was afterwards improved into that which all Bishops c. take at their Consecration § IX 1. The fourth Council of Lateran under Innocent the Third An. MCCXV is reckoned the twelfth General Council in order by Bellarmin Possevin c. Cardinal Pole with his Synod at Lambeth owns it for General they frequently mention it and never but under the Title of General though they do not put it in the same rank among the General Councils they profess however to receive and embrace the Faith of the Church of Rome according to the Decrees of the General Council of Lateran under Innocent the Third v Decret 2. The Council of Constance * Session 39. requires all Popes to make profession of the Faith established in the VIII Sacred General Councils whereof this is set down for one and the Council of Trent x Session 24. cap. 5. it self calls this a General Council The Great General Council of Lateran y Session 14. cap. 5. and makes use of its authority again z Session 21. cap. 9. and which is yet more to the purpose a Council of English Bishops held at Oxford a Conc. Tom. 11. Part. 1. A. MCCXXII cap. 24 28 29 33. not above seven years after acknowledge the Authority of this Council of Lateran and several times quote its Decrees In short as this is placed by Bellarmin among those Councils which are received with full approbation beyond all dispute by the Church of Rome so he looks upon it as no less than Heresie to deny the Authority of it and therefore when he has produced the third Canon of this Council in defence of the Deposing Doctrine against Barclay he cries out with great zeal and vehemence Quid hic Barclaius diceret si haec non est Ecclesiae Catholicae vox ubi obsecro eam inveniemus si est ut verissimè est qui eam audire contemnit ut Barclaius fecit annon ut Ethnicus Publicanus nullo mode Christianus pius habendus erit What can Barclay say to this if this be not the voice of the Catholick Church where I pray shall we find it and if it is as questionless it is he that despises to hear it as Barclay has done is he not to be look'd upon as an Heathen-man and a Publican and by no means a Christian or a pious Man This Widrington b Discussio Discuss Part. 1. § 2. p. 28. complains of as intolerably insulting others may rather think he speaks as a Cardinal when he was managing the Popes cause so victoriously from so infallible evidence For such is the authority and esteem in the Church of Rome of this Council that it is usually called The Great Council of Lateran either from the great number of Bishops in it or from the great importance of the matters decided or both The number of Bishops was no less than CCCCXII or in Bellarmin's reckoning CCCCLXXIII and among these were the Patriarchs of Constantinople and Jerusalem and the Delegates of the other two Patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch LXXVII Primates and Metropolitans besides DCCC Abbats and Priors these were all there in person and proxies were sent innumerable The Emperour likewise of Constantinople the King of Sicily Emperour of the Romans Elect the Kings of England France Hungary Jerusalem Cyprus Arragon and other Princes and Cities sent their Embassadours hither so that never was there such a show perhaps in the world again 2. The matters Determined both of Faith and of Discipline were extraordinary and of the greatest importance The Doctrines of Faith defined were Transubstantiation c Cap. 1. the Articles concerning the Holy Trinity asserted and vindicated from the errour of Abbat Joachim and those errours condemned and the Procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son declared d Cap. 2. The Deposing Doctrine established e Cap. 3. The Church of Rome declared to be the Mother and Mistress of all Christians universorum Christi fidelium and to have by God's appointment the Dominion over all other Churches of ordinary Authority by her extraordinary Prerogative f Cap. 5. 3. The Decrees in points of Discipline are in their kind no less considerable against the Incontinency of the Clergy g Cap. 14. against their Drunkenness h Cap. 15. against the Negligence and Debauchery of Prelates i Cap. 17. that no Clergy-man should give Sentence in Capital Causes k Cap. 18. Auricular Confession enjoyned once every year l Cap. 21. That no Clergy-man should take an Oath of Allegeance to any secular Persons unless he held some temporal Estate of them m Cap. 43. That no Clergy-man should be obliged to pay Taxes n Cap. 46. The manner of proceedings in Excommunications regulated o Cap. 47. The Prohibition of Marriages restrained to the fourth degree p Cap. 50. Clandestine Marriages forbidden and that Children of Parents married within the degrees prohibited declared illegitimate q Cap. 51. Against Simony r Cap. 63. and many other things of like nature which are of the highest consequence and fall under daily practice 4. All this one would think were sufficient to put the Authority of the fourth Council of Lateran beyond all contradiction or debate for who can imagine that a Council celebrated with so much solemnity which decided Controversies of so mighty concernment in the Church and determined things of continual use among all sorts and Orders of Men should not immediately meet with the most entire submission and always retain an undoubted Authority and veneration Thus much would have been due if it had not been infallible but being infallible what regard must every Age and every Nation and every Writer at least every Traditionary Christian pay to it yet this very Council so famous and so renowned in its Members so extraordinary in its Determinations and Decrees lay dormant unregarded and unknown till the year MDXXXVII that is till above CCC years after it was held 'T is very surprising that neither Innocent himself nor his Nephew and next Successour but one Gregory the Ninth who published his Uncle's Decretal Epistles and these very Decrees which now pass for the Decrees of this Council among the rest should put this forth among the other General Councils 't is strange that no other Pope or Bishop or at least some Canonist or other learned man should ever think of it but 't is yet more strange that Merlin in his Councils printed but three years before the fourth Council of Lateran was published should omit this though he sets down the Councils of Constance and Basil But when this Council did come to light with what Credentials did it come what evidence does it bring for its Authority is it printed from some ancient Manuscripts in the Vatican it might then be wondred how it should lie so long concealed never published never quoted nor mentioned but 't is a much greater
