ejusdem loci mihi de more Archidiacono de Cura Parochianorum reddat rationem That is to say That the Cardinal-Priest of this Parish ought according to the custom to give an account of his Parishioners to me and to the Arch-Deacon The same Author called Le Gris a Canon Regular of St. Augustin says That there were Twelve Curates at Soissons who time out of mind had been called Cardinals and it was the same thing in many other places of France And we read in Pasquier that in a Council held at Metz under Charlemagne it was ordained Vt Titulos Cardinales in Vrbibus vel Suburbiis constitutos honestissime Canonice retractatione ordinent disponant That the Bishops should ordain and dispose the Title of Cardinals Honestly and Canonically in Cities and Suburbs If this name and dignity be to be esteemed so highly in the Church it would be very easie to make as many as one would in France without the Bishop of Rome his consent since that evâ—ry Bishop hath the power of making them and without being Reordained there is no Priest who doth now officiate who may not be a Cardinal when you please Thus this signifies nothing no more than the other things which have been already confuted to prove that the Popes Authority is Divine since the Sâ—ripture and the whole Primitive Church are against it But I must here also answer one Humane Reason which they make use of to throw dust in our eyes they take it from an Author whom they esteem as much as St. Paul nay more for they pretend that without him we should fail in many Articles of our Faith this is Aristotle I scarce believe so much can be said of St. Paul who wrote the clearest of all the Apostles Senza Aristotele noi mancarono di molti Articoli di Fide says Cardinal Palavicini Bellarmine also another Cardinal and a Jesuit doth object to us that Aristotle demonstrated Monarchy to be the most excellent of all Governments and by consequence God would have his Church so governed and that this Monarchy belongs to the Pope It is certain that the Spiritual Government of the Church is Monarchical It is Jesus Christ who governs it a Monarch all-wise and Almighty but the external Government of the visible and Universal Church cannot be so and their principle it self is contested by the greatest part of Politicians Aristotle himself their Apostle says in some places that a mixed or compounded Government be it Aristocratical or Democratical is better Quae ex Pluribus constat Respublica melior est And tho a Kingdom may be very well governed by one single person yet it doth not follow that this one person can as well govern all the States and Kingdoms of the World. And he says in another place Huc enim sunt omnia reducenda ut ii â—ui in Imperio sunt non Tyrannum sed patrem Familias agere videantur rem non quasi Dominus sed quasi Procurator Praefectus administrare nec quod nimium est sectari Do the Popes govern after this manner Reason and Experience both convince us of the contrary We see by History that the Empires of the World when they were of too great an extent could not subsist and have been torn in pieces and we have the example of some wise Emperors who made Decrees to hinder the enlargement of their Empire as Augustus made one De Coercendo intra limites Imperio It is a Proverb That he who takes too much into his arms can't hug it close And this is so much the truer in Ecclesiastical Government which cannot inflict Corporal punishments upon Delinquents for St. Paul says expresly that the Arms of the Evangelick Ministry are not according to the Flesh. And the Fathers as well as the Councils do teach us that the Arms of a Bishop ought to be Prayers and Tears The example which they bring of one single Bishop who by Divine Institution governs a Diocess or of a Curate who governs one Church only can signifie to them nothing at all bâ—bâ—cause first of all there is a Divine Institution for that but none for this Besides a man may easily manage a Boat upon a little River who knows not how alone to manage a great Vessel upon the Ocean much less a Fleet of Ships And the Example of a Bishop or Curate makes against them for they are not Soveraigns the one presides only among the other Priests and the other in a Parish I foresee that it will be said that though this Authority of the Pope was not Instituted by Jesus Christ that the Church for the first five Centuries knew it not that it hath been since opposed from time to time by many people perhaps of a turbulent or discontented mind yet it must be believed that the Church which did establish it since did it for good Reasons that Jesus Christ and his Apostles have not so precisely Regulated every thing that concerns the Discipline of the Church but that she may according to her own Prudence alter some things according to the times and places or as others say that every time hath its customs or as Cardinal Palavicini Altri tempi Altri costumi That the Church was at that time in its Infancy and that the mature age to which it is now arrived is not to be governed as its tender Infancy I acknowledg that the Church may sometimes vary in its Discipline and in its policy without any great crime but this must be always by a principle of charity and according to the Fathers Quod propter charitatem fit non debet contra Charitatem militare That which is done by a Principle of Charity ought not to militate against Charity It must tend to Edification the Church ought to do nothing against the Commandments of God. Now I have shewn that the Papacy is against the Maxims of the Gospel and is altogether contrary to the Genius of Christianity and more contrary than light is to darkness Furthermore it is not true that the Church hath established the Papacy only some few Councils held in Italy about two or three hundred years since or thereabouts as that at Florence Lateran Bolonia and Trent But we speak not of these dark Ages for those with whom I dispute believe that the Church hath established this power in the Sixth or Seventh Century In this respect the Cardinal Cusan mistakes himself when he says Pâ—patus est de jure Positivo The Papacy is of Positive Right For the Church hath not established it in any Council unless you call that Rabble of Ecclesiasticks and Seculars the Church who assembled themselves together at the desire of Boniface the Third to confirm upon him the Title of Universal Bishop which he got by the Parricide Phocas for the assistance he had given him He himself acknowledgeth that this Authority came to them ex usu Consuetudine
