Church of Rome and for hindering his Legates from gathering a Council and refusing to come to Rome to answer it Epist. 32. He calls the King of France a ravening Wolf and unjust Tyrant Many great persons he forced to separate after Marriage because they were in the fourth degree of Consanguinity Epist. 51. He tells the King of Denmark that not far from Rome there was a Province possest by vile and sluggish Hereticks and desireth him to send his Son with an Army to conquer them What Province he meaneth I am not certain unless it was the Waldenses § 44. Reader we are greatly beholden to Binnius who hath recorded as Oracles 27 sentences called THE POPES DICTATES by which you may partly know what Popery is 1. That the Roman Church was founded only by our Lord. 2. That only the Bishop of Rome is rightly called Universal 3. That only the Pope can depose Bishops and reconcile them 4. That his Legates must preside in Councils though they be of inferior degree before all Bishops and may pass on them the sentence of deposition 5. That the Pope may depose those that are absent 6. That with those that are excommunicated by him among other things we may not dwell in the same house 7. That to him only it is lawful to make new Laws for the necessity of the time and to congregate new people of Canonical to make an Abbaty and contrarily to divide a rich Bishoprick and unite poor ones 8. That only he may use Imperial Ensigns or Escucheons 9. That all Princes must kiss the feet of the Pope only 10. That only his name may be recited in the Churches 11. That it is the one only name in the World 12. That it is lawful for him to depose Emperors 13. That it is lawful for him in case of necessity to remove Bishops from seat to seat 14. That he may ordain a Clerk from any Church whither he will 15. That one ordained by him may govern another Church and must not take a superior degree from another Bishop 16. That no Synod without his command may be called Universal 17. That no Chapter nor no Book may be accounted Canonical without his authority 18. That his sentence may be retracted by none and he alone may retract all mens 19. That he ought to be judged of no man 20. That no man must dare to condemn any one that appealeth to the Apostolick Seat 21. That the Greater causes of all Churches must be referred to him 22. That the Roman Church never erred nor as the Scripture witnesseth will ever err 23. That the Bishop of Rome if he be Canonically ordained is undoubtedly made Holy by the merits of St. Peter as St. Ennodius Bishop of Papia witnesseth and many holy Fathers confess as is contained in the Decrees of Pope Symmachus 24. That it is lawful for subjects to accuse by his Command and licence 25. That he may depose and reconcile Bishops without Synodal meetings 26. That he is not to be accounted a Catholick who agreeth not with the Roman Church 27. That he may absolve the Subjects of unjust men from fidelity These are put by Bin. among Gregory's Epistles p. 1196. as the Popes Dictates If I had not translated them from such an unquestioned Author that followeth Baronius some would have thought they had been but the forgeries of some Protestant accuser and that the Popes have no such tenents What one is here that is not false and how many of them are horridly arrogant The reading of them would tempt a doubting man to think that the Pope is the Eldest Son of the Prince of Pride exalting himself above all that is called God and arrogating Christ's prerogatives and therefore Antichrist If any would know what Popery is A great part of the description is here given you by their greatest Pope himself and by their chief Historians § 45. Much of his 4th Book of Epistles is to require Princes Prelates and People to forsake the Emperor and choose another and to excommunicate all that will communicate with him yet in his 11th Epist. he reciteth himself how lamentably with tears three dayes in the frost barefoot he begged for pardon and how the compassionate People thought the Pope hard-hearted and tyrannical for not yielding and that at last two Ladyes and an Abbot overcame him to absolve him § 46. Lib. 4. Epist. 28. He tells the Spaniards also that their Kingdom was St. Peter's property But why did he trouble himself to lay claim to particular Kingdoms Would not his claim to all the world serve turn for the particulars Lib. 5. Epist. 4. He clameth the Isle of Corsica § 47. That it may appear that the presumptuous usurpations of the Pope were not consented to by many Bishops he oft complaineth that many Bishops of France Italy and Germany were against him He abundantly chideth and threatneth several particular Bishops for resisting and disobeying him Lib. 6. Epist. 