they would have Request made to the Pope to confirm the Council It is subjoined Responderunt Placet They all desire it And there is no mention of the least dissent and presently follows the dismission of the Fathers And after this manner have all the Editions been printed ever since without the least intimation that one Bishop demurred upon it h Richer ib. Ex quo patet Curiae Romanae propositum esse omnia delere atque supprimere Acta quae juribus suis usurpatis adversantur hinc etiam fit ut nulla Apocrypha pro veris legantur etiam in antiquis Conciliis Whence it appears that the Court of Rome is resolved to suppress and abolish all those Acts which shall contradict their usurped Rights and hence it is that many spurious things are read as genuine even in the ancient Councils I need pursue this subject no farther nor seek for Instances to make good this observation of Richerius his Testimony may suffice instead of a thousand Instances Nor shall I make any advantage of the many other great Corruptions wherewith partly through Ignorance partly with Design the monuments of Antiquity are defaced as the Authour of the Preface to Paul the Fifth's Edition of General Councils complains who was Sirmondus as i Praef. ad Conc. Cossartius informs us nor of the great alterations under that pretence made in innumerable places of the Roman Edition which have been retained ever since besides the carelesness of the several Publishers that has made the best Editions extreamly uncorrect which put Baluzius k Praef. ad Conc. Tem. 1. upon a new Collection And we have some better hopes of him if his skill in the Greek Tongue qualifie him for such a Work notwithstanding the sharp Contest that has been between him and M. Faget concerning Peter de Marca's posthumous Works or the undervaluing l Gerbais de Causis majoribus Character lately given him by a Doctour of the Sorbon PART II. § I. PApists are not agreed in the Authority of Councils I mean they are not agreed what Councils are General and what are not so They differ as much about the Councils as they do about the Notes of the Church For as Costerus assigns three Coccius five Bellarmin fifteen Bozius an hundred Notes so some assign more some fewer General Councils though the common computation proceeds no higher than to eighteen of such as are without exception As the seventh and eighth General Councils were not a long time received into the Professions of Faith which I shew in the seventh so the number of Councils recited in those Professions not exceeding eight as is manifest by those Professions in the Diurnus Romanus published by Garnerius shew that eight onely were looked upon as truly General and the rest not as of equal Authority Cardinal Contarenus in his short account of Councils written to Paul the Third and presented to him on his calling the Council of Trent or that of the delegated Cardinals in order to it he being one of the number reckons that for the eighth General Council which deposed Photius and the Council of Florence for the ninth not so much as naming any of the Lateran Councils but the last and not esteeming either this or that of Lyons under Gregory the Tenth nor that of Constance or Basil General though he does name them m Contarenus Sum. Conc. Edit Venet. MDLXII Cardinal Pole with his Synod at Lambeth under Paul the Fourth A. D. MDLVI calls the Council of Florence the eighth General Council though they own the fourth Lateran under Innocent the Third for General as they doe likewise the fifth Lateran n Decret 2. They mention the fourth of Lateran frequently and never but under the Title of a General Council and that of Lyons under Gregory the Tenth they mention under the same Character o Decret 3. Abraham Cretensis the first Publisher of the Council of Florence gives it the Title of the eighth General Council and so the Approbation of Clement the Seventh prefix'd to that Edition styles it and so Cardinal Pole with his Clergy account it So that this was the opinion of the Members p Launoy Epist part VIII ad Francisc Bonum of the Council and of the first Publishers of it and of our English Clergy in Queen Mary's Reign whereas in the common account new style the Council of Florence is the Sixteenth Merlin gives us but eight General Councils which are the first six with those of Constance and Basil In the Vatican Library as it now stands and was erected by Sixtus Quintus A. D. MDLXXXVIII where all the General Councils are represented in painting with Inscriptions to explain them there are but two Lateran Councils viz. Those under Alexander the Third and Innocent the Third q Angelus Roccha de Biblioth Vatican p. 200. Roccha in his Explications reckons the Council of Vienne the fifteenth and then proceeds to the Council of Florence which he calls the eighteenth as it is indeed computing the two intermediate Councils of Constance and Basil but Sixtus Quintus thought fit to take no notice of them in the Vatican but Roccha makes them up a full Score though the Councils of Constance and Basil be onely supposed not expressed in the number So many differing accounts we have concerning the number of General Councils to which may be added one more by taking in the Council of Arles as it ought to be in St. Augustine's opinion and in the opinion of Launoy Albaspinaeus Marca Labbé Sirmondus and others r Launoy confirmat dissert de vera plenarii Concilii ap Augustin notione p. 96. in which Council the Bishop of Arles presided to examine the Cause of the Donatists which had been before determined by the Bishop of Rome and his Synod they confirmed the Judgment past at Rome but would have as certainly nulled it if the Sentence had been wrong The two latter Editions of the Councils for awhile continue the Tale of them and the last continues it longer than the Royal Edition does but afterwards they break off and cease numbering onely giving us them as they come which may be a farther evidence how little certainty and exactness there is in any thing that relates to a Catalogue of General Councils It seems then we are at last reduced to that notable Expedient which is said to have been in a late Preachment proposed about the Sacraments If we must have Councils my Beloved let us take the greatest number and then we are sure to have all and so for the largest Bible and the largest Creed that we may be sure to have enough of whatever it be But because Bellarmin's number of Councils seems to be most in vogue I shall consider his eighteen which he assures us are all over Infallible and fully approved whereas there are half a dozen that have had the ill luck not to pass muster though they are pretty tolerable in the