when he pleases who may restore that happy Equality among the Bishops under which the Church was heretofore so flourishing and Christianity made so great Progress which would also re-establish Peace among all Christians much better than the Equality of Turkish Politicks of which they say Ittichat Khoga Kopatmas Equality produceth no Wars They mean the Equality of Poverty that is to say that great men are not to be suffered in a Nation and that being all miserable they would make no commotions Whereas the Equality which I speak of would produce not only a firm and lasting Peace but also the abundance of all Spiritual and Temporal Goods There are also some People who pretended that if we acknowledg a necessity of having Arch-bishops and Primates who take their Places above Bishops instituted by Jesus Christ tho the Dignity of Arch-bishops or Primates is not so in like manner for Orders sake we may have a Pope That might pass if the Popes did not pretend to be of another Order if they exercised no Authority over their fellow-brethren if they were not Temporal and Mighty Princes if the Clergy did not absolutely depend upon them if they had nothing but a Pre-eminence of Place over the other Bishops in Assemblies and in Councils if there were One of them in every Christian State who should solicite the Prince for the assembling of Provincial Synods every year to whom he should be subject as the other Bishops and should entertain Communion with the other Patriarchs or Catholick Popes and with whom he should keep Correspondence that they might altogether by the Consent of their Respective Princes cause General Councils to be assembled when they should be necessary which should be held sometimes in one State and sometimes in another and wherein should preside men of the greatest Understanding and the greatest Merit without exception of Persons or else every Patriarch in his turn Thus was the Church anciently governed without Tyranny by this means did Religion spread it self abroad with great success in all Countries and not by a pretended Bishop who is a Worldly Prince and hath ruined the Church We see that heretofore among the Pagans Kings have been Sacrificers and Ministers of Religion Amongst the Jews also at the beginning we find that the Heads of Families who were Soveraigns did take upon them the offering of Sacrifices and performed Divine Service but before these latter times which is the Sink of all Ages it was never seen that Priests plaid the Princes and that People who ought to employ themselves only in Prayers and Sacrifices and whom Jesus Christ and all the most pure Canons of the Church do forbid to meddle in Secular Affairs should compare themselves with and raise themselves above Kings Is it not a comely sight to behold a Temporal Prince wearing Three Crowns one above the other sitting in a throne covered with Gold and precious Stones having the Arms both of Sea and Land many Attendants following him who are equal to other Princes Such a Prince as this I say to be the Vicar of Jesus Christ He is then a Carnal Messias and such a one as the Jews do at this day look for He is then a King of Concupiscence and of Iniquity If it be so the Jews had reason to accuse him for endeavouring to supplant Caesar the Romans would have been in the right to put him to Death and so he would not have been the Redeemer of Mankind This Pretension of the Popes as we see is a horrible Blasphemy and which yields the Cause over to the Jews against us and tends to justifie every thing they did against our Lord Jesus and utterly to overturn Christianity The pretence also which they have that Ecclesiasticks ought not to be subject to their Natural Prince and are freed from Obedience to him by Jesus Christ This is to renew against our great Saviour the impious Accusation which the Jews brought against him That he would have made himself a King and perswaded others to Rebellion There are others who pretend that the evil is not so great that there is a Pope as that General Councils are no more assembled and so they say that we should rather speak of assembling a Council than talk of exterminating the Papacy because they think that a Council would limit the Pope and hold the Reins shorter over him But this Papacy subsisting how shall a General Council be called but that they 'le have a hand in 't And if they have what will this Council tend to The End of it will be like that of Trent sad and miserable And put the case there might be found a Prince zealous strong and prudent enough to cause a General Council to be assembled by an agreement of other Christian Princes in spight of the Pope what would this Council do against the Pope who would have all the Bishops for him both by the Oath which they have taken to him and by Twenty Millions of Revenue which he hath and which he would employ to corrupt all the World What would you do with the Monks who would be all for him it being their Interest to maintain the Authority and Infallibility of the Pope because the Priviledges which he hath given to many of them which are as ancient as their first Institution are not confirmed by any Lawful Council and so are null And how long should the good condition of this Prince's Affairs last or his good Correspondence with other Princes to make the Laws of this Council be obeyed and that the Pope who will be all or nothing shall not hinder the Execution of his Decrees and continue his Tyranny And how will you in the mean time keep the Papacy with its hands tied and what will this signifie It is certainly better to cast off the Yoke all at once than to let it continue without being sure that it shall do no more mischief Tutius est perire non posse quam juxta periculum non periisse says a certain Author We have the sad Example of the Councils of Trent and Constance from that of Trent we could not hope for any great matters but even that of Constance which seemed well inclined to a Reformation as well as that of Basil found such horrible resistance in the Court of Rome and among the Ecclesiasticks that it never could re-establish the ancient Discipline And that shews us that we must wholly eradicate this Papacy and that it is not enough to assemble a free Oecumenical Council but that it must be some powerful zealous and resolute Prince who fears nothing but God and not the Court of Rome who must begin continue and vigorously end the thing without hearkening to pretended moderate Councils which tend only to the Churches ruin The Proverb here signifies nothing That it is better to preserve the Commonwealth as it is than to have none at all For I maintain that here is no Common-wealth but a perfect Anarchy and that
we say that it was owing to the eagerness of his temper which being not always well regulated made him commit greater faults than any others of the Apostlâ—s except the perfidious Judas which made him be called Satan by his good Master which none of the other were We ought also to attribute to this temper the blow he gave Malchus with the Sword as well as that warmth that made him promise wonders of Fidelity to his Master and induced him to accompany him to the Emperors Court where he denied his Saviour So that it is with very little reason that they make an argument of this to prove his Royalty in the Church In Spain where the most Honourable walk the last they will not fail to alledg places where St. Peter is named last as in the passage where it is said I am the Disciples of Paul and I of Apollos and I of Caephas who is Peter For I remember that at Paris where they understand Divinity a little better than in Spain a good Bishop and an Abbot did maintain to me that the passage where it is said that James Peter and John are esteemed Pillars of the Church I having alledged against them another where he is named the first they maintained to me I say that this passage confirmed that which they alledged and proved very well the Primacy of St. Peter For said the Bishop when three persons of worth are walking together they always put the most Honourable in the middle This is according to the common saying That a Lawyer well paid shall always find the cause of his Client good His Benefices made him see clear in this passage There are three other passages