and that an Army of Priests was prepared for him and thus he concludeth I considently affirm that whosoever calleth himself Vniversal Bishop or desireth so to be called he doth in his Pride make way for Antichrist After Gregory succeeded Sabinianus who had so hard a conceit of Gregory his Predecessor that he was purposed to have burnt his Books rather as we suppose because he had written so much against the Title of Universal Bishop than for either of the Conjectures which Platina mentioneth But the Issue of the said Contention was this Mauricius the Emperour being slain by Phocas his Servant and Phocas himself having gotten the Empire Boniface the third prevail'd so far with him after much and great Opposition as the Emperour gave Order that the Church of Rome should be called and accounted Caput omnium Ecclesiarum Which another Man of great account amongst them in these days reporteth after this sort The Contention betwixt the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Bishop of Rome for the Primacy was again determined by Phocas the Emperour pronouncing out of the old Councils and Fathers that the Church of Rome should be the Head of all Churches For his Again he might well have left it out as also his Phrases of Councils and Fathers and therefore we prefer in this point Platina before him who making neither mention of Councils nor Fathers dealeth more truly and saith That the Church of Constantinople sibi vendicare conabatur that place which Boniface obtained from the Emperour Phocas and that the same was obtained upon these grounds viz. That whereas the Bishop of Constantinople insisted eò loci primam sedem esse debere ubi Imperii Caput esset It is answered by the Bishop of Rome and his Agents that Constantinople was but a Colony deduced out of the City of Rome and therefore that the City of Rome ought still to be accounted Caput Imperii That the Grecians themselves in their Letters termed their Prince the Emperour of the Romans and that the Citizens of Constantinople were called not Grecians but Romans Indeed Platina further saith being peradventure
Churches for the space of 300. years brought the Ecclesiastical Commonwealth as here it is termed unto her Spiritual End as directly and fully as either the Bishops of Rome or any other Bishops have at any time done since and yet they took no Power and Authority upon them nor did challenge the same of disposing of temporal Kingdoms or Deposing of Princes Besides if such an indirect temporal Power be so necessary in these days for the upholding the Ecclesiastical Commonwealth as that without the same she cannot attain the Spiritual End or be a perfect Ecclesiastical Commonwealth when there are so many Christian Kings and Princes then was the same much more necessary for the attainment of the same end in the said times of Christ of his Apostles and of the Churches in the Ages following for 300. years when the civil Magistrates were Pagans and Infidels and for the most part Persecutors of the truth But we hope we may be bold without offence to say that there appeared then no such necessity of this pretended temporal Power and Authority in any Ecclesiastical Persons over Kings and Kingdoms for the disposing of them and that nevertheless the Ecclesiastical Commonwealth in those times did attain her Spiritual End and was as perfect an Ecclesiastical Common-wealth as it is now under the Pope's Government notwithstanding all his temporal Sovereignty wherein he so ruffleth Again we are perswaded that it cannot be shewed out of any of the ancient Fathers or by any general Council for the space of above 500. years after Christ that the Bishops of Rome were ever imagin'd to have such temporal Authority to depose Kings as now is maintained much less was it ever dream'd of during that time that such Authority was necessary for the attaining the Spiritual End whereunto the true Church of Christ ought to aim or that the Ecclesiastical Commonwealth ordain'd by Christ and his Apostles could not be perfect without it It were a miserable shift if any should either say that during all the times above-mention'd first the Apostles and then the holy Bishops Martyrs and Fathers after them were ignorant of this new temporal Power or at least did not so throughly consider of the necessity of it as they might have done or that whilst they lived there could indeed no such matter be collected out of the Scriptures for that in those days the Scriptures had not received such a sense and meaning as might support the same but that afterward when the Bishops of Rome did think it necessary to challenge to themselves such temporal Authority over both Kings and Kingdoms the sense and meaning of the Scripture was alter'd But be this shift never so wretched or miserable yet for ought we perceive they are in effect and still will be both in this cause and many others driven unto it the Scriptures being in their hands a very Rule of Lead and Nose of Wax as in another more fit place we shall have occasion to shew moreover if the Bishops of Rome have this great temporal Authority over Kings and Soveraign Princes to preserve the State of the Church here upon Earth that