main and we must take part and leave part as the Popes have thought fit but there is a third sort so abominable that they are utterly condemned § II. I shall examin what agreement there is amongst Papists concerning the Authority of the several approved General Councils The second Gen. Council at Constantinop circa A.D. CCCLXXXI secundum Richer part 1. c. 5. p. 169. And here we need not go far The second General Council it self as was before observed has not escaped For Baronius An. CCCLXXXI says that the fifth Canon of that Council was not received by the Church of Rome and he suspects it is forged Bellarmin says it was not consented to by the Pope ſ Lib. 2. de Rom. Pontif. c. 18. and therefore void so says Albertus Pighius t In Diatriba de Conc. 6 7. p. 279. and Coriolanus v In Summa Concil The four reasons which Baronius brings to invalidate its Authority Binius has transcribed into his Notes which Labbé and Cossartius have printed in their Edition without the least censure or animadversion but in the margin over against the Canon add a Note of their own referring to some Epistles of Leo which are quoted by Baronius to disprove its Authority Now the onely fault they can find with this Canon is that it makes the Bishop of C. P. next Primate to the Bishop of Rome for this reason because that City was new Rome which would make the Pope's power and greatness depend upon the Preheminence that the City of Rome held in the Empire not upon any Divine Right And for no better reason they reject the twenty eighth Canon of Chalcedon The fourth Gen. Council at Chalced. circa An. D. CCCCLI Richer part 1. c. 8. p. 333. and would undoubtedly have rejected all the Canons of the first four General Councils if they had stood in the way of the Pope's Authority For the fifth Canon of C. P. is in all Copies and there is no more cause to suspect it than any other Canon of the Council The twenty eighth of Chalcedon with those that follow it is wanting indeed in some Copies but this as well as that of C. P. must be owned by all in the Church of Rome that hold a Council above the Pope for if the major part of the Church is of sufficient Authority to make them so these Canons are as authentick as any in all the Volumes of Councils * Du Pin dissert 1. p. 57. For the honour and jurisdiction of the Patriarch of C. P. is founded upon the Laws of the Empire and the consent of the universal Church The fifth General Council held at C. P. An. Do. DLIII and these Canons have generally been so far owned as to be inserted into the Books of Canons § III. The fifth General Council held under the Emperour Justinian about the middle of the sixth Century was opposed by Pope Vigilius x Baluz Nova Collect. Conc. Tom. 1. col 1546. to the utmost till he was forced to submit and retract his Heresie to recover himself from Banishment From whence a Query will arise How a Papist can be better assured that this Council is true than that it is false or Whether a Council can be first false and then without the least alteration in its Doctrine Infallible or How long time a Pope's Sentence must be past before its Effect of Infallibility be produced Whether one Pope may not retract another's Sentence as well as the same Pope his own And if so Whether Innocent the Eleventh for instance may not retract the Sentence of Pius the Fourth and so vacate the Council of Trent § IV. Albertus Pighius wrote a Book y Diatriba de Conc. 6 7. on purpose to prove the sixth and seventh Councils both forged The sixth Gen. Council held at C. P. circa An. Do. DCLXXXI vel ut alii putant DCLXX. Richer Hist Conc. Hist Gen. p. 1. c. 10. p. 525. The seventh was then newly published but from what Copy or upon what Authority he says was unknown Franciscus Turrianus undertook their defence Bellarmin is for compounding the business and is inclined z De Rom. Pontif. l. 4. c. 11. to think that many Forgeries may indeed be crept in Binius follows him onely he is more positive as his manner is to give us something that is his own Labbé and Cossartius let his Notes pass without censure All the stir is that the sixth Council condemned Pope Honorius for a Heretick and the seventh approves the Sentence and several times anathematizeth him whom these men would willingly acquit though there be as much evidence for it as can well be for any matter of Fact. The Anathema against him was solemnly pronounced every year till of late on the Festival of St. Leo the Second and every Pope anathematized him in the Profession of Faith which he made at his Consecration and sent it to the other Bishops a Garnerli Liber Diurnus in Professione Fides secundâ dissert in eandem Launoil Epist part 5. ep 2. p. 12. c. The Arguments of Baronius to prove the sixth Council corrupted are now laughed at b Du Pin dissert 5. p. 350. though F. Combesis c New Heresie of the Jesuites p. 91. was violently treated by Raynaud a Jesuite not long ago in a most malitious Satyr against the whole Dominican Order onely because he had exposed Baronius on this subject But Garnerius endeavours to palliate the matter by saying He was condemned onely for favouring Hereticks and conniving at them Natales Alex. formally proves d Sec. 7. that he spake like a Heretick and acted like a Heretick and communicated with Hereticks and yet at the same time proves he was no Heretick So impossible is it for Popes to be Hereticks For any other Bishop had certainly been an Heretick though he had done but half so much But Du Pin e Dissert 5. p. 349. has confuted all this Sophistry and so 't is to be hoped that now these Councils may be genuine in France where Honorius is an Heretick or at least anathematized for a Favourer of Hereticks but of what credit they are at Rome as to this Point is easie to be imagined He will scarce pass for a true Catholick there who had not rather part with two Councils than one Pope § V. But here we must not omit the Dispute betwixt the Greeks and the Latins concerning the Council in Trullo Synodus Quinisexta in Trullo circiter An. Dom. DCLXXXI secundum Labbé in Tom. Conc. called Synodus Quinisexta because it was a kind of Supplement to the fifth and sixth Councils The Greeks maintain against the Latins that this Council was General they alledge that the Pope's Legates were present and subscribed its Canons which the Pope himself indeed afterwards refused to doe but the Council styles it self General and if want of the Pope's approbation could
