hateful Forgeries But who could suspect that so much Fraud could be Ushered in with so fair a Frontispiece or so much Sordid Basene s varnished over with so much Magnificence I have heard of a Thief that robbed in his Coach and a Bishops Pontificalibus of the German Princess and of Mahomet's Dove But I never heard of any thing like this that a 〈◊〉 should trade with Apostles Fathers Emperours Golden Bulls Kings and Councils under the fair pretext of all these to Cheat the World of its Religion and Glory His Grandeur is rendered the more remarkable and his Artifice redoubted by the Greatness of his Retinue Riculphus Archbishop of Mentz Hincmarus Laudunensis Benedictus Levita the Famous 〈◊〉 and his fourscore Bishops Ivo Cartonensis Gratian Merlin Peter Crab Laurentius Surius Carranza Nicolinus Binius Labbè Cossartius the COLLECTIO REGIA Stanistaus Hosius Cardinal Bellarmine Franciscus Turrianus c. Men that bring along with them Emperours and Kings for Authority as will appear in the Sequel Men who think it lawful to Cheat in an Holy Cause and to lye for the Churches Glory These augment the Splendour of his Train Their Doctrine of Pious Frauds is not unknown And if we may do evil that good may come certainly no good like the Exaltation of the Roman Church can possibly be found wherewith to justifie a little evil The Jesuites Morals are well understood Upon their Principles to do evil is no evil if good may ensue Perjury it self may be dispenced with by the Authority of their Superiour An illimited Blind Obedience is the sum of their Profession To equivocate and lye for the Church that is for the advancement of their Order and the Popes benefit is so far from sin that to murder Heretical Kings is not more Meritorious It is a sufficient Warrant upon such grounds to James Merlin our present Author that he was commanded to do what he did by great and eminent Bishops in the Church of Rome as he sheweth in his Epistle Dedicatory To the most Reverend Fathers in Christ and his most excellent Lords Stephen and Francis c. the one of which was Bishop of Paris and the other an Eminent Prelate who ordered all his work by their care and made it publick by their own Authority Conceiving nothing saith he more profitable for the Commonwealth I have not dissembled to bring the Decrees of the Sacred Councils and Orthodox Bishops which partly the blessed Isidore sometime since digested into one partly you most Reverend Fathers having confirmed them with your Leaden Seal gave me to be published in one Volume For every particular appeareth so copiously and Catholickly handled here which is necessary for the convicting of the Errours of mortal men or for the restoring of the now almost ruined World that every man may readily find wherewith to kill Hereticks and Heresies The Protestants being grown so dangerous that they had almost ruined the Popish World by reforming the Church nothing but this Medusa's Head of Snakes and Forgeries was able to affray them The nakedness of the Pontisicians being discovered they had no Retreat from the Light of the Gospel but to this Refuge of Lies Where every one may readily find saith Merlin wherewith to kill Hereticks and Heresies to depress the proud to weary the voluptuous to bring down the ambitious to take the little Foxes that spoil the Vineyard of the Church By the proud and ambitious he meaneth Kings and Patriarchs that will not submit to the Authority and Supremacy of the Roman Church and by the little Foxes such men as the Martyrs in the Reformed Churches the driving away of which was the design of the publication That he meaneth Kings and Patriarchs in the former you will see in the Conclusion And if any one shall hereafter endeavour to fray and drive away these Monsters from the Commonwealth what can be more excellent saith he than the stones of David which this Jordan shall most copiously afford If any one would satisfie the desires of the Hungry what is more sweet and abundant than the Treasures which this Ship bringeth from the remotest Regions but if he desires the path and splendour of Truth by which the clouds of Errour with their Authors may best be dispelled and driven far away what is more apparent than the Sentences of the Fathers which they by the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost have brought together into this Heap For here as out of a Meadow full of all kind of Flowers all things may be gathered with ease that conduce to the profit of the Church or the suppressing of Vices or the extinguishing of Lusts. Here the most precious Pearl if you dig a little will strait be found c. Here the Tyranny of Kings and Emperours as it were with a Bit and Bridle is restrained Here the Luxury of 〈◊〉 and Bishops is repressed If Princes differ here peace sincere is hid If Prelates contend about the Primacy here THE ANGEL OF THE GREAT COUNCIL discovers who is to be preferred above the residue c. Are not the Roman Wares set off with advantage here How exceedingly are these Medicines for the Maladies of the Church boasted by these Holy Mountebanks The stones of David that kill Goliah the River that refresheth the City of God the Food of Souls the Ship the very Argonaut of the Church that comes home laden with Treasures from unknown Regions are but mean expressions the Inspirations of the Holy Ghost the Pearl of Price Angelus ille Magni Concilii the Angel of the Covenant are hid here and all if we believe this dreadful Blasphemer declare for the Pope against all the World Here is a Bit and Bridle for Kings and Emperours a Rule for Patriarchs and what not The Councils and true Records we Reverence with all Honour due to Antiquity And for that very cause we so much the more abhor that admixture of Dross and Clay wherewith their Beauty is corrupted Had we received the Councils sincerely from her we should have blest the Tradition of the Church of Rome for her assistance therein But now she loveth her self more than her Children and the Pope which is the Church Virtual is so hard a Father that he soweth Tares instead of Wheat and giveth Stones instead of Bread and for Eggs feedeth us with Scorpions We abhor her practices and think it needful warily to examine and consider her Traditions What provisions are made in Merlin's Isidore for repressing the Luxuries of Popes and Bishops you may please to see in Constantines Donation and the Epilogus Brevis In the one of which so many Witnesses are required before a Bishop be condemned and in the other care is taken for the Pomp. of the Clergy even to the Magnificence of their Shooes and the Caparisons of their Horses As Merlin who was a Doctor of Divinity of Great Account so likewise all the following Collectors among the Papists derive their Streams from this Isidore
