Ideas which were good in the time of the Churches Infancy Intr. c. 6. nell ' infanzia della Chiesa They will say that these be worldly and humane considerations for Popes to act by il risguardo eziando dell ' interesse umano But is not the humane felicity of the Court of Rome of divine Institution and will not God have his Church governed according to humane inclinations This is all can be said for Plurality of Benefices for to look only upon the divine institution and setting aside humane interest this is a business able to confound Ecclesiastick Order to give to one alone the duties and functions which cannot be discharged but by diverse Ecclesiasticus ordo pervertitur Sess 24. c. 17. Sess 14. c. 9. Conc. Trid. Which made the Council condemn this plurality herein the Fathers of the Council are not quite to blame l. 23. c. 11. ne per tutto ciò si vogliono biasâ—mare i Padri Tridentini But this kind of Reasoning though Natural and Divine ought to give place according to Religious Policy to the interest of the humane felicity of the Court of Rome which can't subsist without this Plurality and the Church must be guided not according as God willeth but according as corrupt Nature desireth as it hath been shown Likewise the Fathers of the Council have declared that they do not mean to tie up the Popes hands and though they would have pretended to it 't is Policy that there should be an head in the Church that may dispence with Canons and even derogate from them as hath been shewed before and that there be a Head whose all-puissantness may be the Rule of Wisdom acccording to Paul the Fourth's Maxime whose Government was the Sampler of Pontifical prudence and who upon that account was chosen Pope by an unanimous Election which could never have come to pass if a Pope so Elected l. 3. c. 17. had not been of eminent Vertues il che non può conseguirsi senza un eminente virtù The sixth and seventh Means The calling back of greater Causes and the reservation of Cases Four Reasons make Popes to reserve certain Cases to themselves and to retain the greater Causes The First is ignorance of Bishops whether it be about regulation of the Conclave for the election of a Pope in very deed it was not left to the Council of Trent to deliberate thereof perche ne ' Vescovi non era veruna perizia di tal facenda l. 22. c. 7. because the Bishops were ignorant of those kind of matters or whether it be about Reformation of the Cardinals the Legats in Council found that business was a Gulph where the Bishops would have been lost having no skill in those affairs parue à Legati che ciò sarebbe stato eutrare in un nuovo e vasto pelago del quale Pochissimi de' Padri haveano perizia l. 23. c. 7. The Second Reason is That whatever skill the Bishops may have they are not refined for the practice of the Court of Rome as hath been seen here before The Third is That being Secular Princes Subjects they are liable to act out of fear hope or other humane Considerations as was observed The Fourth is to make the Sovereign Power of the Pope over Bishops be acknowledged from hence 't is that the Popes limit even the Bishops Power that in such certain Cases falling within their Dioceses they shall not proceed but they are referred to the Pope l. 12. c. 11. ed usano di limitar aneche à Vescovi la libertà di riserbare As to greater Causes they do not leave them to the Cognizance of Bishops being they are smaller Prelates to whom they only leave smaller Causes which would be too troublesom for Suiters to go to Rome about but of all that be of importance the Popes reserve to themselves the Cognizance because Justice cannot be better administred than by the Sovereign Power la giustizia non può universalmente procedere l. 23. c. 13. e con vigore e con sincerità se non dove sia tal preeminenza di stato nel superiore sopra à suddito che nel primo non possa cader nè timore nè competenza even so much as for nominating Parish Priests to Parishes the Bishops are bound to follow the Counsel of Examiners appointed or agreed on by a Synod of their Clergy l. 23. c. 13. as hath been shewn before The Eighth Means Frequent Jubilees and Indulgences The Council of Trent desires that the usage of Indulgences may be reformed by those ancient and rigorous rules made about that matter l. 24. c. 12. Che si tornasse all' antica severità But 't is not to be understood that one should quite return to that ancient severity non volle significare che vi si ritornasse in tutto l. 24. c. 12. but that herein one should use prudence according to time and places fin à quel segno che la condizione de tempi è de luoghi consiliava Ibid. which depends on the Pope's prudence that is to say That the account upon which the Pope grants it be such that the Pope in granting it commits no imprudence and yet that the reason therefore in it self appear little considerable