Deacon three Bishops whereas for Consecrating a Bishop three are sufficient and one for Ordaining a Priest How difficult a matter was it to get so many Bishops together and how chargeable must that be especially in Germny where Bishops are very thin and at a great distance one from another These Degradations were performed with great Ceremonies in Pontifical Habit and extraordinary concourse of People The matter was very long canvassed but the Council Judged it not expedient to abolish the use of Degradations onely it was thought fit to find out some way of facilitating them that they might be done with less trouble Whilst the Council was thus taken up the Cardinal Legate had time to receive news from Rome So soon as it came without telling the Council that he had written and without communicating his answers he called the General Congregation and had it concluded according as it was resolved by the Pope that they should grant the Protestants a safe Conduct in general terms and that they should refer the point of the Cup to another Session Amongst the points that were to be handled again the Communion of young Children was one and the Article of retrenching the Cup was divided into three others thereby to multiply them and that they might not be necessitated to resume a Controversie which had already been decided for one point omitted or forgot session 13 Thirteenth Session the eleventh of October 1551 The eleventh of October the Session was held with the usual Ceremonies Mass was said by the Bishop of Majorca and the Sermon Preached by the Archbishop of Torne Then were read the Decree the Chapters of Doctrine the Canons and the Anathema's for asserting the Real Presence the Sacramental Manducation Transubstantiation the Concomitancy the Adoration of the Sacrament the Reservation of the Kinds the Necessity of Confession and the other points that were opposed by the Lutherans and Protestants The Decree of Reformation began with a grave Exhortation to Bishops to use their Jurisdiction moderately then it ordained that it should not be lawfull to Appeal from the Judgment of Bishops before Definitive Sentence That when there is place for an Appeal and that the Pope shall grant Commission in partibus that is on the Places that none shall be Commissionated but the Metropolitan or his great Vicar and if they be suspected that none can be Commissionated but neighbouring Bishops To lessen the difficulty of Degradations it ordained that one Bishop with as many Abbots as the Canons required Bishops might Degrade Clerks To satisfie the Bishops as to Exemptions it ordained that the Bishops might Judge of these Exemptions and of Favours obtained upon false Suggestions and annull them in quality of Subdelegates of the holy See But the Council reserved to the Pope the Cognisance of greater Causes and that the Causes of Bishops wherein the nature of the crime required Personal appearance should be brought before the Pope and be determined by him In the same Decree of Reformation there were some other Regulations that tended a little to the satisfaction of the Bishops that they might the more casily bear the Yoke of the Church of Rome but in all those places where any thing of Authority was granted them they had no power to act but in quality of the Delegates of the holy See After that a Decree for deferring the Article of the Cup and the Safe-conduct which the Council granted the Protestants were publickly read The Ambassadours of the Electour of Brandenburg a Protestant Prince appear at the Council At the same Session appeared Christopher Strasfen and John Hofman Ambassadours from Joachim Electour of Brandenburg a Protestant Prince Christopher Strasfen one of the Ambassadours made a long speech wherein in very civil but general terms he assured the Fathers of the Council of the respect his Master had for them and mentioned nothing at all of the matter of Religion The Council made answer by their Promooter and amongst other things told him that with much Joy the Fathers had heard from his mouth that that Prince submitted to the Council and promised to obey its Decrees In the mean while the Ambassadour had said no such thing but they thought they had gained a great point in so interpreting the Complements and civil Expressions that the Ambassadour had made use of All men made observations upon the Conduct of the Electour and the Council It was easily perceived that the Electour intended to observe the best measures he could with the Council that the Court of Rome might not cross the Election of his Son Frederick to the Archbishoprick of Magdebourg which had been made by the Chapter but the prudence of the Council was much more admired who had so dextrously turned the sense of the Electour's Complements to an engagement of submission According to the intimation that was made to the Abbot of Bellosana they intended to have given an answer to the King of France but no Abbot appeared he returned by order of his Master immediately after he had made his Protestation It was not the mind of the Court of France that the Ambassadour should expect the Session to enter into a debate which could not in the conclusion but be of troublesome consequence since the Pope and Spaniards who were the Parties in that affair must also have been the Judges The Apparitours made a Proclamation at the Church-door that if any one was there for the most Christian King he should appear but though no man appeared yet the answer was read which contained Complaints of the King's proceedings and Protestations on the part of the Council that they wore not assembled upon any private interest but for the general good of all Christendom and the extirpation of Heresies after all they prayed him to send his Prelates to the Council not to make use of any other means but to think of his Name of the most Christian King and to sacrifice his particular Quarrels to the general good of Christendom The Decrees of the Session were forthwith printed and all People reflected upon them according to their several Passions and Interests The Protestants failed not to observe a contradiction betwixt the first Chapter of Doctrine and the sourth with the second Canon In the first Chapter the Council saith that hardly can one express the manner of the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist and in the sourth Chapter it saith that that manner hath been convenienter proprie called Transubstantiation and in the second Canon the Council saith that it is apâ—issime called so it was likewise thought that the Council had made use of a kind of an improper and incommodious expression as to the point of Consecration because it says that Jesus Christ after the Benediction declared that that which he gave was his Real Body which seems to insinuate that the change was made by the Benediction so that these words This is my Body could be no more but a
that for the sake of peace he might well remit them to be examined and setled by a free Council and that by consequence upon his refusing to do it the Protestants have reason to consider as a Party and an Adversary in the Controversie that Council that the Pope hath convened wherein he presided and over which he reigned with absolute Dominion That the Church of Rome having once given Judgment upon the Controversie and an Appeal being brought she could not proceed to a second Judgment But to evince more plainly this truth That the Protestants have reason to consider the Council of Trent as their Adverse Party it is to be remarked that the matters in question were not novel but for the greater part had been already decided either by Councils or by Papal Constitutions or by a Custom universally approved by the Roman Church The second Council of Nice had decreed the adoration of Images Transubstantiation the Real Presence adoration of the Sacrament Auricular Confession had been passed into Laws by Innocent III. in the fourth Council of Lateran held in the year 1215. The Cup in the Sacrament was taken from the Laity by Decree of the Council of Constance held in the year 1414. Purgatory and the seven Sacraments were made Articles of Faith by the Council of Florence in the years 1438 and 1439. In a word there was scarce any of the controverted Points that had not been decided All that the Protestants did amounted to no other than an endeavour to be relieved from the hardships of Judgments already given Truly and properly speaking they were Appellants from the Decisions of the Roman Church to the Holy Scripture How great was then the injustice to set up that Church for Judge of a Cause against which she had already given Judgment and from which Judgment the Protestants had appealed When there arise new and doubtful matters in a Church there is no doubt but that Church hath a right to Judge of them and to assemble her Councils to that end For instance in the time of Berengarius the dispute about the Real Presence was revived which had lain buried in forgetfulness since Bertrand and Paschasius The Church of Rome having not as then decided the matter Berengarius had no reason but to hear the Judgment of the Church having first done all in him in order to the prevalence of truth Had the Church decreed unjustly in the matter he might then have refused to acquiesce in the Judgment for that the Conscience cannot submit but where it is fully convinced that the Decision is in conformity to the Word of God But when a Church hath once pronounced upon a matter and an Appeal be rightly made she hath then certainly no power to give a second Sentence in the same Cause or if she doth no consequence as of a new Condemnation can be justly drawn from it Since therefore the Church of Rome had already passed her Decree upon the Points in question before the Council of Trent we must look upon her as a Judge become a Party as having long before declared against the truth But can it in conscience be thought that the Prelates assembled at Trent came thither with intent to deliberate whether the natural Body of Christ be in the Eucharist whether the Sacrament shall have the Worship of Latria Were they not resolved already ere they came to Trent Came they not meerly to condemn the Lutherans and not upon any inquisition after truth Had they not almost all an implacable hatred to the Protestants Did they not solicit Princes to destroy them with Fire and Sword And are these qualifications to be desired in Judges If it be asked how then the Assembly should have been composed to have given content to the Protestants I answer it should have been as the Lutherans of Germany desired it The Bishops should have been absolved from their Oaths of fidelity to the Pope The Council of Basil did it in a time when there was less need than when the Council of Trent sate The Protestant Divines should have been called the more moderate persons of each party should have been chosen the Bishops should have been prevailed with to lay aside all passion and prejudice the truth should have been sought with a sincere mind and the Word of God been only consulted for it The one might have hoped that persons so qualified by such a conduct might have reached the truth reason 2 But tho we should renounce all that I have yet said tho we should own the Council of Trent for a lawful and natural Judge of our Controversies with the Roman Church 2. Second cause of rejecting the Council of Trent tho it were duly assembled in could not be infallible yet were we in no sort obliged to receive and comply with all her Decisions with an absolute resignation and a blind credulity to which nothing can move one but the fond supposition of the infallibility of Councils Not to descend to an Examen of the particular faults of the Council of Trent it is impossible to persuade ones self that a Council that is to say an Assembly in which there is no Prophet nor any man inspired of the Holy Ghost is not liable to err and for my part I very much question whether there be in the world any one person that seriously thinks so I will admit that to have recourse to an infallible living Judge would be of high importance to the World The Church of Rome strongly supports her self by the artifice of possessing the People with the belief of her infallibility But when it comes to be enquired where it is that this infallibility doth reside one knows not where to find it Some place it in the Pope alone others in the Council alone and a third sort in Pope and Council united Those that place it in the Councils seem to have greater reason than such as would fix it to the person of the Pope For Councils are indeed the undoubted Judges of controversies in the Church So that if there be any infallible Judge in the Church it should be them As it certainly is most probable that the wisdom of many in conjunction should be of greater prevalence and purity than that of any single person The Pope whose Authority is meer Usurpation cannot be an infallible Judge nor hath God given to the Bishop of Rome any power to judge of controversies in the name of the Catholick Church Yet after all that appears so much to favour the Councils it must be confessed that the opinion that fixes the infallibility of the Roman Church upon the Pope is much easier to defend than that which ascribes it to the Council For this latter opinion that makes Councils to be infallible is perhaps the most vain and empty Notion that was ever started I pass the proofs brought from Scripture for each opinion they are much of an equal weight The Text I have prayed for thee
Convention by themselves in Thrace but others on the contrary do affirm that the whole Assembly was Orthodox However there was at least three hundred of them Orthodox that were met together from all Parts The holy Confessour Hosius Bishop of Cordoua did preside in it St. Athanasius was re-established in his See by it and the Nicene Creed was also by it explained according to truth Nevertheless this very Council has not been able to obtain to pass for legitimate St. Austin formally rejects it nor is it reckoned among the first six De. Conciliis l. 1. c 7. Bellarmine indeed so far favours it as to account it among those that are in part rejected and in part approved If the Ancients had believed that General Councils were infallible I cannot see why they should reject this it having all the marks of Universality Gratus Bishop of Carthage was present at it with five and thirty African Bishops more and yet the African Church never received it she took so little notice of it that sixty or eighty years after she had no manner of knowledge of its Canons which appears by the History of the great Contest between the Church of Africk and the Bishops of Rome in the Affair of Pelagius upon the right of Appealls Celestius a Pelagian who had been condemned by the Councils of Africk obtained of Pope Zosimus to be acquitted of all the Censures that had been given against him The Africans opposed it affirming that the Canons permitted not that one accused of Heresie should be tried out of his own Province or but by his own Synod and that the Bishop of Rome had no authority to receive the Appeals of such as stood condemned by the Bishops of Africk Zozimus produced a Canon as of the Council of Nice which permitted Appeals to Rome Tho it was not really a Canon of that Council but of the Council of Sardica The Africans were surprized at it and knew not on the sudden what to reply for in their Copies of the Canons of the Council of Nice there was no such Canon to be found so that not knowing from whence it might be taken because they knew nothing of the Council of Sardica or its Canons there was need of time to clear the mystery The fifth General Council upon the Cause of Arius was the Council of Milan held about the year 354. Ruffinus plainly says that many of the Orthodox fell into the snares of Heresie Hist l. 1. c. 20. And indeed the Bishops that held for Athanasius and the term Consubstantial were in fine banished by the Emperour Constantius Could there be a more famous Council than was that of Ariminum in Italy There were present and assisting in it no fewer than six hundred Bishops of which four hundred of the Eastern Church and two hundred of the West If we may believe Socrates Hist l. 2. c. 29. there was nothing done in this Council repugnant to the Faith of the Church But he is not in this to be credited He thought perhaps it would be a mighty service to the Church to prevaricate in her behalf and deny that this Great Council was of the number of those that favoured Arianism But it is undeniable that this Synod sunk under the violence of the Emperour Constantius and was over reached by the cunning and artifice of Vrsacius Bishop of Singidunum and of Valens Bishop of Mursa The testimony of Athanasius in the Book by him written concerning the Council of Ariminum puts the matter beyond all doubt especially when we consider the concurrent evidence of S. Austin in the fourteenth Chapter of his third Book against Maximin and of St. Hilary in his Book de Synodis adversus Arianos where we find the Letters of Liberius Bishop of Rome to the Eastern Bishops wherein he avers that the Fathers of the Council of Ariminum overcome by the Emperour and by the cheats of Valence and Vrsacius had pronounced contrary to the Faith of the Church but were again perfectly returned from their error and had each of them pronounced Anathema against the Confession of Faith made by the Council of Ariminuw We have thus already five General Councils that have erred about the same matter In the Cause of Eutiches who confounded the two Natures of Christ there were two General Councils assembled The first was at Ephesus in the year 449. convened by Theodosius the younger a Prince truly Catholick All the Patriarchs were present at it Juvenal Patriarch of Jerusalem Dioscorus of Alexandria Domnus of Antioch Flavian of Constantinople and by his Legats Leo Bishop of Rome Nothing was wanting to the Legality or Universality of this Council For to say that this Council was Illegal because not convened by the Pope and that the Patriarch of Alexandria and not the Popes Legates did preside therein is a very vain Allegation the weakness of which however in this place we are not concerned to shew For we oppose not such as make the Pope Superiour to Councils and all the Authority of Councils to depend upon the Popes Pleasure We oppose such as make the Council Superiour to the Pope and hold a Council to be nothing the less legal or less infallible for not being under the Popes direction such as look upon the Councils of Constance and of Basil as most holy Councils tho the Popes did not preside in them and such in fine as require us to submit to the Council of Trent upon its own Authority This General Council of Ephesus tho legally assembled and according to the Canons is notwithstanding a detestable Convention that justified the Heretick Eutiches confirmed his Doctrine and deposed Flavian Patriarch of Constantinople a most holy and Orthodox person About nineteen years before there had been held another General Council at the same City of Ephesus in the Cause of Nestorius who affirmed there was to Persons in Christ This Heresie was there condemned and Truth triumphed This certainly makes an essential difference between these two Councils tho otherwise there be none that I can see as to Form and Externals unless that Error was victorious in the second Council with less scandal than truth overcame in the first For it is true indeed that Dioscorus President of the second Council of Ephesus did with much facility cause the Heresie of Eutiches to prevail the Popes Legats and some few others having been only a little roughly treated whilst in the first Council of Ephesus which is the third received General Council there was a horrible Schism occasioned by Cyril of Alexandria and John of Antioch who made Parties and deposed each other Socrat. l. 7. c. 33. Evagrius l. 1. c. 4. The Emperour was forced to interpose in the matter and to make use of his Authority to appease so dreadful a Sedition It is apparent from all these Considerations that tho the Council of Trent could be considered as a General Council that would not bind us to believe it infallible nor