that he had communicated with Photius and had deposed Ignatius but not a Syllable of any Bribe mentioned Rhadoaldus y Epist 7. Col. 289. 10. Col. 355. the other Legate stood out still and would not confess nor would by any means be persuaded to abide his Tryal but fled for it notwithstanding all the kind words and promises of fair dealing the Pope could give him though in the thirteenth Epistle they are said both to confess the Fact z Col. 381. and afterwards Rhadoaldus flies So little is there to be relied upon in the Invectives against Photius This is certain not a Act. 1 2 3. a Bishop was suffered to sit in the Council called to depose him till he had first subscribed a Writing sent thither from the Pope wherein they denounced Anathema to Photius and condemned his Councils and owned those against him then it can be no wonder if they libel him in the most bitter manner calling him by all the ill names they could think of and treat him in such Terms as could not become them to use whatever he might deserve that nothing might be wanting to the keenness of their malice they made Iambicks upon him which Anastasius has taken care to translate but the Greeks were ashamed of them for their Copy tells us they were ill Verses and so it has omitted them but Anastasius b Act. 7. in sin had no such nice Stomach he knew no distinction of good or bad so they were but against Photius At the end of the ninth Action the Greeks it seems were not so witty in their own malice but Anastasius has supplyed that defect and added some Rhimes of his own I mention this the rather for the honour and antiquity of this way of confutation because a late Authour has turned all the Papists Arguments and all their Railery too into Rhime In Conclusion c Nicetas in vita Ignat. ap Labbé Conc. Tom. 8. the Fathers subscribe his Deposition not with Ink but with Wine consecrated in the Sacrament which is a surer sign of the hatred they bare to Photius than of their belief of Transubstantiation for what malice could transport men to so extravagant Impiety as to profane our Lord 's own bloud to such a use What the Proceedings of this Council were may be sufficiently understood from this which has been but intimated out of it and I need not refer to the account Photius gives but to the Acts themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Phot. Epist 118. And if hitherto they were not daring enough yet it was an unexampled thing to change the Ambassadours and Servants of impious Saracens into High-Priests and to give them the precedency of Patriarchs and to set them up as Heads of their wonderfull Assembly to observe their heat and fury against him He complains of great terrour and violence used in the Synod and that certain Embassadours from the Saracens were received there and took their places as Patriarchs of the East And there is still exstant d Philippi Cyprii Chron. Eccles Graec. cum Com. Henr. Hilarii p. 137. an Epistle of Elias Patriarch of Jerusalem which confirms the Truth of what Photius says in this matter He makes frequent Complaints in his Epistles of the hardships and miseries which himself and his Party endured and declares how unwillingly he entred upon the Patriarchate and professes that if it had been in his own Power he would sooner have chosen to dye than to venture on so high and difficult a station and was now ready to resign and he makes these complaints not to any friend at a distance from Court or who could be a stranger to his Affairs but to Bardas the man who is said to have conspired with him to get Ignatius deposed if that were true what need could he have to make such pressing solicitations to one so deeply engaged in his Interest and how ridiculous would such Protestations be could he be so forsaken of all modesty and common sense as to tell the very man e Epist 3. 6. who contrived the whole business with him how great a force and reluctancy he had upon himself in consenting to be made Patriarch Theophanes f Epist 83. his Deacon and Prothonotary was put to the Torture that by any means he might be compelled to accuse Photius which he afterwards lamented and besought his pardon Photius g Epist 174. gives a large description of his miseries in an Epistle which he wrote to the Bishops while he was in Banishment And all this he suffered for his Loyalty h Zonar Annal Leo Grammat Chronograph to his Prince for he was deposed because he refused to receive Basilius to Communion after he had murthered Michael the Emperour Whoever considers his unshaken Loyalty and reads his Writings will not easily believe that he could be so notorious a Villain as he is represented but if so much wickedness could meet in one man in one Bishop yet how improbable is it that the whole Greek Church should respect and reverence this Bishop as a Saint or that Pope John the Eighth after his cause had been so narrowly examined and his Enemies had said and done their utmost should yet think him a man of an orthodox Faith and an unblameable Life and compare him to St. Athanasius St. Cyrill and St. Chrysostome But he had discovered that his Predecessours had been imposed upon or that something more severe must be said of them and so are all those imposed upon or would impose upon others who give us so monstrous a Character of so excellent a Man. He is charged with having corrupted the Acts of the Councils which restored him and particularly those passages which import that this fourth Council of C. P. was cancelled by that But is it a sure proof of Corruption and Forgery if Copies differ as the Greek and Latin Copies often do The next Question will be where the Forgery lies and who is to be taxed with it To go no farther the Version of Anastasius and the Greek Original of this fourth Council of C. P. differ very much for besides other Variations there are twenty seven Canons in the Latin and but fourteen in the Greek yet both of them must pass for authentick enough though the seventeenth of the additional Canons will give the French some pains to reconcile it to the practice of their Church For it appoints that all Metropolitans shall meet in Council at the summons of their Patriarch notwithstanding any prohibition from the secular Magistrate and that Princes should not be present in any but General Councils both which are contrary to the Practice of the French Church For their Princes are wont to be present in their National and Provincial Synods and their Bishops if they be detained by command from the King think that a sufficient excuse for absenting themselves from any Synod their Patriarch shall call them to Two eminent
