Pragmatical Constitution we Decree them to be dispased and grant them to remain under the Right and Tenure of the H. Roman Church Poor Priests are fain to cheat the people by witty Miracles and small Devices at Shrines and Images for a little Silver and Gold The best of them can attain no more than Lordships and the Territories of Subjects As the Manours evidence which are given to our Lady of Loretto and those Lands which Jesuites squeeze out of dying men with the fear of Purgatory But the Pope and his Cardinals find it not suitable to their State and Dignity to juggle for less than Empires and Kingdoms and therefore soar high you see in the present Donation Wherefore saith the Emperour we have thought it convenient to change and remove our Empire and the power of our Kingdom into the Eastern Countries and in the best place of the Province Byzantium to build a City after our Name and there to found our Empire Because where the * Head of the Principality of Priests and of the Christian * Religion is ordained to be by the Coelestial Emperour it is not just that the Earthly Emperour should there have any Power Here is a high Career of notorious He resie and Blasphemy together S. Peter was called the Prince of the Apostles but the Pope is the Head of the Principality nor Head of the Priests only but of the Christian Religion which I think none but our Saviour can possibly be It smells rank of Blasphemy but that the Priestly and Imperial Power should be incompatible is Rebellion and Heresie It shews how incompatible Popish and Imperial Power is Yet all these things are ratified by other Dival Sanctions made by the Emperor though recorded no where as you may see in the words following BVT all these things we also have decreed and ratified by other Dival Sanctions and we decree them to stand unblemished and unshaken to the end of the World WHEREFORE we protest before the Living God who commanded us to Reign and before his Terrible Judgment by this our Imperial Constitution that it shall not be lawful for any the Emperours our Successors nor for any of our Nobles and Peers or for the most Ample Senate or for all the people of the whole World now or hereafter from hence in all Ages lying under our Empire by any means to contradict or break or in the least to diminish these things which by this our Imperial Sanction are granted to the Holy Roman Church or to all the Bishops of the same But if any Breaker or Contemner of these shall arise which we do not believe let him be knotted and ensnared in eternal Damnation and find the Saints of God and the Princes of the Apostles Peter and Paul Enemies unto him both in the Life present and in that which is to come and being burnt in the lower Hell let him perish with the Devil and all the wicked The great Council of Chalcedon consisting of 620 Fathers lies under this Sentence because they made the Patriarch of 〈◊〉 equal with the Bishop of Rome If Constantine the Great did make it with the consent of all his Nobles and the whole Senate before all the Princes and People of Rome as is pretended in the Donation It was too publick a thing not to be heard of and too remarkable to be let pass in silence Since therefore it is incredible that so many Fathers should wilfully fall under the Curse it is certain the whole Donation is a Counterfeit Howbeit as the Substance of the Act so the Ceremony is worth the observation But 〈◊〉 the Page of this our Imperial Decree we laid it with our own hands on the venerable Body of the blessed Peter Prince of the Apostles and there promising to that Apostle of God that we would inviolably keep all these things and leave them in charge to be kept by the Emperours our Successors we delivered them to our blessed Father Sylvester High-Priest and Universal Pope and to all the Popes his Successors the Lord God and our Saviour Jesus 〈◊〉 allowing 〈◊〉 for ever and happily to be enjoyed And the Imperial subscription The 〈◊〉 keep you many years 〈◊〉 and blessed Fathers Dated in Rome on the 〈◊〉 day of the Kalends of April Our Lord Flavius Constantinus 〈◊〉 th fourth time and Gallicanus being Consuls A NOTE No Emperour being ever accustomed to stile himself Our Lord c. Those words Our Lord Flavius Constantinus coming out of Constantine's own Mouth bewray the Donation as made by some other unless he were at the same time both his own Subject and his own Emperour CAP. XXII The Donation of Constantine proved to be a Forgery by Binius himself He confesseth the Acts of Sylvester which he before had cited as good Records to be Counterfeit THose things saith Binius in his Notes which are told concerning the Dominion and Temporal Kingdom given to the See of Rome are manifestly enough proved to be likely by what we said in our Notes upon the former Epistle as well as by the Munificence of the Emperour himself never enough to be praised Observe here the modesty of the man He ought to prove the Instrument itself but that he throws by and talks of the Dominion and Temporal Kingdom 2. Neither will he undertake to prove it certain but likely that the Dominion and Temporal Kingdom was given to the See of Rome 3. He cites his Notes on a counterfeit Epistle to make it likely For the Epistle going before was the Epistle of Melchiades which he confesseth to be a Forgery 4. The Munificence of the Emperour makes it probable that he gave away the Empire to the See of Rome If you will not believe this you are an hard-hearted man for Binius says it His Notes upon the former Epistle to which he refers you are these That the things which are written in this Epistle concerning the Donation of Constantine to Melchiades and Sylvester are true is proved not only from hence but most firmly also by the Authority of Optatus Milevitanus a most approved Writer For he writeth lib. 1. cont Parm. that Constantine and Licinius being the third time Consuls to wit in the year of Christ 313. a Council of 19 Bishops was held at Rome in the Cause of Caecilianus and the Donatists in the Lateran in the House of Fausta which was the Seat of the Roman Bishop Truly he doth not expresly write that the House was given to Melchiades by the Emperour but since no reason doth appear for which it is necessary that the Convention of 19 Bishops should require larger Rooms out of the House of Melchiades that wherein the foresaid Synod was assembled to wit the Lateran or House of Fausta can by no prudent person any more be doubted to be given by the Emperour to Melchiades the Bishop of Rome The Lateran is not so much as named in the Epistle of Melchiades but that he left