all the Magistrates of the Christian World do affirm the Council to have erred That Exemptions of Ecclesiasticks is a point of Doctrine wherein it is confessed that the Council erred I go on to the Exemptions of Ecclesiasticks which are of near affinity to the preceding Article The Bishops of the Council of Trent in the Decree we just spake of by them intitled the Reformation of Princes had made little Sovereigns of the Clergy independent of the Secular Power exempted from pleading before a Temporal Judge for whatsoever Cause or Crime 'T is true this Decree did not pass by reason of the great opposition made by the Ambassadors But the Council endeavoured to supply the matter for in the twentieth Chapter of General Reformation in the 25th Session it ordains that the Immunities Exemptions and Privileges of Ecclesiasticks be ratified and confirmed to them according to the Constitutions of Popes and Councils and according to the holy Canons Now these Constitutions and these Canons the observance whereof it commands are those that withdraw Ecclesiasticks from the Power of Secular Judgment and subject them only to the Judges of the Church And indeed since the Council the Clergy have with the utmost vigour endeavoured the maintaining themselves in the possession of these Privileges Every body knows the famous Quarrel that upon this occasion happened between Pope Paul V. and the Venetians and made so great a noise in the beginning of this present Century The Republick of Venice in the year 1605. made a Law forbidding Ecclesiasticks to acquire Lands and fixt Possessions and before that there was another Law in force restraining the building of Churches Hospitals and Monasteries without leave obtained of the Senate At the same time the Republick caused to be imprisoned Brandolino Valde-Marino Abbot of Nerveze and Scipione Saracino Canon of Vicenza the first as being guilty of Rapine and Theft accused oâ— poysoning his Father and his Brother oâ— Incest with his Sister of having caused several Persons to be assassinated and oâ— employing Magick to corrupt Womenâ— the second for having broken off the Seal put upon the Bishops Court by the Magistrates and for attempting the chastity of a Widow of Quality with most villaâ—nous outrages Pope Paul V. looked up on these Laws and the imprisoning of thesâ— Men as breaches of the Privileges of thâ— Clergy that the Council of Trent haâ— confirmed He commanded the Venetian to abrogate these Laws and to send thâ— two Prisoners to be tryed by the Nuncâ— at Venice forasmuch as the proceeding of the Republick in this matter was contrary to the Canons and Constitutions of the Councils And upon the Republicks refusing to do it in the year 1606. he thundred his Bull of Excommunication and Interdiction against it The business was made up in the year 1607. by the mediation of the King of France and by the negotiation of Cardinal de Joyeuse and Cardinal du Perron The Interdict was taken off but the Republick was obliged to give up the Prisoners to the Pope and to suspend the execution of those Laws till the Parties that is to say the Church and the State had setled the matter These Ecclesiastical Immunities were things unknown to the Primitive times The great and good Emperour Constantine did in Person or by Commission hear and determine the Crimes of Ecclesiasticks without excepting so much as Cases of Schism and Heresie It is true he established a Tribunal of the Church Sozomer l. 1. c. 9. Eujeb de vita Constant l 4. c. 27. Niceph. l. 7.46 and gave a sort of Jurisdiction to Bishops for the affairs of Ecclesiasticks But still they acted as the Emperours Delegates in those Tribunals and we see that Constantine did often â—re hear Causes wherein the Bishops had before given Sentence Tom. 2. Ep. 162. St. Austin tells us that in the business of the That the diminution of Episcopal Authority is another Point of Doctrine wherein the Council of Trent is acknowledged to have erred It is not extremely necessary to enlarge upon the wrong done by the Council of Trent to Bishops in taking from them the power of hearing all the greater Causes in impowering them in most Episcopal Functions to act only as the Popes Commissaries and in confirming the Privileges of Chapters and Monasteries which dispense them from acknowledging the Ordinaries to be their Superiours The Bishops themselves do sufficiently complain of these wrongs and they have reason for by the Priviledge granted to Monks of immediate depending on the Holy See the great and numerous Congregations of Clugny and of the Cistercians all the Houses of the Mendicants and the new Order of Jesuits are not only withdrawn from Episcopal Jurisdiction but are become so many sworn Enemies to Episcopacy Besides which by the Exemption of Chapters those Assemblies are so many thorns in the Bishops sides giving them a thousand disturbances and tiring them out by their oppositions The accused Bishops are contrary to the Canons forced and dragged to Rome to be tried their Causes are removed from their Metropolitan and Synod of the Province from whom they might expect Justice and those that seek their ruine do procure their Enemies to be named by the Pope for Commissioners to decide their Causes There is an instance of this in the troubles that hapned in France about the Doctrine of Jansenius There were four Bishops that after the condemnation of Jansenius by Innocent X. and Alexander VII kept a wrangling and cavilling a little too long in the Jesuits opinion upon the distinction of Right and Fact to avoid signing of the Formulary The good Fathers procured a Brief from the Court of Rome to interdict them by Commissaries named by the Pope These four Bishops who were the Bishops of Alez of Pamiers of Beauvais and of Anger 's defended themselves against the Interdiction by Circular Letters and by divers publick Writings wherein they cite the Ancient Canons the fifteenth of the Council of Antioch in the year 341. the seventh of the Council of Sardica 351. the Capitula of Adrian I. the Decisions of Leo IV. and of Benedict III. his Successor who lived about the middle of the Ninth Century By all which it appears that accused Bishops to be Canonically condemned ought to be tried by their fellow-Bishops of the same Province They trace the possession of this Right through the following Centuries and at length they shew that the Regulations of the Council of Trent and the Concordat between Francis I. and Leo X. cannot prejudice the Right of the Bishops and so long a Possession for that the Parliaments the Universities and the Clergy of France opposed the Concordat and the Cardinal of Lorrain made opposition in the name of all the Clergy of France then when the Gentlemen of beyond the Mountains made the Decree that impeaches this usage Which say they hath served for a ground of the refusal In the Circular Letter of the four Bishops to all the
free will and six Articles on that Subject are drawn out of the Books of the Lutherans which he did by calling another cause He put them upon the matter of free will which is closely linked to that of grace and the Council named Bishops and Divines to cull out of Luther's Books such propositions as might be thought worthy of censure these Deputies pickt out Six 1. That God is the cause of all actions good and bad and that he operated in the treachery of Judas as well as in the Conversion of St. Paul 2. That men have no free will and that every thing happens by absolute necessity 3. That by the fall of Adam man lost his free will and retains no more but the name of it 4. That man has now no free will but to doe evil 5. That the free will does not concur with grace and that men are driven on to conversion like brute beasts 6. That God converts those whom he will even though the resist The two first propositions were not confuted by reasons but by invectives they were called mad monstrous impious and blasphemous opinions The Carmelite Marinier who liked not that violent way was for interpreting those Articles in some good sense and especially that which affirms our actions to be necessary not free He observed that it was not true that all our actions are in our own power and that the School-men themselves are obliged to except the first motives which men cannot restrain Andreas de Vega discoursed upon that matter in a very obscure manner and was hardly understood till he came to a Conclusion wherein he said that there was no difference betwixt the Lutherans and Catholicks as to the nature of free will in civil actions and in the moral and external works of the Law and that the Lutherans did not strip man of his free will but in respect of supernatural works that prepared man for Salvation which being consonant to the Sentiment of Catholicks he was of opinion that in this particular something should be done for peace sake That name of peace was odious and grating we are not met for that answered they it is the business of Conferences to accommodate differences but of Councils to condemn Heresies and indeed this Council was very far from indulging any thing to the Lutherans this debate was the cause of another that arose betwixt the two Schools of Scotus and Thomas that is to say betwixt the Cordeliers and Jacobins to wit if it be in the Power of man to believe or not to believe The Cordeliers maintained the opinion of Scotus that it is not in the liberty of man not to believe because the understanding is necessarily determined by its object when a truth is presented to it it cannot but see it and when it perceives it it cannot refuse to close with the same But the Jacobins on the contrary defended the opinion of St. Thomas and said that faith was a free action that might be enjoyned or hindered by the will Concerning the third article wherein the Lutherans say that man's free will is lost since that fall of Adam the Champions for the pure Doctrine of Grace produced many Arguments and Authorities and particularly they cited several passages of St. Austin wherein he says Adam perdidit se liberum arbitrium But to that Dominico à Soto made answer that the word free was sometimes opposed to necessity and sometimes to slavery that the Lutherans took it in the first sense when they say that man hath lost his free will because they would thereby signifie that man acts by an inevitable necessity But that St. Austin had taken the word free in the second sense as it is opposite to slavery and that his meaning was that man had lost his free will because that free will is captivated under the bondage of sin though the last is absolutely the sense of the Protestants as well as of St. Austin This explication of Dominico â Soto was not well relished they would not have the free will to be a slave neither to necessity according to the sense that was attributed to the Lutherans nor to sin according to the sense of St. Austin The Council could not endure that the free will should be made a slave upon any account whatsoever for had they owned with Soto that it is under the bondage of sin they could not have condemned the title of Luther's book de servo arbitrio as they designed to doe The fourth Article which saith that man hath onely free will to doe evil was reckoned ridiculous and the Divines of the Council laid it down as a certain truth that free will is a power of determining ones self to one of two contraries to good or to evil There were some nevertheless that were not so passionate who told them that their Maxime was not unexceptionable and that God was free without having the power of determining himself to evil There arose great Debates in the examination of the fifth and sixth articles concerning the manner how free will concurs with grace in the work of conversion The Cordeliers following the Theology and Principles of their Master Scotus maintained that the will which can prepare it self for grace can by much stronger reason admit or reject grace when it is offered But the Jacobins who are Thomists attributed to grace the first motions of conversion The Thomists are divided the beginning of the new Thomists These last maintain that Grace is efficacious of it self Here the Thomists were divided for Dominico à Soto a Jacobin acknowledged preventing grace but he said that it was in the power of man to accept or reject that grace so that he made the efficacy of grace to depend on the will of man and on the determination of that will and denied grace of it self to be efficacious In this particular all the difference that was betwixt Soto and the Cordeliers or Scotists was about the preparations for the Scotists pretended that the will goes before grace by immediate preparations which proceed from the will it self And Soto denied these immediate preparations and onely admitted certain remote preparations of the will for the reception of grace Luigi di Catanea a Jacobin and Thomist said that according to the Doctrine of St. Thomas the will may indeed reject sufficient grace but not effectual grace because this grace gets always the victory over the will In this manner he laid down as a ground in Divinity that the difference betwixt effectual grace and sufficient grace proceeds onely from the operation of God and not from the consent of the will that is he affirmed grace to be effectual of it self This is that Luigi di Catanea who may be called the Patriarch of the new Thomists who have made themselves very considerable since the Council of Trent in undertaking the defence of the Doctrine of St. Austin concerning Grace which the School of Scotus that was Semipelagian had almost stifled
ever done it but that of Basil the least action whereof they scrupled to imitate they added that the coming of the Lutherans to the Council would onely serve to seduce people because they would not forbear their Dogmatical Cant that on the whole if they refused to submit that safe conduct would be dishonourable to the Council from which they required a compliance which ought never to be granted to Hereticks To remove all these difficulties they thought of giving a safe Conduct in general terms wherein the Protestants should not be named but onely designed under the Title of Church-men and Seculars of the German Nation that so if at any other time necessity did require they might say that by these terms none were meant but Catholicks Whilst they were consulting at Rome about the safe Conduct at Trent points of Doctrine were under examination and that inquiry was not so calm and peaceable as the other about the Anathema's and Canons against Protestants for it was impossible to keep the Jacobins and Cordeliers from going together by tho ears about the matter of Transubstantiation The Jacobins pretended that the body of our Saviour is made present in the Eucharist by way of Production because the Body of Jesus Christ without coming down from Heaven where it is in its natural being is rendered present in the Bread by a reproduction of the same substance according to which Doctrine the substance according to which Doctrine the substance of the Bread is changed into the substance of our Lord's Body The Cordeliers on the other hand defended that Transubstantiation which is called Adductive they alledged that our Lord's Body is brought down from Heaven not by a successive but momentany change and that the substance of Bread is not changed into the substance of the Body of Jesus Christ but that the Flesh and Bloud of Jesus Christ succeeds into the place of the substance of the Bread being conveyed thither from another place Each Party maintained their opinions with wonderfull heat branding one anothers with absurdities and contradictions The Electour of Cologne who had had the patience to hear these wretched janglings said very pleasantly that both Parties were in the right when they refuted and charged one another with absurdities but that they seemed all of them to be out of the way when they asserted their opinions because they spoke nothing that was Sense or Intelligible at length seeing there was no declaring for one Party without offending the other they satisfied them both by couching the Decree in very general terms In the same Congregation they discoursed of many abuses that concerned the Eucharist which ought to be reformed such as are the failings in reverence and respect to the holy Sacrament It was complained of that they did not kneel before it that they let it mould in the Pixes that it was administred with little reverence and that they took money from Communicants This last abuse was committed particularly at Rome where the Communicants carried in one hand a hollow Taper and a piece of money in the Taper which was the Priests see It was resolved that Canons should be made against that abuse and many more of the like nature The original of the Jurisdiction of the Tribunals of the Church with their progress At the same time other Congregations were held consisting onely of Doctors of the Canon Law for handling the matter of Discipline the Head that was examined was that of the Jurisdiction of Bishops The end the Bishops proposed to themselves was not the rectifying of the abuses of that Jurisdiction by restraining it to the just and lawfull bounds whereby it was limited in the Apostles time and in the primitive Ages of the Church on the contrary they would have enlarged it by exempting it from the power and attempts of the Court of Rome That Jurisdiction in the first Ages was onely grounded on the sixth Chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians wherein St. Paul exhorts believers not to bring their Causes before Infidels but to chuse out amongst themselves fit persons to compose their differences but because the Tribunal which St. Paul establishes in that place was merely a tribunal of Charity which had no coercive power so the Sentences that past there were onely Verdicts of Arbitration which men stood by if they thought fit by the six and fiftieth Chapter of the second Book of the Constitutions attributed to St. Clement it appears that the Bishop and Priests met every Munday for determining the affairs of their Flock And it rarely happened that any one appealed from these Decisions because of the great respect that men in those days had for the Church But after the times of persecution were over the Bishops supported by the Emperours who were become Christians erected Real Tribunals the Decrees and Sentences whereof were put in execution by the Authority of the Magistrate It is said that Constantine ordained that the Sentences of Bishops should be without appeal and be put in execution by the Secular Judges and that if one of the Parties should desire that a Process commenced before a Secular Judge might be referred to the Tribunal of the Bishop the reference should be granted in spight of all opposition either from the Judge or the adverse Party In the year three hundred sixty five the Emperour Valens enlarged that Jurisdiction and Possidius reports that St. Austin was taken up in those trials of Civil matters many times even till night which troubled him much because it took him off from the true functions of his Ministery That Law of Constantine in favour of this Tribunal of Bishops was revoked or at least limited by the Emperours Arcadius and Honorius for they ordained that Bishops should decide in no Causes but those of Religion and in Civil matters when both Parties consented to it In the year four hundred and fifty two the Emperour Valentinian confirmed that Law which restrained the power of Bishops Justinian restored to them part of what they had been deprived of allowing them besides the Causes of Conscience power to take cognizance of the Crimes of the Clergy and to perform several other acts of Jurisdiction over Laics And thus by the indiscreet favour of Emperours the power of the Church which is all Spiritual became a Carnal Dominion In the following Ages the Jurisdiction and Authority of the Bishops got ground apace and especially in the Western Church because the chief of the Clergy were the ablest Statesmen they were commonly of Princes Councils and managed and Civil matters That was the reason that in a short time they grew to be sole Judges of all Causes Civil and Criminal of the Clergy and that they extended their Jurisdiction over Laicks under various pretexts for instance they took upon them to Judge of the Validity of last Will and Testaments to make Inventories and apply Seals under pretext that Widows and Orphans are recommended to the care of the Church