As for Example When the Pope grants a full Indulgence to him that shall visit St. Peter's Church or stay to take the Pope's Blessing in a publick place the Cause in it self does not appear so great that it should merit Indulgence or a Pardon but in the same thing we must distinguish what that thing is in it self and what it is as to its End for to attend for Example the Pope's Blessing in a Publick place is not an Act that appears in it self important but yet 't is very much so when it is considered as to its end which is thereby to make publick profession of Belief of the Unity of the Church and the Worship which is due to the Sovereign Pontifice as Vicar of Jesus Christ l. 2. c. 4. far co'tali opere che sia una professione universale esibita da Christiani sopra l'unita della chiesa è sopra il culto che rendono al Romano Pontefice come Vicario di Christo So that to make profession of this Worship is an act that 's worth as much as all the ancient severity of Canonical Penances and this is the sense that one should understand the Council of Trent in when it desires that the ancient simplicity should be returned unto wherefore the least actions being capable to be thus exalted through their End though it were only to manifest the all-puissantness of the Pope it would bee rash if from the small Importance which is found in those actions one shoulld conclude therefrom a nullity in the grant of Indulgences saremo temerarii se della tenuita delle azioni conchiuderemo la nullità delle concessioni l. 2. c. 4.
Adde to this the vast profit which comes in to the Pope from these Indulgences As in Pope Leo the tenth's Time who granted them when Luther Preached against them to help build St. Peter's Church for he wanted for that a vast summe of money richiedendosi ali ' opera denaro immenso l. 1. c. 2. Wherefore he had recourse to this efficacious remedy of Universal Indulgences adding Liberty also to it to eat Cheese and Milk on Fasting-days and to chuse what Confessour one listed This was in truth a great scandal to Christendom to see the Revenue of these Indulgences let out to him that would give most as temporal Princes do farm out Imposts but it is certain also as Princes would get little by their taxes if they were to leavy them themselves by their own immediate Officers so the Pope would get as 't were nothing by Indulgences if he did not find people to farm them at a Rate and Price l. 1. c. 3. qual Principe non è costretto ad usar il medesimo in tutte le Gabelle che impone It s further true that those Indulgences which were leavied upon the people to build St. Peter's Church a material Temple have been the cause of the ruine of a great part of the Churches Spiritual Temple quel edificio materiale di San ' Pietro rouino in gran ' parte il suo edificio spirituale because that for leavying so many Millions which the vast work of that admirable Church was to take up the Pope was constrained to publish those Indulgences whereof Luther's Heresy took beginning which hath impoverished the Church a many more Millions of Souls that are seperated from her Communion percioche affin d'adunare tanti milioni quanti ne assorbiva l'immenso lavoro di quella chiesa l. 1. c. 1. convenne far ciò d'onde prese origine l'eresia di Luthero che à impoverita di molti più milioni d'anime la chiesa But yet this hinders not but the building of that material Temple which is the first Temple of the World and which draws the greatest veneration to the Pope was a very sufficient cause for granting those Indulgences because that which is most important in the Church after the Worship of God is the Worship of the Pope and it would be Simony in the Pope to relinquish his Rights under pretence of buying thereby the salvation of Souls The ninth Means Dispensations granted for money It is necessary in every Principality well regulated to draw forth some Imposition from the Graces which the Prince accordeth l. 16. c. 17. essendo necessario inogni Principato le imposizioni sopra le grazie 'T is also one of the sources which nourishes the abundance and lustre of the Court of Rome and keeps up at the same time the All-puissantness of the Pope who grants the Dispensations both with and without Cause This money which comes thereof in great quantity to the Coffers of his Holiness is an All-puissant like means to uphold his grandeur Omnipotenza del ' oro For as our Cardinal saith l. 8. c. 17. Money is all things in vertue and in power pecunia è ogni cosa vertualmente and he that hath Money hath all and may do all with an efficacious Power By granting Dispensations and Graces for money the Pope doth thereby punish those who sue them out and this is an industrious and new means to keep up as one may say Discipline and the Canons by breaking them If the Bishops take Money for Dispensations they be null quoth the Council