the first Collectors of the Councils among the Papists I have taken the more liberty to be somewhat copious in them that I may conveniently be more brief in perusing the residue CAP. VII Of Francis Turrian the Jesuite With what Art and Boldness he defendeth the Forgeries NOtwithstanding all the weakness and uncertainty of Isidore Francis Turrian the Famous Jesuite appears in its defence about 40 years after the first publication of it by Merlin The Centuriators of Magdenburg having met with it to his great displeasure he is so Valiant as not only to maintain all the Forgeries therein contained but the whole Body of Forgeries vented abroad by all the Collectors and Compilers following till himself appeared His Book is expresly formed against the Writers of the Centuries and is a sufficient Evidence that as soon as Isidore came abroad by Dr. Merlin's Labour and the Bishop of Paris Command it was sifted by the Protestants It is dedicated to the most Illustrious and most Reverend D. D. Stanissaus Hosius Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church and Bishop of Collein Printed by the Heirs of John Quintel and approved by Authority An. Dom. 1573. He defends all the Canons of the Apostles which are recounted by other Collectors That you may know the Mettal of the Man I will produce but two Instances The last of those Canons which he maintaineth to be the Apostles is this which followeth Qui Libri sunt Canonici c. Let these Books be Venerable and Holy to you all Of the Old Testament five Books of Moses Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy one of Joshua the Son of Nun one of Judges one of Ruth four of Kings two of Chronicles Hester one three of the Macchabees one of Job one Book of Psalmes three of Solomon Proverbs Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs one of the 12 Prophets one of Isaiah one of Jeremiah one of Ezekiel one of Daniel And without let your young men learn the Wisdom of the Learned Syrach But of ours that is of the New Testament there are four Gospels Matthew Mark Luke and John fourteen Epistles of Paul two Epistles of Peter three of John one of James one of Jude two Epistles of Clement and the Ordinations of Me Clement set forth in Eight Books to you Bishops which are not to be published to all because of the Mysteries contained in them and the Acts of our Apostles This is the eighty fourth Canon and in some Accounts the eighty fifth where you see the Episiles of Clement and Eight Books of his Ordinations put into the Body of the Bible As for the difference of the Accounts he sheweth you the way how to reconcile them If this be one of the Apostles Canons then Clement was an Apostle or had 〈◊〉 Power But if it be a Forgery then not only the Apostles Canons but the very Text of the Holy Scriptures is interlined and forged by the same He maintains all the Decretal Epistles and among the rest S. Clement's Whose genuine Epistle to the Corinthians they leave cut as making nothing to their purpose but five Spurious ones they record the two first of them being written to S. James and the last to the Brethren dwelling with him at Jerusalem It is good sport to see how like the shot of a great Gun the Discovery of the Protestants comes in among them Their keenness in detecting the time of S James his Death shatter the 〈◊〉 and whereas before they were all united they now fly several ways every man 〈◊〉 for himself as he is best able Baronius dislikes suen Arts of upholding the Church not as impious and unlawful but as inconvenient and pernicious Bellarmine 〈◊〉 the Epistles to be Old but dares not attest them Isidore Merlin Peter Crabbe Nicolinus Carranza and Surius own them freely without any scruple For saying nothing of the Quarrel they lay them down simply as good Records Binius Labbè and the Collectio Regia confess some of them to be false and in particular that S James was dead seven years before S. Clement could write his first Epistle to him And to salve the sore they say that it was not written to James but to Simeon who was also Bishop of Jerusalem and Brother to our Lord and that the Name of James crept into the Title Mendosè by Errour and Mistake for that of Simeon But honest Turrian maintains plainly that S. Peter and S. Clement knew very well that S. James was dead before they wrote unto him yet nevertheless they did very wisely both S. Peter in ordering the Epistle and S. Clement in writing it And his Reasons as he bringeth the matter about are pretty specious For my part I protest that such a High Piece of Impudence was to me incredible But that you may see the rare Abilities of a Jesuite to argue well for the absurdest Cause turn to his Book and read his Comment on S. Clement's first Epistle and there you shall see Wit and Folly equal in their height Wit in managing but Folly in attempting so mad a business For the sake of those who are not able to read or get the Book I will give you a Glympse of his Demonstrations First he observeth how Reason it self compelleth us especially being confirmed by so many and so great Testimonies of the Ancients to confess the Epistle to be S. Clement's whose it is reported to be He sophistically pretendeth here that there were great Authorities of the Ancient Fathers extant to prove it Whence saith he it began to be had in every mans hand to be read by the Catholicks to be put among the Decretal Epistles and produced and cited in Ecclesiastical Causes and Judgments The latter part of which Clause is true For as we before observed Gratian Ivo and the rest of the Popes Ministers have brought the Decretals into the Body of the Canon-Law which maketh the matter more fatal and abominable for being really cited in their Ecclesiastical Courts and used both in matters of Controversie and in cases of Conscience they are forced either to defend them or to pluck up their Customs by the very Roots and so further expose the Church of Rome to the shame of Levity or Fraud yet for this very cause it is far more impious and wicked to retain them So that not knowing which way is best some of them retain them and some of them renounce them But you must wink at all this and believe what Turrian says for the Authority of the Roman Church which hath seated the Forgeries in the Chair of Judgment is a greater Argument to them that believe her Infallible than any one Doctor can bring against them Neither was blessed Peter ignorant when he commanded to write to the Dead nor Clement saith he when he wrote by the Commandment but that the Readers would presently see the Epistle to be written to him whom all men knew to be dead before S. Peter they being about