4. he writeth thus to the Bishop of Liege Having read the Letters of your Brotherhood we did not a little wonder that you wrote that which became you not in reverence of the Apostolick seat but that you did with biting invective reprehend me for absolving your Parishioner that lately came to us as if the Apostolick seat had not authority to bind and absolve whomsoever we will and wheresoever we will Know therefore that we are greatly moved against your temerity Indeed one of the tricks of the Papal ambition was to be the Asylum of all wicked fugitives that fled from Church justice in all Countries near them to shew favour to all condemned sinners that would but fly to Rome and appeal to them from the Justice of their Pastors yea and of their Princes too which made their friends to be rather many than good § 48. And the Church of Rome was not yet rich enough with all the Principalities it had got They still kept on the trade of enriching the Pope to save their souls Binnius p. 1233. honoureth us with a record among Gregory 7th Epistles viz. In the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost in the 6th year of the Pontificate of Gregory 7th I Marro Son of Gisler dwelling in the Dukedom of Spoletane for the Redemption of my own and my Parents souls do give deliver and offer to St. Peter Prince of the Apostles and on his Altar all that belongeth to me of the Castle called Moricicla c. Did Christ think how easily Rich men might be saved by giving to the Pope in the name of St. Peter when he said It was harder for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven than for a Camel to go through a Needle 's Eye § 49. Lib. 7. Epist. 3. He saith They that are Latines do all of them except a very few praise the cause of Henry and defend it and charge me with too much obstinacy and impiety against him And if the Latines did so what did the
Bishop of Mentz and his great agent even about this foresaid English Council which was to set up Church-Images and recommended him to many Christian Princes And why was all this and what was his rare merit He took this Oath to the Pope Bin. p. 178 In the name of the Lord Iesus Christ our Saviour in the Reign of Leo the great Emperour c. I Boniface Bishop by the Grace of God do Promise to thee Peter Prince of the Apostles and to thy Vicar Pope Gregory and his Successors by the Father Son and Holy Ghost the inseparable Trinity and this most Holy Body of thine that I will exhibite all faith and purity of holy Catholick faith and in unity of the same faith God operating will persist in which all the salvation of Christians is proved undoubtedly to consist and will no way consent whoever perswadeth me against the unity of the common and universal Church but as I said will exhibite my faith and purity and concourse to thee and to the Profits of thy Church to whom by the Lord the Power of binding and loosing is given and to thy aforesaid Vicar and his Successors in all things c. Nothing is more meritorious with a Pope or any Prelate of that Spirit than to be absolutely devoted to him and swear obedience to him Indeed they that are fully fallen from God as Satan is would be as Gods to the world themselves and have all men depend upon them and obey them § 7. What Arguments moved the Emperor to be against Images specially the 2d Commandment and how Gregory thought that it was not the Images of God and Christ and Angels and Saints that were forbidden you may see in his Epistles too long to be here recited § 8. Here Binnius inserteth three Roman Councils One cursing unlawful Marriages Another persuading Corbinianus to keep his Bishoprick who would fain have laid it down And a third for Images against the Iconoclasts the Emperor's Heresie § 9. Gregory 3d succeedeth Gregory 2d He sendeth his Epistles for Images to the Emperor The first Messenger durst not deliver them The rest were stopt at Sicily and kept Prisoners The Lombards infested Italy and Rome The Pope importuneth the French King for help Alphonsus is made King in Spain against the Saracens and first called himself Catholick King Two Councils Binnius saith were held at Rome for Images The Title of the second is Pro Imaginum Cultu for the Worship of Images An. 732. Image-worship was then avowed But the Eastern Churches did more obey the Emperor § 10. Pope Zachary coming next in whose time Italy was distressed by Luitprandus King of the Lombards who took four Cities from the Pope because he protected Trasimundus Duke of Spoleto The Romans helped Trasimund on condition he would restore to them the four Cities he performeth not his promise wherefore Pope Zachary turned to Luitprand and to win him Salutaria illi praedicavit saith Anastasius and he promised him to restore the four Cities For the performance