Heretofore all contracts were confirmed and ratified by Oath and because an Oath is a matter of Conscience they made themselves Judges of all Causes that related to Contracts and Promises Besides these Jurisdictions they established a Court which they called the Mixt Court wherein they Judged of all civil Causes belonging to the Magistrate if the Court of the Church had by anticipation taken cognizance of the Cause but on the other side if the Magistrate had anticipated them then the Ecclesiastick-Court had no more Power They likewise laid down for a Maxim which brought a great many Causes before them that when the Magistrate neglected or refused to doe Justice then the Cause devolved to the Ecclesiastick-Court And in fine to fill up the measure of corruption in the eleventh Century they laboured to lay down this for a Maxim that Bishops did not derive this great Power from the Concessions of Princes but immediately from Jesus Christ Otherwise if the Bishops had acknowledged that they held these Privileges from Princes Sovereigns would have always had power to punish them and rectifie the abuses committed by them in their Jurisdiction But that they might put themselves out of reach of Animadversion they perswaded People that their Jurisdiction was independent of the Power of Princes At last that they might frame an Empire Paramount over all the States of Christendom the Pope was made Head of that Jurisdiction which the Bishops had usurped and reared up within the space of thirteen hundred years For after that the Bishops had taken from Magistrates a great part of their Jurisdicton the Pope found a way to strip the Ordinaries of the greatest part of their Power by Evocations Appeals and Exemptions So that if on the one hand the Secular Judges complained of the usurpations of the Bishops on the other hand the Bishops complained of the encroachments of the holy See This in general was the matter that then was handled in the Congregations of the Canonists whilst in the others matters of Faith were examined Gropper votes for the abolishing of Episcopal Jurisdiction and Ecclesiastick Tribunals Gropper who was in the Council both as a Lawyer and a Divine reasoned accurately about these abuses of Jurisdiction and shew'd that in the beginning the sentences of Bishops were sentences of Charity that these sentences were rendered not by Officials as now a-days but by the Bishop and Priests assembled in a kind of Consistory or Synod That moreover there was no such thing known as Appeals from those sentences to the Pope that if any Appeal was made it was to their next immediate Superiours which are Synods And therefore he was of opinion that these Synodal Judgments should be restored that the Courts and Judgments of Officials should be abolished and that all Appeals to the Pope immediately without passing through subordinate Superiours should be discharged The Legate Nuncio's and Italians slaves to the Court of Rome listened to this discourse with a great deal of impatience and having consulted together they set on the Promooter of the Council Giovanni Baptista Castello a Bolonian who in a long harangue maintained that it was lawfull to Appeal immediately to the Pope Baptista Castello Promooter of the Council refutes Gropper about the subject of immediate Appeals to the Pope and to bring Actions before the holy See without passing through the Intermedial Judges The Bishops were not satisfied with Gropper's Discourse but far less with that of Castello For he raised the Authority of the Pope to such a pitch that the Italians themselves murmured at it because according to Castello's Maxims the Pope was all in all and the Bishops signified nothing at all and that made the Italians recoyl and talk of accommodation In effect they came to an accommodation and adjusted matters in this manner That there should be no Appeals from the definitive Sentences of Bishops and Officials but in causes criminal and that even in criminal matters it should not be lawfull to Appeal from Interlocutory Sentences untill Definitive Sentence were pronounced But they would not re-establish Synodal Judgments by ruining the Officials The Bishops urged not to be re-established in their ancient right of being Judged by their Synods that is to say by the Metropolitan and their Comprovincials because men are not commonly inclined to facilitate Judgments against themselves and Processes against Bishops are much more difficult when one must go to Rome or procure a Commission from thence than if they could be accused upon the place before their proper Judges which are Synods The power was therefore left to the Pope of Judging them by Commissaries delegated in partibus Onely the Council made some Regulations that none inferiour to the Bishop in Dignity should be chosen as a Commissary of the Pope to Judge him It is one of the Grievances against the Council of Trent and one of the reasons why it is not received in France that contrary to the ancient Canons it deprives Bishops of the right of being Judged by the Metropolitan and their Comprovincials Of Degradations their Original and Progress There was also another great abuse in the Jurisdiction of Bishops of which a Reformation was demanded and that was the manner of Degradations According to the Privileges that have been granted to the Clergy or which they have usurped this Maxim has been long received that the Magistrate has no power over Clerks so long as they remain Clerks So that a Member of the Clergy must be degraded before he can be delivered over to the Secular Power for capital and enormous Crimes where sentence of death is to be pronounced which cannot be given by an Ecclesiastick Court because it imbrues not the hand in Bloud and this custome was confirmed by the Laws of Justinian It was even the custome in preceding Ages that is in the fourth and fifth Century when a Member of the Clergy returned into the World to degrade him by the same Ceremonies whereby he had been installed but in a manner inverse and retrograde that is to say that they clothed him in all his Priestly Habits and then stript him of the same one after another applying words quite contrary to those of Ordination But since about the year six hundred these Degradations were abolished and those who had taken high Orders were prohibited from returning again into the World so that the custome of Degradations is onely retained in Criminal matters when a Member of the Clergy is to be delivered over to the Secular Power to be punished But these Degradations of Clerks convicted must be done according to the new Canons with so many Ceremonies as rendered the punishment of the Members of the Clergy almost impossible That was their Scope and they onely clogg'd Degradations with so many difficulties that they might live in impunity For Degrading a Bishop thirteen Degrading Bishops were required besides twelve Assistants For Degrading a Priest there must be six Bishops for Degrading a
the Decree of Gratian. In the Congregation of the tenth of July Leonard Haller Titular Bishop of Philadelphia moved that it was necessary to stay for the Germans as a few days before Daniel Barbaro Patriarch of Aquileia had demanded that they might stay for the French to the end that the Council might be called General as being made up of all Nations for there were none but Spaniards and Italians in it and these Italians almost all of them the Pope's Pensioners who most cunningly stood up for the Interests of the Court of Rome There were even some that said publickly enough that that Council was not the Council of the Universal Church but of the Pope since he did in it what he pleased and these were those who had spoken with some freedom as to the Point of Residence The Papal Party had a great pique against them which appeared so plainly that they did not think themselves secure enough even at Trent and therefore they thought of withdrawing some of them had already obtained leave amongst whom were Egidio Foscararo Bishop of Modena the Bishops of Viviers Acqui and the Archbishop of Surriento But the Ambassadour of Portugal having represented that that would do hurt to the reputation of the Council seeing the cause of their departure was generally known they were detained by fair promises of better usage for the future However there was no notice taken of the demand that was made of waiting for the coming of the German and French Prelates In the following Congregations the Chapters of Reformation were read and some Bishops spoke with a great deal of liberty As to the Point of free Ordinations the Bishop of Vegla an Island near Sclavonia said that it would be to no purpose to lay a restraint upon ordaining Bishops not to take money if at the same time it were not Decreed that no fees should be taken at Rome for Dispensations to receive Orders out of the usual times and before the Age appointed that the greatest expence was there and that the small gratuities given at Ordinations was nothing to it He farther said that when any such Dispensations were presented to him it was his custome to ask if they had cost any money and that if he found they had been bought he rejected and did not value them As to the Point concerning those that got into Priests Orders without a sufficient Estate to maintain them the Bishop of the five Churches spoke with great freedom that it was of much more importance to prevent a mans entering into Orders without having a Church and Cure to serve than to hinder him upon the account of wanting an Estate and that it was very disgracefull to the Church to have priests who had no other Employment but to live idly and take their ease upon a good fat Benefice In one of the Articles of Reformation it was ordained that great Parishes should be divided into two that they might be the better served whereupon the same Bishop said that that was good but that it was much better to divide the Bishopricks which are of so great extent that it is not possible for one man to take the care of so many Souls These opinions pleased no body neither the Prelates nor the Presidents Afterward the Bishop of Sidonia an Hungarian took the boldness to say that all these petty Reformations of the Members of the Church signified nothing so long as the Head continued without Reformation that it behoved them to begin with the greater matters and that the lesser would pass without any difficulty This liberty was very offensive to the Legates and therefore they met to consult about means of repressing that boldness John Baptista Castello Promooter of the Council who had discharged the same office in the Council under Julius III. said that the course must be taken which had been used by Cardinal Crescentio who enjoyned the Prelates silence when they did in the least deviate from the Subject that had been proposed But the Cardinal of Warmia did not approve that conduct and affirmed that God had not blest the Council of Julius because he approved not those violent methods of Cardinal Crescentio that after all it was impossible to avoid contests in Councils The Cardinal of Mantua was of the same Judgment So that they thought it sufficient to limit every one to a certain time in speaking and to make it short that so they might not have leisure to speak many things which might give disgust The day for holding the Session which was the sixteenth of July drew nigh and the Germans who had consented that nothing should be moved in it about the permission of the Cup demanded now a great deal more and urged that nothing might be done at all that so they might give time to their Bishops to come The Legates to prevent the disgrace of being so long without doing any thing would needs have the Chapters of Doctrine and Reformation which had been minuted to be published And they must be read overagain in the Congregation before they could be published in the Session which was not done without debate In the second Chapter of Doctrine these words were slipt in that the Church might as well take away the use of the Cup as it had changed the form of Baptism Jacobo Gilberto de Nogueras Bishop of Aliphe a Spaniard starting up said that that was Blasphemy because the Church had no Power to change the form of Sacraments nor to alter any thing that is essential to them and that in effect the form of Baptism had never been changed that hint was taken notice of and the Clause left out In the third Chapter it is said that he who is barred from the Cup is not deprived of any Grace necessary to Salvation and that therefore the Church has Power to retrench it The Cardinal of Warmia one of the Legates set on by some Divines observed as to that that thence it might be inferred that the Church may wholly take away the Eucharist because it is not necessary to Salvation and desired some alteration in that Clause But Cardinal Simoneta being vexed at what had past in the Congregation told the Cardinal of Warmia that he had very imprudently suffered himself to be put upon in making that Overture and that if he would everlastingly give ear to those Doctours accustomed to the cavillings of the School nothing could be concluded in the next Session The Cardinal of Warmia submitted excusing himself in that what he had done was designed for a good end In the Congregation that was held the day before the Session there happened some Debates still as in all the rest but they were not very considerable and continued not long session 21 Now it was the sixteenth of July 16. July the day appointed for the Session and the Legates Ambassadours and Prelates went to the Church with the usual Ceremonies After Mass and Sermon the Decrees were read the Decree of
When the parts that made up this mighty Body the Empire came to separate and to be formed into several distinct States Kingdoms the Bishop of Rome puts himself into the Emperors place and by pretending a spiritual power still retains those several States and Kingdoms in a spiritual jurisdiction to him that were only at first obliged by the temporal power of the Emperours By this means he continues to assemble the Bishops of those several States and to term such Assembly a general Council Let any discerning person judge whether these Assemblies thus formed by accident as is most apparent can be vested with the priviledge of infallibility There never were any Councils that could truly and properly be called General Councils But after all it is a great abuse of words to give the name of Oecumenical or General Council to a Convention of two or three hundred Bishops out of five or six Nations Euseb de vita Constant l. 4. c. 8. When the Roman Emperours became Christian their Dominions did include the greatest part of Christendom but not the whole There was in Persia a very great number of Churches and those considerable ones in whose favour Constantine wrote to Sapor King of Persia Theod. l. 5. c. 33. Theodoret gives an account of the indiscreet zeal of one Audas a Persian Bishop who in the Reign of Isdigerdes burnt a Temple of the Persian God which was Fire and by that ill managed zeal was the cause of a Persecution of thirty years continuance by which an infinite number of Christians perished there by all manner of torments Th. 〈…〉 The same Theodoret tells us that in the time of Constantine the Gospel was preached in India with success by Aeâ—… and Frumentius and among the Iberians by a captive woman It is certain that these distant Churches sent not their Bishops to the Councils that were held in Countrys subject to the Roman Emperours A Council that might deserve the name of General ought at least to be composed of the Guides of the Church of all the Learned and of all those that have attentively studied the mysteries of Religion There is no place in the world could hold such an Assembly nor were it possible to deliberate in it But alas instead of the prodigious number of Guides and Pastors of the Catholick Church a very few and those almost all of the same Nation are it seems enough to make a General Council For it is certain that the Provinces near the place where the Council is celebrated do supply it with more Bishops and Divines than all the more remote Kingdoms put together and yet this scrap of a Council must pass for the Universal Church must be supposed to be acted by her Spirit and endued with her infallibility Than which there was never certainly a more vain imagination Certain it is that there hath as yet been nothing that can be truely stiled a General Council The ancient Councils had the name of General for that they were in time generally owned by the Church The second General Council consisted of but 150 Bishops and those only of the Provinces neighbouring to Constantinople The latter Councils are composed of yet sewer Nations there are only a few Italians Spaniards French and some Germans but neither the North the South the East nor the greatest part of the West are concerned in them I would very fain learn why the Gallican Church should not be infallible should she form an Assembly of a thousand Divines as she easily may and yet becomes infallible when joyned to Germans Spaniards and Italians It is a mystery beyond comprehension It were fit to produce good proofs for the establishment of this infallibility of Councils or at least to shew they are in possession of it by a Series of examples without interruption As for such proofs they ought to be out of the Holy Scripture But I shall not stand to examine or contest the proofs for that were to enter into Theological disputes whereas we intend here no more than Historical Reflections and such we cannot omit as we conceive will overthrow the infallibility of Councils That many General Councils so called have actually erred Those that maintain the infallibility of these Assemblies that they are pleased to stile General Councils would do well to make out this Assertion of theirs from History They will produce it may be five or six Councils whose Canons are owned by the Christian World But what if we on the other side produce twice as many whose Canons are rejected by the greatest part of Christendom It were much to be wished that we had certain undoubted Characters for distinguishing of true from false Councils For we see that such of them as have established errors are the same in externals with those that have confirmed the truth What difference is there between the most holy Council of Nice which condemned Arianism and the Council of Tyre and Jerusalem which but ten years after in the year 335. condemned St. Athanasius and the Doctrine of the Church It was the good Emperour Constantine that assembled both these Councils and that the latter was General appears by Eusebius Euseb l. 4. de vita Constant who assures us that it was convened from all parts of the Empire from Africk Asia Europe and Egypt it fate first in Tyre and was after removed by Constantine to Jerusalem for the more solemn dedication of the Temple he had there built to the honour of our Saviour In this Council Arianism so prevailed that St. Athanasius was condemned and banished by Constantine to Treves What can be said of the Council of Antioch held concerning St. Athanasius in the year 340 or 341 The holy Bishop was deposed in it Socrates Hist l. 2. c. 7. George made Bishop of Alexandria in his room the Christian Faith was corrupted by it and a Creed conceived in different terms from the Nicene Creed The word Consubstantial was left out and other words were used instead of it which the Arians pretended to be of the same signification Why was not this a General Council Was it not as well as the preceding convened from all parts of the Roman Empire Bellarmine confesses it was a General Council Tom. 2. l. 1. c. 6. de Conciliis and it is clear that it was so esteemed for that the 25 Canons made by it have been received and are still reckoned among the Canons of the Universal Church Distinct 16. Can. 11. Gratian not only took it for a Lawful Council but even thought it had been celebrated by the Orthodox What shall we say of the Council of Sardica Socrat. l. 2. lib. in the year 341 the fourth General upon the Cause of Arius Sozomen l. 3. c. 10. There were present 376 Bishops some say that threescore and sixteen of them were Arians Baronius Annal Tom. 2. ann num 67. 347. and retired from the rest to hold a