Bishop usurped an Authority which neither Scripture nor Canon gave unto him It is recorded also that they sometimes acquitted Malefactors without hearing Witnesses and sent Orders for the Restauration of those who made such irregular flights into the Provinces of other Patriarchs that were Subject indeed to the Roman Empire but not within the Province of the Roman Patriarch Nay when those Orders were rejected if some of their own Collectors may be believed the Roman Bishops through favour of the Empire got Magistrates and Souldiers to see them executed by Plain force which grew chiefly scandalous in the times of Zozimus and Boniface of which you may read the three last and best Collections of the Councils set forth by the Papists Binius 〈◊〉 abbè and the Collectio Regia unanimously consenting in their Notes on the sixth Council of Carthage And that this was the cause of calling that Council they confess in like manner For to stop these intolerable Incroachments and to suppress the growth of an Aspiring Tyranny this seasonable Council was called at Carthage consisting of 〈◊〉 Bishops among whom S. Augustine was one present in particular To this Council Zozimus the Roman Patriarch sent three persons one of which was Faustinus an Italian Bishop to plead his Cause with two Canons fathered upon the Nicene Council designing thereby to justifie his Power of receiving Appeals both from Bishops and Priests but by the care and wisdom of that Council they were detected and confounded the Fraud being made a Spectacle to the whole world For first the Copy which Caecilianus Archbishop of Carthage brought from Nice he being himself one of the Fathers in that Council was orderly produced and the two Canons which the Roman Bishop sent were not there Next because it might be pleaded upon the difference of the Copies that the Copy of Carthage must give place to that of Rome Rome being the greater See they sent Messengers to the Patriarch of Alexandria to the Patriarch of Antioch and to the Patriarch of Constantinople and admonished the Bishop of Rome to do so too that he might see sound and fair dealing desiring the Records of the Nicene Council from all the principal parts of the world from the Patriarchs of Constantinople and Alexandria they received Authentick Copies attested with their several known Authorities which agreed exactly with the Copy at Carthage but disagreed with that of Rome the Extract produced out of it by the Name of a Commonitorium being every word apparently forged Upon this the Bishop of Rome was condemned his Arrogance and Usurpation suppressed by Canons and his Pride chastised by Letters the Letters and Canons being yet extant This was done about the year 420. Zozimus dying Boniface and Celestine successively take up the Quarrel without any Dissent appearing in the Roman Clergy nay rather all the Interest of that Chair was imployed to uphold the Forgery whereby it is evident that it was not a Personal Act but the guilt and business of the Church of Rome as appeareth further by all their Successors persisting in the Quarrel by the multitude of her Members defending it and the Forgery both and by all the Popish Collectors conspiring together to maintain the Spurious and Adulterate Canons Among other things which the Fathers wrote out of this Sixth Council of Carthage to Pope Celestine they oppose the true Canons of the Nicene Council against the false ones noting that which is alone sufficient to overthrow the Forgery that these two Popish Canons were really contrary to the Canons and Decrees of the Nicene Council For desiring him no more so easily to admit Appeals nor to receive into Communion those that were Excommunicated in other Churches they tell him he might easily find this matter defined in the Nicene Council for if it seemed fit to be observed in the inferiour Clergy and Lay-men much more in Bishops They tell him that he should chastise and punish such impudent Flights as became him As also that the Canons of the Nicene Council had most openly committed both the inferiour Clergy and Bishops themselves to their own Metropolitans wisely and justly providing that all businesses whatsoever should be determined in the places where they arose Nisi fortè est Aliquis c. unless perhaps there be some one who will say that God is able to give Justice of Judgment to one be he who he will but denies it to innumerable Priests assembled in a Council Which was in those days held so absurd and monstrous a thing to conceive that however the case is altered since they thought no man impudent enough to affirm it In these words they cut the Popes Arrogance sufficiently for that he being but One was so highly conceited of himself at least so behaved himself as if he had an extraordinary Spirit of Infallibility and were fitter to determine the Causes of the Church than a whole Council of Bishops assembled together Finally they charge him with bringing the empty puff of secular pride into the Church of Christ And so proceed to their Canons against him Notwithstanding this the Roman Bishops continued obstinate contending so long till there was a great Rupture made in the Church upon this occasion And if some Records be true namely those Letters that past between Eulalius and another Boniface the Bishops of Rome grew so impudent as to Excommunicate the Eastern Churches because they would not be obedient to an Authority sounded on so base a Forgery If they be not true then there are more Forgeries in the Roman Church than we charge her with For the Letters were feigned as Baronius confesseth by some afterwards that were zealous of the Churches welfare to wit for the better colouring of that Schism which was made by the pride and ambition of Rome These Epistles were set forth by the Papists and were owned at first for good Records but upon the consideration of so many Saints and Martyrs that sprung up in the Churches of Africa during that 100 years wherein it is pretended by those Epistles that they were cut off from the Church of Rome it was afterwards thought better to reject them as Counterfeits because the Roman Martyrologies are filled with the names of those African Saints And it is a stated Rule that no Saint or Martyr can be out of the Church Lest the Eastern Churches therefore should out-weigh the Roman by reason of the Splendour Multitude and Authority of these Eminent Saints these Letters are now condemned by some among themselves vid. Bellarm de Rom. Pont. lib. 2. cap. 25. Baron in Not. Martyrol ad 16. Octobr. and Bin. in Concil Carthag 6. This unfortunate Contest happening so near to the Fourth Century was the first Head-spring or Root of the Schism that is now between us And the matter being so on whose side the fault lay I leave to the Reader How the Roman Church proceeded in this business we may learn from Daillè an able Writer
mentioneth the foresaid business at Carthage but so briefly that it is clear he did not like it And to close up all in the Life of this Boniface he endeavours to strengthen the Title of the Roman Bishop against the Patriarch of Constantinople by the Donation of Constantine another Forgery of which hereafter The two counterfeit Canons contained in the Commonitorium which the Roman Bishop sent to the sixth Council of Carthage are these as Faustinus the Italian Bishop delivered them in Greek to be read by Daniel the Pronotary in the Council 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. We are pleased that if a Bishop be accused and the Bishops of his Country being assembled together have judged him and deposed him from his Degree and he thinks fit to Appeal and shall fly to the most blessed Bishop of the Roman Church and shall desire to be heard and he shall think it just that the Tryal be renewed then he the Roman Bishop shall vouchsafe to write to the B. shops of the adjoyning and bordering Province that they should diligently examine all and define according to the Truth But if any one thinks fit that his Cause be heard again and by his own Supplication moves the Bishop of Rome that he should send a Legate or Priest from his side it shall be in his power to do as he listeth and as he thinketh fit And if he shall decree that some ought to be sent that being present themselves might judge with the Bishops having his Authority by whom they were sent it shall be according to his judgment