whereof this Pope travelled to him himself noted by Anastasius as a great act of self-denial as venturing his life for the Cause of God that he would go to the King to ask for four Cities which he happily obtained § 11. In this Pope's time the Crown of France was translated from the King and his Line to a Subject his Major Domûs Charles Martell the great French Conqueror was the Pope's Patron against the Emperor who was his Sovereign Gratian. d. 16. q. 1. post Can. 59. tells it us as a matter of Church-credit that when he was dead he was damned to Hell much blood and defending Popes that rebel against their Sovereign are a very likely proof Carolomannus succeeded him who after two years Reign resigned his Crown and chose a Monastery Chilperic that came after proved very dull and sensual and giving himself to his pleasure let the business of Government lie most on the hands of Pepin who was his Major Domûs who thereby got the power and the respect that was proper to the King while the King grew into contempt And if Kings cannot keep up their Power and Honour by the meer dignity of their place without personal worth and performance why should Popes Prelates and Priests whose Power and Honour as a Physicians depend upon their Worth and Work expect to keep up their Power and Honour meerly by their Offices Pepin won first the Nobles of France and then the Pope For as Baronius and Binnius p. 197. tell us It seemed to the most Potent Pepin Major Domus and to the rest of the chief Men and to all the People that he that had not the Matter and Force of the Kingdom should not have the name of a King and on the contrary he that had the Riches Power and Virtue should also have the name of King And because these Princes and People were Christians they judged that these their Councils would neither stand ratified to Posterity nor be acceptable enough to God unless they received Authority and Force from the common Father and Pastor of the Christian Church the Vicar of the Lord Christ and Successor of St. Peter Therefore they send Legates to Rome to Zachary of whom Bishop Burchardus Herbipol was the chief who were to ask the things aforesaid of him He consented and decreed and wrote back that Chilperic being thrust into a Monastery St. Boniface should declare and anoint Pepin King in Germany and France Boniface Bishop of Mentz obeyed Pope Zachary and by the Authority of the See Apostolic deposed Chilperic called also Childeric and placed Pepin in his stead Thus Ieginhart in Vit. Car. Mag. Annal. Franc. an 751. Paul Diac. li. 22. Marianus Scotus li. 3. Regino li. 2. an 749. Sigebert in Chron. Lambert in Hist. Germ. Otho Frising li. 5. 21. Ado. aetate 6 fol. 213. Aimoinus li. 4. c. 65 c. Yea say they the Hereticks of our times deny not the History But they sharply impugn two circumstances The first is that it was a great wrong to Chilperic that the Kingdom was taken from him The second that the said Translation was made by the consent of the Council Nobles and Commons without the Authority of the Apostolic Seat Serarius proveth that the cause of the Translation of the Kingdom was just 1. Because all the best men did desire and wish it and did by their counsel and help co-operate to it 2. Because St. Bishop Burchardus did as Legate sollicite the Pope for it 3. Pope Zachary commanded it to be done 4. And the most Holy Boniface at the Pope's command did execute it 5. And being approved by Divine Testimony it is recited in the sacred Canons 15. q. 6. c. alius 6. And by none of the old Historians not praised or disallowed Only our new Hereticks that love Novelty Arrogance and Rebellion by their perverse judgment by Contumelies and Lyes disallow it And that it was by the Authority
so that then a Church was no greater than was capable of personal Communion Here this King being made by the Pope so far gratified the Clergy as to decree that Contemners of Excommunication should be banished And now the Keys do signifie the Sword and Church-Discipline is made another thing than Christ had made it The 13th Cap. is That no vacant Bishop meddle in another Bishop's Parish without his consent by what true authority then can the Pope meddle in other Mens Diocesses since the foundation of his humane authority in the Empire is subverted The 14th Cap. decreed That Men may use Horses and Chariots for Travel on the Lord's-day and get Meat and Drink c. but not do common work The 17th That no Clerk try his Cause before a Lay-Judge without the Bishop's leave § 29. Pope Stephen dying in the division at the next choice by all the People the stronger part chose Paulus a Deacon CCXXX in his time a German Council condemned Oathmarus Abbot of St. Gallus for Incontinence and put him in Prison where he dyed