which the greatest part of our Doctors produce against our Adversaries with a little more colour which are Thou art Peter c. I will give thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven c. Feed my sheep Which passages we shall examine one after another to see if St. Peter had any priviledg above the other Apostles they say that in the first of these passages Jesus Christ doth establish the Church found it and built it upon St. Peter I do not deny but that St. Peter was one of the Pillars of the Church because he is so called as well as James and John. Nor can it be denied but that he was and is one of the foundations of the Church since that he is not excepted out of the number of the Twelve who in Scripture are called the Foundations of the New Jerusalem But I maintain that the Church is no more founded upon him than upon St. Paul and the other Apostles I would fain have these Gentlemen tell me upon whom the Church was founded before St. Peter and why the Church changed its foundation and upon whom Peter himself was founded It was without doubt upon Jesus Christ upon the Rock which is the Christ. And it is without all question that St. Peter and we ought to have no other foundation than that which St. Paul had who says That no man can lay any other foundation than that which is laid which is Jesus Christ. Also we see in this passage that it is upon the Rock upon the Rock of Ages that our Saviour builds his Church and not upon St. Peter The Holy Ghost would have changed neither name nor person if he would have had us to have believed this of St. Peter He would not have said Super hanc Petram sed super te Petrum Vpon this Rock but upon thee Peter To the end that no difficulty may remain we must observe what goes before and what follows after Jesus Christ had demanded of all the Apostles together whom they thought he was Peter either as the eldest or most zealous answers for all and says to him Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God. Whereupon Jesus Christ says to him Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church c. It is evident that as our Saviour's discourse was directed to all and that Peter answered for all the following part of our Saviours Discourse was directed also to them all and related no more to Peter than to any other particular Apostle And men must have lost their understandings to think that Jesus Christ in this place founded his Church upon Peter whom in the same Chapter he calls Satan What Foundation would the Church have had and what would have become of her when he deni'd his Saviour It must then necessarily be acknowledged that it is not the visible Church that is here spoken of which they pretend St. Peter to be the Head of But the Invisible the Society of the Faithful and the Elect. For the Gates of Hell would have prevailed against the Church not only when St. Peter denied his Master since that the foundation being run to decay that which is built upon it falls to ruin But since that time have they not very often prevailed against this Church which they would have the Bishops of Rome the pretended Successors of St. Peter to be the Heads of For Example when according to the Fathers the whole World was Arian the Bishops of Rome and all their Flock and so many other times as the Popes have been Magicians Sodomites Atheists Hereticks c. And what would have become of the Church in the time of that great Schism that succeeded Gregory the Ninth which lasted fifty years when the French would not have an Italian Pope nor the Italians a French one and many Princes would have neither one nor other to whom at length Charles the Sixth joined himself for three years and the Kingdom of France was very well contented without a Pope and many other Princes for a longer season And what shall we say of that great Schism which the Popes made and caused with the Greek Church by cutting them off out of Devilish pride from the Communion of the Church because they would not submit to their yoke but demanded the observation of the Canons What shall we say also of that great Apostacy that happened about 130 or 140 years since or thereabout when so many States separated themselves from the Church by reason of the Impiety and Tyranny of the Popes Doth not all this prove that Hell hath prevailed against this exterior and visible Church which the Popes govern and whereof St. Peter according to them was the Head It is then the Invisible Church which is here spoken of the Society of the Faithful the Heavenly Jerusalem whereof Jesus Christ is the principal Corner-stone upon which St. Peter himself saith believers are built as living stones He says not it is on himself that they are built but on the contrary he pretends himself as well as others to be one of these living stones which are built upon the Corner-stone which is Christ. It is then upon the Rock confessed by Simon Peter or upon his Confession that the Church is founded on that which he declared
see here even One of their own Communion to have proved not only false but insupportable Let us beseech God if it be his Will to bring all others that are yet enslaved by them to the like knowledg of the Truth And that in the mean time he would vouchsafe unto us the Grace of his blessed Spirit that we may faithfully persevere in our Holy Profession to our Lives end That no Terrors no Interests no Craftiness of cunning Men who lie in wait to deceive may be able to make us fall from our own Stedfastness But that contending earnestly for the Faith which was once delivered to the Saints we may grow in Grace and in the knowledg of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ To him be Glory both now and for ever Amen The Authors PREFACE THE Authority of the Pope hath taken such root by the ignorance of the Holy Scripture by the multitude of Ecclesiasticks and by all the Temporal Benefices whereof the Pope is looked upon as the Source that a kind of Miracle seems necessary to destroy it and to Reestablish the Church in that liberty which the Son of God hath purchased for it by his Blood. Besides Impiety Irreligion Ambition and Dissoluteness have so seized upon the minds of the greatest part of Mankind that a man cannot hope to be so much as heard when he speaks of Reforming the Church Aâ—tho I am very well satisfied of that yet I think my self indispensibly obliged to represent the abuses of this Power and Authority which hath no just foundation at least in this respect I shall in some measure justifie my self towards God in doing my Duty I shall justifie my self to my own self whom my Conscience hath long accused of a large and Criminal silence I shall also justifie the Catholicks against the Hereticks who will know by this that we are not so blind as they imagin And this will also serve to fortifie the Catholicks against all the Temptations they may have of abandoning the Church by freeing themselves from the Papacy so that Renouncing the latter they may always stand firm to the former and also prepare themselves to fight couragiously against Antichrist who in all appearance is near at hand I have a great while hoped that there would have been found among the great and learned men that we have among us some one or other that would have undertook to open mens eyes and would have saved me a labour therein I could consult no body without manifest danger both to themselves and