she may attain her Spiritual End assuredly he hath made little use of it to that purpose For it is well known and cannot be denied that for the first 300. years of Christ the Doctrine of the Gospel did flourish far and near in Greece Thracia Sclavonia Hungary Asia minor Syria Assyria Egypt and throughout the most part of Africk where there were many very worthy Apostolical and notable Churches in the most of which places there are scarce in these days any footsteps or visible Monuments of them And although afterward during the space of above 700. years much mischief was wrought in these parts of the World better known unto us than the rest by sundry sorts of Scythians and Northern People yet after the days of Gregory the Seventh when the Bishops of Rome did most vaunt of this their Soveraign Power over Kings and Princes the Turks gained and encroached more upon Christendom still retaining that which they then had so gotten than at any time before Whereby it is to us very evident that neither Christ nor his Apostles ever ordained that the means of building of the Church of Christ and the conservation of it should consist in the temporal Power or Authority of any of their Successors to deprive Emperours or Kings from their Imperial or Regal Estates and that the Bishops of Rome may be ashamed that having had so great Authority in their own hands extorted from the Emperours and other Kings per fas nefas since Gregory the Seventh's time they have made no better use of it but suffer'd so many famous Countries and Kingdoms to be utterly over-run and wasted by Pagans and Infidels considering that they pretend themselves to have so great an Authority for no other purpose but only the preservation of the Church that she might not be prevented of her Spiritual End But what should we speak of the shame of Rome whose forehead hath been so long since hardned or ever imagine that Almighty God either did or will bless her Usurpations and Insolencies against Emperours Kings and Princes for any good to his Church other than must accrue unto her through her Persecutions and Afflictions For it were no great labour to make it most apparent by very many Histories if we would insist upon it that the Bishops of Rome in striving first to get and then to uphold after their scrambling manner this their wicked and usurped Authority of troubling and vexing Christian Kingdoms and States with their manifold Oppressions and quarrels have been some special means whereupon the Saracens Turks and Pagans have wrought and by degrees brought so great a part of Christendom under their Slavery as now they are possessed of For it is but an idle and a vain pretence that the preservation of as much of Christendom as is yet free from the Turk and Paganism is to be ascribed to the Bishop of Rome and his Authority that so the Catholick Church might attain her Spiritual End which ought to be the planting of Churches and Conservation of 'em it being most manifest to as many as have any wit experience and sound Judgment that as the very situation of the said Countries which now Pagans enjoy made them very subject unto the Incursion and Invasions of Saracens and Turks God himself for his own Glory having his Finger and just operation therein so through his most merciful goodness and care of his Church he blessed the situation of the rest of Christendom being now free in that respect from those kind of violences and endowed the hearts of Christian Kings and Princes with such Courage and Constancy in defence of Christianity and of their Kingdoms as notwithstanding that the Popes did greatly vex them in the mean while they did mightily repel the Forces of their Enemies and most religiously uphold and maintain the
Clamour of the Canonists of the Glossographers and of the Schoolmen and Divines that took their part in the Pope's behalf upon whom all their Preferment Credit and Countenance did depend as they would needs by force carry the Bell away though their Opposites each of them were very confident that the common Opinion sway'd with their side more standing for them than were against them We have before briefly touched the chief Grounds and Reasons whereupon the Civil Lawyers divided amongst themselves did insist and therefore that we may not seem partial we thought it fit to hear the Canonists with their Adherents whilst they tell us That all the World is the Pope's at his disposition as well the Emperour as any other the meanest Person whosoever Because 1. that Christ had all Power given him 2. That the Pope blesseth the Emperour 3. That the Bishops of Rome do anoint them 4. That the Church Triumphant hath but one Prince 5. That Innocentius told the King of France that he did not intend to abate his Jurisdiction whereby it is collected that if he had pleased he might have so done 6. That in the Vacancy of the Empire the Pope hath the Government of it 7. That the Pope translated the Empire from the Grecians to the Germans 8. That the Papacy exceedeth the Empire as far as Gold doth Lead or as Men do Beasts 9. That Pope Nicholas saith Christ gave to St. Peter the Key-Carrier of Eternal Life Jura terreni simul coelestis Imperii The Authority