in an Exception to reserve the Liberties of the Gallican Church entire And in the e Id. p. 348. Low Countries when Margaret Dutchess of Parma then Governess there required the Magistrates of every Province to make search whether any thing in the Decrees of the Council of Trent were contrary to the Rights of his Catholick Majesty or to the ancient customs of their Countrey they animadverted upon several Chapters particularly upon C. 5. Sess 24. which the French likewise particularly except against and they said it was an Innovation and the King might insist upon his Ancient Right 3. I think nothing can be a greater Evidence that this Council was not General than the opposition of National Churches in behalf of their particular Privileges in points of Reformation for a General Council may undoubtedly prescribe to particular Churches in matters of Discipline as the first General Councils did and oblige them to a compliance for the peace and benefit of the whole and the Council must be judge what is most conducing to that end To deny this Authority to a General Council is plainly to lay its Authority quite aside and to receive onely as much of it as particular Churches shall think fit for it were an extravagant thing to demand absolute obedience and submission in matters of Faith when points of Discipline are insisted upon against the express Decrees of the Council a Council may err in Doctrine but if it have any Authority this must extend at least to points of Discipline which are in themselves indifferent and may be altered as it shall seem most conducing to the good of the whole Church * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb de Vita Constantini lib. 3. cap. 20. Constantine after the Council of Nice not onely determined the Controversie against Arius but the time of keeping of Easter and other things of Order and Discipline to which all Churches submitted whatever eager Debates they had had amongst themselves before The erecting the Churches of Constantinople and Jerusalem into Patriarchates and the settling of Church-Government was performed in the four first General Councils yet nothing was objected against the Authority of Councils in such Affairs nor did the Churches placed under the Patriarchates of Jerusalem and Constantinople insist upon their particular Privileges onely the Church of Rome was unwilling to have Constantinople equalled to her self and therefore made a troublesome but fruitless opposition in the Council of Chalcedon 4. But if at this day the Church of France be so jealous of her Privileges in matters of Discipline we have much more reason to be carefull of the Privileges of our common Christianity in matters of Faith if she insist that her Bishops have Authority to decide the Causae Majores i. e. all Debates arising whether in matters of Faith or Discipline according to the Decrees of General Councils how can it be denied us to defend the Ancient Faith according to General Councils truly such if they reject the Decrees of Reformation how shall we subscribe Pope Pius's Creed nay how shall they subscribe it not by virtue of any obligation from this Church but because they otherwise think the Articles of it True and for the contrary reason we cannot subscribe them because we think them false so that the Authority of the Council of Trent is really laid aside on both hands and the merits of the cause must be the onely thing in Debate For to say that a General Council properly speaking cannot abridge a particular Church of her Privileges is to say that a particular Church is above a General Council or at least exempt from its Jurisdiction This is well enough understood at Rome where Gerbais's Book in defence of the Gallican Privileges is condemned § XVIII I have done now with their Councils and have shewn how far Papists themselves have been from thinking them infallible or from acknowledging most of them to be General whatever credit they may have gained by the ignorance and superstition of latter Ages when every Assembly of Bishops greater than ordinary was esteemed a General Council and every General Council voted it self infallible For 't is certain that in the most ignorant Ages they first fansied themselves infallible and then took the liberty to say and doe what they thought fit and so imposed many superstitious conceits and gainfull Projects on the world for infallible Truths It now remains onely to consider whether we can meet with any better satisfaction from the consent of the present Roman Church and to enquire whether there be any expedient to reconcile these differences concerning the Authority of their several Councils But here we are so far at a loss that we find them in nothing more disagreeing than in the very Fundamental Point upon which all the Authority of Councils depends and so disagreeing in this they must be at an eternal disagreement concerning the Councils themselves For some making the Pope above a General Council others a General Council above the Pope and a third sort making them co-ordinate those that place infallibility in the Pope alone have little reason to regard a Council and those that place it in a Council alone do upon occasion as little respect the Pope or judge of General Councils by Bellarmin's Rule and seek no farther than for the Pope's confirmation but those that think it is in neither separately can acquiesce in the Determinations neither of Pope nor Council unless they both concur unanimously in their Determinations and whoever make the Church diffusive to be the Judge of what Councils are General and what are not so are still at a wider difference from all the rest § XIX Our English Papists seem generally to be of the last Opinion placing the Authority of the Church in the Agreement of the Pope with a General Council but making the Authority of General Councils to depend upon the Reception of the Church diffusive hereby placing the Authority Executively onely in General Councils confirmed by the Pope but fundamentally and radically in the Church upon whose Approbation all depends but by Church they understand onely the governing part of it and such as would have had a right to vote if they had been assembled in Council This is the Doctrine advanced in the Book so much valued by our English Papists The Guide in Controversies and because this way has most Artifice and Amusement in it they are willing to put the issue here though most of their Priests must needs have great Prejudices against it from a foreign Education For the French are of the second opinion and the Pope with all his Adherents of the first How well the Guide's Hypothesis has been accepted abroad I am not able to say but it will be best guessed at by the contest that has been about the two other opinions whether the Parties seem inclinable to admit of the Guide as a Reconciler § XX. The Jesuites are for no less than a Personal