and Tyranny could make use of What then had been done or rather what had not been done if as the Protestants desired the Pope's Authority had been directly struck at and the subversion of his Grandeur openly attempted If the Council of Trent had but only offered at what was actually done by the Council of Constance that is the declaring of the Pope to be subject to the Council the Court of Rome would rather have set all Christendom in confusion that have suffer'd it The Presidents had express Orders if that Point came at all into question immediately to break up the Council and return to Rome reason 7 7. Seventh cause of Rejection The Council of Trent hath erred even by the Confession oâ— those that would have us submit to it But I would very fain know why we should be obliged to receive the Decisions of the Council of Trent since the Roman Church her self does not receive them Why should it be expected from us that we should look upon this Council as Infallible when thousands of the Roman Communion do believe that the Council hath de facto erred and in consequence of that Belief do refuse to submit to it and daily reject its Canons This last reason for our rejecting that Council is indeed of high importance we shall therefore enlarge a little upon it and evidently make it appear that those that would exact of us a Submission to this Council have themselves no regard to its Authority and that upon the score of its having erred I shall not press upon the Council for having forbid Non-Residence under grievous Penalties which yet is now universally connived at for having forbidden Pluralities and yet there are now no Eminent Prelats but are guilty of it for having forbidden to give Dispensations but in Cases of great moment and yet now at Rome they are denied to none but to such as want Mony that matter of mighty moment for which only they are granted For I very well know that to these and to a hundred other particulars in which I could instance it will presently be replyed that they are Corruptions indeed but that those Corruptions indeed but that those Corruptions do not hinder the Decrees of the Council from being just and good And the Popes Flatterers will add that he is not bound by the Decrees of the Council but has Power to dispence with the Canons when he thinks fit But I speak of Decrees made by this Council and rejected by an infinite number of People Decrees that never were suffered to take place in France after all the endeavors of the Court of Rome The French Kings their Parliaments and Bishops dislike several things in the Decrees of this Council Reasons why the Council of Trent is not received in France 1. That the Council hath done and suffered many things that suppose and confirm a Superiority of the Pope over Councils 2. That it hath confirmed the Papal Encroachments upon Ordinaries Ses 2. Res. c. 8. by Exemption of Chapters and Privileges of Regulars who are both withdrawn from Episcopal Jurisdiction 3. That it hath not restored to the Bishops certain Functions appertaining to their Office and taken from them otherwise than to execute them as Delegates of the See of Rome 4. That it hath infringed the Privileges of Bishops of being judged by their Metropolitan and the Bishops of the Province by permitting a Removal of great Causes to Rome and giving Power to the Pope to name Commissioners to judg the Accused Bishop 5. That it hath declared that neither Princes Magistrates nor People are to be consulted in the placing and setling of Bishops 6. That it hath empowered Bishops to proceed in their Jurisdictions by Civil Pains by Imprisonment and by Seisure of Temporalties 7. That it hath made Bishops the Executors of all Donations for Pious Uses 8. That it hath given them a superintendency over Hospitals Colleges and Fraternities with Power of disposing their Goods and Revenues notwithstanding that those matters had been always managed by Lay-men 9. That it hath ordained that Bishops shall have the examining of all Notaries Royal and Imperial with Power to deprive or suspend notwithstanding any Opposition or Appeal 10. That it hath given Power to Bishops with consent of two Members of their Chapter and of two of their Clergy to take and retrench part of the Revenue of Hospitals nay to take away Feodal Tithes belonging to Lay-men 11. That it hath made Bishops the Masters of Foundations of Piety as Churches Chappels and Hospitals so as that those that have the care and Government of them are obliged to be accomptable to the Bishops 12. That in confirming Ecclesiastical Exemptions it hath wholly ascribed to the Pope and the Spiritual Judges all Power of judging the Causes of accused Bishops as if Sovereign Princes had lost the Right they have over their Subjects as soon as they became Ecclesiasticks 13. That it hath empowered the Ordinaries and Judges Ecclesiastical in quality of Delegates of the Holy See to enquire of the Right and Possession of Lay-Patronages and to quash and annul them if they were not of great necessity and well founded 14. That in prohibiting Duels it had declared that such Emperor King or Prince as should shew favour to Duelling should therefore be Excommunicated and deprived of the Seignory of the Place holding of the Church where the Duel was sought 15. That it hath permitted the Mendicant Fryars to possess Immoveables 16. That it hath ordained an Establishment of Judges it calls Apostolick in all Dioceses with Power to judg of Spiritual and Ecclesiastical matters in prejudice of the Ordinaries 17. That it hath declared that Matrimonial Causes are of the Churches Jurisdiction 18. That it hath enjoyned Kings and Princes to leave Ecclesiasticks the free and intire Possession of the Jurisdiction granted them by the Holy Canons and General Councils that is to say Usurped by the Clergy over the Civil Power These are the principal Points disputed in France Those that tend to the diminution of the Authority and Privileges of Bishops to enlarge the Roman Power are rejected by the Bishops and those that would extend the Power of Bishops to the prejudice of the Civil Authority are rejected by the Parliaments Between both this Council as enacting contrary to the Rights and Liberties of the Gallican Church was never at all received in France so as to obtain the force of a Law Why then should that Assembly give Law to us Protestants that is rejected by so great a part of the Church of Rome If it hath not erred why do Roman Catholicks as they will be termed refuse to receive it And if it hath erred what reason is there to press us to receive it I know what is answered to this that matters of Faith and of Discipline must be distinguished that the Council did not nor could not err in matters of Faith and Doctrine and that it was only mistaken in points
Bishops of France p. 8. that this Kingdom hath always made to submit to it and to several other Regulations about Discipline as being found contrary to the Liberties of this Church which the Kings the Clergy and the Parliaments of France have always so carefully preserved These Gentlemen are then persuaded that the Council of Trent hath in this point wronged the Bishops But one cannot commit a Wrong without Injustice nor do an Injustice without Error Whence it follows that it is not to be denied by these Gentlemen but that according to them the Council hath erred Yet still say they it is but an Error in Discipline And still they must give me leave to tell them that this reply is nothing but a meer illusion For it is a real Point of Doctrine to know how far the Rights of Bishops do or do not extend It is a clear Case that all the Grievances the Bishops complain of depend upon the question Whether Bishops were instituted by Jesus Christ and are the Apostles Successors For if Bishops are by Divine Right and not of Papal Institution it is manifest that the Pope cannot deprive them of a power he did not give them nor can so much as lessen that power If a Bishop does jure divino watch over the conduct of those of his Diocess there is no man that by any right can take a part of his Flock from him or forbid him to execute his Pastoral Charge in any instance for no man hath power to alter what God hath established On the contrary if the Pope hath conferred upon Bishops all the Authority they have he may revoke lessen or enlarge it at his pleasure nor could the Bishops then have any cause to complain for he may make use of his just right and power If the Pope be absolute Master of the Church and Bishops but his Substitutes he may proceed judicially against them as he thinks most fit by a Synod by Commissaries or by himself And the Bishops know it very well for the Spanish Bishops who stickled so much in the Council that the Residence and Institution of Bishops might be declared to be jure divino had no other end in it but to strengthen the Episcopal Dignity and shake off the Papal Yoke that oppressed them The Authors of those Writings that have made so much noise in the world about the affair of Signatures are likewise perfectly convinced of this truth For speaking of the wrongs done to Bishops by the Court of Rome they tell us that the Popes Ministers take delight to shew in Act and by Example what the Roman Doctors teach in their Books Circular Letter of the four Bishops p. 15. That the Pope is the absolute Master and Sovereign of the Church That Bishops are but his Vicars holding all their power from him That he either does or does not hearken to them as he thinks fit That if he makes answer when they consult him he does them grace and favour but does them no wrong if he refuse to answer To this erroneous and false opinion of the Doctors Partisans of the Court of Rome they oppose the pure truth of the Gospel that is Page 14. That all Bishops do succeed to the Apostles That the Pope by Divine Right is their Head and Superiour but not the sole Bishop That they derive their power from Christ himself That it is the Holy Ghost that hath set them over the Flock that the Great Shepherd hath acquired by his bloud that each might govern as his Vicar that portion that falls to his lot c. that they are so inferiour to the Pope as to be yet his Brethren and Collegues in that only Episcopat of which each of them holds an intire part according to the Fathers This is truly the state of the Question and can this be thought to be a mere matter of Discipline Or can it be other than a Point of Doctrine When the French and Spaniards did so mightily insist in the Council to have it declared that Bishops are not the Popes Vicars nor set up by him but established by Christ and when on the other side the Partisans of the Court of Rome opposed this design with so much violence every where preaching up the Pope to be the sole Bishop that the Ordinaries are but a succession of Commissaries holding all their Authority from the Holy See was this Controversie considered by the two Parties as a matter of Discipline Was it not considered in the Examen of the Sacrament of Orders which is a Point of Doctrine And not touched in the Chapters of Reformation to which was referred all that concerned Discipline The Bishops could not prevail to have it declared that their Order is by Divine Right but at least they hindred that no Decree was made for declaring them only the Popes Vicars Yet that is of no great service to them for in all the Decrees of the Council they are still treated as the Popes Vicars And it must needs be acknowledged that the Council in declaring that the Pope hath power to abridge the Authority of Bishops to hinder their Episcopal Functions to try them in Person or by his Commissaries hath sufficiently declared them to be no more than his Vicars So we have another Point of Doctrine wherein two thirds of Europe agree that the Council of Trent hath erred That the People ought to have part in Canonical Elections that herein also the Council of Trent hath erred by the Confession of many Roman Catholicks I go on to Canonical Elections Those persons that within thirty or forty years past have made themselves so much talked of in the World for that extraordinary appearance of zeal to restore the ancient lustre of the Church those persons I say do consider this matter of Canonical Elections as a Point of highest importance They lament that favour interest and birth are the only steps that raise to Ecclesiastical Dignities and that the custom of elevating to Prelacy by Election and Canonical ways those who are most worthy of it is now no more in use They complain of it with much grief and know not how to forgive the memory of Chancellour du Prat who is accused to have abolished the Pragmatick Sanction First Dialogue of the Parishioners of Sr. Hil. du Mont. p. 10. that is as they express it The pure observation of the ancient Canons in the Church of France and to have made the Concordat of Francis I. with Leo X. which ruined the Apostolical Discipline in France abolished Canonical Elections and subjected the Church of France to a deplorable servitude They tell us in the marginal refutations of M. d' Ambrun's Petition to the King Page 10. that in several Parish Churches there have been for a long time Publick Prayers to God for the abolishing the Concordat and the re-establishing Canonical Elections We must not say these Gentlemen have reason lest it give offence for if
Rome Whilst they stayed for new Orders from thence they caused some regulations to be made about the manner of proceeding that matters might be carried more orderly It was ordained that for the future three kinds of Congregations should be held one wherein the Divines should examine matters of Doctrine the other for handling the affair of Reformation into which the Doctors of the Canon Law should be admitted and lastly a third sort which was onely to consist of Prelates to form the Decrees concerning Doctrine and Reformation To comply with the Germans who desired that the matter of Reformation of Discipline should be taken in hand before all things else the Legates gave way to the resuming the matter of Lectures and Preaching which had been already moved before the last Session A considerable debate on the subject of Preaching the Mendicant Fryars having invaded the Pulpits and had been referred to another time The great corruption of the Clergy and the supine ignorance of the Priests in past ages was the cause that the Bishops and Priests who had the cure of Souls did wholly abandon the care of instruction and the charge of Preaching The Colleges and Mendicant Fryars seized the Pulpits which they found empty and obtained privileges from Popes to Preach every where without the Permission of the Ordinaries that is of the Bishops and the Monks had now a possession of two or three hundred years to confirm their Title The Bishops bestirred themselves vigorously to recover the possession of their rights and demanded the revocation of those privileges the Monks defended their cause and many writings and great debates were thereupon occasioned on both sides The Divines and Canonists were consulted and most part gave their opinions in writing the Legates in the mean time under pretence that the reading of these Papers would take up too much of the Councils time caused an abstract of them to be made which should be read in a solemn and general Congregation But because that abridgement was probably defective or partial one Braccio Martello Bishop of Fiesole opposed the reading of it and spoke with a great deal of freedom he told them plainly that their deliberations ought not to come packt to them from other places meaning Rome nor that it was fit that two or three Persons should be the sole Arbitrators in all affairs intimating the Legates and that therefore it was necessary that all should hear the reasons and that in their full extent that they might be the more able to comprehend their strength and pass their Judgment upon them in the assembly This discourse choaked the Legates who not onely rebuked him upon the spot but wrote to Rome also to have him banished the Council and the Bishop of Chioza prohibited to return thither any more This last Bishop had had a little too bold dispute with the Legate Pool concerning the opinion of Antony Marinier the Carmelite touching Traditions he had defended the opinion of the Carmelite complaining that there was no liberty allowed in the Council and in consequence of that he had absented himself presently after the Session under pretence of being indisposed The Pope however was more prudent than the Legates for though he was no less resolved than they to oppress the liberty of the Council yet he thought it fit to observe measures and to wink at the actions of those two Bishops The abstract was then read notwithstanding the opposition of the Bishop of Fiesole and the Bishops alledged their reasons upbraiding the predicant Monks with Avarice with the Collections and Alms which they erogated under colour of Preaching and instructing Souls The Monks on the other hand pleaded that they could not be accused of Usurpation since by permission from the chief Pastor of the Church they had stept into the Pulpits which they found forsaken This Article as well as others must wait for its decision