me since it is a work that may equally displease both weak Catholicks and Hereticks being obliged in regard of the first to disentangle and separate truth from falshood and a falshood more beloved by many Catholicks than the most Important truths And in regard of the Hereticks I know it is the way to undermine the foundation of their false Religions tho without dispute and indirectly in abolishing the Papacy In respect both of the one and of the other the effects of this mischievous Authority are terrible since it fills the Catholicks with ignorance and gross and low Ideas of the Christian Religion and mars the beauty of that as well as of the Church The Hereticks are thereby scandalized and harden themselves more and more in their obstinacy perswading themselves that every thing in our Religion is false seeing clearly that some part of it is so It is not to be doubted but that many Catholicks of our time do see this evil since in the preceding Ages many have perceived it and that the evil is come to so high a degree that it is almost impossible not to take notice of it And truly there have been some who could not forbear saying somewhat of it but this hath been but very slightly and superficially It seems as tho they were ashamed of Jesus Christ and his Gospel as the Scripture speaks In truth it is a deplorable thing that amongst the multitude of learned men professing the Christian Religion and that employ themselves in writing there cannot be found so much as one man of understanding touched with the miseries of the Church and of such courage as to represent it to those who may and ought to remedy it the Sacriledg daily committed in the Church under the very name of the Church and under the pretence of Religion Either the greatness of the evil must discourage them and bereave them of all hopes and not being able to cure the Ulcer they had rather let it wholly alone Omittere potius praevalida Adulta vitia quam hoc assequi ne palam fieret qualibus flagitiis Impares simus Tac. Annal. Lib. 3. or else it must be that their own interest is concerned in the continuance of this evil or that they have no regard for the desolations of the Church or lastly they are afraid of shaking the Catholick Religion in respect of weak Brethren and for fear of giving occasion to the Hereticks thereby to insult over it If they had these last thoughts it was for want of examining the thing for it is certain that the Papacy hath neither by nature nor Divine institution any connexion with the Christian Religion but on the contrary its Principles are opposite and tend to its destruction It is also certain that those who have separated themselves from the Church see very clearly the inconsistency of the Papacy with the Gospel since there was nothing else that heretofore obliged the Greeks and since the Protestants to forsake the Church so that no man can believe but that they see the thing very well since it is the only place wherein they daily attack us with a mighty advantage and tho it were not true that they knew it perfectly we are however indispensibly obliged to oppose Errors Mendacia nec tegunt nec vulnerant and not to palliate them and certainly not sincerely to acknowledg palpable gross abuses is to betray Religion and the Church for that makes men call in question the best establisht Truths according to that saying He that denies all things grants all things Qui en todo niga loda And I have always observed that a frank and generous acknowledgment when a man is in an error produces a very good effect upon all judicious and reasonable persons and disposeth the Protestants with much more readiness to embrace the Catholick Verities Furthermore I dare be bold to affirm That one of the principal causes of the irreligion and impiety which reigns in the World proceeds in great measure from the little Reason and Wisdom wherewith this Primacy and Papal Almighty power is exercised which converting all Religion to its Temporal Profit makes the very Divinity of the Christian Religion to be called in question For as the World goes men will have all or nothing So that having at first received the Article of the Papacy as an Article of Faith whilst they see the Popes under colour of this Article robbing and
of their ingenuity in Defence of the Popes Authority and that I saw not well what Advantage they could draw from the Infallibility of the Church which they maintained with so much ardor that doubled my attention to sound the depth of the matter and I found that by the help of this Infallibility they would conceal every thing so as to save the Popes Authority and all the Temporal Advantages which flow from it and I made no further doubt of it when I saw they applied it particularly to the Clergy excluding all the people and many men to the Pope alone excluding all other Bishops Since these Discoveries I have always held it as a Maxim wherein I have never been deceived which is That when any practice or Custom in the Church brings profit or honour to the Ecclesiasticks I presently suspect and examine it At length having a long time reflected upon all the abuses of this Papal Authority and having observed the Deplorable condition to which it hath reduced the Christian Religion as well without as within the Church and seeing it was that which having driven the Greeks and Protestants out of the Church is still the cause why they return not again unto its Communion and that it even draws strange Persecutions upon the Church from these scattered sheep by reason of the attempts of the Court of Rome and its favourers I at last resolved to publish this little Treatise to disabuse mankind in respect of the unjust and criminal Devotion which they have for the Papacy and also to purge the Church of it as well as of all other vices and misfortunes it hath there caused being perswaded that an Infallible fruit of this Reformation would be the Conversion of the Greeks Protestants Pagans Jews and Mahometans not to mention the Honour it would do to all the Catholick Princes whose Majesty and Greatness are vilified by this shameful subjection to and dependance on the Popes which make them to be despised by other Princes who have freed themselves from their Tyranny A Senator of Sweden told me one day a very good saying of Tacitus to this purpose Viri muliebria patiuntur Men act the parts of women which is as much as to say they are the Catamites of the Popes However since it is in their power to treat those as Hereticks and Enemies of the Church who oppose their Ambition and Interest I prepare my self against it and that doth not at all discourage me It is more Honourable to be hated by such people than loved Illi maledicent at tu Domine Benedices I know the Reader will in this Work of mine presently look after the Caracters of either Jansenist Calvinist or Lutheran or lastly of a man who could not be promoted to Benefices and many times he will think he hath found me As for Benefices I might perhaps have had one if I had had a mind to it but by the Grace of God I will have none nor have I need of any nor was I ever designed for it The Jansenists are as yet too much Papists to speak ill of the Papacy As for the Calvinists and Lutherans I wish they could be brought to own the opinions which I do and which I have no mind to betray in this my Book It is true they have both written often against this power