such a Cause should dye with Maimbourg and no body else should be found to defend the Roman-catholick Church of France against the Catholick Church of Rome Schelstrate quotes Nine Manuscripts of the Council of Constance and Maimbourg Ten and which is very surprising the Manuscripts on both sides have all the Appearance of being Authentick which can be desired if we may believe one of our own Church who is a very able Judge in those matters But Maimbourg has out quoted him by one and whether it be in confidence of this odds or for some other reason he is positive that the Decrees of a General Council are valid without the confirmation of the Pope § XXII Thus we see that notwithstanding the glorious pretensions to Unity and the Advantages of an Infallible Church so much magnified the divisions concerning Infallibility are so many and so great that it is onely a fine pompous thing that may serve them to boast of but is otherwise of no use For we have at this day the Jesuites against the Jansenists M. Schelstrate against M. Maimbourg and Nine Manuscripts against Ten the Archbishop of Gran against the Archbishop of Paris and the Synod of Hungary against that of France Amidst so much opposition how shall we hope to find any agreement The grand Debate between these two contending Parties is whether the Pope or a General Council should have the Preheminence There is but one way more of disagreement possible in this matter which is that neither Pope nor Council is superiour but that the joint Definitions of both are infallible this way the Guide in Controversies and his Followers here in Iâ—â—gland take If the nature of the thing would admit any more differences of opinion they would undoubtedly be as numberless as they are opposite in a dispute which has so much of Prejudice and Interest and so little of Reason or Scripture in it Neither is there any way to reconcile these contrary Doctrines unless they would all conclude in that which they all help to prove viz. That there is no such thing as an Infallible Judge or Guide here on Earth The Pope in the mean while whom one would think it most concerns to interpose his Authority and decide the difference yet sits by as Neuter countenancing and encouraging the one but not by any Authoritative Act disavowing the other opinion And indeed how is it possible for him by his Authority to decide the Controversie when his Authority is the very thing in controversie When I say there is no way besides of disagreement possible in this matter I speak onely of the Point now before us and would not be thought by any means to exclude the Infallibility of Oral Tradition nor the Infallibility of the Church diffusive including every member of it nor any other Infallibility which can be named but these are disliked as much by Papists abroad as they are by Protestants at home and are utterly inconsistent with the Authority of Councils § XXIII From what has been said I suppose it evident that General Councils cannot be relyed upon as Infallible if there were no other reason against it but this that it is so uncertain and doubtfull which Councils are General And I can foresee nothing that can be objected against this Consequence but that the Council of Trent comprehends all the rest and is instead of All. Which indeed magnifies the Council of Trent very much but is not so much for the credit of all the General Councils before it for besides that the Council of Trent grounds many of her Definitions upon the Authority of General Councils that went before I conceive that all who lived three hundred years ago were as much concerned to know what Councils were General as any Body can be at this day and an Infallibility which could be of little or no use till since the Council of Trent is something suspicious unless we had better proof than the Authority of that Council to recommend it I have shewn that that Council it self is not received in France as a General Council but onely its Doctrines acknowledged for true as they were acknowledged they tell us before the Councils sitting for any thing farther they desire to be excused And how can that Council be General enough to be Infallible which is not so far General as to oblige a particular Church in points of Discipline 'T is apparent from the account I have given of them that we have but the four or almost but the six first General Councils without Exceptions and those most of them very considerable too so that when all is done we have no reason that I can see not to be contented with our ancient Creeds and the Councils of the first Ages which have been acknowledged by all because they teach the Faith necessary to the Salvation of all while others who have taught some particular fancies have found a suitable reception § XXIV But if all the eighteen Councils were as General as they are pretended to be yet it is no good Consequence that they are infallible I could never yet see any Grounds from Antiquity to believe the Infallibility of General Councils I am sure St. Austin k De Baptismo contra Donatistas lib. 2. cap. 3. could believe no such thing when he affirms that later General Councils may correct the Errours of the former in that known place Nor Gregory the Great l Lib. 1. Epist 14. who equals the four first General Councils to the four Gospels but none besides and thereby puts a manifest difference between General Councils and so could not hold all to be infallible If we meet with high Expressions in the Fathers concerning the extraordinary assistence of the Holy Ghost in General Councils I know no man but will acknowledge it if they say that the Holy Spirit did effectually guide them in the Truth this is no more than we always profess to be believe that the First Councils did determine Infallible Truths and so were not mistaken in their Determinations but it is but an ill consequence to say that they could not be mistaken because they were not or that all succeeding Councils cannot possibly err because the first Councils actually did not err § XXV It is not pretended that General Councils are Infallible in matters of Discipline yet I am confident many Expressions of the Ancients run as high for these as for matters of Faith. The first Council that ever was that of the Apostles themselves Act. XV. was about matters of Discipline and as the Apostles there write It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us so the following Councils were persuaded they had immediate directions from the Holy Ghost in things of this nature which made the Emperour Constantine the Great and the Council of Nice it self urge the uniform observation of Easter in the same Terms and from the same Arguments that they used to enforce the Nicene Creed And afterwards Leo the