thereupon to enquire diligently into the cause thereof and seeking to find it Nay this was the design of the blessed Peter and therein he imitated the Holy Scripture Whether to counterfeit or blaspheme the Scriptures be the worse I cannot tell but of this I am sure that they who think such courses lawful as this fastned on S. Peter and the Holy Scripture here will stick at nothing which they take for their advantage For that it was lawful to counterfeit S. James his Name he proveth afterwards very largely and now he is giving the reasons of it One intention was to stir up all people to Enquiry their admiration at so strange a thing being very prone to make them diligent to learn the cause of it Another was that all Bishops might see the more clearly that they were taught in the person of James For James being dead and uncapable of receiving the instruction it is evident that he was not intended thereby and therefore it must be for others in his capacity A third reason was the preventing of envy for had S. Peter vouchsafed being our Saviours Vicar and Head of the Church to write to any Bishop alive the Honour done unto that Bishop had been so great that all the rest had been tempted to maligne him shrewdly for that advantage His intention was saith he to transfigure these things in the person of James after the manner of the Holy Scripture and that as well for other Bishops as especially those that should succeed him in the Church of Jerusalem whence the preaching of the Gospel began according to the Prophesie of Isaiah that they might thus think with themselves If the Prince of the Apostles commanded Clement to write these things to James the Brother of our Lord whom Peter James and John did first of all ordain who now ceased to be a Shepherd and was rewarded with his Crown he certainly did not command him to write for his sake but for us to whom Solomon saith Look diligently to the face of thy Cattel and consider thy Herds c. Let this saith he be one cause of the Transfiguration or counterfeiting a person in this Epistle Having noted how S. Paul transferred a certain business on himself and Apollos by a Figure he concludeth thus Why therefore may we not think that S. Peter for the same reason commanded Clement to transfer his Epistle concerning his Death and Doctrine pertaining in common to every Bishop by a Figure to S. James already dead lest if he should have commanded him to have written to Simon the Bishop of Jerusalem who succeeded S. James or to any other as to Mark the Bishop of Alexandria or Ananias of Antioch or any other he should then perhaps seem to love him or honour him more than the residue Much more he saith to this purpose but all made vain with one small observation Whereas he pretends that Clement knew S. James to be dead there is a 〈◊〉 Epistle written by the same Clement To his most dearly beloved Brethren dwelling at Jerusalem together with his dearest Brother James his Fellow-Disciple So that S. James after all was still thought to be alive by those that transferred this Epistle on S. Clement by a Figure S. Peter's influence over the Bishop of Jerusalem and our Lords Brother was thought a considerable Circumstance for the Establishment of the following Popes And till the Protestants discovered the Fraud let Turrian say what he will there was scarce a person in the World that thought not the Letter timed well enough for the purpose And whereas he pretendeth so many and so great Testimonies of the Ancients confessing the Epistle to be S. Clement's he is not able nor does he so much as attempt to name one from S. Clement downward till this Spurious Isidore that affirmed any such matter Howbeit he quotes Origen Theodoret Gregory Nazianzen c. to prove the lawfulness of a Transfiguration and makes great Ostentation of the Fathers in shewing that S. Peter and S. Clement did wisely in the business CAP. VIII Of Peter Crabbe's Tomes of the Councils Wherein he agrees with and wherein he differs from Isidore and Merlin BEsides the Forgeries that are in Merlin and the Bastard Isidore Peter Crabbe whose Tomes of the Councils were published eight years after the first Edition of Merlin published more of as great importance as the former not omitting those of Isidore and Merlin but recording and venting them altogether He pretends to give an account of all those Councils that have been from S. Peter the Apostle down to the Times of Pope John II. He wrote before Turrian as Carranza and Surius did whom it is Turrian's business to defend The End being proposed before the Means with what design these Editions of the Councils are so carefully multiplied we may conjecture by a Treatise that is set in the Front of them concerning the Roman Primacy Almost all the Compilers after Peter Crabbe having prefixed the same with one consent before their Work as the Aim of their ensuing Labours It is extant in Crab Surius Nicolinus Binius Labbe and Cossartius and the Collectio Regia Carranza hath it not nor Paul V. Paul V. in his own Work published at Rome Anno Dom. 1608. touches the Forgeries but very sparingly It does not become the Majesty of a Pope in his own Name to utter them It is moreover a thing of hazardous consequence for him to appear in Person in such a disgraceful business It besits his Holiness to act rather by Emissaries and Inferiour Agents as all great Statesmen and Polititians do being unseen themselves in matters that reflect too much upon their safety that Method you know is more stately as well as more Honourable and secure Yet he approveth others at a distance as his dear Son Severinus Binius in particular who dedicated all his Tomes to Pope Paul V. in the year 1608. and has a particular Letter of Thanks from Pope Paul himself as a Badge of his Favour before the Work As for Carranza he is but an Abstract or brief Compendium This Treatise of the Primacy thus put before the Councils containeth a Collection of Testimonies out of Counterfeit Epistles of the Primitive Bishops and Martyrs of Rome proving under the Authorities of most Glorious Names that the Holy Apostolical Church obtained the Primacy not from the Apostles but from our Lord himself that it is the Head and Hinge of all the Churches that all Appeals are to be made thereunto the greater causes and the contentions of Bishops being to be determined only by the Apostolical See that she is the Mother of all Churches and as the Son of God came to do the Will of his Father so ought all Bishops and Priests to do the Will of their Mother that all the Members ought to follow the Head which is the Church of Rome that the first See ought to be judged by no man neither by the Emperour nor by Kings nor