but not with design that the Catholick Religion should be the better for it to which this Work wholly tends Whatever men will judg I think I ought not to renounce any truth because the Hereticks know it nor to put my eyes out rather than see the Injustice of the Papacy because the Hereticks see it If I had not here drawn the Picture of the Jesuits Religion it may be those they call the Jansenists would have suspected them to have been the authors of it as the present times go and for the Calvinists I am sure that in many places they will say that I do but gild over the Pill that they may the more easily swallow down the poyson as some people have said of the Book of Mr. de Condom they may judg of it what they please I have followed the sentiments which the reading of the Holy Scripture hath inspired me with and in which I am confirmed the more by reading the Fathers and the Ecclesiastical History and by making reflection upon all that I have seen in foreign Countries and upon what I see every day here If the Romanists hear this Work spoken of they will say without doubt as heretofore at the Council of Trent when Mr. de Faber made Remonstrances on the Kings behalf concerning the disorders of the Church Gallus Cantat they cried I have no better answer than what he made them Vtinam ad Galli cantum Petrus resipisceret let them come and renounce the Dominion and Tyranny they exercise over the Church and over the World and let our Bishops for time to come behave themselves like worthy Successors of this Apostle This Work shall be divided into Three Parts which will contain so many Chapters In the first I shall prove that the Papacy hath no foundation in the Word of God and shall shew the vanity folly of those arguments which they pretend to draw from the Gospel In the second I shall make it appear that the Primitive Church never knew it and that in the darkest Ages there were ever some who opposed it and I shall confute many human reasons which for want of the Scripture and of the Fathers are made use of for its defence And in the third and last I shall examine all the pretended advantages which this Authority procures to the Church or to States and I shall shew that 't is so far from bringing any real good to the Church or to Catholick States that it is the cause of the Desolations of the Church and of the greatest part of the Disorders among all Christians of Ignorance Heresies Schisms and Irreligion that reign No man ought to be surprised that I conceal who I am in so perverse an age as we live in where Truth and Honesty as well as those who profess it are exposed to cruel Persecutions and wherein I shall have as many mortal enemies as there are worldly Catholicks and Papists and people in possession of Benefices without mentioning the Monks I have no reason to flatter my self with any great success this Book may have by reason of the extream disorder and irreligion of the Age and I do it more to discharge my self of the load lying upon me and for the consolation of my own mind than for any other thing as heretofore Petrarch said upon a like occasion Haec scribo non tam ùt saeculo meo prosim cujus tam desperata miseria est quam ut me conceptis onerem Animum scriptis soler I write these things not so much to profit the age I live in whose misery is so desperate as to unburthen my self of my own thoughts
had pleased they might have been reconciled to the Church of Rome by submitting to the Laws of that Bishop St. Gregory of Nazianzen writing to the Clergy of the Church of Caesarea in Cappadocia speaks to them thus It is just that care should be taken of the whole Church as of the Body of Jesus Christ chiefly of yours which hath been from the beginning the Mother of almost all the Churches which is so at this time and is so esteemed and to which the whole body of the Church relates as a Circle does to the Center round which it is formed c. This holy man thought not the Church of Rome was the Center of all the Churches In the Milevitan Council where St. Augustine was present it was Ordained That those of Africk who should Appeal to Rome should be Excommunicated These are the words We have adjudged that all Priests Deacons and other Inferior Ecclesiasticks who shall complain of their Bishops Administration shall apply themselves to the Neighbouring Bishops who by the consent of their own Bishops shall decide the Controversie between them And if they will Appeal from their Opinions let them not do it but to the Councils of Africa And if any man makes his Appeal to any place beyond the Seas here Rome must be understood let him be looked upon as an Excommunicated person by all Africa And since that time the same thing was Ordained in the Council of Africa and this they give for their reason That no Council hath taken away this Authority from the African Councils and that the Decrees of the Council of Nice have committed as well Priests as the Bishops to the direction of their Metropolitans Most prudently and justly providing that affairs should be determined upon the place where they had their first beginnings and that no Province would ever want the assistance of the Holy Ghost to discern equity that any injured person might procure a Council of his own Province yea and appeal from that to a General one and a man must be a fool to think that God would not rather inspire with the love and knowledg of Justice a great number of Prelates assembled in Council than a single person be he who he will. What stupidity and dulness is it that hinders Christians in these times from carrying it in the same manner towards Rome And the Council of Constantinople after having limited the bounds of each Patriarchal See says that the Affairs of every Diocess ought to be Regulated by the Synods of the Diocess and that in Confirmation of the Fourth Canon of the Council of Nice And in the sixth Canon it doth Enact That if any man hath been vexed by the Bishop let him complain of this Bishop to all the other Bishops of the Province and if these Bishops cannot determine the affair he ought to apply himself to a greater Synod of Bishops of that Diocess whereby we see that the Bishop of Rome had in those days no Authority over other Bishops but that every thing was then Regulated by Councils and by Synods If an Archbishop or a Metropolitan were accused the Affair was determined by an Assembly of the Synod of the Diocess and if any man appealed from thence it was not to the Bishop of Rome but to a Synod composed of many Diocesses which may be seen in the case of Bagadius Bishop of Bostra Metropolitan of Arabia who having been Deposed by some Bishops of his Province appealed from them not to Rome but to Constantinople where quickly afterwards was assembled a Synod of many of the Eastern Diocesses at which Nectarius of Constantinople Flavian of Antioch and Theophilus of Alexandria all three Patriarches assisted and the case was determined in the year 394 and Bagadius Reestablished in his place It was the opinion of St. Hierom tho a Roman and very zealous for his own Patriarch That if there be any question concerning Authority that of the whole world is greater than that of one single City For what end shall a man alledg the Customs of one only Town Wheresoever there is a Bishop there is always the same Dignity Neither Riches nor Poverty making them Superiors or Inferiors They are all Successors