subreptum est illis nullus contra eum subscriptiones vestras occasionem Schismat is habeat omnia enim ut infecta irrita facimus c. Ivo Carnut Prolog p. 5. had yet been received into Communion by another Council much more ought men of an orthodox Faith and an unblamable life not to be condemned but restored to their former dignity which must suppose Photius to be a man of an orthodox Faith and an unblameable Life or else we must suppose his Argument nothing to the purpose But he proceeds to say that his Predecessours Nicholas and Adrian had been imposed upon and that all that had been done against Photius was to be accounted as if it had been never done Nor doth this depend upon Ivo's Authority onely but the second Canon of the Council which restored Photius is inserted by Gratian as a Canon of the eighth General Council for which he is severely handled by Baronius though others of the Roman k Rader apud Binium Conc. Vol. 8. Col. 1496. Communion have been wavering as to this matter and have written uncertainly and confusedly about it and Innocent the Third l Lib. 1. tit 9. c. 11. himself quotes the same second Canon in his Epistles 4. Baronius notwithstanding Raderus and Possevin whose Arguments Binius has collected in his Notes and generally the whole Roman Church are for maintaining the Authority of this fourth Council of C. P. and this is the last of the eight General Councils which every Pope is sworn to at his Consecration m Vid. II. Profess fid apud Garnerium in Diurne They argue that the Acts of that Council which restored Photius are corrupted which is a sure Argument when there is nothing else to say Well but they prove it from John's Epistles which are quite another thing in the Vatican MSS. than they are in these Acts but how does it appear that these Epistles are more authentick than the Acts why because these have been abused by Photius and how does that appear because Photius was a Villain as he was indeed one of the greatest Monsters of impiety that ever lived if all be true that his Enemies relate of him They say that his Mother when she went with child of him dreamt that she should bring forth a Serpent which with his noisome Breath should infect the whole East and many holy Men foretold the same thing in plainer language to her that she should be delivered of one who would be the ruine of the Church this troubled her so much that she often endeavoured to destroy her self rather than that such a Brat should ever be born into the World but her Husband prevented the design and she was at last persuaded by devout People about her to submit to the Providence of God so she was prevailed with to live and to her great sorrow was Mother of a Son who outwent all these Prophecies For the Legend must not end here He was an Impostour and used Enchantments he got Ignatius removed out of his Patriarchate and himself placed in his room he bad defiance to Popes and when they excommunicated him to be even with them he excommunicated them again when they deposed him he deposed them and never was behind-hand with them in any kind offices and this is thought to have been his greatest crime though besides n Bin. Not. ad Con. IV. C. P. ex Possevin Rader c. Col. 1498 c. he held that a man has two souls while his enemies acted as if they thought men to have none The Popes it seems had every one a touch at him in their turn for he was condemned by nine Popes and was under Excommunication XLV years o Conc. Tom. 8. col 1423. which is somewhat longer I think than F. Widrington or F. Walsh All this to be sure made him an abominable Schismatick p Ibid. Col. 1108. a Fornicator a Parricide a notorious Liar another Maximus q Ibid. Col. 1098. Cynicus another Dioscorus another Judas Antichrist r Anastas Praef. ibid. Col. 967. To speak all in a word he was a very Devil 5. After this heavy charge what wickedness can be imagined that will not be believed of Photius 'T is none of my business at present to make his defence which would be now the more difficult to be done because all f Vid. Can. 6. Col. 1101 1130 1354. the Acts and Writings for his Justification were sought out and burnt in this fourth Council of C. P. 'T is sufficient for me to observe that Pope Nicholas at first interposed as an Indifferent Arbitrator between him and Ignatius which sure he would never have done if Photius had been guilty of so notorious Crimes he was mainly concerned that himself had not been consulted as for any thing else 't is not easie to observe which side he most inclined to He writes to Photius and tells him he is glad to understand that he is orthodox but is sorry he should from a Laick immediately become a Bishop without passing through the inferiour Orders and this is the onely exception against him His Legates so far approve Photius's Cause that they communicate with him and condemn Ignatius for which indeed they were excommunicated when they came home because the Pope said they had gone beyond their Commission whether this were onely a pretence or that they had really exceeded their Orders In his Epistles to the Emperour as well as to Photius the Pope finds no other fault but that of a Laick he ought not to have been made Patriarch though there had been so late an Example of this in Tarasius besides Saint Ambrose and Nectarius So that the plain truth is Pope Nicholas would have the whole matter reserved to his own decision and he should be the Patriarch whom Nicholas would appoint To say that Photius t Praef. ad Syn. 8. init usurped upon Ignatius is but a Cavil for Ignatius had served John so before as Anastasius confesses and Nicholas v Nich. Ep. 5. does not deny it onely he again urges that himself ought to judge between them In his Epist to Bardas * Ep. 12. he compliments him highly telling him he was exceedingly troubled that a man of his extraordinary character for vertue and piety should be concerned for Photius which sufficiently overthrows the slander that the deposition of Ignatius was procured because he would not approve the Incest of Bardas but excommunicated him for it Pope Nicholas is not consistent with himself in the account he gives of the behaviour of his Legates in this affair sometimes he writes that they informed him * Ep. 6. that they were under restraint and were told of very hard usage designed them but this was onely Rumour in another Epistle he writes that they had been bribed to communicate with Photius and to depose Ignatius but that they both denyed they had done any such thing till at last Zacharias confessed