of Trent but when 't is the Pope that grants them for Money they be good and which is most admirable that even they would be null if he did not take money because they would be given without any cause as hath been observed for the money which the Pope takes for them is the great Consideration and a good cause why he grants them so that there are few things forbidden which the interest of establishing the All puissantness of the Pope to enrich and keep up the splendour of his Court doe not make lawfull For this purpose he is not only permitted to take money for dispensations but to derogate from the Laws of Councils that he may fulfill them in a more perfect manner since this is to exercise his all-puissantness which after God is the principal end whereunto all Councils ought to have regard The tenth Means Experience teaches every Superiour that his faithfullest and most obedient Subjects be those which doe immediately subject themselves to his grandure and to his power without any semblance of going Cheek by Jole with him l'Esperienza dimostra ad ogni superiore che i sudditi più sicuri e più ossequiosi sono i sudditi immediati non grandi Hereupon 't is that the Pope's interest is grounded when he exempts Chapters in Bishopricks to depend upon him and b◠be independant from their Bishops therefore the instances that the Bishops made at the Council of Trent To have their Chapters again under their yoke was prejudicial to the Apostolick See prejudiciale alla sede Apostolica l. 8. c. 17. Besides the Bishops being as we said before Ignorants in policy seditious interessed timorous and subject to temporal powers they are facil and ready to fall into heresy which the Chapters are not To this the Council of Trent had respect as to Germany where a many Bishops fell into heresy which no Chapter was found to doe ponendo in Considerazione quei di Germania dove avevano mancato molti vescovi mà niun Capitolo l. 23. c. 3. And as for those of France the Cardinal of Lorrain told it out that there were heretick Bishops who forbid Catholick Preachers to preach ibid. riferi che alcuni vescovi eretici in Francia havean vietato il predicare à Catolici Whereupon he went on and said that in case the objection of Prebendaries were to be made according to the Canons that the Bishops should doe nothing therein without the consent of their Prebendaries ibid. piacerli che i Vescovi nulla potesser fare senza i Capitoli quando i Canonici s'eleggessero come si doveva di raggione In the four and thirty Articles of reformation which the Ambassadour of France brought to the Council The seaven and twentieth ran that the Bishops be obliged according to the Canons to treat of all the affaires of their Dioceses according to the advice of their Prebendaries and for that reason the Prebendaries be obliged to reside continually at their Cathedrall l. 19. c. 11. dovendo i i Vescovi secundo i Canoni trattare i negozii col parere del Capitolo si procurasse che i Canonici fossero assidui alle Catedrali Because that being exempt from the jurisdiction of their Bishops and governing the Dioceses with them their exemption was a bridle which the Pope put upon the Bishops very fit to keep them from prevaricating
altra certezza prossima ed immediata che l'autorità del Pontefice CHAP. VI. Here be related the Interests and different sentiments of the Catholick Christian Crowns and Republicks according as they are more less favourable to this same Religious Policy according to the flesh And t is made appear that there 's none more opposite then those of the Crown and of the Church of France which proposed no less at the Council of Trent then to throw down the Churches Monarchy and Empire and to take away the Splendour of the Court of Rome ARTICLE I. The Estates whose Politick Maxims are favourable or opposite to this same Roman Policy OF all the Parts of Europe which have remained in the Popes Communion there appears none more considerable then Italy Germany Spain and France To know which are the States whose Politick maximes are more or less favourable to the Roman Policy there needs no more but to represent the Interests and the Sentiments of these States which take up those parts of Europe ARTICLE II. The Italian Policy favours that of the Court of Rome ACcording to the Testimony of our Cardinal Lib. 21. Chapter 4. the Italian Bishop had no other end in the Council of Trent but the upholding and aggrandizing of the Apostolick See non mirava ad altro oggetto che al sostentamento ed alla grandezza della sede Apostolica and therein they thought they did the duty of good Christians and Italians at once e pero ch' essi in tal opera facesser ad un ora le parti di buoni Italiani edi buoni Christiani Because 't was the honour and the advantage of their Country to be the abode and ordinary residing Place of the King of Kings and