of the Apostles St. Chrysostom was also of this opinion when he spoke thus If any Bishop affecteth Supremacy on Earth he shall find confusion in Heaven And whosoever shall be ambitious of raising himself above others shall not be reckoned among the servants of Jesus Christ. Thus are all the Popes Inclusively Excommunicated by St. Chrysostome since Boniface the Third and not only by him but by the Milevitan Council by the Council of Sardis the third Council of Carthage and another Council held at Carthage at the Instance of Gregory the First under the Emperor Maurice all these Councils do Excommunicate and declare him a forerunner of Antichrist who shall call himself Universal Bishop St. Grâ—gory doth himself abominate the Pride and Impiety of our Popes of these last Ages when he says That whosoever shall make himself be called Vniversal Bishop shall be the forerunner of Antichrist because he will by his Insolence raise himself above others And in another place speaking to Anastasius Bishop of Antiâ—ch he says That without mâ—ntioning the dishonâ—ur that the pride of such a man would do you If a Bishop should mâ—ke himself be called Vniversal Head of the Churâ—h the whole Church must run to ruin if this Vniversal Head shâ—uld fall For my pâ—rt I prâ—y God keep me from hearkening to any such folâ—ies and from bâ—ing capable of so greâ—t â—â—anity c. I should never have done if I should pretend here to relate all the Evidences of Antiquity which are contrary to the pretences of the Bishops of Rome for some Ages past St. Austin tells us a story which I cannot lâ—t pass which shews things pretty clearly He says that Donâ—â—us had accused Ceciliâ—n Arch-bishop of Carthage of a great Crime and that the Emperor Constantine chose the Bishop of Rome and several other bishops for Judges of the Affair Donatus was condemned by them and made his Appeal to the Emperor who referred the Judgment of his Appeal to Arles At this Judgment the Bishop of Arles presided and the Affair was by him determined in favour of Cecilian and the Judgment given at Rome confirmed It would be a fine thing now to see the Emperor in an Affair purâ—ly Ecclesiastical as that was establish the Pope as his Commissary with other Bishops and an Appeal made from their sentence before the Emperor and he should send the cause before another Bishop to judge definitively of it I know not after this what Evidenâ—es I further need to prove the Usurpations which the Popes have made since those times Christians ought to die in confusion who want Proofs for a thing as clear as the day considering the enormity and exorbitance of the power which these people take
the Church instead of being governed is devoured by a Faction of Villains who eat the people of God like bread But say they you speak of abolishing the Primacy in the Church and nevertheless there is no Society no Families no Colledge but hath it Without it these Societies cannot subsist It is not so much the Primacy which I condemn as the Tyranny which hath been joined to it The Primacy of Place might yet be suffered although Jesus Christ hath not instituted it in the Church but that of Pope is a Primacy of Jurisdiction to which the Universal Church and the whole World is subject as they pretend I condemn the Primacy of a Bishop who is a Worldly Prince who hath more than Twenty Millions of Revâ—nue this Primacy which is the Cause of all the Disorders of the Church Whereas the end and ordinary use of Lawful Primacies is to maintain good Order in all Societies And I wish nothing more than to see re-established in the Church that Primacy which Jesus Christ hath there instituted viz. that of Councils and that they should be often assembled as they were in the Primitive Church for it is the want of these Councils which hath undone the Church We see in the Preface of the Eleventh Council of Toledo that the Fathers say That having wanted the Light of Councils for the space of Ten Years the whole World went astray and the Church fell into disorder and confusion How much more reason have we now to complain of that we who for above these Hundred Years have seen none and which is more can never hope to see a Lawful one whilst the Papacy shall subsist Substracta Luce Conciliorum integro decennie Matrem Omnium Errorum ignorantiam otiosas Mentes occupasse adeo ut Babylonicae Confusionis olla succensa purpuratae Meretricis incrementa Sacerdotes sequerentur quia Ecclesiastici Convenius non aderat Disciplina nec erat qui Errantium Corrigeret partes cum Sermo Divinus haberetur Extorris Is not this the cause of so many Superstitions of so many Heresies Schisms and Licentiousness which we see in the Clergy Is it not a ridiculous thing that no more Councils shall be called whilst we see the Monks both Capucins Carthusians and Jesuits often assemble their Congregations for the augmentation of their Societies It is no wonder if the Church daily runs to ruin whilst these Societies fortifie themselves Is it not clear as the day that if Provincial Synods were called every year National every three or four years as heretofore they were under our great Kings and Oecumenical Councils at least once in Ten years that Remedies would be found out for the Calamities of the Church Might not a Patriarch in every State aided by the Secular Power excute the Decrees of the Church with more facility less jealousie and more security for Religion and for the State than a forreign Ambitious and potent Prince who resolves to take no care for Religion but to model every thing to his own Interest If this Patriarch should neglect his Duty or carry it like a Master should not the Prince chastise him nor depose him Experience shews us that the Church never flourished but when she was Aristocratically governed and when there was no other Primacy in the Universal Church than that of Councils and all Primates and Patriarchs were subject to them But since the Patriarch of Rome hath had the sole disposing of Religion in the West we have seen nothing but Confusion Anarchy Schism Heresies Impiety Atheism Cruelty and Barbarity Ipsa Ecclesia Vnus est Princeps Vnitati fidelium non singulis haec Jurisdictio a Domino conceditur c. Quia Vnitas Ecclesiae multo major est atque perfectior quam Vnitas Vnius Regis aut Imperatoris terreni Thus did the Holy Council of Basil answer the false Reasons of Pope Eugenius his Orators who pretended That the Unity of the Church was preserved much better by a Pope than by the Council There are others who would have the Pope's Authority confin'd within the bounds which the Councils of Constance and of Basil had marked out for it but they never understood the Moral Impossibility that there is not only of making the Popes consent to it but suppose they were constrained to consent to these Rules for a season to make them observe them always or for any long time And Experience confirms what I say with reference even to these Councils which have put no stop at all to their career for they live in contempt as well of these as of all other Lawful Councils Have not they called others in Italy who have destroyed whatever these had established even to treat with the Name of Heresie this Holy Doctrine of the Superiority of the Council Have not the Popes been sufficiently Sacrilegious to raze out of the Roman Edition of General Councils the Council of Basil from among the Oecumenical