both of the Earthly and of the Heavenly Empire 10. That Optimum optima decent but the Monarchical Government is best and so fittest for the Pope 11. That no Man giveth that to another which he hath not himself but the Pope giveth Licence to chuse the Emperour and to govern in Temporal Causes 12. That as the Body is for the Soul so Temporal Government is for the Spiritual 13. That Reason teacheth us when an Office is committed to any that also is thought to be committed without the which it cannot be executed but except the Bishop of Rome may rule all the World he cannot discharge the Office that is committed unto him And 14. lastly to omit infinite such like Collections this Argument is reserved after many other by a great Clerk that it might strike home viz. because it is defined by Boniface the Eighth that No Man can be saved except he be subject to the Bishop of Rome Which Argument is held so strong as it carries with it divers other of little less Force than it self as that St. Peter had a Sword because Christ bad him put up his sword 2. Ecce duo Gladii Behold here are two Swords One Sword must be under another the Temporal under the Spiritual 3. It is not agreeable to the general course of things that they should have all equally their immediate being 4. The Spiritual Power ought to institute the Temporal 5. The Spiritual Man judgeth all things and therefore what Catholick can deny that the Bishop of Rome hath both Swords the One actually the Other habitually to be drawn at his Commandment We have not quoted the several Authors that are Parties unto the Particulars which we have touched in this Chapter because twenty such Margents would not contain them Only we refer our selves in that behalf to these few which we have noted and selected from the rest Unto which Number if we shall add John of Paris Bellarmin and Covarruvias they altogether will furnish a Man with divers sorts of other Authors such as they are who have disputed these Points at large and in that manner as we are driven into a great admiration that any Men of Understanding could be so sottish either to write as they have done or to give any Credit to such ridiculous Janglings or rather indeed that ever Christian Kings and Princes should have endured such Impostors so long to seduce their Subjects and presumptuously to shake and dishonour the Royal Authority given them from God to have bridled such Insolency Placet eis Jo. Overall CAP. XIII NOtwithstanding that the Bishops of Rome especially since Gregory the Seventh's time have ruffled and tyrannized as before we have shewed and that still they have been supported in all their wicked attempts partly by stirring up Subjects to rebel against their Soveraigns and partly by the Canonists School-men Monks Friers Hirelings and Flatterers Yet their Hypocrisy Pride Covetousness and Ambition were never so closely cover'd and cloaked with St. Peter's name and sundry other Flashoods Wringings and Wrestings but that their nakedness in that behalf with all their Deformities were clearly discover'd by the wiser sort and there were always some that spared not as there was occasion for the discharging of their Consciences to speak the truth When the said Gregory did so proudly encounter with the Emperour Henry the Fourth he was Condemn'd for a perjur'd Person and depos'd from his place by a Council held at Worms in the year 1076. by all the Bishops of Germany almost saving those of Saxony who in his Quarrel were become Traytors to the Empire And afterward also in the Year 1080. the said Gregory was more roughly handled in another Council of thirty Bishops at Brixia wherein he was declared to be a perturber of the Christian Empire a sower of Discord a Protector of Perjury a Murtherer a Necromancer one possess'd with a wicked Spirit a Man altogether unworthy of the Papacy and therefore to be deprived and expelled Henry the Fifth with his Council did easily discern the packings both of Paschal the Second and of his Predecessors When he complain'd of their thrusting him into Arms against his Father and how Genitore oppresso his Father being overborn they sought likewise his suppression and overthrow He charged them with great Unthankfulness in that being made rich by the Emperours they were never satisfied but under a Religious pretence of Ecclesiastical liberty desired still more and more and that by shaking off from their shoulders all duties and subjection they did affect the Empire it self and would not cease until they had it ended With this the Emperour's plainness the said Paschal being incens'd made certain unlawful Decrees against the said Emperour which Decrees the Divines of Fraxinum who were accounted the most learned men in all Germany did condemn and reverse as being contrary to the word of God Upon the insolent Speeches of Adrian the Fourth's Messenger one that was present had slain the said Messenger if the Emperour had not staid him And two Archbishops thereupon did write to Rome accusing the Priests there of Pertinacy Pride Covetousness and Faction against the Emperour requiring them to give Adrian their Pope some better Counsel Frederick the Second in one of his Letters to the Princes of Christendom in defence of himself against Gregory the Ninth does likewise most notably describe the ambitious aspiring hearts of the