but if he think the Bishops sufficient to end the business he shall do what in his most wise counsel he judgeth meet Here the Roman Bishop nay the meanest Priest he shall please to send as his Legate is exalted above all Councils Bishops and Patriarchs in the world he may do and undo act add rescind diminish alter whatsoever he pleaseth in any Council when the Causes of the most Eminent Rank in the Church do depend in the same All Bishops are by this Canon made more to fear the Roman Bishop than their own Patriarch and are ingaged if need be to side with him against their Patriarch the Gate is open for all the Wealth in the World to flow into his Ecclesiastical Court which is as much above the Court of any other Patriarch by this Right of Appeals as the Archbishops Court above any inferiour Bishops while we may Appeal to that from these at our pleasure Thus Bishops and Patriarchs are made to buckle under the Popes Cirdle and the Decrees of Councils are put under his foot And all this is no more but half a Step to the Popes Chair The other part of the Step in this Commonitorium was the following Canon concerning Priests 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. I ought not to pass that over in silence that does yet move me If any Bishop happen to be angry as he ought not and be suddenly or sharply moved against his Priest or Deacon and would cast him out of his Church Provision must be made that he be not condemned being Innocent or lose the Communion Let him that is cast out have power to Appeal to the Borderers that his Cause might be heard and handled more carefully for a Hearing ought not to be denied him when he asks it And the Bishop which hath either justly or unjustly ejected him shall patiently suffer that the business be lookt into and his Sentence either confirmed or rectified c. What is the meaning of this c. in Binius Labbè Cossartius and the Collectio Regia I cannot tell but doubtless the Canon intends the same in the close with the former that the last Appeal is reserved to the Roman Chair which made the Fathers in the sixth Council of Carthage so angry as we find them to see things so false and presumptuous fastned upon the first most Glorious Oecumenical Council which decreed the clean contrary in the 4 and 5 Canons The substance and force of which as we gave you before so shall we now the words of the Canons themselves Can. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. It is fit that a Bishop chiefly be ordained by all the Bishops that are in the Province but if this be found difficult either because of any urgent necessity or for the length of the journey then the Ordination ought to be made by Three certainly meeting together the absent Bishops agreeing and consenting by their Writs but let the confirmation of the Acts be given throughout every Province to the Metropolitan Can. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Concerning those that are Excommunicated whether in the Order of the Clergy or the Laity by the Bishops in every several Province let the Sentence prevail according to the Canon that they who are cast out by some be not received by others but let it be required that no man be excluded the Congregation by the pusillanimity or contention or by any such vice of the Bishop That this therefore might more decently be inquired into we think it fit that Councils should every year throughout every Province twice be celebrated That such Questions may be discussed by the common Authority of all the Bishops assembled together And so they that have evidently offended against their Bishop shall be accounted Excommunicated according to to reason by all till it pleaseth the community of Bishops to pronounce a milder Sentence upon such But let the Councils be held the one before the Quadragesima before Easter that all Dissention being taken away we might offer a most pure Gift unto God and the second about the middle of Autumn The last Appeal you see is ordered by the Canon to Councils and as they please the Controversie is to be ended without flying from one to another Bishop These are the true and Authentick Canons of the Nicene Council overthrown by the Forgery CAP. III. A multitude of Forgeries secretly mingled among the Records of the Church and put forth under the Name of Isidore Bishop of Hispalis Which Book is owned defended and followed by the Papists THe Roman Chair being thus lifted up to the utmost Height it could well desire care must be taken to secure its Exaltation After many secret Councils therefore and powerful Methods used for its Establishment for the increase of its Power and Glory furthered by the Luxury and Idleness of the Western Churches of which Salvian largely complains in his Book De Providentiâ written to justifie the Dispensation of GOD in all the Calamities they suffered by the Goths who sacked Rome in the days of the forenamed Zozimus there came out a collection of Councils and Decretal Fpistles in the Name of Isidore Bishop of Hispalis about the year 790. In which Book there are neatly interwoven a great company of forged Evidences or feigned Records tending all to the advancement of the Popes Chair in a very various copious and
of the Canons but were written in the Collection of Isidore Mercator were of equal Authority with the residue For the making of which Controversie the more plain and to shew what they mean by the Body of the Canons he tells us It is certain that the more Ancient Collection of the Decretal Epistles of the Roman Bishops and the Canons of divers Councils acquired such a name that the Volum was called The Book or Code or BODY of CANONS increased by the addition of other Councils which were afterwards celebrated But the more ancient and full collection of the Epistles of Roman Bishops and Canons of Councils was that of Cresconius of which I have spoken before saith he Which being increased by the addition of many Canons and Epistles went under the name of the Book or BODY of CANONS and whereas there were many other Collections of Canons compiled that which is the richest of all made by Isidore sirnamed Mercator containing the Epistles of the Ancient Roman Bishops beginning from Clement was Longè recentior far younger than they all as Hincmarus Archbishop of Rhemes does testifie Forasmuch as it was not brought out of Spain into France before the times of Charles the Great by Riculphus Archbishop of Mentz For so he testifies in a Letter of his to Hincmarus Laudunensis beginning Sicut de Libro c. But he who first collected Canons out of the foresaid Epistles published at first by Isidore and inserted them into the books of the Kings of the Franks was Benedictus Levita as he testifieth of himself in his preface before the fifth book of those Canons who writ in the times of the Sons of Ludovicus Pins the Emperour Ludovicus Lotharius and Charles as me shewed where he saith I have inserted these Canons c. to wit those WARES of Isidore Mercator which were brought as thou hast heard of Hincmarus into France out of Spain by Riculphus Nè quis calumniari possit ab Ecclesiâ Romanâ aliquid hujusmodi commentum esse Lest any one should slander us and say the Church of Rome invented such a business as this I think here is enough He looks upon it as a Commenium a meer Fiction and is 〈◊〉 left any one should have the advantage of Fathering such a dreadful Bastard on the Church of Rome He calls them Isidore the Merchants Wares he does not refel the Bishops