into other causes Holstenius would not allow this to be the rise of the Schism but Pet. de Marca p Concord Imp. Sacâ—rd lib. 1. § 4. cum Baluz observ Prolegom p. 1â— defends himself against his objections and maintains what he had before asserted that no other cause could be assigned Baluzius adds that he might have said farther that the Popes of Rome were in the fault and could never justifie their pretensions which had been no more says he than our Ancestours have said before as he there shews by particular Instances We see that Pope John's Epistles are as fully for abrogating this Council in Ivo Carnutensis as Photius could make them though he had endeavoured it never so much and for my part I cannot believe that Photius was so much concerned for the Pope's Approbation as that he would be at the pains to falsifie the Acts of a Council upon that account he q Anast Praefat col 967. had excommunicated and deposed Pope Nicholas and though he was himself afterwards deposed yet was he restored without the Pope's leave or knowledge onely the Pope had some hopes of having his pretensions to Bulgaria succeed and upon that sent to ratifie what he could not hinder but when he r Bin. ex Baronio Conc. Tom. 9. col 326. found himself mistaken in his design and Photius the same man still he fell foul upon him as his Predecessours had done Now cannot I be persuaded that Photius if he could be so base and wicked as to make a thousand Forgeries would yet doe it here when he could not hope to be undiscovered or would condescend to use such vile and foolish Arts onely to countenance his proceedings with the appearance of that Authority which he had in so much scorn and defiance This would be as if Archbishop Cranmer after he had renounced the Pope's Supremacy should have falsified the Bulls which the Pope dispatched hitherto for his promotion to the See of Canterbury The Greeks we have seen looked upon this as the healing Synod which after the death of Ignatius had reconciled all differences amongst them by making void the Council held against Photius and settling him in his See again and therefore whatever heats had passed between Ignatius and Photius as it often happens between very good men and had happened between their own St. Chrysostom and Epiphanius yet now these things being composed into a happy peace and settlement notwithstanding the Pope's Anathema they received the names of both Photius and Ignatius into their Diptychs and register'd them among their Saints whom they most solemnly commemorate in their Prayers 8. There are so many Improbabilities in the Story against Photius that they will hardly gain belief without a Miracle and therefore we are told that in the Council held against him at Rome under Adrian the Second when the Book which contained his Vindication after it had been trampled upon by all the Reverend Assembly was at last thrown by his Holiness into the fire the flames catched at it and devoured it immediately in a strange manner with a noisome smell and a kind of Pitch colour tinctured the fire and besides a great showr happening at the same time increased the flames as if so much Oil had been thrown upon them And now who is so hardy as to deny the Authority of any thing that was said or done against Photius or to doubt but that the fourth Council of C. P. is in full force and infallibly the eighth General Council § VIII The imperfect account we have of the three first Lateran Councils serves onely to shew the little esteem which was formerly had of them The first Later Council A. D. MCXXIII The second Lat. Council A. MCXXXIX The third Lat. Council A. MCLXXX or MCLXXIX secundum Lab. how General or Infallible soever they might be Bellarmin confesses that the two first are not extant and no great discoveries have been made of them since his time Caranza and Sylvius mention none of the three and Platina passes them all over without bestowing so much as the Title of General upon them and with so little remark as shews that he esteemed them none of the most considerable Actions of those Popes Lives who called them Indeed there are few Provincial Synods the Records whereof less care has been taken of nor could it f Platina in Calixto Secundo Innoc. Secundo Alexan. Tertio be that any Council should universally obtain amidst so much Faction and Schism and among so many Antipopes as then vexed and divided the Church But it was the custome of those times to call all Councils General which made any tolerable settlement of the Popedom with the approbation of some of the chief Western Princes Thus William of Tyre t Bell. sacr lib. 21. c. 26. speaking of the Third Council of Lateran Cùm anno praecedente indicta esset per universum Latinorum orbem Romae Synodus Generalis ad eandem Synodum vocati profecti sunt de nostro Oriente c. When there was a general Synod called at Rome the foregoing year throughout all the Latin World those who were called went out of the East c. He mentions no more out of the East but himself and three other Bishops with one Prior and one Abbat and he as most think was a Latin and so 't is probable were all the rest however the Greeks in this Council opposed the Latins and would not yield in the least But not onely Western Councils but National and Provincial Synods were sometimes styled General and Sir Roger Twisden v Historic Vindic. cap. 8. p. 162. Eodem a MCCXXII Magister Stephanus de Langetuna Generale Concilium celebravit apud Oxonlum Hist Maj. ad annum MCCXXII gives many Instances to shew that the distinction of General Councils at least in that sense in which it is now taken was not suddenly brought into the Church many Synods by our Writers being called General to which the obligation was never of that nature as if they did not or could not err and the same learned Authour proves * p. 167. that the Lateran Council under Innocent II. was never received in England thus Matt. Paris says that Stephen Langton held a General Council at Oxford yet the name of General bestowed upon them by some well disposed to that Popes Interest who called them is almost all that can be shewn for the Authority of these three Councils It doth not appear that any of the Eastern Bishops were in the two first and it is certain that the Greeks dissented in the third as they ever did when they had no restraint upon them 'T is remarkable that in this Council an Oath was drawn up by which all the Bishops that had rejected Alexander the Third abjured and sware Allegiance to him against all men contra omnem hominem which x Labbé Conc. Pontificale Rom. The fourth Lat. Councâ—â— MCCXV Oath