of the Lord of all the Lords of the Earth ARTICLE III. The Spaniards are not favourable to the Cardinals nor other Officers of the Roman Court. THE Spanish Bishops being for the most part great Lords very considerable either for the great Extent of their Dioceses or by reason of their great revenues through their high birth and illustrious families or through their great learning hardly could endure the pre-eminence of the Cardinals and above all few of those Bishops could ever hope to arrive at that dignity and it was no lesse unsufferable to them to see themselves subjected so much as they are to the Pope's Officers and be Dependants of the Roman Tribunals wherefore they thought it would be exceeding good for the Church to bring back the Cardinals to their first rank and to restore those rights to the Bishops which they enjoyed anciently and for this purpose they had a mind to disable the Cardinals to possesse Bishopricks and oblige them to reside at Rome and rule the parishes whereof they are the Titulary Parsons or Priests and withall they would have taken away dispensations whereby persons or causes are exempted from the Bishops Jurisdiction and thereby make the Bishops in their Dioceses as so many Popes onde fossero à guisa di Papa nelle loco Diocesi which would have much diminished the splendour of the Roman Court and sapped the foundation of the Church ARTICLE IV. The Policy of France quite and clean opposite to the Roman Court. AS for the French Bishops they have less of jurisdiction because the Usages of that Kingdom look most at enlarging the temporal power and this also causes that they are less incommoded with the Roman Tribunals and don 't complaine so much of wrong that the Scarlet does to the Mitre but all their thoughts tend to set bounds unto the Pope's Monarchy according to the sentiments of the late Council of Basil approved by them l. 21. c. 4. erano rivolti à moderar la Monarchia del Pontefice secondo in sensi del moderno Concilio di Basilea da loco approvato Germany is so canton'd out that t is difficult to mark the point wherein those people may be said to accord some of them are of the Italian minde others of the Spanish others of the French As for the several Princes they are each of the several minde as his Bishop is i Principi almeno i loco politici chi più chi meno inclinavano à sodisfare i Prelati di lovo Natione because that the preferring of their Bishops who remaine still their Subjects gives them lesser jealousy then the Pope's grandeur and power They were brought over to this in the time of the Council of Trent by the abuses which they saw in the Roman Court. Christian Policy hath then its choice betwixt that of France and that of Spain which of the two may be the most favourable to the all-puissantnesse of the Pope to take that side and favour it carefully and stoutly l. 5. c. 16. con intrepidezza e con vigilanza now it is not very hard to see that the French Policy is lesse favourable to that of Rome then the Spanish which made Fryer Thomas Stella Bishop di Capo d'Istria a great creature of the Popes in the Council of Trent for to say that all mischief came out of the North l. 19. c. 9. ogni male dall ' Aquilone ARTICLE V. Wherein the Policy of France is not favourable to that of Rome THE First Article is that of a Council being above a Pope according to the Council of Basil which is a seditious opinion quoth our Cardinal sedizioza and overthrows absolutely the Pope's Monarchy sediziosa l. 6. c. 13. l. 19. c. 11. l. 16. c. 10. questione della maggioranza trà lui el Concilio i quali capi si riducevano à levar lo splendore e l imperio della Corte Romana 't is an erroneous opinion Erronea Pestiferous l. 9. c. 16. l. 6. c. 7. Ibid. Pestilente che non solo abatterebbe il trono pontificale mà disordinerebbe la Spiritual Hierarchia II. 'T is not the Doctrine of France that the Pope is King of Kings Lord of Lords So that the Crown-Lands of Kings should be his Inheritance III. 'T is not the Doctrine of France that the Pope is Infallible nor that he can make Articles of Faith unto which if Kings do not yield he may declare them Hereticks and give their States to the first occupant IV. 'T is not the Doctrine of France that 't is Treason to hinder Money from being carried to Rome V. 'T is not the Doctrine of France that Bishops hold their jurisdiction from the Pope l. 16. c. 10. questa sedizioza dottrina VI 'T is not the Doctrine of France that the Pope may dispence without cause or derogate from the Canons of Councils l. 19. c. 11. see mons de Marco Concord l. 3. c. 13. § 2. la qual tendeva ad abbatere la Monarchia che le costituzioni fatte dal Concilio non cadessero sotto dispensazioni But the better to know wherein the Doctrine of France and its Policy is opposite to that of Rome one need but to