of France he dares not affirm they were in the Ancient Code of Epistles and Councils he acknowledgeth them far younger than the BODY of CANONS and subscribes to Hincmarus Archbishop of Rhemes citing him who writ against Isidore as a good and Authentick Author He confesseth that they were never known in France till the times of Charles the Great that is 700 years after they first began to be written and that they were introduced into the books of the Kings of the Franks by Benedictus Levita in the times of Ludovicus Lotharius which was about the year 850. So that the Church was governed well enough without them and about 800 years after our Saviours Birth they were first hateht as meer Innovations This is too large a Chink for an Enemy to open but he proceedeth further That the same Riculphus Bishop of Mentz did live in the times of Charles the Great many Monuments of that Age do make it certain especially the Testament of the same Charles the Great to which this Riculphus is found to have subscribed among divers others We find that he was President also in a Council at Mentz held in the year of our Redemption 813. c. Since therefore the French Regions which are nearest to Spain knew not the Collection of Isidore before the times of Riculphus much less Italy it is a conjecture that this Isidore did live and write not long before and so it was first published by Riculphus who brought it thither then by Benedictus who put it into the Capitular books and lastly by Hincmarus Junior Bishop of Laon the last Collector unto this our Age which Hincmarus of Rhemes a man of a keener smell reprehendeth in many things defaming that collection of Isidore which the other used for which cause he was accused For Frodoardus in his History of Rhemes Cap. 16. near the end saith of him that being accused because he had condemned the Decretal Epistles of the Roman Bishops he professed and protested otherwise that he admitted held and approved them with the greatest honour Vpon this occasion to wit it appears he was branded with a mark because he had signified himself not to have approved that Collection of Isidore in all things Baronius you see who is one of the greatest Friends to the See of Rome endeavours to remove the matter of Isidore as far as he can from the Roman Chair being sore afraid lest the guilt of so many Forgeries should too apparently be charged upon 〈◊〉 For which cause he will not have the book so much as known in Italy nay not in France which is nearer unto Spain for 800 years time but that it came out of Spain first being brought by Riculphus Perhaps Riculphus was never there He doth not tell us that he went into Spain for ought I can find nor upon what occasion nor in what City nor of whom he received Isidore which putteth me in mind of Cacus his device who being a strong Thief and robbing Hercules of his Oxen drew them all backward by the Tail into his Den that the print of their heels being found backwards they might not be tracked but seem to be gone another way But he fails in his design for as it is strange that Italy should not know the Decretal Epistles of its own Popes for 800 years till Riculphus brought them out of Spain so is it more strange that being such Forgeries as he would have them Hincmarus Archbishop of Rhemes should be accused for condemning them and ratled up and Branded in such a manner and compelled to recant by so powerful an Enemy for it seems he had no way to save himself but by renouncing his Opinion The jealousie of the Roman Church and its tenderness over Isidore appeareth most exceeding great in the hard dealing which Hincmarus met with who though he did recant was still noted with infamy as if to speak against Isidore were a Crime not to be washed off by the Tears of Repentance in the Church of Rome Perhaps the poor Bishop was an Hypocrite in that forced Confession and for this was branded because he confessed a lye as men upon the Rack are wont to do for his own deliverance for that he knew still that Isidore was a Counterfeit and must therefore be reputed a rotten Member of the Church of Rome This Baronius observes while he ascribeth Hincmarus his reprehending Isidore's Collection to his keener scent whereby he was able more readily than others to smell a Rat and discover the Cheat. Baronius proceedeth further in condemning the collection of Isidore thus But
Condition is worse than that of other men If they presume to call a Council before he is condemned they usurp his Authority and act independently to the prejudice of the Chair in such sort as was never heard of there being no President or Copy but this of such a Proceeding Though the Pope were a Criminal yet every one must not judg him I suppose they will Confess there have been many wicked Popes yet while the Pope is a Pope no man without his Authority may call a Council The thing is impossible therefore in it self For he must First be condemned before a Council could be called to condemn him and before he could be condemned the Council must be called Which would seem among Protestants a Contradiction The Absurditie of the Plot is another reason why we reject it Three hundred Bishops in a persecution adventure their Lives to meet together upon an unwarrantable Call before the Pope was convicted as a Criminal and without knowing whether he would come to Judgment though certainly knowing that none could compel him convene him before them They produce one Day 14. Witnesses another Day 44. And care is taken according to the Decree of the Epilogus Brevis to compleat the number of 72. Witnesses And when all is done they confesse they have no Power to condemn him The Absurdities are not easily fathomed How gross was it for the Roman Clergy to call a Council for the Deposing of a Pope whom they before knew nothing could condemn but his own Sentence How absurd for them to judg the Pope whom they continually teach no man can judg How much more absurd for the Council to meet to depose him who if he were pleased to declare their Sentence null all was in vain It is just as if a Rebellions Parliament should meet on their own Heads to call their King to account upon pretence of his Crimes If this be admitted all must be Disorder and Confusion in Kingdom If his Ingenuity had led him to depose himself without giving all these Bishops the trouble he might have done it at home That he wanted Ingenuity his denial of the Fact before the Council testifieth Whereupon I wonder what brought him thither or what Miracle made him stand before the Bar at his Tryal But had he not denied the Fact the Ceremony had been lost of producing seventy and two Witnesses Which relation to the putid Forgery of the Epilogus Brevis as yet unmade utterly mars the business The Council it self is the greatest evidence against it self in the World If you please to give your self the trouble of reading it either in Peter Crab or Surius or Nicolinus or Binius and compare it with the Letters of Pope Sylvester and the Nicene Council recorded afterwards you will find reason to believe the very same Dunce made them all Those three being the absurdest pieces that ever were seen with learned eyes For a Taste of this take but the beginning of the two old pretended Originals A. and C. to let go the third which being made by latter men is nothing to the purpose A. C. Dioclefiano Maximiano Augustis Cum multi in vitá suâ asperse 〈◊〉 suae vacillitate mentiebantur ori 〈◊〉 dicentes quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vanitas