Councils It is then impossible that with the Impiety and Ambition wherewith the Court of Rome is wholly made up and with the enormous power which the Popes at this time have which equals that of the greatest Kings that they should be reduced to submit themselves to the Council of Constance And even that would signifie nothing for this Council gives them too much Authority It gives them the power which belongs to the Emperors of assembling General Councils of presiding in them and concluding and of executing the Canons of Councils in regard of particular Churches and even of making Decrees during the Intervals of Synods and of being judged only by a General Council They ought then to be deprived of this temporal power the Cardinals to be abolished and the Monks to be Enfranchised and Released from the rash Vows they have made to the Popes the disposing of the Palls of Archbishops ought to be taken from him and the faculty of Investing Bishops and of dispencing with them for holding so many Benefices with all the other Simonical Traffick which will still renders him the Tyrant of the Church the Master of all States and the Devil the possessor of many souls It is much more easie to restore all at once the ancient Discipline I promote a Paradox but my reason is that there will never be a good change but it must happen after some strangely surprizing or if I may so say some violent manner such violence as forces its way into the Kingdom of Heaven Whilest we stand upon treating the Popes shall maintain themselves always with the times either by Intriegues or by some Devilish inventions the most zealous shall grow cold upon the business Ministers shall be corrupted either by money or by Cardinals Caps the Prince shall have other affairs found him to look after or shall be killed by the hand of some Monk or other All the Jesuits and the Monks shall be everlastingly for the Papacy whatever shew they at this time make Gerson somewhere says that there will never
John the 23 d. of Benedict the 13 th and Gregory the 12 th and even to give encouragement to all other Princes to do as he had done and he had much less cause to do it than we have at this time You see his reasons in the Letters of the University of Paris in Theodore a Nyem which were that they would not consent that the disorders of the Church should be regulated by a free Council and that they would not submit themselves to the Decisions of the Church Are not we now again just in the same condition since the Councils of Constance and of Basil For those which have been Assembled since deserve not the name of Councils because there was no liberty in them and every thing was there done by the Inspiration not of God but the Popes France did but half free it self from this yoke for quickly after we suffered our selves to be drawn in and have been like to have been undone many a time since by it Nor do I make any great account of the Conduct of the Venetians which is so highly commended who after having known the nature of the Papacy and the Genius of this power have but half freed themselves from this slavery nay less than half They have behaved themselves in this according to their ordinary custom following moderate Councils where excess was not to be feared and where it could not be committed Consilia media quod inter ancipitia deterrimum est nec ausi sunt satis nec providerunt For they have still this Viper in their bosom which they stupifie as much as they can but he may some time or other revive and devour them They have every day a thousand difficulties with these cunning Romans who will be always spying out occasions to destroy them and to reduce them absolutely under their yoke They should renounce perfectly and for â—ver all dependance upon this See and thus shall they be better able to regulate their Clergy which is as licentious as that of Rome which they dare not reform because it would be to be feared that to maintain themselves in this Roman Libertinism they should give assistance to the Pope to oppress the Republick that they might always enjoy the full liberty of the children of the See of Rome Vulgo dissoluta gratior est quam Temperata vita vivere ut quisque velit permisit quoniam sic magna erit tali Reipublicoe faventium Magnitudo Et hoc Humanitas vocabatur ac ne pars servitutis esset c. Will any man still say Ought we not to be of the Roman Church People are not contented with being in the Catholick and Apostolick Church if they are not in the Roman they seem desirous of having a share in the Abominations of this City and of this Court but the Romans are not at all desirous to be of the Gallican Church I would fain know for what reason we should be rather of the Roman Church than the Romans of the Gallican Church Rome is not as heretofore it was the Seat of the Empire and tho it were we hold no longer of the Empire and it is a contradiction for a man to be in the Catholick Church in the Gallican and in the Roman Churches both together for the first is the General and the other two are particulars You may always have Communion with all the Romans who live in the fear of God with the Pope of Rome himself if he be a Christian but not to depend upon him nor upon Rome You shall be as the Christians of the Primitive Church were for more than six hundred years You shall pay no more Annates you shall buy no more Bulls nor Dispensations You shall be much more Catholick than before for then you may hold Communion with the Greeks and Protestants by drawing them home to the Faith of the Church whereas the See of Rome is at this time a wall of Separation between them and us CHAP. III. That the pretended Authority of the Papacy hath never done any good to the Church A Confutation of whatever is said to the advantage of this Power to prove it necessary to the world by shewing at the same time that it hath been the cause of all the Evils of the Church THEY maintain that the Papacy hath heretofore done and still doth a great deal of good to the Church and to the world this I can confute all at once by a thing which the world knows which is that we have in no place so many true Christians as in those Catholick Countries where this power is least known as in France Flanders and Germany But let us see particularly what good the Papacy doth It is a common saying that there is nothing so bad but that you may make some use of it either in its nature or in conjunction with other things Let us then examine the usefulness of the Papacy omitting nothing that can be said to its advantage It is says Cardinal Perron The Center and the root of Chriâ—tian Vnity These are fine words I confess but we shall find but very little sense in them if we a little consider them for I ask him In what this Unity doth consist and how the Pope is the center and the root of it If this Unity be in the pure service of God methinks that God should be the center of it and not the Pope and that it is also God who is the root of it that is the influencing principle over the will and strength of men to serve him and to do well If this Unity be for doing what is evil it is then but a conspiracy and I do confess that in regard of wicked Clergy-men who are the members of the Pope he is the source of all their Impiety Ambition and Dissoluteness and he is the center of the Unity of these people who belong all to him and as for themselves he is the center of their worship and would be so to all other men Palavicini says that the union and submission of all Catholicks to the Pope makes a band a life perfectly Politick Vna conjunctione di vita perfâ—tta mente Politica He says not a Christian but a Politick life and according to him it is the same thing And in another place he says the Church is the most happy Body Politick in the world Corpo Politico il piu felice che sia in terra This Unity as I said before consists only in their obedience to the Pope whom they all honour for thâ—ir profit looking upon him as the source of Riches of Honours and of all the pleasures whiâ—h they have according to the flesh Secondo la carne This Unity is in the conformity of judgment which they all make of the riches of the Churches Patrimony which is that they are good It is certain that it is not in their opinions for what Clergy-man is there who cares for the Popes