would not come thereof any considerable Good for 't is clear the Reformation established by the Council of Trent is very moderate Intr. c. 10. quella riformazione sola si moderata e discreta che poi successe e che la prudenza de Padri estimò riuscibile Nevertheless if the Pope should observe strictly this moderate Council all would be lost this troubled Alexander VII at his coming to the Popedom for at that time he was very zealous and desirous to re-establish Discipline and retrench Abuses he called to Council the ablest men of the Dattery periti delle facende della Dateria and speaking to them about the Dispensations for Marriages within the prohibited Degrees which were granted so commonly at Rome against the express Prohibition of the Council of Trent he told them he wondred much at so frequent a going against the Decisions of the Council asking them how it could possibly be that it had so passed into a Custom l. 23. c. 18. come passasse questa contrarietà usitata in Roma allo statuto Tridentino That so frequent a contravention against the Judgment of that Venerable Assembly appeared to him little praise-worthy pareva poco lodevole che si frequentemente si repugnasse al giudicio di questa veneranda assemblea They answered him That this Custom began in the time of Pius V a Pope of a signal and severe Goodness and a religious Observer of the Council and that there was no other Reason but that of experience of the Fact Ibid. che la ragione di questo discostamento del decreto Sinodale era stata l'esperienza del satto He had seen that from the Decree of the Council of Trent ensued great and very considerable inconveniences in practice and therefore that holy Pope made no difficulty to dispense therewith even without having any other cause therefore Thus the Council of Trent for all its Prudence and Moderation suffered it self to be carried too far away with its Zeal and went too far into an Ideal Reformation whereof mischievous inconveniences might have followed if the Prudence of the Popes had not brought a Cure What can be hoped for then from all the other Councils wherein there was never found so much Prudence and Moderation as appeared in this last Council There be a-many other Articles besides that of Marriage wherein there is need that the Pope should give ease against the severity of the Council for example in that which concerns plurality of Benefices if the Pope should not still dispense therewith the Cardinals would have nothing to live on and the Court of Rome would turn Desart l. 12. c. 13. Senato Romano privo di quelle badie rimanerebbe privo del vitto One may see of what importance it is for keeping up the Church to keep up the Splendor of the Court of Rome yet the Council of Trent made no reckoning of it so that what can one hope for from any other Council whatsoever In fine The Council of Trent declared That all the World was obliged to observe its Canons indistinctly and that none should be dispensed with but when there was urgent and just cause urgens justaque ratio and then the Dispensation should be given freely gratis otherwise the same should be null Aliterque facta dispensatio subreptitia censeatur Sess 25. c. 18. But now these Dispensations are not given gratis at the Court of Rome where a great deal is given for them sine causa without any reason but that they pretend that the Money that is gotten thereby contrary to the Council of Trent is a just and pressing consideration for to grant them out l. 23. c. 8. Anzi essere in verità gran ' cagione per dispensare quella grossa multa che l'impetrante si contenta di pagar in aiuto de' poveri e dell ' opere pie It is manifest then that even the Reformation of the Council of Trent would be Ideal and of no success riformazione ideale e non riuscibile if it were not judiciously reformed by the Politick Prudence of the Roman Court so that nothing is less useful than Councils and less necessary for governing the Church ARTICLE VIII The Council of Trent it self hath acknowledged That the way to govern the Church is no longer that of Councils and that the Laws which it made were submitted to a Superior Authority THe best one can say of the Council of Trent is That it had the Prudence to insert in its Decrees beginning and ending That it meant in all things that the Authority of the Apostolick See should remain inviolate l. 23. c. 3 8. salva in tutto l'autorità della Sede Apostolica Wherefore quoth our Cardinal I will not quite blame the Fathers of that Council for Decreeing against Plurality of Benefices ne per tutto ciò si vogliono biasimare i padri Tridentini for they had no intention by that Decree to bind his Supremacies Hands whom they had declared all along to be left at full liberty l. 23. c. 11. per ciò che il decroto non intese d' annodar quelle mani supreme che il Concilio si nel principio come nel fine delle sue leggi dichiarò di lasciar disciolte