Episcopi quasi Cardinales Archiepiscopus sederet quasi Papa ibi omnis Appellatio subsisteret querela Hoc quidem Rex Henricus machinabatur approbant quamplures Episcopi hâc de causâ ut dictum est ut possent de sub jugo sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae colla excutere Now the building of the said Church is so forward that there is ordain'd there a Dean a Provost and more than 40. Canons founded of the Goods of the Church of Canterbury by birth Noblemen abounding in Wealth Allies of the King and of the Bishops Some of them do adhere to the King some have Offices in the Exchequer all of them familiar Friends to the Bishops and of a Confederacy with them Against such and so great Persons what is the Church of Canterbury able to do Certainly it is to be feared not only that the Church of Canterbury shall hereby be overthrown but that upon this occasion the Authority of the Apostolical See which God forbid shall in England be greatly diminish'd und prejudiced For when this Canonry or Cathedral Church was founded it was the common fame and the opinion of every Man that it was founded to this end that Bishops should be there as it were Cardinals and that the Archbishop should sit amongst them as Pope and that there all Appeals and complaints should be determined This assuredly was plotted by King Henry and the same very many Bishops do allow for this cause or end that so they might deliver their Necks from under the Yoke of the Holy Church of Rome Again after the Death of Celestin the Fourth the Cardinals being at so great a Dissention amongst themselves as that they could not agree for the space of a Year and nine Months who should succeed him both the Emperour and the French were greatly moved and offended therewith The Emperour finding his advice unto them to hasten their Choice to be despised and scorned and how dishonestly some of them had broken their Promises and Oaths unto him made in that behalf he gathered a great Host and dealt sharply with them And from France they received a Message that if they continued to dally as they did in prolonging the choice of a new Pope they would utterly leave Rome and choose to themselves a Pope of their own to govern the Churches on this side the Alps. Hereof Matthew Paris writeth thus Per idem tempus miserunt Franci solennes Nuncios ad Curiam Romanam significantes persuadendo praecisè efficaciter ut ipsi Cardinales Papam ritè eligentes Vniversali Ecclesiae solatium Pastorale maturiùs providerent vel ipsi Franci propter negligentiam eorum de sibi eligendo providendo summo Pontifice citra Montes cui obedire tenerentur quantocyùs contrectarent About that time the State of France did send their solemn Messengers to the Court of Rome signifying unto them and perswading them precisely and effectually that either the Cardinals should more speedily provide for the Vniversal Church her Pastoral Comfort by their due choice of a new Pope or else they themselves the French because of their negligence would forthwith fall into deliberation of choosing and providing for themselves a Pope on this side the Mountains whom they might be bound to obey Thus the said History Whereby as also by the former words of the Monks of Canterbury it is very evident that both England and France was long since in deliberation to have abandon'd the Authority of the Bishops of Rome out of both those Kingdoms as finding no necessity of the Universal overswaying power of the Roman Papacy and that the Churches within their several Countries and Territories might receive as great benefit and comfort by the Ecclesiastical Government of their own Archbishops in every respect as ever they had done from the Bishops of Rome For as it may truly be said not of one King to govern all the World but of every particular King in his own Kingdom so may it be truly affirmed not of one Pope to govern the whole Catholick Church but of every Archbishop in any National Church and Province to rule and direct the same that under the Government of one viz. of Kings for temporal Causes and of Archbishops for Ecclesiastical Causes there is the best order the greatest strength the most stability for continuance and the easiest manner and form of ruling We have spoken hitherto of the Government of the Church especially as it was in the Apostles times and afterward for the space of 300. years when the civil Magistrates were Enemies unto it Whereby we do infer that if the particular Churches setled then almost in every Country and Nation throughout the World had so good success when there were no Christian Magistrates nor had any assistance of the temporal Sword for the strengthning of their Ecclesiastical Government but only Ministers to teach and direct their Parishioners in the ways of Godliness and Bishops over them in every Diocess to oversee and rule as well the Ministers as the several People committed to their charge that they taught no new Doctrine or ran into Schisms and Archbishops over them all in every National Church and