from Rome The Pope wrote to the Legates that they should endeavour to maintain the privileges of the Universities and Monks but withall find out some expedient to satisfie the Bishops But if the Bishops intended to make themselves absolute Masters within their Diocesses to the prejudice of the exemptions granted by the Popes that they should not fail to oppose it and to defend the Monks against the Bishops because the Monks depending immediately on the holy See have been always the chief supports of its Authority and have been very usefull for bringing down the Bishops The expedient which was at length found was to re-establish according to the ancient custome in Cathedral Churches a Doctor of Divinity for reading of Lectures The name of that office was still in being in Cathedral Churches for there was one in the chapter called the Scholasticus to whose office there was a Prebend annexed as being chief of the Lecturers and he himself ought to be a Professour of Divinity the superintendance of that affair was without any difficulty granted to the Bishops But it was not so easie a matter to allow them the same power over Monasteries wherein they also intended to re-establish the custome of Lectures of Divinity for instructing those to House The Legates could not endure that the Bishops should have the oversight of that though the business was not about the Mendicant Fryars but onely simple Monks for fear of detracting from the privileges that had been granted by the Popes and of emancipating the Monasteries from the holy See to subject them again to the Bishops Whilst they were sticking at this point A considerable overture of Sebastiano Pighino for contenting the Bishops without diminishing the Authority of the holy See Sebastiano Pighino Auditour of the Rota made an overture that brought the Council out of these difficulties His opinion was that the Bishops ought to have power to re-establish the Lectures of Theology in Monasteries not in quality of Bishops but as Delegates of the holy See that is to say that they should act in that affair by the Pope's Authority and as it were in his name It is incredible of what use this invention was in the sequel of the Council and it was a fetch always employed when any thing was to be restored to the Bishops without diminution of the Authority which the Pope had usurped over them That so well contrived expedient was presently laid hold of for it was Enacted that Parochial Churches united to Monasteries and which depended on no Diocess should for the future be under the Direction of the Metropolitan as Delegate of the holy See In like manner because there were Preachers who had obtained privileges from Rome to answer to none but the Pope it was ordained that they might be punished by the Bishops in the same quality of Commissioners delegated by the Pope As to the matter of Preaching the privilege was continued to the Monks but to give some satisfaction to the Bishops it was ordained that it should be in their power to admit or reject
satisfied with Anathema's and that opinion prevailed the rather because the contrary was very judiciously opposed by Giovanni Baptista Cigale Bishop of Albinga who told them that never any man had forsaken his opinion because it had been condemned and that though all Catholicks do profess that they will refer themselves to the judgment of the Church nevertheless they do not do so but more obstinately defend their opinion when once it is condemned The Protestations said he that the Doctors make of submitting to the judgment of the Church are but Complements and terms of Civility which are not so to be abused as to be taken literally they are to be answered by a civil conduct and charitable deportment Every one was convinced of the truth of this in their own Consciences and therefore they yielded to that reason So that there was no decision made touching the questions in controversie amongst the Catholicks themselves that they might not condemn any nor give occasion to a spirit of Defection The Legates acquainted the Pope with all these difficulties and whilst they expected an answer they fell to treat of other matters In the Congregation of the twenty fifth of January the business of Reformation was proposed they came to speak of the remisness of Bishops in the discharge of their Duties and the Legates who were not vexed to see the blame laid at the Bishops doors and that they were look'd upon as the cause of all the disorders opposed nothing that was moved upon that Subject so the Prelates sported themselves with an imaginary liberty in declaming against themselves Giovanni Salazar Bishop of Lanciano was not so patiently heard because he attributed the source of all the evils to the abuses of the Court of Rome however he was suffered to speak But Cornelius Muis Bishop of Bitonto that spoke next refuted him and made it appear that the disorders proceeded from Kings who had the nomination to Bishopricks The abuse of the Plurality of Benefices and its various sources From this they went on to that thorny matter about Plurality of Benefices which was a hinderance to Residence because a Prelate who had two Bishopricks could not be in two places This Plurality of Benefices was introduced three manner of ways First under pretext that one Benefice alone was not enough for the maintainance of a Minister at the Altar more were given him and Benefices were distinguished into Compatible and Incompatible The Compatible are such as do not oblige to Residence and have not the cure of Souls the Incompatible are those that bind to Residence Though in the beginning they might make some scruple of annexing Incompatible Benefices yet they made none in joyning those that were called Compatible Now the sufficiency of a Benefice was reckoned according to the quality of the Incumbent for as a Gentleman or a Lord could not subsist at so easie a rate as an ordinary man so they allotted him more Compatible Benefices according to the Character he bore of Abbot Bishop or Cardinal The second cause of the multiplication of Benefices are Commendums Heretofore when a Benefice was vacant and for some reason as of Plague or War it was not possible to proceed so soon to the Election of a Successour he that had the right of Patronage recommended the care of the Benefice to some Person with whose prudence he was well satisfied during the time of the vacancy this Commendatary received the Fruits and was accountable for them But in progress of time it came to pass that under divers pretexts the Commendataries disposed of the Revenues of the Benefice and retarded as much as lay in their power the Election of him who ought to possess the Benefice in Title To put a stop to these disorders it was ordained that these Commendums should not continue above six Months But the Popes began quickly to grant them for much longer time and at length granted them for Life giving liberty to the Commendataries to enjoy the Profits during Life By this means a man could enjoy but one Benefice in Title but he might possess several in Commendum and even Bishopricks and smaller Cures were thus bestowed This was a very great abuse at which the Adherents of Luther complained much but the Court of Rome were so far from being ashamed of this abuse that they shew'd a prodigious instance of it at the very same time when the Lutherans most fiercely declamed against the corruptions of the Church and that was in the year 1534. when Clement VII gave all the Benefices in Christendom in Commendum to his Nephew Hippolito de Medicis for six Months to count from the day that he took possession of them with Power to take up all the Rents and to apply them to his proper use In a word the last way of evading the Canons which prohibited Plurality of Benefices was the Annexing of Benefices The Pope was wont to cast together forty or fifty Benefices and though they were in several Kingdoms yet that was reckoned but the enjoying of one Benefice according to the Canons because of many Benefices they had made but one But lest this Union of Benefices might in progress of time lessen the number of Livings it was appointed to last no longer than the Life of the Incumbent in whose favour it had been granted and that by his Death the Benefices should be reputed ipso facto disunited There was a necessity of abolishing these three abuses for hindring the Plurality of Benefices and the Prelates as to that gave their opinions with a great deal of liberty They spared not the Cardinals who possessed several Bishopricks nor the Court of Rome that by Dispensations favoured that corruption The Legates who feared that the matter might be pusht on too far seconded the overture that was made by the Bishop of Albinga of referring it to the Pope They said that it was a matter that principally concerned the Court of Rome and that it would be a disgrace to the Pope to be thought incapable of Reforming his own Court The Legates wrote immediately to Rome about it and the Pope gladly received the proposition He removed to Rome the whole affair of that Reformation by a Bull but the Legates durst not shew it because it was too ample the Pope therein taking too much Authority to himself and because the Bishops also who seemed to consent to that Reference opposed it The Spanish Bishops were so far from the opinion of referring the matter to Rome The Spanish Bishops vigorously bestir themselves for a Reformation but without success that they themselves undertook to give a model of that Reformation They drew up a censure in writing which contained eleven Articles for a very strict Reformation as for regulating the exactness that ought to be had in the examination of Bishops and Curates when they were to be preferred to Churches for obliging Cardinal Bishops to reside at least six Months in their Bishopricks for declaring
Residence to be of Divine right for preventing that intolerable abuse that one man should enjoy several Cathedral Churches for obliging the Cardinals themselves to resign all they had but one which they might enjoy for prohibiting those Unions of Benefices for Life for rescinding and annulling all Dispensations obtained or to be obtained from the Court of Rome without lawfull cause and for giving the Ordinaries power of judging the Validity of the cause for which the Dispensation had been obtained This was signed by twenty Bishops and by Cardinal Pacieco The attempt surprized the Legates because of the boldness of the propositions and that the Bishops had adventured to assemble themselves without their permission These Articles were sent to Rome and at the same time the Cardinal di Monte wrote that it was his advice that that Enterprize ought to be withstood without the least condescension adding withall that it would be convenient to make some Reformation at Rome to stop the Mouth of the Council But above all things the Legates urged that the Italian Bishops who were retired to keep Lent at home in their own Churches should forthwith be sent back to Trent The Pope followed that advice and gave order to his Nuncio at Venice to oblige the Italian Bishops who passed by Venice or who were there still to return with all speed to Trent that they might make head against the Spaniards At the same time he called a Congregation of the Deputies at Rome for examining the Writing That Congregation was not wholly of Cardinal di Monte's opinion they thought it not fit to break with the Spanish Prelates nor peremptorily to refuse all that they demanded They thought it sufficient by answering every Article to elude all their demands and in effect they made a project of answers to be made to them wherein to speak the truth they shewed an Address becoming the Court of Rome the Memoires of it were sent to the Cardinal di Monte the Pope committed the management of that Affair to the Prudence of the Legates and of those who were stiled the well affected whom the Protestants named the slaves of the See of Rome he gave them power either absolutely to reject the demands of the Spaniards or to make use of the qualifications which he sent them according as occasion proved more or less favourable The Pope fearing the Spaniards resolves to remove the Council to Bologna The Court of Rome made great reflexions upon that attempt of the Spaniards and the Pope began to dread a Combination betwixt them and the Germans so that not thinking his Authority safe enough in the Zeal of the Legates and the Recruit of the Italians whom he had sent to the Council he resolved to remove the Council unto a Town where he might neither stand in awe of the Emperour nor of the Bishops of Spain and to that purpose cast his eyes upon the City of Bologna But he was not willing to do it of himself but thought it more proper to have it done by his Legates to the end that if the matter succeeded not all the disgrace might fall upon them and that he himself might onely divide with them the trouble of the disappointment for that end he sent them a Bull bearing date the fifteenth of February 1547. but which was very well known to have been made two years before by that Bull he gave them full power to remove the Council whithersoever they should think fit but at the same time sent orders that they should not mention the Translation till the ensuing Session were over Whilst these resolutions were on foot at Rome the Cardinal di Monte plaid his part he sounded the tempers gained some by promises and drew others over by divers ways that so he might defeat the designs of the Spaniards and indeed it cost him not much pains to accomplish his aim So that in the following Congregations the Spaniards were baulked and could not obtain the handling of the point which they chiefly desired that is the Divine right of Residence They spoke to it indeed with great freedom and a Spanish Monk called Bartholomè di Carranza who was afterwards Bishop of Toledo took the boldness to say that the opinion which held that Residence was onely of Papal right was Diabolical The Cardinal di Santa Croce was of the mind that according to the Memoires sent from the Congregation of Rome something should be granted them but the Legate di Monte stood his ground and carried it that no satisfaction should be given them At length the Legates framed the Decree of Reformation containing fifteen Chapters and proposed it to a general Congregation It should have seemed that by that Decree there had been a design of indulging somewhat to those who demanded a Reformation and especially as to the Plurality of Benefices but in the main there was nothing less because to that Article and to all the rest it was always added saving in all things the Authority of the holy See which rendred all the promises of Reformation useless because the Pope continued still absolute Master of all The Spaniards and particularly the Bishop of Badajox found fault with it would have had that clause left out and that the Pope should not have the power to dispense against the Canons But it was to no purpose for them to protest and declare against it it must needs go so They urged that the Cardinals might be expresly named in the prohibition of possessing several Benefices but that as all the rest was refused them These Decrees which seemed to rectifie the abuse concerning the Plurality of Benefices approved nevertheless a certain constitution of Innocent III. called de Multa which condemning the Plurality of Benefices does notwithstanding permit it provided one have a Dispensation from Rome This to speak properly is to do nothing at all for what is prohibited in shew is in effect permitted by the benefit of Dispensations The Spaniards withstood this desiring that the Pope might not have power to give Dispensations for possessing several Benefices But the Plurality of Votes gained by the Legates were for approving of the Decrees The Reformation of abuses about the administration of the Sacraments was put off to another Session because the matter had not been sufficiently examined session 7 All things being in readiness the seventh Session was held on the third of March. Cariolano Martirano Bishop of St. Mark was to have made the Sermon but he would not because being one of those who had pressed the Reformation and the point of the Divine right of Residence he had been sharply taken up in the Congregation and therefore would not appear at the Session to say a Placet to a thing that did not at all please him nor indeed was it safe for him publickly to oppose the Decrees in a Session He therefore pretended sickness but none of all those learned men that made up the Council was in a
the Council was not obliged to hear him since the Letter gave not the Council the Title which belonged to them yet they would without prejudice give him Audience Vargas spoke smartly to perswade them to return to Trent But the Cardinal Legate answered proudly that he was President of the sacred Council Legate of Paul III. the Vicar of Jesus Christ that he declared the Council to have been lawfully transferred and that no threatnings could hinder him from continuing it On the contrary he threatned the Emperour that if he endeavoured to obstruct it he should incur the Penalties imposed by the Canons Upon that Answer Velasco read the Protestation wherewith he was charged which in the end came to this The Emperour protests at Rome and at Bologna against the Pope and his Council of Bologna that the Translation of the Council was null and unlawfull with all that had followed or might follow thereupon declaring that the Answer which the Pope and they had given was fraudulent and illusory and that the Emperour should not be obliged to answer for the Mischiefs that might arise from that matter Mendoza likewise on the other side having kneeled down in a full Consistory made the same Protestation to the Pope and having turned towards the Cardinals and protested also against them he withdrew leaving the Paper which he had read behind him This blow did a little amaze the Pope but he quickly came to himself again the Roman Policy was not at a stand in this Juncture they saw that matters would not long subsist in the Biass that was taken And therefore with a Sovereign and matchless Piece of Policy the Pope resolved to bring that affair about another way he well perceived that by that Act of Protestation he himself was brought in as a Party and that was an evident prejudice to the Character of a supreme Judge who can be judged by no man which he claims as his Right He therfore pretended to have understood that that Protestation was not made against him but against the Council and in a Consistory held the first of February 1548 he made answer to Mendoza that in quality of Judge he was very willing to take Cognisance of that Controversie which the Emperour had with the Council of Bologna that he removed the Cause to his own Judgment and that he had named four Cardinals Paris Burgos Pool Crescencio to make a Report to him about it but that was accompanied with long Complaints against that violent way of procedure which was never used but by those who had shaken off the Yoke of Obedience The Imperialists set light by that distinction they would not run into the noose and Mendoza declared that he had Orders to make the Protestation in the form wherein it had been made year 1548 In effect the Pope did all he could to make himself Judge of that affair that so he might not be looked upon as a Party He wrote to the Bishops at Trent that he was ready to hear them he discharged those of Bologna from entring upon any Synodal action untill