super se sentirent ad Sacrificandum 〈◊〉 tempore multi inducerentur per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diis Marcellinus itaque c. Cum multi in 〈◊〉 suâ aspersu mentis suae vacillitate 〈◊〉 origine dicentes quod de eorum Superstitionem vanis super sentirent ad 〈◊〉 codem tempore multi 〈◊〉 per pecuniam ut 〈◊〉 Di is Marcellinus itaque c. Take which you will and try to construe it you will find it impossible yet in this Diaject he holdeth from end to end Many things more we might speak but we study brevity CAP. XX. Divers things premised in order first to the Establishment and then to the Refutation of Constantine's Donation the first by Binius and the latter by the Author The Forgeries of Marcellus Pope Eusebius and Binius opened MArcellus a Roman sate five years six moneths and twenty one days saith the Pontisical He succeeded Marcellinus There are two Decretal Epistles aseribed to him and both counterfeit The one is coneerning the Primacy and Authority of the Roman Church the Other is written to Maxentius the Heathen Emperour and a Tyrant Concerning which last Binius in his Notes upon it saith Hanc Epistolam Anno 308. Scriptam Additamentum aliquod accepisse Res Scriptae hic parùm sibi cohaerentes indicant He holdeth it for a good Record but there are so many things inconsistent in it that he fears it has taken a Dose and confesseth that some things were put in by way of Forgery This is an easy way of defending There was never any Deed forged wherein the larger half being directed purely according to form of Law was not Good But if for that cause when it comes to be Scanned the forger at every Detectionshould say This was forged indeed but the rest is good the Court would laugh at him And this is Binius his present Case In the time of Marcellus there was a Council called at Eliberis An. 305. where they forgot Binius his Council of Apostles at Antioch and among other Canons decreed this for one Placuit Picturas in Ecclesiâ esse non debere Ne quod colitur adoratur in Parietibus depingatur They think it unlawful to put any Picture of what is adored in the Church on the Walls He takes much pains to pick this Thorn out of the Popes foot but we leave him at his work and proceed to THE LIFE EPISTLES AND DECREES OF EVSEBIVS POPE Out of the Pontifical of Pope Damasus Eusebius a Grecian sate nine years four moneths and three days Binius proveth he could sit but two years some moneths c. And whereas Eusebius saith the Cross was found in his days and Fathers the Invention of it upon one Judas converted thereupon and called at his Baptism Quiriacus though he names the day of the moneth exactly the fifth of the Nones of May and instituteth and Holy-day thereupon yet is all this rejected by Binius for a Fable For by the consent of all Ancient Writers saith 〈◊〉 the Cross was found after the Nicene Council by Helena the Mother of Constantine the Great Howbeit there is a very formal Epistle to the Bishops of 〈◊〉 and Campania in the name of 〈◊〉 devoutly abusing H. Scripture exalting Piety and the Popes Chair till at last it decrees an Holy-day for this happy Invention solemnly enjoyn'd by the Authority of this Roman Catholick and Apostolical Bishop though all this be as very a Cheat as any of the former Binius has a cure for this too but a very course one This part of the Epistle we confess to be counterfeit Vid. Bin. in loc Melchiades an African sate three years eleven moneths and eight days Binius saith
great ease and satisfaction of the Roman Clergy For it reaches down you know to the lowest Orders of Readers and Door keepers So that they may write as many Forgeries as they will If it be a Pope no man can condemn him If it be a Bishop no less than threescore and twelve Bishops must on their Corporal Oath prove the Fact against him forty four Equals against a Cardinal-Priest twenty six must depose against a Cardinal-Deacon of the City of Rome and seven against a Door keeper all which must be at least his Equals A Marvellous Priviledge for the City of Rome Which word Rome though annexed only to Cardinal-Deacons yet for ought I know the Judge will interpret its Extent to all the other Orders or use it Equivocally as himself listeth or as his Superiour pleaseth So that in Causes pertaining to the Interest of the Roman Church other Priests perhaps beside them in the City of Rome shall enjoy the benefit of this Law but in Causes displeasing the Pope and his Accomplices none shall enjoy it but the Priests of Rome Many such Trap-doors are prepared in Laws where Rulers are perverse and Tyrannical and whether this be not one of those I leave to the Readers further Examination Mark succeeded Sylvester in the See of Rome Between whom and Athanasius there were certain Letters framed that stand upon Record to this day to prove the Canons of the Nicene Council to be Threescore and ten Heretofore they were good old Records magnificently cited but now they are worn out for Baronius and Bellarmine have lately rejected them who are followed by Binius as he is by Labbe and Cossartius and the Collectio Regia all concluding the Letters to be Forged The three last have this Note upon that of Athanasius Hanc Surreptitiam ab aliquo confict am fuisse quinque rationibus ostenditur c. That this Epistle is a Counterfeit devised by some body appeareth evidently by five reasons Whereof the first is this In the Controversie between the African Churches and the Roman Bishops Zozimus and Boniface concerning the number of the Nicene Canons this Epistle was unknown 2. Athanasius as is manifest by what went before was at this time fled into France and so it could not be written from Alexandria and from the Bishops in Egypt 3. That Divastation fell upon the Church of Alexandria many years after these times in the Reign of Constantius c. As Athanasius himself witnesseth in his Epistle ad omnes Orthodoxos 4. Mark died in the Nones of October this present year Constantine himself being yet alive 5. If Pope Mark had sent a Copy of the Nicene Council out of the Roman Archives to them at Alexandria surely the Roman Copy and that of Alexandria would have agreed thenceforth as the same How then were those three Canons wanting in the Copy which S. Cyril sent from Alexandria to the Africans which were found in the Roman Copy He pointeth to the Commonitorium sent from Rome to the Sixth Council of Carthage and verifies all the Story we have related by rejecting these Letters of Mark and Athanasius made on purpose to defend the Forgeries there detected For which he cites Baron An. 336. nn 59 60. and Bellarm. de Rom. Pont. lib. 2. cap. 25. This Epistle was alledged by Harding against Jewel and by Hart against Rainolds for a good Record How formally it was laid down by the Elder Collectors you may see with your eyes and may find it frequently cited by the most learned Papists Such as these being their best and only Evidences After Mark Julius succeeded The Epistle sent by the Bishops of the East to Pope Julius 1. is now confessed to be a Forgery Veram germanam non extare praeter authoritatem Baronii illud asserentis ea quae supra in principio Epistolarum Julii annotavi confirmant Saith Binius Again he saith This Epistle which is put in the second place bearing the Names of the Bishops of the East seems to be compiled by some uncertain Author both by the concurrent Testimony of Sozomen and Socrates and because thou mayest observe many things to be wanting and