great ease and satisfaction of the Roman Clergy For it reaches down you know to the lowest Orders of Readers and Door keepers So that they may write as many Forgeries as they will If it be a Pope no man can condemn him If it be a Bishop no less than threescore and twelve Bishops must on their Corporal Oath prove the Fact against him forty four Equals against a Cardinal-Priest twenty six must depose against a Cardinal-Deacon of the City of Rome and seven against a Door keeper all which must be at least his Equals A Marvellous Priviledge for the City of Rome Which word Rome though annexed only to Cardinal-Deacons yet for ought I know the Judge will interpret its Extent to all the other Orders or use it Equivocally as himself listeth or as his Superiour pleaseth So that in Causes pertaining to the Interest of the Roman Church other Priests perhaps beside them in the City of Rome shall enjoy the benefit of this Law but in Causes displeasing the Pope and his Accomplices none shall enjoy it but the Priests of Rome Many such Trap-doors are prepared in Laws where Rulers are perverse and Tyrannical and whether this be not one of those I leave to the Readers further Examination Mark succeeded Sylvester in the See of Rome Between whom and Athanasius there were certain Letters framed that stand upon Record to this day to prove the Canons of the Nicene Council to be Threescore and ten Heretofore they were good old Records magnificently cited but now they are worn out for Baronius and Bellarmine have lately rejected them who are followed by Binius as he is by Labbe and Cossartius and the Collectio Regia all concluding the Letters to be Forged The three last have this Note upon that of Athanasius Hanc Surreptitiam ab aliquo confict am fuisse quinque rationibus ostenditur c. That this Epistle is a Counterfeit devised by some body appeareth evidently by five reasons Whereof the first is this In the Controversie between the African Churches and the Roman Bishops Zozimus and Boniface concerning the number of the Nicene Canons this Epistle was unknown 2. Athanasius as is manifest by what went before was at this time fled into France and so it could not be written from Alexandria and from the Bishops in Egypt 3. That Divastation fell upon the Church of Alexandria many years after these times in the Reign of Constantius c. As Athanasius himself witnesseth in his Epistle ad omnes Orthodoxos 4. Mark died in the Nones of October this present year Constantine himself being yet alive 5. If Pope Mark had sent a Copy of the Nicene Council out of the Roman Archives to them at Alexandria surely the Roman Copy and that of Alexandria would have agreed thenceforth as the same How then were those three Canons wanting in the Copy which S. Cyril sent from Alexandria to the Africans which were found in the Roman Copy He pointeth to the Commonitorium sent from Rome to the Sixth Council of Carthage and verifies all the Story we have related by rejecting these Letters of Mark and Athanasius made on purpose to defend the Forgeries there detected For which he cites Baron An. 336. nn 59 60. and Bellarm. de Rom. Pont. lib. 2. cap. 25. This Epistle was alledged by Harding against Jewel and by Hart against Rainolds for a good Record How formally it was laid down by the Elder Collectors you may see with your eyes and may find it frequently cited by the most learned Papists Such as these being their best and only Evidences After Mark Julius succeeded The Epistle sent by the Bishops of the East to Pope Julius 1. is now confessed to be a Forgery Veram germanam non extare praeter authoritatem Baronii illud asserentis ea quae supra in principio Epistolarum Julii annotavi confirmant Saith Binius Again he saith This Epistle which is put in the second place bearing the Names of the Bishops of the East seems to be compiled by some uncertain Author both by the concurrent Testimony of Sozomen and Socrates and because thou mayest observe many things to be wanting and some in the words and things expressed to be changed Rescriptum Julii The Epistle which Julius returned in answer hath the like Note upon it Hanc mendosam corruptam a quodam ex diversts compilatam c. That this Epistle is counterfeit corrupt and compiled by some body out of divers Authors the Consulships of Felicianus and Maximianus evidently shew c. The matter in these Epistles is the Popes Supremacy the unlamfulness of calling Councils but by his Authority his Right of receiving Appeals with other Themes which Ambition and self Interest suggest and of which genuine Antiquity is totally silent Having so fortunately glanced upon that Sixth Council I shall not trouble the Reader with any more but bewailing what I observe beseech him earnestly to weigh this Business walking in the Dark and take heed of a Pope and a Church that hath exceeded all the World in Forgerie For let the Earth be searched from East to West from Pole to Pole Jews Turks Barbarians Hereticks none of them have soared so high or so often made the Father of Lies their Patron in things of so great Nature and Importance Since therefore the Mother of Lyes hath espoused the Father of Lies for her assistance and the accursed production of this adulterate brood is so numerous I leave it to the Judgement of every Christian what Antiquity or Tradition she can have that is guilty of such a Crime and defiled with so great an Off-spring of notorious Impostures AN APPENDIX Cardinal Baronius his Grave Censure and Reproof of the Forgeries His fear that they will prove destructive and pernicious to the See of Rome APiarius a Priest of the Church of Africa being Excommunicated by his Ordinary for several notorious crimes flies to Rome for Sanctuary Zozimus the Bishop receives him kindly gives him the Communion and sends Orders to see him restored Hereupon the African Churches convene a Council namely the sixth Council of Carthage whence they send a modest Letter but as Sincere as Powerful shewing how after all shifts and Evasions Apiarius had confessed his Enormities and that both the Nicene Council and clear Reason was against the disorder of such Appeals All Causes being to be determined in the Province where they arose by a Bishop Patriarch or Council upon the place Otherwise say they how can this Beyond-Sea Judgment be sirm where the necessary appearance of Witnesses cannot be made either by reason of weakness of Nature or Old Age or many other Impediments They decry the Innovation of the Bishop of Rome in arrogating that Authority lest the smoakie 〈◊〉 of the pride of this World should be brought into the Church of Christ. This Epistle is on all sides owned and confessed to be a good Record It was sent to Celestine the Successor of