Province for the moderating and appeasing of such oppositions and dissentions as might otherwise have risen amongst the Bishops and so consequently have wrought great distraction betwixt their Diocesan Churches how much more then are the said particular Churches like to flourish and prosper under such a Form of Ecclesiastical Government wherein the Christian Magistrate is become to be as the chief Member of the Church so the chief Governour of it to keep as well the said Archbishops within their bounds and limits as all the rest of the Clergy and Christians Bishops Ministers and Parishioners that every one in their several places may execute and discharge their distinct Offices and Duties which are committed unto them We shall have fit occasion hereafter to speak of the Authority of Christian Princes in Causes Ecclesiastical here we do only still prosecute the Government of the Church when temporal Kings and Princes were her great and mortal Enemies and the Folly if not the obstinacy of our Adversaries who either see it not or will not acknowledge it that peace and quietness may as well be preserved in all the Churches in the World by Archbishops and Bishops without one Pope to govern them all as by Kings and Sovereign Princes in all the Kingdoms and temporal Governments in the World without one temporal Monarch to rule and oversway them For our Adversaries shall never be able to prove that it may be ascribed as we have before said more to any want of discretion and due Providence in our Saviour Christ that he hath not appointed the Pope to govern the Catholick Church than that he hath not assigned the Government of the whole World to one King or Emperour Rather it is to be attributed to their audacious temerity and presumption that will either enforce
an abstract of the Bishops of Rome and comparing those that were before Victor with those that followed saith thus In his Papis abundat Spiritus in posterioribus malesuaeda Caro The Spirit abounded in the former Popes but in those that succeeded him the seducing Flesh Some more Light whereof as also of the said undermining Ambition brake out little above 50. Years after Victor in Cornelius the 22 th Bishop of Rome Who notwithstanding the great trouble he had at home with his Fellow-Counter-Pope Novatianus could find such leisure under pretence of Importunity and threatnings as to entertain a complaint against St. Cyprian which was preferr'd unto him by one Felicissimus a Priest sent to Rome from Fortunatus an Usurping and Schismatical Bishop whom together with Felicissimus St. Cyprian with other African Bishops had lawfully excommunicated for sundry their lewd and ungodly actions With which injurious course St. Cyprian being made acquainted and somewhat moved he writ to Cornelius an Epistle wherein he justifieth his Proceedings and disliketh those of his Adversaries First because there was a Decree amongst them and that also Equal and Just That every Man's Cause should be there heard where the fault was committed Secondly For that a Portion of the Flock was committed to several Bishops which every one of them was to rule and govern being to yield an account of his actions to God Whereupon he inferreth thus saying It doth not become those over whom we bear rule to run gadding about nor by their crafty and deceitful rashness to break the united Concord of Bishops but there to plead their Cause where they may have both accusers and witness of their Crime Unless saith he the Authority of the Bishops of Africk doth seem unto a few desperate and outcast Persons to be less than the Authority of other Bishops It appeareth furthermore that for the better Government of the Churches in those times of Persecution it was thought fit that there should be 4. Patriarchs who were to take upon them the Inspection and especial charge of all the Bishops Priests and Churches that were severally assigned unto them In which distribution the Bishops of Rome got the first place it being then thought convenient to seat their chief Bishops in the principal Cities of the Romans and to grant unto them Authority in Causes Ecclesiastical much resembling the Prerogatives which those Cities had in Causes Temporal Of all the Eastern Lieutenantships that of Syria was the Chief and therefore Antioch being the Principal City of that Province was made also the Seat of one of the said Patriarchs Afterward likewise Alexandria exceeding much in honour the City of Antioch another Patriarch was there placed who according to the Dignity of that City had the precedency of the Patriarch of Antioch Whereby we judge that the Patriarch or Bishop of Rome had the first place amongst the rest of the Patriarchs because Rome was then the chiefest City in the World and the Seat of the Empire Which point is yet more manifest by these words of the Council of Chalcedon Sedi Veteris Romae Patres meritò dedêrunt Primatum quòd illa Civitas aliis imperaret Howbeit this Primacy or Precedency notwithstanding the Bishop of that See before the Council of Nice confirm'd by Constantine the Emperour was little more respected than any other of the Patriarchs as a principal Person afterward of that Rank testifieth