some in the words and things expressed to be changed Rescriptum Julii The Epistle which Julius returned in answer hath the like Note upon it Hanc mendosam corruptam a quodam ex diversts compilatam c. That this Epistle is counterfeit corrupt and compiled by some body out of divers Authors the Consulships of Felicianus and Maximianus evidently shew c. The matter in these Epistles is the Popes Supremacy the unlamfulness of calling Councils but by his Authority his Right of receiving Appeals with other Themes which Ambition and self Interest suggest and of which genuine Antiquity is totally silent Having so fortunately glanced upon that Sixth Council I shall not trouble the Reader with any more but bewailing what I observe beseech him earnestly to weigh this Business walking in the Dark and take heed of a Pope and a Church that hath exceeded all the World in Forgerie For let the Earth be searched from East to West from Pole to Pole Jews Turks Barbarians Hereticks none of them have soared so high or so often made the Father of Lies their Patron in things of so great Nature and Importance Since therefore the Mother of Lyes hath espoused the Father of Lies for her assistance and the accursed production of this adulterate brood is so numerous I leave it to the Judgement of every Christian what Antiquity or Tradition she can have that is guilty of such a Crime and defiled with so great an Off-spring of notorious Impostures AN APPENDIX Cardinal Baronius his Grave Censure and Reproof of the Forgeries His fear that they will prove destructive and pernicious to the See of Rome APiarius a Priest of the Church of Africa being Excommunicated by his Ordinary for several notorious crimes flies to Rome for Sanctuary Zozimus the Bishop receives him kindly gives him the Communion and sends Orders to see him restored Hereupon the African Churches convene a Council namely the sixth Council of Carthage whence they send a modest Letter but as Sincere as Powerful shewing how after all shifts and Evasions Apiarius had confessed his Enormities and that both the Nicene Council and clear Reason was against the disorder of such Appeals All Causes being to be determined in the Province where they arose by a Bishop Patriarch or Council upon the place Otherwise say they how can this Beyond-Sea Judgment be sirm where the necessary appearance of Witnesses cannot be made either by reason of weakness of Nature or Old Age or many other Impediments They decry the Innovation of the Bishop of Rome in arrogating that Authority lest the smoakie 〈◊〉 of the pride of this World should be brought into the Church of Christ. This Epistle is on all sides owned and confessed to be a good Record It was sent to Celestine the Successor of
Easter both by reason of the Seas and Regions to be passed over by old and Crazy Persons such as the venerable Bishops were before they could come from their own Countries to the Roman Chair and by those Prolatory delays they might find there the matter being wholy referred to the Popes pleasure The Variation of the Letter in the Book made my Note on this place look too like the Text of the Council it self which for as much as it happened in a most weighty Place I could not with a good Conscience let it pass without acquainting the Pious Reader with the same Though the Letter of the Canon it self to prevent mistakes is faithfully translated afterwards page 26 and 27. Yet without giving this Gloss upon the Canon which was the occasion of this Pramonition because so necessary to a clear and full understanding of all the procedure This Note is the more weighty because the Nicene Council is confessed on both sides by us for its own sake and its conformity to the Scriptures by the Papists for the Popes that have ratified it to be of great Authority next to the Holy Bible the very first and most indisputable that is Yet this Canon laid in the foundation utterly overthrowes all the following Pretences and Forgeries of the Roman Bishops Which I beseech the Reader to examine more perfectly For though by many Arts and long Successes the Bishop of Rome bas ascended to an Ecclesiastical Supremacy and a subtile Train of Doctrines is laid to make him the Universal Monarch of the World as much higher then the Emperour as the Sun is greater than the Moon as they expresse it Yet the Sentence of an Eminent Divine well acquainted with these Affairs in a late Sermon preached before the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen in the City of London and now published is very true The Supremacy of the Roman Church was a meer Usurpation begun by Ambition advanced by Forgery and defended by Cruelty ERRATA THe Reader before he enters upon the Book is desired to correct these as the principal Errata's with his Pen. Page 35 line 15 dele now p. 43 l. 21 r. love of the world that p. 55 for Councits r. Statesmen p. 66l 16 aft Magdenburg r. and. p. 83 l. 21 for 1635 r. 1535. p. 104 l. 16 for fit r. fift p 107l 10 for 1618 r. 1608. p. 109 adde in the Margin 11. p. 137l 7 r Right use of the Fathers p 157 〈◊〉 r. Transeunt p 172 Cap. 15. Contents for Falsity r. Falsely AN ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER IRenaeus one of the most Ancient Fathers Scholar to S. Polycarp S. John's Disciple in his Book against Heresies giveth us four notable marks of their Authors First he sheweth how they disguize their Opinions Errour never shews It Self saith he lest it should be taken naked but is artificially adorned in a splendid Mantle that it may appear truer than Truth it self to the more unskilful 2. That having Doctrines which the Prophets never preached nor God taught nor the Apostles delivered they pretend unwritten Traditions Ex non Scriptis legentes as he phraseth it 3. They make a Rope of Sand that they may not seem to want Witnesses passing over the Order and Series of Writings and as much as in them lies loosing the Members of the Truth and dividing them from each other for they chop and change and making one thing of another deceive many c. But that which I chiefly intend is the fourth They bring forth a vast multitude of Apocryphal and Spurious Writings which themselves have feigned to the amazement of Fools and that those may admire them that know not the Letters or Records of the Truth How far the Papists have trodden the foregoing Paths it is not my purpose to unfold only the last the Heretical pravity of Apocryphal and Spurious Books how much they have been guilty of imposing on the World by feigned Records I leave to the evidence of the ensuing Pages which I heartily desire may be answerable to the Merit of so great a Cause Vincentius Lirinensis another eminent Father praised by Gennadius died in the time of Theodosius and Valentinian He wrote a Book against Heresies in like manner wherein preparing Furniture and Instructions against their Wiles he at first telleth us that the Canon of the Scripture is alone sufficient Then that the concurrence of the Fathers is to be taken in for the more clear certainty of their sense and meaning Upon this latter point he saith afterwards But neither are all Heresies to be assaulted this way nor at all times but only such as are New and Green to wit when they first spring up before they have falsified the Rules of the Ancient Faith while they are hindered by straitness of time and before the Poyson spreading abroad they have endeavoured to corrupt the Writings of the Fathers So that Hereticks have inclination enough