two Marginal Notes in Baronius we shall declare Baronius deals more fairly with us than Binius for the one in his Marginal Notes contradicteth his Text sometimes to delude the Reader but Baronius fairly notes in the Margin Isidori collectio vulgata in Galliis Isidori collectio ab Antiquis non adeo probata Isidori collectio ut minùs sincera notata c. Soft words for a Treatise rejected but strong Indications of a Desperate Cause The Ancients approved not the collection of Isidore It was not so sincere as it ought c. Cardinal Bellarmine to prove the Popes Supremacy draweth one Argument from the Popes themselves whose Testimonies he casteth into three Classes The first saith he contains the Epistles of Popes that sate from S. Peter to the year 300. in which Calvin and the Magdenburgenses confess the Primacy to be plainly asserted and that those Bishops were holy men and true Bishops but they say the Epistles are forged and new and falsly Fathered on those Bishops In this Class he affirmeth These Holy Fathers do clearly assert the Primacy Clemens in his first Epistle Anacletus in his third Evaristus Epist. 1. Pius Epist. 1 and 2. Anicetus Epist. 1. Victor Epist. 1. Zephirinus Epist. 1. Calixtus Epist. 1. Lucius Epist. 1. Marcellus in Epist. 1. Eusebius Epist. 3. Melchiades Epist. 〈◊〉 Marcus Epist. 1. After this he saith Quamvis aliquos Errores c. Though I cannot deny but that some Errours are crept into them and dare not affirm that they are indubitable yet I doubt not at all but that they are very Ancient As if an old Deed being called into question and the matter of Fact made certain that it was a real Forgery he that holds his possession by it should say It has been interlined indeed and corrupted in many places but 't is very old Let us see however what his reason is for the Antiquity of it He is rough with his Opponents and telleth us The Magdeburgenses do lye when they say Cent. 2. Cap. 7. near the end that no Author worthy of credit ever cited these Epistles before Charles the Great For Isidore who is 200 years older than Charles the Great in the Proem of his collection of the Holy Canons saith that by the advice of 80 Bishops he collected Canons out of the Epistles of Clement Anacletus c. Isidore did indeed begin to flourish near to the year 610. So that Bellarmine takes him right for the same Isidore Bishop of Hispalis But had he well examined the matter he would have forborn to give the Lye to men more in the right than himself confiding in the rotten Antiquity of this Counterfeit Isidore For Isidores Preface is a Counterfeit too made on purpose to countenance the Forgeries not 200 years older than Charles the Great things after the Death of Isidore its pretended Author being mentioned in the same Dr Reynolds in his Conference with Hart having smartly checked him for his fourscore Bishops out of one Isidore asked him About what year of Christ Isidore did die How doth Genebrard write because Genebrard was Hart's most admired Author He answereth About the year 637. as he proveth out of Vasaeus Asking him When the General Council of Constantinople under Agatho was kept He answereth In the year 681. or 682. or thereabout Then Isidore was dead above 〈◊〉 years saith Reynolds before that General Council He was saith Hart but what of that Of that it doth follow that the preface written in Isidores name and set before the Councils to purchase credit to those Epistles is a counterfeit and not Isidore's For in that Preface there is mention made of the General Council of Constantinople held against Bishop Macarius and Stephanus in the time of Pope Agatho and the Emperour Constantine which 〈◊〉 it was held above 40 years after Isidore 〈◊〉 dead by Genebrard's own confession by his own confession Isidore could not tell the fourscore Bishops of it And so the 80 Bishops which Turrian hath found out in one Isidore are dissolved all into one Counterfeit abusing both the name of Isidore and fourscore Bishops Hart was unable to answer him and 〈◊〉 from the Point Harding in his Book against Bishop Jewel citeth these Forgeries frequently and briskly Upon the failure of which though Baronius pretends an abundant number of other Evidences yet in the loss of 30 or 40 Primitive Bishops and Martyrs that were so long time for the first 300 years after Christ together thought to speak for the Supremacy of the Church of Rome one of the fairest Feathers in the Popes Crown is placked away and the younger Evidences in which Baronius trusts being none but the Malepert and Arrogant Testimonies of Junior Popes in their own Causes will make but a slight impression in the minds of men that have found themselves deluded with more ancient 〈◊〉 of the grave and unspotted Authorities of Holy Men that Sacrificed themselves for the Glory of God and the good of the World and sealed their Testimony 〈◊〉 their latest blood which the latter Bishops of Rome have been more Secular and Pompous than to be doing like their Predecessors CAP. V. Divers Forgeries contained in Isidore's Collection mentioned in particular Isidore as he now standeth set forth by Merlin has 50 Canons of the Apostles for pure and good Records many Decretal Epistles made as he pretends by the first Martyrs and Bishops of Rome very long and full of Popery He has two Epistles of S. Clement written to S. James Bishop of Jerusalem that was dead before S. Clement came to the Chair one to the Brethren dwelling with S. James and two others in his name He has four Epistles in the name of Anacletus who lived in the time of Trajan and sate in the Roman Chair An. 〈◊〉 In the last of which the Counterfeit Anacletus feigneth That all the Primacies and Archbithopricks in the World were divided and fetled by S. Peter and S. Clement that the Church of Rome is the Head and Hinge of all the Churches and that all the Patriarchal Sees were made such by vertue of S. Peter Antioch because he sate there before he came to Rome Alexandria because S. Mark came to sit there from S. Peter but Rome especially the first See because it is sanctified by the death of S. Peter and S. Paul As if our Saviours Death were nothing able to sanctifie Jerusalem as S. Peter's death was to sanctifie Rome though besides the Death of Christ Jerusalem hath this advantage that it is the first Church and the Mother of us all That you may a little discein the dealings of the Papists note here that Anacletus his first and second Epistles are cited by Bellarmine for good Records in the very same book where he confesseth them to be Counterfeits For though in one little passage they be confessed for the present satisfaction of a stiff Oppanent yet where men are minded to be corrupt they may serve