But as in all Policy Sacred or Profane 't is the approbation which the People give unto a Law by their usage thereof that determines the force and the Merit of that Law and when it is doubtful what success it may have 't is prudence to try first if the greatest number will be pleased therewith l. 8. c. 11. è prudenza il tentare ezandio con dubio dell ' evento ciò che se riuscisse sarebbe grato al commune It follows that there must be a Superior Authority to derogate from the Laws of a Council or to dispense with them according as usage may require therein or thereabout and this the Council of Trent hath very well acknowledged in declaring it meant not in any sort to tie up the Popes hands insomuch that through an effect of a singular Policy though there should not be so much as one Decree of the Council of Trent observed yet if that were so by the Pope's Order it would be found That nevertheless the Decrees of that Council were kept because he would be obeyed to whom the Council hath left absolute power which reaches as far as to impower him to derogate from the Council's Orders After this fashion is it that our Cardinal maintaining That the Church ought not to be governed by way of Councils and that That of Trent hath upheld the Pope in an Authority over its own doth defend the Judgment of the whole Christian World Assembled in that Council and thus he defends the whole Catholick Church and this is the Ground he hath to call his Book Diffesa del Sacro Concilio di Trento Proem ARTICLE IX Refutation of the Zealot's Fifth Errour That
Question being discussed on both sides it appeared to some That all the Dispute was nothing but a pure Logomachia and disputing about Terms but the more subtil i più sottili and scrupulous i più scrupulosi judged quite otherwise thereof and made it manifest That if the Bishops Pretensions took place it would follow that the Pope could not without cause dispose of things belonging to the Jurisdictions of Bishops senza cagione for example l. 19. c. 6. he could not of absolute authority reserve to himself the Collation of a Benefice in another Bishop's Diocess he could not send Prohibitions to the Ordinary or exempt an Inferior from the Jurisdiction of his Bishop or even translate a Bishop from one Diocess to another unless for Reasons contained in the Canons Ibid. ò trasferir un vescovo da una catredrale all' altra These Reasons hindred the Question from being decided questi risguardi facevan◠che molti ne consentissero à diachiarare ch' i vescovi fossero immediate da Christo Ibid. Which makes it evident how important it is in the Church when one would think there is no more but a Question about Terms or Words to take good heed if the Question be not about something indeed and not to think that Questions which appear to be only about Terms be of such slight Importance especially in Matter of Church-government Reason IV. There is a deal of difference between the largeness of the Pope's Power and the Power of Bishops The Pope who is chosen is ordinarily pious and sage ordinariamente suole eleggersi pio e savio he has remorse of Conscience ha i rimorsi della coscienza he has Sentiments of honour e dell ' honore which being so 't is a less evil as it may sometimes happen though some of his commands be unreasonable which is seldom and his Subjects be obliged to obey them possa tal ' ora obligare i soggetti exandio con qualche irragionevole ordinazione than that he not being Prince and Monarch as he is of all Bishops who are his Subjects should be made subject to their over-looking and to their passionate Votes and Judgments to which they are so subject Reason V. But the great Reason which decides the Question beyond Reply and makes the Juggle of the contrary Opinion appear is That in effect if the Bishop's Jurisdiction were of Divine Right they are obliged not to obey the Pope when his Decrees are not grounded upon just cause they could not use the Dispensations which he gives them when they are not granted after the manner prescribed by the Canons for the Canons do forbid plurality of Benefices it confounds quoth the Council of Trent the Church-Order that one person alone should take upon him the Offices of many persons All are obliged to observe the Sacred Canons without any distinction indistinctè Sess 25. c. 19. unless they be dispensed therewith for just and urgent cause and which may redound to the Churches greater profit and that the Dispensation be granted cost-free in default whereof 't is to be reckoned surreptitious Now almost all the Bishops have plurality of Benefices and they have the Pope's Dispensation for it which is not grounded upon any urgent or just cause nor given to them cost-free they make use of these Dispensations they be conformable to these Decrees the Pope then has a right to rule over them even without reason and