of Famine as Historians say maliciously upon false accusation § 30. At this time the Greeks accused the Romans for adding the word Filioque to the Creed And about that and Images they say there was some Synod at a Village called Gentiliace § 31. Pope Paul dying and the People having still the choice he that could get the greatest strength was in hope of so rich a Prey And Constantine Brother to one Duke Toto getting the strongest Party by fear compelled George Bishop of Praenestine with two more Bishops to make him Pope being first ordained Deacon he possessed the Popedom alone a year and a month Then one Christopher the Primocerius and his Son Sergius being powerful got out to the King of the Longobards and craved his help against Constantine as an Usurper and gathering some strength got into Rome killed Toto and caused Constantine the Pope and another Brother Paessivus to take Sanctuary One Waldipertus a Presbyter was of Christopher's Party and to make haste without Christopher's knowledge he gathereth a Party and they make one Philip a Presbyter Pope So there were two Popes Christophorus incensed swore he would not enter Rome till Philip was pull'd out of the Bishop's house which Gratiosus one of his Party presently performeth and Philip returneth to his Monastery Christophorus calleth the Clergy People and Soldiers together and by his means they chuse another Stephen and so there are three Popes The Actors being now in their zeal go to Theodorus a Bishop and Vicedominus that joined with Pope Constantine and they put out his eyes and cut out his tongue Next they attempted the like excaecation on Passivus Bishop Theodore they thrust into a Monastery and there while he cryed for a little water they famished him to death Passivus they put into another Monastery They took all their Goods and Possessions Pope Constantine they brought out and set on Horseback on a Womans Saddle with Weights at his Feet and put him into a Monastery How holy then were Monasteries Shortly after they brought him forth and Pope Stephen and some Bishops deposed him Then the Citizens were to make their penitent Confessions for owning him Next the Army goeth to Alatrum in Campania where Gracilis the Tribune that had been for Constantine is apprehended brought bound to Rome imprisoned and after his eyes put out and his tongue cut out After this Gratiosus and his Zealots go to the Monastery where they had thrust Pope Constantine and drag him out and put out his eyes and leave him blind in the street Next they go to their own Friend Priest Waldipertus and feign that he had laid a Plot with the Longobards to kill Christopher and send to apprehend him and when he fled for Sanctuary to a Temple they drew him out with the blessed Virgins Image in his hand even then when they were rebelling for the sake of Images but that would not save the Priest because he set up Philip for Pope they thrust him into a filthy Dungeon-hole but that was too good for him In a few days they drew him out and casting him on the earth put out his eyes and cut out his tongue and put him into an Hospital where he dyed of the pain And now Pope Stephen had no doubt a lawful calling to be Pope He sends his Legats to the King of France He brings forth blinded Pope Constantine to answer for his Crime who falling flat on the earth he lamenteth his sin as more than the Sands on the Sea-shore and professeth that the People chose and forced him to be Pope because of their sufferings under Paul But at his next appearance he tells them that he did no more than many other Lay-men did who invaded Bishopricks as Sergius Archbishop of Ravenna Stephen Bishop of Naples c. when they heard this all the Priests caused him to be buffeted and cast him out of the Church and burnt his Papers c. And the most holy Pope Stephen cast himself on the earth with all the Priests and People of Rome and with tears lamented their sin that they had taken the Communion from the hands of Pope Constantine it seems it is a sin to communicate with Bishops that are brought in irregularly by secular Power without due Election and they are no Schismaticks that refuse it And so they all performed their Pennance for it Anastas in ejus vita § 32. CCXXXI On this great occasion Pope Stephen being far unable now to call General Councils sends to the King of France to entreat him to send some wise Bishops to a Council at Rome who sent him about a dozen who with some others agreed against Constantine's Election and such other for the time to come and damned a Synod that Constantine had held and also passed their judgment for Images § 33. But here was a great difficulty such as often after happened Whether Constantine's Papal Acts were valid and the Council decreed