such a Crypta in any other Writers nor at least the smallest memory of this Place to be found Since we know that by great Earthquakes not only mountains and plains have lost their Situation and Name but the Desolation of some most ample Cities hath bin also made It is an unlucky Chance that this City should be swallowed up by an Earth-quake As ominous almost as the Burning of the Nicene Canons by the Arrians That other Place have been lost we know but no man knoweth that this City was lost nor is the least memory of it to be found Whereas such Strange Accidents being the 〈◊〉 Themes for the Trumpet of Famous such a Rarity had made it more remarkable than if it had continued until this Day Since Marvels chiefly busy the Pens of Historians That they should be Silent or its Name be shaken out of 〈◊〉 Books by an Earthquake is the greatest Miracle Story doth afford Inserting the Notes of Peter Crab and Surius he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 another reason fot which we reject that 〈◊〉 Be pleased to look back on Peter Crab and there you shall see his Premonition beginning thus Because of the intolerable and too too grievous Depravation of the Copies c The Collectio Regia hath rejected the old ones and for the smoother Convevance of that Council hath left them both out and recorded only the false one that was made in their Stead So may it come to pass in time that all the Barbarismes shall be forgotten and the well-mended but Spurious Copy be taken for the true Record They reject the old one for their Nonsence and we theirs for its Novelty Surius whose Premonition to the Reader Binius reserveth till after the Council yieldeth us another reason whereupon we refuse it It is pretty to see the Hypocrisy wherewith he admires the Care and Diligence of its first Compilers notwithstanding the Depravations and Corruptions of the same For he telleth us It seemed not good to the * Collector to pass over these things for the forementioned Trifles which our forefathers have with so much Labour and Diligence left us That is when you pull of the mask which Peter Crab the Collector out of some idle Monk or other set on work by the Church of Rome was pleased to record for the interest of that Chair though those little Trifles The in tolerable Difference and Depravation of the Copies would otherwise have hindered him The reason why he defendeth it moves us to reject it For they who being Zealous for the Bishop of Rome conceit these things to be 〈◊〉 by those who rival the Apostolical See as if it were unworthy of the Apostolical Chur that in great a Bishop should be brought to so 〈◊〉 a Pass as to Sacrifice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seem little to remember how Peter Denial did not hurt him or that there is joy among the Angeis over one Sinner that repenteth or that this very Marcellinus afterwards constantly met his Death for the sake of Christ and according to the Proverb sought manfully after he ran away However it be O Reader we would not have that concealed from thee which we have found in the Monuments of the Ancients leaving the Truth of this to the Records themselves and not prejudicating any mans Sentence by our Opinion His Reason why it may be held for a good and true Record is the safety of the Roman Chair not with standing it should be thought so And one of the Reasons why we so greatly suspect them is that very behaviour The advantage of the Roman See being the only Touchstone among them of Records and Forgeries By this very example you see that men as wise as Binius leave the Council Doubtful and by his Testimony you find that many Romanists renounce it So may you discern by the Crookedness of their Rule that they are fit to be suspected It is a very great Secret and warily to be discovered and that to none but friends but they that are zealous for the Bishop of Rome shape their Opinions by their Affections Some that are zealous conceit those things to be feigned because they think it unworthy of the Apostolical Chair that so great a Bishop should sacrifice to Idols While some of them that are zealous too for the Bishop of Rome because they remember how Peter's denial did not hurt him and know that the fear of the former might easily be removed with pretences enow think it better to retain this Council For there is joy among the Angels for a Sinner that repenteth and Marcellinus's Martyrdome is as glorious to the Chair as his Fall was disgraceful The one are afraid of the Popes Infallibility and because they think the Fall of Marcellinus in that respect too dangerous to be recorded would suppress the Council The other are zealous of the Popes Supremacy and because they would exempt him from all Superiours and make him uncapable of being judged by any record the Council And which is the Wisest that is the Question Not what is true but what is expedient While their Judgments are formed not according to Things but conveniencies Another reason why we reject this Council is because it containeth a Doctrine which no true Record of Antiquity teacheth but where with the Forgeries before laid open do extreamly abound And here the behaviour of Surius is a little further to be noted He avers that he found these things in the Monuments of the Ancients and yet is so dasht that he leaves the truth of them to the Records themselves What Records what Monuments what Ancients can these be that are fit to be suspected He will not prejudicate any mans Sentence by his opinion Which is a piece of Liberality in a 〈◊〉 that implies some extraordinary Cause not to be uttered Another reason of our opposing it is because it so notoriously wresteth the H. Scriptures That Place which is spoken of the general Account which all men must give at the Day of judgement being applied in particular to shew that no man may condemn the Pope Out of thine own Mouth thou shalt be justified c. Which being the Sole foundation on which they lay any stress is with somuch ridiculous Babling repeated that it would turn a mans Stomack and make him sick to peruse it But the Impossibility of the Thing is an Argument ad Hominem that may perhaps be more convincing For as they hold that no man may condemn a Pope So do they hold that no man but he can call a Council And though for Form-sake they ascribe the Power of Calling Councils in the Vacancy of the See to the Roman Clergy yet when a Pope is Alive they utterly deny it to them orany else Because the Pope is Supreme and be he Good or Bad can be judged by none By what Authority then did the Roman Clergy call this Council before the Pope was judicially deposed If the Roman Clergy take upon them to condemn him before he is heard his