the Process should be decided The Bishops at Trent answered cunningly to the Pope's Remonstrances insisted with him to remit the Council to Trent and accepted not of the Offer which the Pope made of judging in that matter The Bishops at Bologna were acquainted with the Letter that came from Trent they examined the Articles of it and made answer to them And then as if the Process had been sufficiently stated they pressed the Pope to give Judgment But he durst not because no body appeared to plead the cause of those of Trent and besides that he had no mind to clash any more with the Emperour out of whose hands he would willingly have got Piacenza He therefore bestirred himself with all imaginable care to obtain that place to be again restored to his Family but the Emperour refused to give it back This put the Pope into a Passion and made him threaten to excommunicate those that held it But Charles was not much concerned at these Menaces he briskly answered the Pope that his Conduct did infinitely displease him and that he should take notice that he could no longer suffer the Calumnies which the Court of Rome spread abroad of him as if he intended to make a Schism in the Church because he demanded the re-establishment of the Council at Trent that as to the City of Piacenza it was a Town of the Dutchy of Milan which the Popes had unjustly invaded within a few years that if the Church had any Right to it he should make it out and that he would doe him Justice The Pope essayed to cut out work for the Emperour by means of the Venetians and French but he found them in no disposition to it for he being now upwards of fourscore Years of Age it could not be expected that a League with him could either be succesfull or of long Continuance and besides his own interest being deeply concerned he was not willing to furnish the necessary expence for the War nor to part from such sums of money as he needs must lay out to make any considerable Levies amongst the Venetians The Emperour makes the Interim and a Decree of Reformation at the Diet of Ausbourg These misunderstandings and clashings having put the Emperour out of all hopes of bringing back the Council to Trent he took pretty odd measures at the Diet of Ausbourg He resolved to regulate the Affairs of Religion himself and for that end he named three Divines Julius Phlug Michael Helding Titular Bishop of Sidon and Johannes Agricola of Islebe by whose means he framed a certain Formulary of Faith about all matters of Religion to which he would oblige all the People of Germany to submit untill the Council should define them and therefore that famous Piece was called the Interim It contained thirty five Chapters wherein they endeavoured to qualifie those Doctrines of the Church of Rome which most offended the Protestants as for instance the Marriage of Priests was thereby allowed the Communion in both kinds granted the Sacrifice of the Mass was not called Propitiatory Liberty was allowed to cut off such Ceremonies as tended to superstition the Pope was onely acknowledged head of the Church for Union sake and for preventing of Schism and the power of Bishops was declared of Divine right When this Work came to Rome it met with many Opponents most part were of opinion that it ought to be opposed by the most violent means and strongest Antidotes not onely because it was an unparallel'd undertaking for a secular Prince to meddle in settling the Affairs of Religion but also because the Catholick Religion was notoriously wounded by that Interim But the Pope saw farther than all the rest he smelt out what happened that the Emperour had fallen upon the way of making both Parties against him and therefore he dissembled the dissatisfaction which he conceived at that attempt ordered
General Congregation to be held in his Palace that all the proceedings of Council should be superseded and as to the business of the Safe-conduct it should be referred to the pleasure of the Fathers A Congregation was thereupon held wherein the point of superseding the proceedings of the Council past without difficulty but the matter of the Safe-conduct suffered more Debate but in fine the Authority of the Emperour of the three Electours and Cardinal of Trent so far prevailed that they resolved to grant them one in ampler form The likewise resolved to give the Protestant Ambassadours an audience in a General Congregation But here Peter Taillevoy Archbishop of Palermo started a difficulty about the place of the Ambassadours to whom they were to give Audience He said that if they were treated according to their Character of Hereticks the Council could give them no place of honour and that they must hear them as Criminals but that in so doing all would be lost because they would not endure to be heard as Delinquents but would immediately withdraw and on the other side if they did otherways it would prove a prejudice to the Church To get out of this strait it was resolved according to the overture proposed by the Bishop of Namburg that they should give the Protestants places of honour making first a Protestation that it was done out of Charity and Compassion which are motives above the Law The four and twentieth of January was therefore appointed for the General Congregation wherein Audience was to be given to the Ambassadours of Saxony and the Council named deputies who with the Bishop of Siponto one of the Nuncio's were to draw up the Safe-conduct The Emperour's Ambassadours desired to have the minute of it that they might communicate the same to the Protestants and that it might be altered if need were before it should be published A rough draught of the Safe-conduct being drawn and given to the Emperour's Ambassadours they sent for the Protestants made them a long Speech in praise of the Fathers of the Council whose goodness clemency and condescension so much appeared by what they granted in their favour telling them that on the other hand they ought to submit and carry it prudently That as to the demand they made that the Pope should submit to the Council it ought to be proposed with great circumspection that the Divines were to be expected and that they themselves had great matters to propose as to that particular on the Emperour's part so soon as the Overture should be made by the Protestants that the Fathers of the Council themselves were very sensible that the greatness of the Pope ought to be lessened but that it ought to be set about warily and not in that brisk manner as the Protestants designed In fine they shew'd them the Safe-conduct which did not please them because it was not in the form of that of Basil which had granted the Bohemians four things that they also demanded 1. That they should have a decisive Vote in the Council 2. That matters should be there decided by the Scriptures and Interpreters that agree with them 3. That they should have Exercise of their Religion in their own Houses during the Council And lastly that nothing should be done to disgrace and reproach their Doctrine they found fault likewise that the Council gave no security in name of the Pope and of the College of Cardinals as the Council of Basil had done The Emperour's Ambassadours were angry that they were not satisfied with the Safe-conduct which they had with so much trouble obtained but they could not move the Protestants to yield so that they promised to make a Report of the matter in the next Congregation This indeed they did but the Presidents and Prelates stood firm to their resolution not to alter any thing in the Safe-conduct saying that it was false that the Council of Basil had granted the Deputies of Bohemia a decisive Vote that as to the Exercise of their Religion in their Houses it was sufficiently expressed in the Safe-conduct seeing it was not prohibited and that as to the fourth point that nothing should be done to the Contempt of their Doctrine care enough was taken as to that by the Terms of the Safe-conduct in a word they alledged that it was as ample as that of the Council of Basil The Count of Montfort made a motion thereupon that to take from the Protestants all occasion of cavilling they should copy the Safe-conduct of Basil word for word onely changing the Names That Proposal broke the Presidents measures they lookt at one another as uncertain what to say till the Legate hit upon a ready expedient of referring the matter to the next Congregation That was a fetch of a man of parts for by this means the Presidents had time to solicite the Bishops vigorously to maintain the cause of God for so they called the interest of the Pope against the attempts of the Council of Basil which the Pope and his Adherents did so detest that they would not imitate any thing that had been done there The Presidents of the Council obtained what they desired and there was nothing altered in the Safe-conduct At length the Congregation was held the four and twentieth of January for giving audience to the Protestants At the opening of it the Legate made a speech wherein he laid before them the importance of the affair that they were going to enter upon and the Protestation that was framed upon occasion of the difficulty started by the Archbishop of Palermo concerning the places of the Protestant Ambassadours being read and ordered to be inserted into the Acts the Ambassadours were introduced Badehorn for the Duke of Saxony bowing to the Prelates called them Reverendissimi amplissimi Patres The Council gives audience to the Ambassadours of Saxony who reiterate all their demands he demanded that they would grant them a Safe-conduct in the form of that of Basil that they would put a stop to all Synodal proceedings untill the arrival of their Divines that they might be heard in the defence of their Doctrine that the Pope as being concerned might not be Judge in that cause that before all things the Pope should be declared inferiour to the Council that all things that had been handled in the former Sessions should be examined over again because the number of Divines had been too small and that the same thing should be done which was acted in the third Session of the Council of Basil wherein all were declared free from the Oaâ—h of Allegiance which they had made to the Pope This was onely said to amuse and to gain time for they knew very well that nothing was to be obtained they gave their speech in writing and then the Ambassadours of Wirtemberg were heard who spoke little and demanded the same things The Promooter of the Council answered them that they might expect their answer in time and place convenient
Reformation having first twitted them with the absence of the German Prelates who of all others stood most in need of being reformed they resolved to give them some satisfaction And therefore on the Eleventh of March the Legates called a General Congregation wherein they proposed twelve or thirteen Articles relating to Reformation as concerning Residence The Legates propose twelve Articles tending to Reformation Promoâ—ions to Holy Orders Priests without a Title the Plurality of Titles and of Priests in great Parishes the annexing of Benefices that had Cure of Souls Unions made under pretext that the Benefices are two small if taken separately for the maintenance of a Curate daily Distributions the Validity of Clandestine Marriages concerning the abuses committed by Collectours or Alms-gatherers and some other matters of the like nature which shall be mentioned hereafter but a Rumour began now to be spread abroad that the Germans stirred again and levied Soldiers which alarmed the Council and for some time put a stop to all Deliberations and interrupted the Congregations so that the fourteenth of March the day appointed for the Session past without any thing done and Easter-holy-days coming on afterwards was the cause of another delay The sixteenth of March the Council gave Audience to Ferdinando d' Avalos Marquess of Pescara Ambassadour from the King of Spain and Governour of Milan wherein the usual Complements were mutually interchanged In the Congregation of the Eighteenth the Ambassadour of the Duke of Tuscany was also received in that of the twentieth of March the Ambassadours of the Catholick Cantons of Switzerland had Audience And in the Congregation of the sixth of April the Council admitted Andrea Dudicio Bishop of Tinâ—â— and Giovanni Colosvarino Bishop of Canadia the Deputies of the Clergy of Hungary The first of those two Andrea Dudicio is famous not onely for Learning but also because he turned Protestant afterward declaring that nothing had more inclined him to that change than what he had seen in the Council of Trent After the Easter-holy-days the Congregations were held without interruption from the seventh of April untill the eighteenth and therein the matters which had been proposed in the Congregation of the Eleventh of March were brought under Debate In the first place the point of Residence was argued with strange heats They enter upon the Point of the Residence of Bishops the Pope's faction essayed to put a stop to that deliberation alledging that it was a matter concluded under Paul III and that the care of putting in execution what had been decreed should be left to the People But the Archbishop of Granada and the rest of the Spaniards were for bringing the matter under examination again saying that a more effectual means had been proposed to oblige to Residence And the question if it be of Divine right is again started This Point is argued with extraordinary heat than those that were pitcht upon in the first Convocation and that was to declare it to be of Divine Right which presently put the Council into a Fermentation Paulus Jovius Bishop of Nocera who made himself remarkable by the singularity of his reasons was against the having it declared either necessary or of Divine Right He alledged that the Churches wherein Bishops resided were not a whit better governed than those wherein Bishops made no Residence and was so plain as to urge the Church of Rome it self for an instance which was full of Corruptions notwithstanding that for many ages the Pope had continually resided there He added that if Residence were declared to be of Divine Right it would prove a Source of Rebellion because when an heretical or scandalous Bishop was got into possession of a Church the Pope could never be able to punish him seeing under pretext that Residence is of Divine Right he might refuse to leave his See to come to an appearance that upon the same Principle the Curates also would find a means to decline the Jurisdiction of their Bishops alledging that by the Law of God they are placed immediate Pastours of their Flocks Giovanni Baptista Bernardo Bishop of Aiace stood up for the Divine Right of Residence nevertheless he was not of opinion that that question should be debated in the Council because that since the Council had no other aim but to oblige all to Residence it would be enough to make a Decree prohibiting all Bishops to discharge any secular office or employment in the Courts of Princes and that then he was pretty sure that few Bishops would be seen abroad out of their own Churches The Bishop of the five Churches a Hungarian vigorously opposed this overture and in a long Discourse made it out that for the space of eight hundred years Prelates had been employed in secular Affairs not onely with great Success but much Honour also to the Church and profit and advantage to States and that a custome of so long continuance ought not to be condemned Here the Bishops who were for the Divine Right of Residence made it visibly appear that their own hearts deceived them if they thought themselves prompted on by the Zeal that a good Pastour ought to have for the conduct of his Flock for they listened to the opinion of the Bishop of the five Churches with extraordinary delight and gave it great applause Nevertheless nothing could be more opposite to the design they had of asserting the necessity of Residence for it is manifest that worldly Business and Employments wherein Bishops are entangled are the greatest obstruction of Residence But both they and the Bishop of the five Churches jumpt in one and the same design to wit the Advancement of Episcopal dignity And therefore they liked any thing that made for that though it were by quite opposite courses all maintained their opinions in this cause with inconceivable heat and it was no easie matter to gather the Votes that the result might be known Cardinal Simoneta Legate held Residence to be of Positive Right and the Cardinal of Mantua thought it to be of Divine Right but durst not declare himself openly because of the Court of Rome which could not endure that opinion all that he ventured to doe was to affirm that the Plurality of Votes was on that side He had two Legates who joyned with him to wit the Cardinals of Warmia and Seripando But Altemps the Pope's Nephew was for Cardinal Simoneta who both maintained that the Plurality of Votes was for the Positive Right for determining this difference a General Congregation was held on the twentieth of April wherein the Presidents prayed the Fathers to give their Judgments upon the point of the Divine Right of Residence by a placet or non placet that that Article might speedily be decided When the Votes were gathered there were sixty eight who said absolutely placet for the Divine Right thirty three who voted absolutely non placet thirteen who said placet consulto prius sanctissimo Domino nostro and