their Right that the Pope is Sennor del Mondo and they call him Nostor Sennorâ— Our Lord as well as Jesus Christ. There is no State in Europe which they have not endeavoured many times to destroy and which they have not greatly endamaged Matthew Paris relates to us that King John of England because he would not receive an Archbishop of Canterbury whom Poâ—e Innâ—cent the Third had Elected against the Canons he was first Excommucated by Innocent who accordingly gave away his Kingdom to Philip the August King of France and that poor King John was compelled to implore the Popes mercy who received him very bountifully on condition that from thenceforth his Kingdom should depend upon the Holy See should be Tributary to it and pay 20000 Marks of Gold every year And that this King having recovered his courage resolved to Abjure Christianity as an evil Religion thereby designing to cast off the Popish yoke Because he made himself the Popes Vassal he was called the Apostolick King. I wonder why the Kings of France and Spain will not add to the Titles of Most Christian and Most Catholick that of Apostolick Kings at the same price as this King John of England did 'T is not his Holiness's fault they may have it when they please They answer that it is true that they have heretofore caused disorders but that it will never fall out so again that it was some hot headed men that amongst the Apostles themselves there was found a Judas But I maintain that all these disasters proceeded not only from the pettish humour of any one Pope but were the natural effects of the Principles of the Papacy And tho we do not see it visibly break forth every day by some bloody example yet we ought not to believe that the habit or the will is ever the less but that there is some external extraordinary reason which suspends the Action and which does sometimes make them act directly contrary to their own inclination Do not we see that the Inquisition it sâ—lf at Rome that Impious Tribunal which hath the power of authorising the greatest crimes and of Canonizing for the Popes Interest even Parricides and the Assassins of our Kings as amongst others by a Decree of the ninth of November 1609 it did condemn the Decree of the Parliament of Paris given out against John Chatel who had attempted to Murther Henry the Fourth This Tribunal I say hath not long since condemned the Jesuits Morals tho they were perfectly conformable to the Principles of the Inquisition and we see that the Jesuits of France are at this time in the Kings Interest against the Pope which is absolutely contrary to their Maxims and to all their former conduct which shews that it is not true that because an ill person does a good action he is no more to be feared Tho a man be extreamly wicked it does not follow from thence that every thing he does shall be so We must not think that the habit is lost because we do not always see its acts Philosophers tell us that it is often so It is a sort of a Truce and not a Peace Non pax sed induciae bellum enim manet pugna cessaâ— A Cobler says Horace is still a Cobler tho his Stall be shut Et Alfenus vafer omni abjecto instrumento Artis clausaque taberna sutor erat Thus the Pope remains still Pope tho he sometimes do a good Action Valerius Maximus says in a certain place that there are people Quorum animus peregrinatur in nequitia non habitat whose minds light upon iniquity but like a Traveller in an Inn they fix not so may it be said of the Popes Quorundam paparum animus peregrinatur in bonitate non habitat that they sometimes touch upon a good action but cannot hold to it The Viper is a very dangerous creature tho she doth not always bite when it lyes in her power But it is never good to trust her Nemo juxtae viperam securos somnos capit quae si non percutit certe sollicitat Says St. Hierom somewhere The Papacy is just the same it is the Chair of Pestilence Cathedra Pestilentiae where the best men are corrupted It is what he very well understood who said that the greatest harm he could wish a man was that he were Pope And the Holy Carthusian Father that praises God that none of his Order had ever yet been Pope How can any man maintain that Princes need not stand in fear of the Pope when three Popes of this present age have condemned the opinion that the Pope cannot depose Kings as wicked and contrary to the Faith Accipe nunc Danaum insidias crimine ab uno disce omnes These were Paul the Fifth Innocent the Tenth and Alexander the Seventh of whom it may be said that they were Ottimi Pontefici Ecclesiastici mediocri that they were true Popes but very indifferent Clergymen who will be both Judg and party in their own cause and pretend that their evidence must be taken even when it tends to their own profit and to the spoiling of those who believe them I could yet produce a later example which is that of the present Pope who with unsufferable rashness lately threatened to Excommunicate the Greatest King upon Earth because he would Reign alone in his own State and take away from some people who ought to employ themselves only in serving God the disposal of some Benefices which belong properly to the Soveraign of a State who we see makes a more judicious choice of men fit to serve in these Employs because he doth not sell them nor give them to his Relations as they did who had but very little regard to the merit of those upon whom they conferred these things Besides of right the Popes have nothing to do in the Dominions of other Princes and there have been sufficient proofs given by this Great Prince of his zeal for Justice and for Religion But these men love to make people feel their yoke and it may be well said of them what Mithridates said of the ancient Romans that it was not their love to Justice that made them fight against Princes but the desire of their Authority and of their Greatness Non delicta Regum illos sed vires ac Majestatem insequi It is well known how ill they have treated Spain not long since upon the account of the President of Castile who had reason in what he did and how at this time they handle the Venetians Don't we know how Alexander the Seventh and his Nephews behaved themselves at Rome towards our King in the person of his Ambassador the Duke of Crequi We may remember how that under Henry the Fourth they wanted but very little to have utterly ruined France and to have made the French all subject to the Spaniards and if the Parliament at Paris had not been better Christians than