that they should all be void except his Baptizings and his Consecrations And so those Priests that he Consecrated when they were after duely chosen officiated without a new Consecration Either he was a real Pope or no Pope If a Pope then by the Canons Stephen was no Pope and so the Succession there failed If no Pope then 1. How come his Consecrations to be valid 2. Are not Presbyter's Ordinations better than a Lay-mans 3. Then the Universal Church had no Head and so was no Church with them while Constantine was Pope § 34. A like Schism fell out at Ravenna The power of the Magistrate made one Michael Scriniary of the Church a Lay-man Archbishop the People being for one Leo whom they imprisoned He kept the place above a year but by the help of the Pope and the French the People rose and cast him out and brought him Prisoner to Rome and set up Leo. § 35. Christopher
Magistrate or Earls but he and all his Company shall obey the Bishop and come to him Cap. 10. No Bishop shall be Deposed but by twelve Bishops no Presbyter but by six Bishops no Deacon but by three Cap. 21. In Controversies Lay-men must swear but Clergy-men must not be put to swear Cap. 22. There is allowed Tryal by fire Per ignem Candenti ferro Caute examinetur § 6. CCCIV. A Council at Nantes made more disciplinary Canons § 7. Who was next Pope is not agreed Platina and Onuphrius say that Boniface was rightly Chosen and Reigned but twenty six days saith Platina or fifteen saith Onuphrius others saith Platina say twelve years Baronius and Binius saith that he was no Pope and that he did but invade the Pope-dome and was homo nefarius a wicked man twice before this Degraded First from his Deaconship and next from his Presbyterate Damned in a Romane Synod under John the Ninth He addeth that both of them Boniface and Stephen got the place by Force Fear and Tyranny and so it was but one Intruder that thrust out another Intruder But how then is the Succession secured Why it 's added Yet Stephen is numbred with the Popes by the common Sentence or Opinion because to avoid the danger of Schisme though he was homo scelestissimus a most wicked man yet all the Clergy approved bim and the whole Catholik Church took him for Christs Vicar Peters Successor How prove you that why because Fulke Bishop of Rhemes owned him A Noble proof that all the Christian World did so § 8. Say Barronius and Binius he began his Pope-dome with that Sacriledg as to take the Corps of Formous out of his Grave and cloathing him in his Pontifical Robes he set him in a Chair and saith Platina there judged him as no Pope because he had been first a Bishop which indeed by the old Canons nullified his calling For Formosus was the first Pope that had been before a Bishop as is said unless the Emporour Basil truly charged Macrinus with the same Having Expostulated with the dead man why he being a Bishop would take the Pope-dome he cut off his three four Fingers with which he had Anointed and cast them into the River Tyber and commanded that all that he had Ordained should be Ordained again and so Conform to him And they wonder with what face of Reason Onuphrius rejecteth all this as a Fable when the Antient Monuments Synodal Acts and Historians testify it Do you wonder at this why it is because he was not willing it should be believed a Reason that is not strange to your selves § 4. CCCV Pope Stephen called a Council in which his usage of Pope Formosus was approved Bin. ex Baron p. 1047 so ready were the Bishops to follow the strongest side in such things as the Papists mention with abhorrence And say they this portentum attended the Synod That the Laterane Church the chief Seat of the Pope by the impulse of an evill Angel fell down quite from the Altar to the doors the Walls not being able to stand when the Chief Cardinal Door was shaken with the Earthquake of so great a Villany § 10. But here the Authors calling us Novatores as if such Popes were of glorious Antiquity are hard put to it to Vindicate against us the Popes infallibility And how do they do it Why 1st They say that all that Stephen did against Formosus a man stricken with Madness did it fulfilling the perswasion of his boyling Rage But in the lawful use of his Papal Authority he defined nothing against Faith or good manners For the Bishops that were for this Cause called to the Council and the Presbyters not unlike to Stephen himself did prosecute Formosus with the same hatred and therefore pronounced that Sentence against him which they fore knew would be pleasing to a man smitten with Fury so that we confess violent Tyranny but no Errour in Faith defined or approved by him Lawfully using his Papal Authority And yet it were no prejudice to the Papal Seat if we grant that a false