Pragmatical Constitution we Decree them to be dispased and grant them to remain under the Right and Tenure of the H. Roman Church Poor Priests are fain to cheat the people by witty Miracles and small Devices at Shrines and Images for a little Silver and Gold The best of them can attain no more than Lordships and the Territories of Subjects As the Manours evidence which are given to our Lady of Loretto and those Lands which Jesuites squeeze out of dying men with the fear of Purgatory But the Pope and his Cardinals find it not suitable to their State and Dignity to juggle for less than Empires and Kingdoms and therefore soar high you see in the present Donation Wherefore saith the Emperour we have thought it convenient to change and remove our Empire and the power of our Kingdom into the Eastern Countries and in the best place of the Province Byzantium to build a City after our Name and there to found our Empire Because where the * Head of the Principality of Priests and of the Christian * Religion is ordained to be by the Coelestial Emperour it is not just that the Earthly Emperour should there have any Power Here is a high Career of notorious He resie and Blasphemy together S. Peter was called the Prince of the Apostles but the Pope is the Head of the Principality nor Head of the Priests only but of the Christian Religion which I think none but our Saviour can possibly be It smells rank of Blasphemy but that the Priestly and Imperial Power should be incompatible is Rebellion and Heresie It shews how incompatible Popish and Imperial Power is Yet all these things are ratified by other Dival Sanctions made by the Emperor though recorded no where as you may see in the words following BVT all these things we also have decreed and ratified by other Dival Sanctions and we decree them to stand unblemished and unshaken to the end of the World WHEREFORE we protest before the Living God who commanded us to Reign and before his Terrible Judgment by this our Imperial Constitution that it shall not be lawful for any the Emperours our Successors nor for any of our Nobles and Peers or for the most Ample Senate or for all the people of the whole World now or hereafter from hence in all Ages lying under our Empire by any means to contradict or break or in the least to diminish these things which by this our Imperial Sanction are granted to the Holy Roman Church or to all the Bishops of the same But if any Breaker or Contemner of these shall arise which we do not believe let him be knotted and ensnared in eternal Damnation and find the Saints of God and the Princes of the Apostles Peter and Paul Enemies unto him both in the Life present and in that which is to come and being burnt in the lower Hell let him perish with the Devil and all the wicked The great Council of Chalcedon consisting of 620 Fathers lies under this Sentence because they made the Patriarch of 〈◊〉 equal with the Bishop of Rome If Constantine the Great did make it with the consent of all his Nobles and the whole Senate before all the Princes and People of Rome as is pretended in the Donation It was too publick a thing not to be heard of and too remarkable to be let pass in silence Since therefore it is incredible that so many Fathers should wilfully fall under the Curse it is certain the whole Donation is a Counterfeit Howbeit as the Substance of the Act so the Ceremony is worth the observation But 〈◊〉 the Page of this our Imperial Decree we laid it with our own hands on the venerable Body of the blessed Peter Prince of the Apostles and there promising to that Apostle of God that we would inviolably keep all these things and leave them in charge to be kept by the Emperours our Successors we delivered them to our blessed Father Sylvester High-Priest and Universal Pope and to all the Popes his Successors the Lord God and our Saviour Jesus 〈◊〉 allowing 〈◊〉 for ever and happily to be enjoyed And the Imperial subscription The 〈◊〉 keep you many years 〈◊〉 and blessed Fathers Dated in Rome on the 〈◊〉 day of the Kalends of April Our Lord Flavius Constantinus 〈◊〉 th fourth time and Gallicanus being Consuls A NOTE No Emperour being ever accustomed to stile himself Our Lord c. Those words Our Lord Flavius Constantinus coming out of Constantine's own Mouth bewray the Donation as made by some other unless he were at the same time both his own Subject and his own Emperour CAP. XXII The Donation of Constantine proved to be a Forgery by Binius himself He confesseth the Acts of Sylvester which he before had cited as good Records to be Counterfeit THose things saith Binius in his Notes which are told concerning the Dominion and Temporal Kingdom given to the See of Rome are manifestly enough proved to be likely by what we said in our Notes upon the former Epistle as well as by the Munificence of the Emperour himself never enough to be praised Observe here the modesty of the man He ought to prove the Instrument itself but that he throws by and talks of the Dominion and Temporal Kingdom 2. Neither will he undertake to prove it certain but likely that the Dominion and Temporal Kingdom was given to the See of Rome 3. He cites his Notes on a counterfeit Epistle to make it likely For the Epistle going before was the Epistle of Melchiades which he confesseth to be a Forgery 4. The Munificence of the Emperour makes it probable that he gave away the Empire to the See of Rome If you will not believe this you are an hard-hearted man for Binius says it His Notes upon the former Epistle to which he refers you are these That the things which are written in this Epistle concerning the Donation of Constantine to Melchiades and Sylvester are true is proved not only from hence but most firmly also by the Authority of Optatus Milevitanus a most approved Writer For he writeth lib. 1. cont Parm. that Constantine and Licinius being the third time Consuls to wit in the year of Christ 313. a Council of 19 Bishops was held at Rome in the Cause of Caecilianus and the Donatists in the Lateran in the House of Fausta which was the Seat of the Roman Bishop Truly he doth not expresly write that the House was given to Melchiades by the Emperour but since no reason doth appear for which it is necessary that the Convention of 19 Bishops should require larger Rooms out of the House of Melchiades that wherein the foresaid Synod was assembled to wit the Lateran or House of Fausta can by no prudent person any more be doubted to be given by the Emperour to Melchiades the Bishop of Rome The Lateran is not so much as named in the Epistle of Melchiades but that he left