contracted by the Children of Persons of Honour and Quality without the Consent of their Parents as well for strengthening Paternal Authority as for preventing the Mischiefs which many times attend such Marriages The Divines of the second Chamber examined the third and fourth Articles which concerned Divorce Polygamy and the Prohibition to marry in certain times Father Soto a Spanish Jacobin maintained that it was not lawfull to dissolve a Marriage nay not for the Cause of Adultery He confessed that married Folks might be separated from bed and board but not so as to allow those who are so separated to marry with others he alledged that to be the meaning of St. Paul when he permits married Believers to remain separated in case their unbelieving Wives will not live with them He gave several interpretations to the words of Jesus Christ which seem to allow a Divorce for the Cause of Adultery but stuck to none of them which was a great Argument that he was not so clear in that Point as he would have seemed to be As to Polygamy he proved is to be contrary to the Law of Nature and for the Prohibitions to marry in certain times he said there was no need to make a grievance of that seeing it was easie to obtain a Dispensation from the Bishop to marry in prohibited times About the substance of the question there was no great dispute but the Spanish Divines caught hold of that occasion to speak of the necessity of the Residence of Bishops that they might be able to give Dispensations with Prudence Wisedom and with Knowledge of the Cause Upon naming the Tie that is betwixt a Husband and a Wife which is like to that whereby a Bishop is united to his Church a Cordelier named John Ramirez took occasion to speak again about Residence and shew'd that it was no more in the Pope's Power to draw a Bishop from his See and translate him into another than to snatch a Husband from his Wife The Pope's Party on the contrary took occasion to speak of the Sovereign Authority of the Holy See upon account that the two Articles which were under Debate stand condemned in the Decretals of Popes They magnified that Authority beyond all bounds and stretched it even to the dispensing against Canons against the Ordinances of the Apostles and against all the Laws of God They alledged the Canon Si Papa which runs in these terms If one surprise the Pope neglecting his own Salvation and that of his Brethren unfruitfull and remiss in his works concealing the good which does most hurt to his own and the Salvation of others though he lead to Hell innumerable crouds of People there to be eternally punished with him Decret Grat. Dist 40. Nevertheless no man ought to undertake to reprove him or punish him for his faults because he who ought to judge all the World ought not to be judged by any unless it be found that he errs in the Faith A Decision attributed to one Boniface a Martyr and Archbishop of Mentz When the second Chamber had spoken the Legates past by the third and came to the fourth because they had promised the Cardinal of Lorrain not to meddle with the Celibat of Priests the Examination whereof was committed to the third Chamber The business of the fourth Chamber was to treat of the Degrees of Consanguinity and John de Verdun a French Benedictine giving his opinion upon the matter took in hand to refute what had been said in favour of the Pope about Dispensations and spoke all that he durst to weaken the Papal Authority He acknowledged that in Humane Laws there was occasion for Dispensations because Legislatours cannot foresee all Cases but he absolutely denied that the Law of God could be dispensed with The Pope said he is not Master and the Church is not his Servant and Dispensations ought onely to be the Explanations of Laws and by Consequence ought not to overthrow them so that the Pope by dispensing cannot take off the obligation that lies upon men to obey the Law James Alain a Divine of the Bishop of Vannes spoke with the same vigour and sunk the Authority of the Pope below a Council affirming that the Power of dispensing was properly given to the Church The Emperour much dissatisfied with the Council and the Pope consults about important Points which concerned the Authority of the Pope and the Liberty of the Council and not immediately to the Pope Whilst these questions were debated amongst the Divines the Prelates minded other Affairs Commendene Bishop of Zante whom the Legates had sent to the Emperour returned to Trent without any Success in his Negotiation for the Emperour desired time to answer the Propositions which the Legates had made to him However this Deputy found that the Emperour was extremely dissatisfied with the Council and that he was resolved to take some Course to remedy the Disorders that reigned in it that he intended to demand a very considerable Reformation and to settle it so firmly that none should be able to shake it He told the Presidents also that he made no doubt but that the Spaniards had intelligence with the Emperour because the Count de Luna designed for the Embassie of Trent had answered those who complained of the boldness of the Spanish Bishops that he could not meddle in it and that these Prelates spoke according to their Conscience They were therefore satisfied in General that the Emperour aimed at great matters but could not precisely tell what they might be These Secrets were not long shrouded under the veil of secrecy for one Father Camisco a Jesuit and another Father Nattale sent from Trent to Inspruck by General Lainez sounded the bottom of these Mysteries They found that the Emperour had proposed seventeen Articles to be consulted by his Divines and Counsellours For instance Whether it was convenient that the Pope should be so much Master of the Council as he was so that nothing should be proposed nor concluded but what the Court of Rome pleased Whether the Pope happening to die the Election of his Successour did not belong to the Council What is the Power of the Emperour when the See is vacant and the Council open Whether Ambassadours ought not to have a deliberative Vote in Council when they treat of matters that regard the Peace of Christendom Whether the Pope could dissolve or suspend the Council without the Consent of the Emperour and Christian Princes Whether it ought to be suffered that the Legates alone should have the Power of proposing What means ought to be used to set the Council at Liberty and to prevent all violence and fraud therein What Course ought to be taken to repress the insolence of the Italians who stopt all deliberations and to prevent their private Cabals By what means ought the Court of Rome to be hindered from ordering what is to be done in the Council And whether it would consist with the Majesty of
two Brothers the Duke and Grand Prior. He dealt earnestly with him also to employ his credit with the French Prelates that they would desist from pressing that the Institution of Bishops and their Residence should be declared of Divine Right But the Cardinal would not hear of it he continued stedfast in his design of staying at the Council and as he said of having matters concluded according to truth and reason Upon his return to Trent he bragg'd much how he had resisted the solicitations of the Cardinal of Ferrara but that was the last act of constancy and vigour that came from him for after that time he made so visible and considerable a compliance that he became the chief instrument which the Court of Rome employed for shaking and baffling the vigour of others However he seemed still to retain a little stedfastness in a Conference that he had with Cardinal Morone after his return from Hostia Cardinal Morone to sooth and flatter him told him that he wished he were at the helm of affairs and that he had the same Authority as the Legates had that farther more the Pope desired a Reformation and would set about it that none of the Articles which had been proposed by the several Nations were desired to be left out but those which related to the Court of Rome because the Pope would have the honour of Reforming himself The Cardinal was not catcht in that trap but made answer that saving the respect which was due to the Holy See what concerned the Reformation of the Cardinals and of the Court of Rome might be very well proposed in the Council But he continued not long in that style for the Cardinal received Letters from the Queen informing him that his presence would be far more necessary in France than at Trent she told him that there was no more good to be expected from the Council for France that all that could have been obtained from it would onely have been in order to reunite the French Protestants to the Church but that that was a thing not to be hoped for now since the peace with the Huguenots held good and that therefore the Pope was to be contented She wrote also to the Pope that she would order the French Prelates to concur in any thing that might tend to the speedy Conclusion of the Council and not to dispute his Authority any more From that time forward the Cardinal thought of nothing but of returning to France he was troubled to understand that the peace with the Protestants was like to hold for he mortally hated the Huguenots and feared the growth of the Party not so much out of Zeal for Religion as because he knew that that Party could not be Established but upon the ruines of his Family by reason of the irreconcilable hatred that was betwixt the Princes of the House of Guise and the Great men that were engaged in the interests of the Protestants He considered with himself that to support him against a Party which was like to gather new strength by a Peace he stood in need of the favour of the Pope and therefore he bent all his thoughts for the future to incline him to espouse his Interests by appearing to be wholly at his devotion A new Ambassadour from France comes About the same time the President de Birague the new French Ambassadour arrived and was received in the Congregation of the second of June But because in his Credentials he was not called Ambassadour all the Ambassadours of Princes who commonly come after those of France did not appear that they might not be obliged to take their places after him Birague presented to the Council a Letter from the King wherein he gave once more reasons for the Peace which he had concluded with the Huguenots still protesting that it was done in prospect of reclaiming to the Church those that were gone astray by a surer way than that of Arms that farther he expected that they would aid and assist him in that design by the Reformation which he had demanded and still did demand from the Council Birague's Harangue contained onely the same things somewhat more amplified and seeing the Legates knew what Birague was to say before they had heard him in the Council they were prepared to make an answer to his Speech by complements of condoleing that the King had been in a manner forced to make Peace with the Huguenots They farther added that they disapproved not what he had done exhorting him nevertheless that so soon as his Kingdom were in Peace he would endeavour all he could to cure the wound that Heresie had made in his Territories This answer was communicated to the Cardinal of Lorrain before it was given but he opposed it objecting that the Council ought not to approve the Peace which the King had made with the Huguenots seeing it was so prejudicial to the Church and that therefore they ought to take time to answer This advice was taken and the Legates made answer to Birague that the matters which he had proposed were so weighty that the Council desired time to give an answer to them but the French Ambassadours were extremely vexed with the Cardinal for this action They were about to have written to the Court concerning it but because Lansac was speedily to return they gave it him in Commission to make a report thereof to the King In the mean time the Congregations continued for Examining matters touching the Sacrament of Orders and the Prelates did not stick so closely to the point but that many times they purposely flew out into digressions In one of these Congregations the Bishop of Nimes discoursed freely enough against Annats and against several abuses of the Court of Rome amongst the rest against the Ordination of Priests who were admitted without examination or capacity In another Congregation the Bishop of Cadix a Spaniard shew'd the needlesness of Titulary Bishops whom he called figmenta humana an invention of the Court of Rome and what disorders these Bishops without Bishopricks caused in the exercise of the Discipline of the Church But seeing all the abuses introduced by Papal Authority found instantly Protectors among the Italians the Bishop of Sarzana a Tuscan rose up and defended the Cause of those Titular Bishops Another Spaniard Bishop of Lugo in Gallicia spoke against Dispensations and affirmed that it was not necessary to set Bounds to the Court of Rome as to that matter and to declare the invalidity of those Dispensations or rather that it is impossible to give Dispensations about most things that are so freely dispensed with About this time Angelo Massarelo Bishop of Tilesio in Abruzzo Clark of the Council being grievously tormented with the Stone resolved to be cut of it and desisted from officiating in Person as Clark and this removed one of the difficulties that have been mentioned which was that the Ambassadours of France and Spain having made great instances that he should
set about forming the Decrees and Canons concerning the Matter of Marriage against the next Session In the Congregation of the two and twentieth of July the Legates produced the Canons concerning the matter of Marriage much in the same form as they stand in at present There was no Difficulty about Marriage and the single life of Priests The Emperour King of France and Duke of Bavaria had indeed desired that Priests might be allowed to marry but when the Bishop of the five Churches the Emperour's Ambassadour and the Archbishop of Prague moved the Council to make some more reflexion upon that Point they were scarcely heard Nevertheless the Pope had but very lately before given fresh Promises to the Duke of Bavaria to give him satisfaction as to that matter because the People of his Countrey had made an Insurrection that they might obtain from their Prince the Restitution of the Cup and Permission for married men to Preach The greatest Debates were about Clandestine Marriages The French Ambassadours demanded that they should be declared null An hundred and thirty fix Votes were for it fifty six opposed it and ten would not declare for either side At length the Prelates agreed to Reform the Canon in the manner as now it goes that is that Clandestine Marriages are true Marriages and real Sacraments whilst the Church does not annull them that the Church hath always detested them and for the future declares that all who are Married or Betrothed without the presence of two or three Witnesses at least are incapable of contracting and that by Consequence the Marriage shall be null In the same Congregation the Canons and Anathema's were read the fifth of which Canons pronounces Anathema against those who maintain the Divorces which are permitted by the Code of Justinian to be lawfull that is to say such as are made upon the account of Heresie and refusal of Cohabitation The Cardinal of Lorrain got this Canon added to give a blow to the Calvinists who teach that the refusal of Cohabitation is a lawfull reason for a man to divorce from his Wife The seventh Canon condemns those who assert that Adultery dissolves Marriage At first it was proposed without Anathema out of some respect that still remained for the opinion of St. Ambrose and the Greek Fathers but notwithstanding that Consideration it was thought fit to add the Anathema In the following Congregations there was much Discourse about the Obstacles of contracting Marriage which spring from the Prohibition of marrying within certain remote Degrees not onely of natural but spiritual kindred such as Gossipships or the Relations betwixt Godfathers and Godmothers It was represented that in some places twenty Godfathers and as many Godmothers were sometimes invited and that it many times happens that such not knowing one another for Godfathers and Godmothers marry together without Dispensation and run into the Guilt of Sin Others said upon occasion of the Prohibition of Marriage within remote Degrees that People have not always by them Books of Genealogy so that having forgot their distant Kindred they marry within the Degrees and engage themselves into bonds which by the Laws of the Church are unlawfull They therefore demanded that all these Prohibitions might be abolished or at least that Bishops might have Power to dispense with them that so People might not be put to the trouble of writing or sending to the Court of Rome about matters of so small importance The Council had no great regard to these Remonstrances onely prohibited the multiplying of Godfathers and Godmothers But the Sticklers for the Court of Rome would not yield an Inch in Relation to Prohibited Degrees lest such Condescension might be looked upon by the Lutherans as a gaining of the Cause and might diminish the Revenues of the Pope And indeed it may be said that they made the Yoke of Dispensations heavier for it was ordained that no more Dispensations should be granted in Prohibited Degrees how remote soever they might be unless very pressing reasons required the contrary The Legates propose the Decree of the Reformation of Princes The Ambassadours oppose it This being done the Legates were obliged to propose the Articles of Reformation They offered thirty eight of them which related both to the Abuses committed by Princes in invading the Rights of the Church and the several Abuses that were crept into the Clergy The Cardinal of Lorrain who made it all his business to please the Pope and hasten the Conclusion of the Council advised the Legates to cut off the most part of these Articles and especially those that might meet with greatest Difficulty This Overture surprised the Cardinal of Warmia he could not conceive what was become of that great Zeal which the Cardinal of Lorrain in the beginning pretended for Reformation The Cardinal who perceived his Surprise told him that he ought not to look upon his Condescension as strange that he still retained the same Zeal and the same Intentions but that he had learnt by Experience that nothing was to be expected from the Council concerning Reformation These Articles were communicated to the Ambassadours of Princes and all of them made their several additions and observations according to the interests of the Masters Most of the Ambassadours observations tended to the curbing of the Pope's Authority and putting a stop to the Attempts upon the Ordinaries others drove at the lessening the Authority of Bishops and opposing the Encroachment of the Clergy upon the Civil Jurisdiction The observations of the French Ambassadours were the highest of all for they demanded that the number of Cardinals should not exceed twenty four that the Nephews of the Pope in being or of a Cardinal should not be promoted to a Hat that Cardinals should not possess Bishopricks that all Pretexts of holding several Benefices should be taken away that Criminal Causes of Bishops should not be judged out of the Kingdom that Bishops should have Power to absolve in all Cases that Preventions Resignations in favour Mandates or Mandamus's Reversions and all other unlawfull ways of obtaining Benefices should be abolished that Churchmen should meddle no more in Secular Affairs and that nothing should be done to the prejudice of the Laws of France and Liberties of the Gallican Church But all the Ambassadours agreed to demand a forbearance of handling the Articles of the Reformation of Princes untill another Session The Legates having gathered together all these observations assembled themselves with the two Cardinals Madruccio and Lorrain to consult what they should doe about them The Cardinal of Lorrain was still of opinion that all such Articles as might occasion Debate should be left out and particularly such as were like to be opposed by the Ambassadours The Legates sent to Rome the Articles which they had proposed to the Council with the Observations of the Ambassadours and whilst they waited for an answer on the Eleventh of August they began the Congregations for finishing and completing the Canons