Pope not lawfully Chosen but invading and obtruded did err in asserting Articles of Faith Thus the Author Ans. 1. But if you grant this is not your Succession interrupted 2. And was your Church a true Church when an Essential part was Null 3. Howver was it the Holy Church when an essential Part was such a Villain 4. Will not your Argument as well prove every Bishop Priest or man Infallible For no one of them all can define falsly against an Article of Faith as long as he lawfully useth his Power For it is no lawful use of power that so defineth and belieth God 5. But is all your foundation of Faith come to this It is then but saying when ever your Pope and Church Erreth that they did not use their Power lawfully And what relief is that to the deceived How shall we know when your Popes have used it lawfully and when not and so what is true among you and what false 6. And were your Roman Council of Bishops and Priests all as bad as this Villainous Pope and ready to please him in their Decrees And was this a Holy Church and like to be an Infallible Council And must the World follow them 7. And how then shall we know that it was not just so with many other former and following Councils and that it will not be so with you again O miserable shifts against plain Truth § 11. The same great Authors after Luitpraudus l. 1. c 9. say that Stephen an Invader of the Papal Seat by the faction of the Nâ—bles against Adelbert Prince of Etruria was thrust into prison An. 900. and after he had been Pope Six Years being strangled in the same Prison ended his Days by Gods Vengeance in an infamous Death Yet Platina saith that he died the first Year and third month of his Reign and Onuphrius saith he sate one year two moneths and ninteen days § 12. It 's strang that Luitpraudus saith that Stephen condemned the Corps of Formosus for being a Bishop before when Platina and Onuphrius say that he himself was Episcopus Anagninus when made Pope § 13. And Platina saith that This Controversie against Formosus was great and of ill Examples seeing that after this it was almost always kept as a Custome that following Popes did either Infring or wholly undoe the Acts of those that went before them And yet were they Infallible § 14. The next Pope was called Romanus whose Life Platina thus Describeth Romanus as soon as he was Pope presently Abrogateth and Condemneth the Decrees and Acts of Stephen For these Popes thought of nothing but to Extinguish the Name and Dignity of their Predecessors than which nothing can be worse or the part of a narrower mind For they that trust to such Acts as these having no Virtue themselves endeavor to rase out the
contrite Confessor have been certainly pardoned without such formalities § 28. In divers following Sessions they prosecute Pope Eugenius and declare the Council at Ferrary to be but a Schismatical Conventicle and they establish these Catholick Verities or Articles of Faith Sess. 33. 1. That a General Council representeth the whole Church and hath its power immediately from Christ and that over the Pope and every other person and that this is a truth of Catholick Faith 2. That such a Council lawfully congregate may not without their own consent be dissolved prorogued or transferred and that this is an Article of Catholick Faith 3. That a pertinacious repugner of these Verities is to be judged a Heretick § 29. Sess. 34. They depose Pope Eugenius as a sentenced notorious obstinate persisting Rebel against the Precepts of the Vniversal Church and a daily violater and contemner of the Canons a notorious perturber of the Peace and Vnity of the Church of God and a notorious scandalizer of the whole Church a notorious Simonist incorrigible perjured person devious from the Faith a pertinacious Heretick with much more sucb § 30. Here I would crave the Readers consideration 1. If this extraordinary Great Council erred in all these matters of fact whether the judgment of a Council be a good proof of the Papists sort of Tradition 2. If they erred in these Articles of Faith whether it weaken not both their Tradition and grounds of their faith and whether such an heretical perjured Popes consent would have made them Infallible 3. Whether their General Councils be not contradictory de â—ide as this and that at Florence and Lateran expresly are 4. Whether a great part of the Church of Rome and their last named Councils be not Hereticks in the judgment of this Council 5. Seeing Pope Eugenius continued when the Council had deposed him as a Simonist and perjured pertinacious Heretick and all their following succession is from him is there not a nulliâ—y in that succession § 31. Sess. 36. They decreed the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary as a point