since they obey him they acknowledge that their Jurisdiction is not of Divine Right otherwise they could not in conscience possess a many Benefices they could not in conscience be translated from one Bishoprick to another the Dispensation that is granted them is by right null according to the Canons in maniera qualora volesse trasferir un vescovo da una Catedrale all' altra l. 19. c. 6. gli potesse muovere sempre questione di nullità con allegare il difetto della sufficiente cagione But if it be so that the Pope has no power to dispense without a cause where be the Bishops for either they have Consciences or they have none if they have none and that being transported with passion for a Benefice or Bishoprick more fat or honourable they will needs be translated thereunto l. 23. c. 8. accade che la violenza della passione accenda talmente gli affetti che ove non si dispensasse cadderebbono in grave peccato and that they will frame false and coloured causes to obtain their Dispensations which is rather to get by stealth than to obtain such Dispensations granted upon false considerations are null rubando per questo mezzo le concessioni mille and so they will continue even unto their Death in a sort of sacrilegious incestuous Marriage with their Churches Ibid. continuando poscia in maritaggi sacrileghi fin ' alla morte unless they had rather keep all their life-time in one condition against their minds and lead a miserable kind of life con repugnanza di cuore con infelicità di vita If they have any Conscience then if that Conscience be in the least tender it will never let them be quiet while they reflect upon those just and reasonable causes allowed only by the Canons non quietarsi interiormente mai thereupon a thousand scruples either concerning Substance or Circumstances will be still returning upon them ripullulando loro sempre n'el cuore varii scrupoli intorno alla verità ò nella sustanza ò nelle circonstanze della ragione esposita which will keep them in perpetual torture without any Remedy il che gli fà stare in un perpetuo tormento senza rimedio and will make them in danger to commit many sins through an erroneous Conscience e con pericolo che per coscienza erronea tommettano molti peccati that in fine they will fall into despair of their salvation l. 23. c. 8. e cadano in desperazione della salute Now to avoid such terrible and dangerous extremities which might put all the Bishops into a damnable condition a man sees there 's nothing safer than the Doctrine that maintains against the Zealous Ignorant That Bishop's Jurisdiction is not of Divine Right ARTICLE X. From these Reasons it results That these Bishops Jurisdiction comes to them only from the Pope The Opinion that Episcopacy is but one and the same thing in all Bishops is nothing but a Platonick Idea FRom all before alledged 't is easie to conclude That there 's an infinite difference between Episcopacy in the Pope and Episcopacy in Bishops because the Bishops not holding their Jurisdiction but of the Pope he shares out to them no more thereof than he pleases they being the Inferior Order l. 18. c. 13. di cui egli fa parte à minori Prelati as Father Diego Lainez said but it is wholly in him as the Source because he is the Soveraign Vicar of Jesus Christ tutta come in suo fonte
Episcopacy is but one and the same thing in all Bishops This is a Seditious Opinion and destroyes the Allness and Soleness of the Monarchy Ecclesiastick THe Difference about Episcopacy is not concerning the Bishop's power of Order for that 's common to all Bishops of Divine Right There be a-many Catholick Authors who hold That the Character of the Bishop's Order differs not from that of Priests The Business is about their Power of Jurisdiction in governing the Church for the Zealous pretend That all Bishops have received this Jurisdiction in governing the Church immediately from Jesus Christ and that it extends it self throughout the whole Church in solidum and that herein Episcopal Jurisdiction is of Divine Right as well as the Popes Jurisdiction 't is one and the same Episcopacy in him as it is in them in him as their Head in them as Head of their inferior Priests by Divine Right If that were so Seeing the Bishops did never exercise that Power of Jurisdiction over all the Universal Church what power was that which Jesus Christ gave them which never yet took any effect This was the Argumenting of Father Lainez l. 18. c. 15. à che valere una sorte de giurisdizione come quella ch' e in loro da Christo per se medâ—sima affatto impotente e inesercitabile Supposing that the Bishops may exercise sometimes this same power in solidum l. 6. c. 3. over the Vniversal Church it follows then That there is no Universal Prince of the Church but that she hath as many Universal Princes as she hath Bishops e pero che non fosse un solo Principe di tutta la