where they are not hindered by straitness of time to corrupt the most Ancient Writings of the Church For which cause he further saith in the same place But Heresies that are spread abroad and waxen old must not be set upon in this sort because by long continuance they have had opportunity to steal away the Truth Whatsoever 〈◊〉 nesses there be therefore either of Schismes or Heresies that are grown Ancient we 〈◊〉 in no case otherwise to deal with them then either to convince them if it be needful by the Authority of the Scriptures only or at least to avoid them as convicted of old and condemned by Vniversal Councils In this Admonition the Father informs us of two things First that it is possible for Errour to prevail and spread abroad to continue long and wax old Secondly that having gotten possession of Books and Libraries it may falsisie the Rules of the Ancient Faith and steal away the Truth by corrupting the Writings of the Fathers In which case he will not have the Controversie decided by the Fathers but by the Scriptures only or by old Vniversal Councils But if Errour proceed so far as to corrupt the Councils too then of necessity we must have recourse to some other remedy either to the Scriptures alone as he directeth or else we must detect the frauds whereby the Councils themselves are falsified For that they are liable to the same inconvenience is evident both by the paueity of Ancient Records and the many Revolutions that have been in the World especially since Nature teacheth men to strike at the Root attempts are more apt to be made upon them because Hereticks are prone to be most busie in undermining the Foundation That it is possible for men so far to act against their Consciences as to corrupt the Ancient Records of Truth you see by the premises and that it is an easie thing for them to effect it that have gotten all kind of Books and Libraries into their hands is apparent because they that keep
Elaborate manner That the Bishop of Rome had a secret hand in the contrivance and publication of them is probable if not clear from divers Reasons 1. Before they were published Hadrian 1. maketh use of the Tale of Constantines Leprosie Vision and Baptism by Pope Sylvester things till then never heard of in the world but afterwards contained in the Donation of Constantine a Forgery which in all probability lay by this Hadrian but of his own preparing when he wrote his Letter to Constantine and Irene which Letter was read and is recorded in the 2. Nicene Council on the behalf of Images being sent abroad like a Scout as it were to try what success it would find in the world before he would adventure the whole Body of his Players to publick view For if that were swallowed down without being detected the rest might hope for the same good Fortune if not the first might pass for a mistake and its Companions be safely suppressed without any mischief following 2. The Emperour and the Council having digested the first Legend exposed by the Pope so crastily to publick view the other Forgeries were a little after boldly published in this Book of Isidore together with the Legend and Donation of Constantine which when Hincmarus Archbishop of Rhemes upon its first publication set himself to write against he was taken up so roundly for the same by the Authority of Rome that he was fain gladly to acquit the Attempt for ever And their tenderness over it is I think a sufficient Indication of their Relation to it every Creature being naturally affectionate to its own Brood and prone to study its preservation The Church of Rome was so tender of Isidores Edition that as some say Hinemarus was forced to recant his Opinion and to declare that he believed and received the Book with Veneration 3. It is recorded by Justellus that the forementioned Hadrian was careful to give Charles the Great a Copy of the Councils and Decretal Epistles drawn up as he affirmed by Dionysius Exiguus Daillè accuses the Book of many faults but whether Hadrian or Dionysius were guilty of them is little material only 't was done as a Pledge of Reconciliation after several Bickerings between the Giver and Receiver Charles the Great having several times invaded Rome and now departing thence with Friendship which makes me a little the more prone to suspect Dionysius too for one of those Danaum Dona which are given like Nessus his Shirt when wounded by Hercules to his Enemies Wife for the destruction of her Husband Be it how it will it shews that Hadrian I. was a busie man that he understood the influence and power of Records what force they would have upon the minds of Lay-men and that his eyes and hands were sometimes busied in such Affairs But that which above all other Arguments discovers the Popes to have a hand if not in the Publication yet in the Reception of the Forgeries is this that the Roman Canonists Ivo Gratian c. have digested them into the Popes Laws and they are so far countenanced by the Popes themselves that almost from the time of their publication throughout all Ages since they have been received for Authentick in the apal Jurisdiction and are used as such in all the Ecclesiastical Courts under the Popes Dominion as the chief of their Rules for the deciding of Causes So that they are not only fostered but exalted by the Authority of Rome The Glory which they acquired in the Throne of Judgment advancing them for a long time above the reach of Suspition The Veneration which is due to the Chair of Holiness was their best security By the influence of the Popes Authority they were received into the Codes of Princes being as we shall shew out of Baronius in the next Chapter introduced into the Capitular Books of the Kings of the Franks by Benedictus Levita and at his instant request confirmed and approved by the 〈◊〉 Chair The Forgeries in Isidore being scattered abroad it is difficult to conceive to what a vast Height the Roman See by degrees 〈◊〉 The Splendour of so many Ancient Martyrs 〈◊〉 together with so many Canons and Decrees in her behalf so far wrought that her Bishop came at last to Claim all Power over all persons Spiritual and Temporal to have the sole power of forgiving sins to be alone Infallible to be Cods Vicar upon Earth the only Oracle in the world nay the sole Supreme and Absolute Monarch disposing of Empires and Kingdoms according to the Tenour of the Doctrines contained in those Forgeries wherein he is made the sole Independent Lord without Controul able to do what ever he lifted Some few Ages after this first Publication of Isidore there were other Records put forth though lately seen yet bearing the countenance of 〈◊〉 Antiquitie which so ordered the matter that according to them the Evangelists brought their Gospels to S. Peter to confirm them and several books of S. Clement S. Peter's Successor were put into the Canon of the Holy Bible the whole number of Canonical books being setled and defined by his sole Authority In token doubtless of the Power Inherent in all S. Peter's Successors at Rome to dispose of the Apostles and their Writings as they please S. 