saying Ante Concilium Nicaenum ad Romanam Ecclesiam parvus habebatur respectus Before the Council of Nice there was little respect born to the Church of Rome Although we doubt not by the premises but that the Bishops thereof endeavour'd what they could to equal the Primacy of that Patriarchship to the honour and dignity of that Imperial City as by their subsequent practices it will more plainly appear Placet eis John Overall CAP. III. COnstantine the Emperour having received the Gospel did in his Zeal greatly advance the Dignity of the Bishops of Rome by endowing of that Bishoprick with great Honour and temporal Possessions Besides whether it grew from the Cunning of those Bishops and their especial Instruments or through the Zeal of the People or by both those Means it is apparent that within some 47. Years after Constantine's Death that Bishoprick was grown to so great Wealth as when it was void many Troubles Garboiles and Contentions arose for the obtaining of it After the Death of Liberius the second Bishop after Constantine such were the Tumults in Rome betwixt Damasus and Vrsinus in striving for that Place as there were found in the Church of Sicininus slain on both sides in one day 137. Persons and great Labour was taken before the People could be appeas'd Whereat saith the Writer of that History I do not marvel and that Men should be desirous of that Preferment considering that when they have got it they may ever afterward be secure they are so enriched with the Oblations of Matrons they ride abroad in their Coaches so curiously attir'd and in their Diet are so delicate and profuse Vt eorum Convivia Regales superent Mensas as their Feasts exceed the Fare of Kings Insomuch as a desperate Heathen Man was accustomed in scorn to Damasus after he had gotten the Victory against his Adversary to cast out these Words Facite me Romanae Vrbis Episcopum ero protinus Christianus make me Bishop of Rome and I will presently become a Christian Which alluring Plenty and Delicacy being added to the Primacy of that Place and to the aspiring Humours of those Bishops their Ambition began to shew it self daily more and more Insomuch as they hardly endured that any of the other Patriarchs should have any extraordinary Reputation being ever most jealous of their own The Fathers of the Greek Church met together in the General Council at Constantinople about 40. Years after the Death of Constantine finding themselves grieved of likelyhood with the Proceedings of the Bishops of Rome and that the Bishops of Constantinople were not so much regarded in Rome as they ought to have been Constantinople being then the chief Seat of the Empire did define with one Consent That as Causes did arise in any Province the same should be determined in the Council of the same Province And furthermore they made this Canon Constantinopolitanae Civitatis Episcopum habere oportet Primatûs honorem post Romanum Pontificem proptereà quòd sit Nova Roma With these Proceedings the Bishops of Rome were afterwards as one noteth much discontented as fearing we suppose lest by these Beginnings New Rome might in time more prejudice old Rome than they could well brook or endure But that all Causes should be tried in the Provinces where they did arise it was no marvel though they disliked it Therefore to meet with that Inconvenience as they might after some distance of time one Apiarius being excommunicated in Africk and thereupon appealing to Rome Zosimus the
of our mind that he will omit how the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven were given to St. Peter and so to the Roman Bishops his Successors and not to the Bishops of Constantinople and we likewise following his Example as a thing impertinent to our purpose will here omit the same Only we do observe that the contention betwixt the Bishop of Rome and the Bishop of Constantinople was de Primatu and that the Bishop of Rome obtain'd that place by Phocas his means which the Bishop of Constantinople did challenge to himself Whereupon we offer to Mens Considerations these two Arguments Whosoever taketh upon him that Primacy or place in the Church which John Bishop of Constantinople did challenge to himself is the forerunner of Antichrist but the Bishops of Rome do take upon them that Primacy and place Ergo. Again Those Priests which do adhere unto him that taketh upon him that place and Primacy which John the Bishop of Constantinople did challenge to himself are an Host prepared for the King of Pride but all the Priests that do adhere to the Bishop of Rome do adhere unto him that taketh upon him that Primacy and place which John the Bishop of Constantinople did challenge to himself Ergo. But our purpose is not to dispute only this we add that till this time that the Bishop of Rome had prevailed so far with Phocas as is aforementioned his Predecessors notwithstanding their great Authority after Constantine's Reign and favour with the Emperours succeeding they behaved themselves dutifully toward them and acknowledged them to be their Lords and Masters But afterward in short time they left those Phrases and began to call the Emperours their Sons To which alteration a