Chiesa Ibid. mà tanti Principi universali quanti vescovi so that every Bishop reckoning himself intrusted with the whole Church in solidum will attempt as of Divine Right to govern the Dioceses of all others and if that might be what would become of the Order and unity of the Church 'T is clear That if this Opinion had place and that Jurisdiction were such in all Bishops there would not remain any thing more of the Monarchy and Unity of the Church and she would be as it were without a Foundation Ibid. onde in tal caso non rimanerebbe dove alloggiar sodamente la Monarchia e l'unità della Chiesa and by consequence this Doctrine is quite and clean seditious questa sediziosa dottrina And here follow now the Reasons of the opposite Doctrine which is nothing but Peace and Quietness Reason I. If the Bishops have their Jurisdiction of Divine Right it follows that the Pope can neither deprive them of it nor restrain nor enlarge it for them ch'el Papa non potesse loro restrignerla e così ne meno ampliarla for a Jurisdiction thus changeable cannot be of Divine Right perciò che quella ch'è tale non è variabile della volontà e della potestà umana l. 18 c. 15. Non la potesse ritorre ò scemare senza cagione l. 19. c. 6. Notwithstanding this 't is which the Pope does when he reserves Cases to himself concerning Persons or Places or Affairs and grants Priviledges or Exemptions or makes Decrees all without any ground yet if all those Dispositions were null what trouble would be in the Church sarebbe cosa di grande perturbazione si tali suoi ordini irragione-voli fosser ' nulli Ibid. Every Bishop pretending his Jurisdiction of Divine Right and therefore unalterable would pretend also a Right to overlook the Popes Ordinances and so impugn them of Nullity or abuse as often as he pleased under pretence they were without cause gli si potesse muover sempre questione di nullità con allegare il diffetto della sufficiento cagione Ibid. What would become then of blind Obedience which alone maintains the Unity of the Church To withdraw this Obedience from the Popes Commands would teach Subjects to withdraw the Obedience they owe to the Princes of the Earth l. 1. c. 8. lo sciorre se stessi dall ' ubidienza verso del Paapa ero uno sciorre insieme le coscienze de Vassali dall ' ubidienza verso di qualunque principe After this Rate no Parish-Priest would obey his Bishop when his Orders did not please him and this would make the unbenefic'd Priests or Curates rise up against the Parish-Priests frà poco la medesima pretensione di governo poliarchico havrebbono i rettori privati co ' loro vescovi i preti simpliei co ' Rettori thereby the Church would become a very Babylon l. 1. c. 25. e finalmente si formarebbe con verità quella Babilonia Reason II. Bishops are obliged to obey the Pope though his Decrees should be unreasonable So then their Jurisdiction is not of Divine Right and that of the Pope alone is of Divine Right If the Bishops power were of Divine Right one should be obliged to obey them as one does the Pope though their Decrees were unreasonable and contrary to the Pope's now if that were so Bishops would turn little Tyrants having shook off their Obedience to the Pope who is as S. Charles Borromée calls him Our Lord upon Earth Nostro Signore l. 21. c. 5. Take away from the Pope Right to make himself be obeyed though his Orders should be unreasonable whilst his Power is of Divine Right and grant that power to Bishops as having their Jurisdiction of Divine Right every Bishop will be Soveraign in his Diocess ciascun vescovo sarà sovrano nella propria Diocese The Bishops will pretend they have put down one Tyranny in the Church viz. the Pope's diranno d'haver estinta una tirannia but instead of one pretended Tyranny there will come up by that Disorder an innumerable crew of small Tyrants l. 1. c. 25. e n'haveremo generate innumerabili every one of them as a small Pope will be obeyed with blind obedience though he commands evil like the Pope à guisa di Papi They will have it that their People shall believe all that they tell them as if 't were Gospel as if they were infallible Popes Ibid. not able to err à guisa di Papi credendo ogni popolo ciò che il suo vescovo per altro soggetto ad errare gli proponesse comme senso della scrittura And from thence what would follow but that what one teaches in his Diocess the other will condemn as Heresie in his Which would bring forth among believing Catholicks a most fearful contrariety of Laws of Ceremonies of Usages and in fine of Faith too qual cöntrarietà forgerebbe di leggi di riei e fin ' di fede trai fedeli Ibid. The Source of all these Disorders comes from Bishops pretending that their Jurisdiction is of Divine Right Reason III. The Bishops proposing in the Council of Trent That it should be determined that their Jurisdiction was of Divine Right and the