of Faith and yet many of their Doctors take it yet as undetermined and many still are of the contrary mind § 32. After this follow Decrees about Election of a Pope and they make the Duke of Savoy Pope Faelix 5. and so we have two Popes again Onuphrius calls this the thirtieth Schisme He continued Pope above nine years and then resigned to Eugenius for Peace Sess. last They recite the Heresies of Pope Eugenius as against the foresaid Verities § 33. Next is added the Bull of Pope Nicholas the 5. approving the Acts and deeds of the Council at Basil And then are divers Synodical Epistles and Answers specially proving Councils above the Pope and against his Crimes and of the justness of his deposition very large as also against his Conventicle Council and against his Adherents that is most of their Church since with Answers to his Invectives and Monitories to draw men from his obedience In the Appendix are many more Epistles and Orations and a Treatise of the Patriarch of Antioch to prove the Pope above Councils There are many Epistles of the Pope against the Council and of the Emperour to the Council and of many other Princes § 34. The Bohemians Epistles place their main cause upon the four forementioned Articles I. The Sacrament in both kinds II. That the Word of God may be freely publickly and truly preached by those that it belongeth to for they were silenced c. III. That Civil Dominion they mean not all Propriety but Power of the Sword or force over mens Estates and persons which is the Magistrates as a deadly poyson be taken from the Clergy they spake from feeling IV. That publick and great or heynous sins may be extirpated from among the vulgar of the faithful by lawful Powers This was the Religion of the Bohemians and the denying of these was the cause of all their cruel Persecutions and the blood there shed § 35. In confutation of these Demands are adjoyned four Treatises of the four Preachers that spake against them What Cause so great or plain that men cannot talk against with many and confident words I. Ioh. Ragusius acknowledged the regulating sufficiency of the Scripture hath hath an Oration a Treatise against the Sacrament in both kinds II. Aegidius Carberius Decanus Cameracensis hath a Treatise four days Oration against their request for correcting heynous publick sins where much learning and reading is poured out to save sin And in particular it is maintained that the Clergy may not be punished by the Laity some few cases excepted not being therein their Subjects It seems the Bohemians would have had wicked Priests punished And it is specially pleaded that no wickedness of Clergy or Laity will warrant any Nation to separate from their Unity that is Roman Government and to that end the badness of the Church Militant to be endured is described When he cometh to the Popes pardons he denieth that Pardons à culpâ poena are usually the Popes stile whereas I have before cited their express words so speaking often And he honestly maintaineth out of the School-men that God only can give pardon à culpâ save as any Priest as instrumentum animatum may vi clavium dispose the receiver and declare Gods pardon and remit part of the temporal punishment but sometimes the Pope remitteth part of the Church-penances and so it is that Priests are said to forgive sins Mark this against our present Papists that reproach the Protestants for this Doctrine III. Next is Henr. Kalteisen a Dominican Inquisitors Oration against the free preaching of Gods Word by Ministers for this would have undone the Pope and his Clergy The Bohemians whom he confuteth maintained 1. That Gods Word is so perfect that nothing should be added or diminished 2. That the wickedness of Priests is the great cause of the peoples ruine 3. Against Venial sin as against Gods Counsels differing from Laws 4. That every Priest and Deacon is bound to preach Gods Word freely or else sins mortally and after Ordination he should not cease that is when he was forbidden by silencing Bishops or others no not when excommunicated because he must obey God rather than man and that Bishops are bound to preach as well as Presbyters The Answer first noteth that Papa non est nomen Ordinis sed Iurisdictionis that Gods Word is Incarnate inspired written that it is expounded by the same Spirit that inspired it But hath the Pope the same gifts of that Spirit That the Inspired Word is publick or private that the Bishops Decrees in Councils are Gods publick inspired Word see here the Enthusiastical pretence of Episcopal Inspiration is the ground of all the Roman Usurpations and tyrannies and deposition of Princes to them he applieth He that heareth you heareth me whence he gathereth the danger of disobeying that Council and so