very worthy Man taking exception he is answered by another of many good parts it must be confessed after this sort St. Gregory might call Mauricius his Lord either of Courtesie or of Custom and yet our holy Father Pius the Fourth shall not be bound to do the like in consideration that the Custom hath long since been discontinued Placet eis Jo. Overall CAP. V. ALthough when the Bishops of Rome after much opposition had obtain'd their desires for their Primacy beforementioned they might well enough as we suppose have been contented Yet forasmuch as still they remain'd in greater subjection to the Emperours than they thought was agreeable with their greatness their aspiring mind rested not there but began shortly after to cast about how they might in their places be independent and absolute For the compassing whereof they took hold of every occasion that might serve or be wrested and drawn to that purpose At the first receiving of the Gospel Men are ever for the most part very zealous and great Favourers of the Ministry In the Apostles times they sold their lands and possessions and laid the price of them at the Apostles feet St. Paul was received by the Galatians as an Angel of God yea as Jesus Christ and such was their love toward him that to have done him good they would have plucked out their Eyes and given them unto him When the Emperours of Rome became Christians they did exceed in this behalf especially towards the Bishops of that See bestowing upon them very great riches and ample possessions Of all which zealous Dispositions benefits and favours they ever made above all other Bishops their greatest advantage by imploying the same to the advancement of their greatness Wherein they were furthermore very much helped and further'd by the Authority which the Emperours gave unto them in temporal Causes holding them for their Gravity Learning and Discretion very meet and sit Persons in their own absence from Rome to do them that way very great service Besides if we shall deal sincerely and truly as we hold our selves always bound and more strictly in a cause of this Importance we must needs confess that it hath been the manner of Divines from the Apostles times almost to magnify and extol the worthiness and excellency of their own calling which was a very commendable and necessary course in many the ordinary contempt of the Ministry consider'd and had been so in all of them if they had not therewith depressed too much the Dignity and preheminence of Kings and Princes Comparisons in such Cases were ever worthily held to be odious Bishops and Priests might without any just reprehension have been resembled to Gold to the Sun and to what else is excellent without comparing the highest Magistrates under God in respect of themselves to the Moon to Lead and to some other things of such like base Estimation And we doubt not but that they would have refrain'd from such Comparisons if they could have foreseen how the Bishops of Rome would to the disgrace and dishonour of civil Authority have wrested and perverted them notwithstanding that their Inferences thereupon have ever had more shew and probability than substance and truth except we shall say that the Callings of Schoolmasters and Physicians are in Dignity to be preferr'd before all other Temporal Callings because the end of the one is the instructing of Mens understandings and of the other Health which either are or ought to be both of them in their kinds of greater Estimation than any other things whatsoever We shall not need to trouble our selves with the citing of any Authorities to prove how eagerly the Bishops of Rome especially after Boniface the Third had obtained of Phocas the said Supremacy have pressed the same Comparisons It is so evident both in their own Writings and likewise generally in all their Treatises who from time to time have laboured with all their force and might to advance above all other Authority upon Earth the Soveraignty of that See Placet eis John Overall CAP. VI. ALbeit the former occasions as they were handled and particularly the device last before specified wrought very much in the hearts of the simpler sort to the debasing of the Imperial and Regal Authority in respect of the Spiritual and that it was therefore prosecuted and amplified with all the skill and rhetorick that could be Yet there was another matter which troubled the Bishops of Rome exceedingly and never gave them rest until they had prevailed in it as if without it they had gained little by their Primacy It seemeth that Constantine the Great when he left Rome notwithstanding his especial benefits and favours to the Bishops of that See did in his wisdom think it fit that none should be advanced to that Bishoprick without the Emperour's consent For the better manifestation whereof it is to be observed that whilst the Bishops of Rome were labouring so earnestly for their Supremacy till Phocas's time the City of Rome had been four times surprised by divers barbarous Nations An. 413. by Alaricus the second King of the Goths Innocentius the First being then Bishop An. 457. by Gensericus the Leader of the Vandalls Leo the First being then Bishop An.