Pope and yet give some satisfaction to those who so urgently demanded Reformation The Legates are willing to satisfie the Bishops by passing the Decree of the Reformation of Princes but that causes great noise The chief Design of the Legates was to please the Bishops because without them there was no concluding of the Council The principal Aim of the Bishops was to enlarge their Power and for accomplishing of that design they demanded three things First that they should have the absolute Collation of all Benefices that had Cure of Souls that so the Curats might depend on them Secondly that the Council would abolish all the Exemptions of Chapters of privileged Churches and of Monks or Regulars who by certain Privileges obtained from the Court of Rome had found a way to decline the Power of their Bishops And thirdly that all those hinderances might be removed which Princes and Secular Magistrates bring to Ecclesiastick Jurisdiction calling that an invasion of Princes when they strive what they can to hinder the Clergy from challenging and taking to themselves the Trials of civil Causes and temporal Jurisdiction The Legates were very well disposed to satisfie the Bishops as to the third Point of their Demand because none but Princes must pay for that whose interest they did not at all consider And therefore in the Articles which they proposed they failed not to insert every thing that could contribute to the retrieving of the Jurisdiction of Bishops to the same State that the Invasions of the Clergy had formerly brought it to And upon these three heads chiefly the Articles of Reformation run for the satisfaction of the Bishops But as to the second Point which concerns the Exemptions of the Regulars or Monks the Legates had no mind to comply too much with the Bishops because that could not be done without Diminution of the Authority and Profits of the Court of Rome of which all the Monks hold immediately And if the Bishops made instances on their side for obtaining that Demand the Generals of Orders who were present in the Council on the other hand vehemently opposed it The Legates had appointed a particular Congregation for the Reformation of Monks and in that Congregation divers good Regulations were made to which the Generals of Orders had submitted because that Monks are pretty well satisfied that the Rules to which they are oblig'd should be severe and hard that being the thing that appears outwardly to the World and which gains them a great Reputation of Sanctity and Austerity But after all since they are the Masters of the Monasteries within doors and of the manner how these Rules are observed the Severity of Orders incommodes them no more than they please themselves But for the matter of Exemptions they would by no means have that medled with They liked it much better to depend on a Master that lived at a distance who could not watch over their Conduct than on a Bishop who would always have his Eyes upon them Nevertheless the reason that they alledged for their refusal was the remisness and relaxation that Bishops allowed themselves in their Conduct and Conversation and franckly said that when Prelates were Masters of Monasteries Bishops lived under a far more severe Discipline than they did at present and that times were changed The Ambassadours also favoured the Monks for the interest sake of Princes who desire not that Bishops should have too much power because they many times abuse it Martin Royas Pontal Rouge Ambassadour from the Great Master and Knights of Malta was received in Congregation the seventh of September Seeing every one minded their Interests his chief demand was that the Council would Ordain that the Possessions and Commendaries which had been taken from them should be restored The Legates acquainted the Pope with the demand of the Ambassadours of Malta and the Pope answered that it was the business of the Council who ought not to neglect it In that and the following Congregations the Articles of Reformation were again treated of which had been so many times altered and corrected by the Legates and they afforded no important Debates The third Article regarded the Authority of Metropolitans or Archbishops Those of that Character and such of them as were present were for having the Ancient Canons reestablished according to which Bishops were subject to visitation correction and to the Government of Metropolitans as Curates are subject to the Bishops Particularly Giovanni Trevisano Patriarch of Venice was mightily for the restitution of those privileges but the Archbishops were not strong enough to gain their Cause The Bishops who were far the Sedition of the Bishops they were forced to propose in Congregation the Decree of the Reformation of Princes which was sometime before laid aside and referred to another Session Abstract of the Decree of the Reformation of Princes It will not be amiss to give an Abstract of it that it may appear what the temper of the Bishops was and how far the Clergy would have carried on their Usurpations upon the Temporal Right of Princes and Magistrates That Decree contained a Preface thirteen Chapters and a Conclusion The Preface mentioned that the Council had a design to prevent the enterprises of Seculars upon the Immunities of the Church and that for that end it revived the Decrees and Holy Canons which were to be observed under pain of Anathema It ordained then that the persons of Churchmen should not be Judged by a Secular Court upon any pretext whatsoever though they should even consent to it that Secular Judges should not offer to meddle with Matrimonial Causes Causes of Heresie Tithes Rights of Patronage Benefices nor with other Causes wherein any thing of the Spirituality is concerned whether they be Civil or Criminal that Secular Princes cannot Establish Judges in Ecclesiastick affairs that Secular Magistrates must not prohibit an Ecclesiastick Judge to proceed against any by Excommunication that neither Emperour Kings nor Princes can make any Edicts or Ordinances concerning the Affairs Goods and Possessions of Churchmen that Churchmen should be maintained in their Temporal Right of high middle and low Jurisdiction that Ecclesasticks should not be obliged to pay any Taxes Imposts Tenths or Subsidies that Princes and Magistrates should not have Power to quarter their Officers Soldiers or Horses in the Houses of Churchmen There were a great many more Articles of the same force and that tended to the same end So the Clergy shook off the lawfull Yoke of Obedience which they owed to their Sovereigns and erected to themselves within their States a temporal Jurisdiction over Christians parallel to that of Kings and wholly independent of their Authority The Conclusion contained an earnest Exhortation to the Observation of these Decrees under the pain of Anathema This was the Piece against which the Ambassadours of France had orders to protest if they intended to pass it which they failed not to doe The Emperour wrote also to Cardinal Morone that
he would never suffer neither as Emperour nor Archduke that the Council should offer to make such a Reformation to the prejudice of the Jurisdiction of Princes But the Conduct of the French upon that occasion was much more vigorous In the Congregation of the two and twentieth of November they had the patience to hear a long Harangue wherein one of the Prelates strove to prove that the disorders of the Church proceeded from Princes and that Care must be taken to reform them Du Ferrier protests against that Decree and makes a Speech that cuts the Prelates to the quick that since the Acts concerning that were ready there was no more to be done but to produce them The President Du Ferrier started up and made his Protestation by word of mouth in a long and witty discourse delivered briskly in words that cut to the heart He laughed at all the petty Reformations which the Council had made for the Clergy made a Comparison betwixt the Canons of the Council and the Ancient Canons of the Discipline of the Primitive Church wherein it was not permitted to Bishops to be absent from their Flocks three months of the year as the present Council allowed wherein Beneficiaries had not the liberty which the Council granted to dispose of the Revenues of their Benefices to the prejudice of the Poor to whom properly they belong And so went over all the Abuses authorised by the Council of Trent comparing them with the Severity of the Ancient Discipline He alledged that the Reformation of Princes which was proposed tended directly to the Ruine of the Liberties of the Gallican Church but that the King knew very well how to maintain them that he would make use of his Right in laying hold on the goods of the Church when his occasions did require it that it was an intolerable Attempt to excommunicate Kings even without a hearing as that Decree ordained that they should concern themselves with spiritual matters and not with the Affairs of Princes with which they had nothing to doe that the Kings of France had made Ordinances in Ecclesiastick matters and that the Church of France had been governed according to its Laws above four hundred years before the Compilation of the Decretals that Kings held their Power onely of God and that it belongs not to Churchmen to reform them that if they had a mind to reform Princes they should first think of reforming themselves and become like St. Ambrose St. Austin and St. Chrysostome and that that would be the way to make Princes imitate the Examples of the Theodosius's of Honorius Arcadius and the Valentinians This Harangue put the Council out of all patience and even the French Prelates themselves there arose a murmuring and confused Noise amongst them which was like to have broken out into some scandalous Transport had not the Legates to prevent it dismissed the Assembly The Bishops spoke all the Evil they could devise against his Speech to make it pass for Heretical and Nicolas Pelue Archbishop of Sens and Jerome de la Souchieres Abbot of Clervaux had big words with Du Ferrier about it They reported every where that that Protestation was made without Orders from the King that Du Ferrier was a Creature of the King of Navarre that he was suspected of Heresie and that he ought to be put into the Inquisition Others had scraped together some Notes of that Harangue but because Du Ferrier found them false he published it himself and sent a copy of it to the Cardinal of Lorrain with a Letter wherein he told him that he could not abandon the Royal Authority which for the space of four hundred years had been attempted upon by the Court of Rome that as a Frenchman and a Member of Parliament he was obliged to assert the Rights of his King and the opinions of his Faculty And that it was not just that the Council made up of the slaves of the Court of Rome should be Judge in its own Cause So soon as Du Ferrier's Speech appeared in publick the Council caused it to be refuted by a nameless Authour Du Ferrier made his defence and instead of recanting he confirmed all that he had said or written These Writings encreased the Provocation and the Bishops revenged themselves by reviling not so much the Ambassadours as the Court of France They accused the Queen Mother of openly favouring the Hereticks They affirmed that she was governed by the Chatillons who were declared Hereticks by the Chancellour de l'Hopital and the Bishop of Valence who were suspected of Heresie After that Protestation the Ambassadours of France The French Ambassadours goe to Venice having staid a Fourtnight longer at Trent retired to Venice according to the Orders they had from Court. Before they went away they declared to the few French Prelates that remained that it was the King's Intention they should oppose the fifth and sixth Articles of Reformation which were proposed because these Articles drew the Causes and Persons of Bishops out of the Kingdom whereas according to the Liberties of the Gallican Church the Members of the Clergy ought to be judged primâ instantiâ upon the place and by their immediate Superiours When the news of the French Ambassadour's Protestation came to Rome it caused great heart-burnings in the Pope's Court. No man was so much afflicted as the Cardinal of Lorrain because it was an unlucky accident that brought great Prejudice to the Negotiation that he was a managing with the Pope for the Grandeur of himself and Family He pacified the Pope the best he could blaming the Ambassadours and promising to write to the King that he might procure reparation of that Scandal He did indeed write and in such terms as well discovered that he had sacrificed the Interests of his King and the opinions of his Countrey to the design of pleasing the Pope whom he would engage in his private concerns The Pope wrote also to Trent that they should still goe on and that if the French Ambassadours had a mind to be gone they should not hinder them but withall give them no occasion of withdrawing that after all they should prepare to hold the Session immediately upon the return of the Cardinal of Lorrain and put an end to the Council that now he had got the better of the Germans and French and that none but the Spaniards remained to be overcome The truth is the Count de Luna not onely crossed the Pope's design of shortning the Council but also made it his business to obtain an Alteration of the Clause proponentibus legatis He continually charged a fresh and never left off soliciting Cardinal Morone even amidst the troubles that were occasioned by the Protestation of the French till at length the Cardinal was fain to promise that they should endeavour to give him satisfaction in the ensuing Session what this satisfaction was we shall see hereafter The Legates being pressed by the Bishops who were not baulked
and the Legates obliged the Members to be very short in giving their opinions But the Spaniards who desired not the conclusion took their full swing they did not put themselves to the rack but even enlarged their discourses with design to gain time and to prolong the Council untill they might have Orders from the King of Spain The sixth Article of Reformation proposed before the former Session had been referred to this and that Article concerned the exemption of the Chapters of Spain The Spanish Ambassadour and the Bishops of that Nation were their Parties and their Deputy after he had been ordered by the Count de Luna was forced to be gone But the Legates were good Advocates for them and being assured of the assistance of the Italians they were in a fair way of gaining their Cause notwithstanding they were absent Yet the Council found out a means by giving some augmentation to the Bishops Authority over the Chapters but a great deal less than they demanded The resolution of demanding the Confirmation of the Council from the Pope In the Congregation of the twentieth of November the question was debated whether they should demand of the Pope the Confirmation of the Decrees of the Council The Archbishop of Granada maintained that it was not necessary saying that the Fathers in the sixteenth Session which was the last held under Julius III. demanded not the Pope's Confirmation that if they did not imitate their Conduct it would be thought they condemned them The Archbishop of Otranto who had always his eyes in his head for the preservation of the Authority of the Pope replyed that the Fathers of the Council at that time made it sufficiently appear that they held the Confirmation of the Pope to be necessary because they commanded not the observation of the Canons which they had made but onely exhorted to it That opinion prevailed without difficulty but there remained still a scruple to wit whether they should stay for the Pope's Answer at Trent after they had demanded his Confirmation or otherwise whether upon concluding the Council it should be demanded of the Pope and so break up immediately without expecting an Answer The Cardinal of Lorrain whose two Predominant Passions were to dispatch and to please the Pope was of the last opinion and there is nothing more clear than that this Cardinal and the French who were of the mind that the Confirmation of the Decrees of the Council should be demanded of the Pope did exceedingly forget themselves They had kept a great clutter to hinder that the Pope should be declared Superiour to a Council and yet all of a sudden they betray their own Cause by the greatest weakness in the World For to demand the Pope's Confirmation of the Council is a Declaration plain enough that it is inferiour to him no Superiour Court ever demanding the Confirmation of its Decrees from an inferiour The Cardinal of Lorrain who would have all things make for the greater honour of the Council or rather for the greater satisfaction of the Pope essayed to bring back to Trent the French Ambassadours that were at Venice but they would not because that though the Chapter of the Reformation of Princes was revoked yet many other things had passed in the Council to the prejudice of the Liberties of the Gallican Church and the President du Ferrier would not by his presence countenance those bad Regulations When the matter of Reformation was digested into the Method that they intended to have it in the Legates applied themselves to the Doctrine and the Council appointed the Cardinal of Warmia and eight other Prelates to frame the Decree concerning Purgatory the Invocation of Saints Relicks and Images they all jumpt in one design not to start any Controversie that might retard them Nevertheless they found themselves a little puzled about the Article of Purgatory for some were for having the place determined where this Purgatory is as the Council of Florence had done and that it should be defined that the Pains which are suffered there are the Torments of Fire Others objected that all Divines agreed not as to that and that if they should offer to make a Decision thereupon they could not avoid falling into debates which they were willing to shun so that they were of opinion to make use of general terms and to enjoyn Bishops to see that that Doctrine should be carefully taught and this opinion was followed There was no difficulty about the Point of the Invocation of Saints there was somewhat more in relation to Images touching the nature of the Worship that is due to them but it went not far The Decree of the Reformation of Monks is revised Some Prelates were likewise deputed to revise the Reformation of Monks and Nuns and these Deputies joyned with the Congregation which had been appointed a long time before for that Reformation In that Revisal there were but a few matters altered By the third Chapter of this Reformation all the Monasteries of Mendicant Friers were allowed to enjoy Lands and immoveable Possessions notwithstanding the Rule of their Institution which forbids them to possess any thing in proper The General of the Order of the Minims who was a Spaniard demanded that his Order might be excepted out of that indulgence because they would exactly follow the Rule of St. Francis the General of the Capuchins demanded the same and it was granted to both Lainez General of the Jesuits made the same demand but distinguished their Colleges from their houses of Profession saying Bishops and other Beneficiaries to make good use of the Revenues of the Church used these words that they are appointed faithfull Stewards of these Revenues for the good of the Poor That Clause displeased the Bishop of Sulmona and a great many others it is easie to guess at the reason but what ever it was the Clause was struck out In fine it was proposed in the same Congregation to anticipate the day of the Session and to hold it next day and if al could not be dispatched in one day to continue it the day following that so the Acts might be signed on Sunday after and all the Prelates have Liberty to depart Fourteen Spanish Bishops opposed it but the Cardinal of Lorrain and the Imperial Ambassadours dealt earnestly with the Count de Luna to make him condescend to it At length he was willing but upon two Conditions first that the Pope would regulate the matters that remained still to be done and then that it should be inserted in the Chapters of Indulgences that they should not be given Gratis lest that might be prejudicial to the Croisadoes of Spain session 25 The five and twentieth and last Session the 3. December 1563. All difficulties being surmounted on Friday the third of December the Prelates and Ambassadours went to Church with the usual Ceremonies Jerome Ragazzone Titular Bishop of Nazianzo made the Sermon in praise of the Council and recapitulated the