the Imperial Seat which the Roman Princes had possest and granted it to the profit of the blessed Peter and his Bishops Which considering what follows is far more fit to be understood of the Emperours leaving Rome and granting it to the Bishop whence they pretend he did go on purpose So that the agreement between Optatus Milevitanus and the Epistle of Melchiades is very small or none at all But admit that Melchiades and Optatus Milevitanus had said both of them that the Lateran was given to Melchiades what is that to the Dominion and Temporal Kingdom A single House instead of an Empire Though that the House was given Optatus Milevitanus doth not affirm even by Binius his own confession How the things in this Epistle should be concerning the Donation of Constantine to Melchiades and Sylvester is difficult to conceive because Melchiades was dead before the Donation was made to Sylvesier It is very unlikely therefore that Melchiades should make mention of that Donation His Epistle talking of Constantine his being President in the H. Synod that was called at Nice is a manifest Imposture Melchiades being dead before the Nicene Council as is before observed Yet hence it is proved that Constantine 〈◊〉 a Donation to Melchiades and Sylvester Binius holdeth fast the Donation though he lets go the Epistle Like a Lo gician who lets go the premises but keeps the conclusion For it is most firmly proved by Optatus Milevitanus What is proved by him That Constantine the Great gave the Lateran to Melchiades How is it proved Why he testifieth that a Council of 19 Bishops met in Fausta's house in the Lateran Truly he doth not expresly write that the house was given to Melchiades But it seemeth probable to Binius his imagination And so it is most firmly proved by Optatus Milevitanus a most approved Writer Thus those things that are told concerning the Dominion and Temporal Kingdom given to the See of Rome are manifestly enough proved to be likely by what we said in our Notes upon the former Epistle But it is better proved by the continual possession of those houses by the space of thirteen Ages until now as he afterwards observeth Though the length of an unjust Tenure increaseth the Transgression Having first proved the Donation he proceedeth thus Hoc Edictum à Graecis persidâ Donatione quâ juxta illud Virg. 2. Aeneid Timeo Danaos Dona ferentes donare solent acceptum mutilum esse ac dolosè depravatum hae rationes evidenter demonstrant These following reasons evidently shew this Edict of Constantine by the persidious Donation of the Greeks to be maimed and treacherously depraved He enters upon the business gently pretending at first as if the Donation were true that it was depraved by the Greeks But afterwards when he is a little warm in the Argument and somewhat further off from his Sophistical Defences he falls foul upon it as a Counterfeit and rejects it altogether as in the close will appear to the considerate Reader But here let us see what Arguments he produceth to prove it maimed and treacherously depraved 1. Because it pretendeth the Primacy of the Church to be granted by a Lay-man which was immediately given to Peter by God himself and by our Lord Jesus Christ as is manifest by those words Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church 2. The Emperour by this Edict is made to give a Patriarchal Dignity to the Church of Constantinople Which if it be true how then could Anatolius the Bishop of Constantinople be said to take the Patriarchal Dignity to himself long after even after the Council of Chalcedon was ended Leo Gelasius and other Roman Bishops resisting him How could the Church of Constantinople be a Patriarchal See at this time wherein even the name of Constantinople was not yet given to Byzantium 3. This Edict was first published by Theodorus Balsamon out of the Acts of Sylvester the Pope falsly written in Greek under the name of Eusebius Bishop of Caesarea not that he might do any service to the Church of Rome but that he might shew the Patriarchate of Constantinople to be the eldest Which Acts of Sylvester were not known till a thousand years after Christ coming then forth in Eusebius his name out of a certain Book of Martyrs but were now increased by the Addition of this Edict of Constantine His design is if it be possible to clear the Church of Rome of this too palpable and notorious Counterfeit And for that end he would fain cast it on the Treacherous Greeks that he might thereby acquit the more Treacherous Romans Which he further pursues in the clause following The new found Hereticks that oppose this Edict of Constantine translated out of Greek into Latine with such great endeavour and impertinent study let them know that in this they rather further our Cause than fight against us Who do our selves with Irenaeus Cyprian and other Holy Fathers as well Greek as Latine profess the Priviledges of the Church of Rome not to be conferred and given of men but from Christ to Peter and from Peter to his Successors Where the 〈◊〉 are so great we need not make a Remark on the common Cheat his vain Brag of the Fathers But this we may observe that whereas the Popes Claim is somewhat blind to the Prerogative which is pretended to be given to S. Peter Binius hints at a proper Expedient to make it clear For suppose our Saviour made S. Peter the Rock on which he built his Church How comes the Pope to be that Rock Since S. Peter being an Apostle immediately inspired and able to pen Canonical Scripture some of his Prerogatives were Personal and died with him He tells you that the Priviledge was granted from Christ to Peter and from Peter to his Successors So that it was not Christ but Peter that gave it to the Bishops of Rome Now it would extremely puzzle him to shew where Peter gave that power to the Bishops of Rome in what place at what time by what Act before what Witnesses All he can produce is S. Clement's counterfeit Letter and that miscarries But in opposing the Edict of Constantine the Protestants further their Cause rather than fight against them Is not this a bold Aslertion Their Popes have laid Claim to the whole Empire of the Western World even by this very Edict or Donation of Constantine And yet the Protestants did nothing when they proved it to be a Forgery This Donation is an old Evidence proving the Divine Right of Peter's Primacy and the Popes Supremacy Did they promote their Cause that proved it to be a Cheat Certainly they that have Fingers so long as to grasp at an Empire and Foreheads so hard as to claim it by Frauds will stick at nothing they can conceive for their advantage Is it impertinent to discover Knavery in the Holy Roman Catholick Church or Imposture in the Infallible