〈◊〉 own Canon for that purpose being numbered among those of the Aposiles That the Pope was uncapable of being judged by any that no Clergy-man was to be Subject to Kings but all to depend immediately upon the Bishop of Rome that he was the Rock and Head of the Church was the constant Doctrine of all those Forgeries when put together with many other Popish Points of less concernment sprinkled up and down in them at every turning Cui bono Among the Civilians 't is a notable mark of Detection in a blind Cause whose Good whose Exaltation whose Benefit is the drift and scope of things and 't is very considerable for the sure finding out of the first Authors That they are Forgeries is manifest Now whose they are is the Question in hand and if Agents naturally intend themselves in their own Operations it is easily solved How excessively the World was addicted to Fables about the time of Isidore's Appearance we may see by the Contents of the 2. Nicene Council Dreams Visions and Miracles being very rife in their best demonstrations and among other Legends a counterfeit Basil a counterfeit Athanasius a counterfeit Emperour maintaining and promoting the Adoration of Images As may perhaps in another Volume be more fully discovered when we descend from these first to succeeding Ages The Counterfeits in Isidore being mingled with the Records of the Church like Tares among Wheat or false Coyns among heaps of Cold lay undistinguished from true Antiquities and after Hincmarus his ill success were little examined by the space of 500 or 600 years Some small opposition there was made in particular by the Bishops in France and
Bellarmine and Baronius though they still carry on the Design of the first Inventers by some other Methods which they hope will succeed better Nor is it any wonder that a Secular Kingdom should make men more active than the love of Heaven since we daily see how the Kings of the world expend vast Treasures of Gold and Silver and run through all dangers of Death and Battel for their own preservation and the Conquest of their Neighbours The same care which they take in building Forts and Cittadels being taken by the Bishop of Rome in maintaining Seminaries Universities Printing-Houses c. which depend absolutely on him for the securing of all that Wealth and Empire which he hath by his Wit and Policy acquired It standeth him upon for if his Religion falls his Glory vanisheth and his Kingdom is abolished What men will do for Secular Ends beyond all the belief and expectation of the Vulgar we see in Hamor and Shechem the first and most Ancient Myrrour of that kind in the world who for the accomplishment of their desires introduced a new Religion troubling themselves and their Citizens unto Blood meerly to get possession of Dinah Jacob's Daughter 〈◊〉 's Policy is about 2500 years old though much more late When the ten Tribes revolted from the House of David for fear lest they should return to their Allegiance if they went up yearly to Jerusalem according to the Law he set up two Calves for the people to worship and underwent a great expence besides the Gold in the Calves in erecting a new Order of Friests that the people might be kept at home in their perverse Obedience He very well knew those Calves were no Deities yet for secular ends he promoted their worship and was followed therein by all the Line of the Kings of Israel several hundred of years together What Demetrius the Silver-Smith did for Diana of the Ephesians and what an uproar he made purely for Gain in making her Shrines all the Christian World understandeth But the High-Priests Scribes and Elders of the Jews in acting against all the Miracles of Christ and against their Conscience especially in giving Money to the Souldiers to hold their peace when they brought the news of his Resurrection their resisting of the Holy Ghost at his Miraculous Descent these are a sufficient instance of the incredible obdurateness of mans heart and his obstinate 〈◊〉 allures his hopes as the immediate Crown of his Labours The Diana of the Romans is much more prosicuous than the Diana of the Ephesians The fattest places of the Provinces and the greatest Empire in the World are the Game they Play This Dinah animateth all their Strength to impose on the people And for the easing of their own Charge it is a usual thing with Popes to permit their Priests and Fryers for their better support to deceive the people which Dr. Stillingfleet in his Book of Popish Counterfeit Miracles does excellently open in which and in all other Arts and Tricks they have a special connivance provided they keep the poor simple Sheep within the bounds of their Jurisdiction and contribute to the continuance of their Secular Kingdom This is the truth of the Story and these are the circumstances of the whole procedure which remains now to be proved CAP. IV. James Merlin's Editions of the Councils who lately published Isidore Hispalensis for a good Record which is now detected and proved to be a Forgery JAmes Merlin's pains was to publish Isidore with some Collections and Additions of his own He positively affirmeth him to be that Famous Isidore of Hispalis a Saint a Bishop and a Father of the Church though as Blondel and Dr. Reynolds accurately observe S. Isidore of Hispalis was dead 40 50 60 years before some things came to pass that are mentioned in that Book of the Councils Blondel in a Book of his called Pseudo-Isidorus or Turrianus Vapulans Cap 2. observes how the lowest that write of Isidores death fix it on the year 647. as Vasaeus in his Chronicle Others on the year 643. as Rodericus Toletanus Hist. lib. 2. cap. 18. Or on the year 635. as the proper Office of the Saints of Spain or on the year 636. when Sinthalus entered his Kingdom as Redemptus Diaconus an eye-witness De Obitu Isidori Brauleo Bishop of Caesar-Augustana Lucas Tudensts Baronius the great Annalist Mariana Grialus and others agree with the last which is eleven years sooner than Vasaeus So that the general prevailing Opinion is that Isidore of Hispalis died in the year 636. However that we may deal most fairly with them we will allow them all they can desire and calculate our affair by the last Account which is most for their advantage Admit Vasaeus in the right that Isidore lived till the year 647. yet the Book which is Fathered upon him can be none of his for it mentions things which came to pass long after It is observed by Blondel that Honoratus who succeeded Isidore in the See of Hispalis is found in the sixth Council of Toledo whereas this pretended Isidore makes mention of the eleventh Council in the same place He talks of the sixth Oecumenical Council in the year 681. no less than 46 years after his own death by the lowest account He writes of Boniface of Mentz slain as Baronius observes in the year 755. which was threescore and sixteen years after Isidores death Yet Possevin upon the word Isidorus Hisp. and Hart in his Conference with Reynolds contend the Author of this Book to be the true Isidore Bishop of Hispalis as Merlin who first published Isidore in print and others did before them Among his Witnesses produced against this Counterfeit the first which Blondel useth is the Code of the Roman Church in which onely the Epistles of 13 Roman Bishops are contained beginning with Siricius Whereas there are in Isidore above 60. whereof five or six and thirty lived before Siricius and were all unknown until the time of Isidore His next Testimony is that of the Bishops of France about the year 865. who concluded that Isidore's Wares then newly beginning to be sold could not have the force of Canons because they were not contained in the Authentick Code or Book of Canons formerly known He next citeth the Council of Aquisgranum An. 816. the Bishops of Paris An. 829. Henricus Caltheisensis Erasmus Greg. Cassander Anton. Contius the famous Lawyer Bellarmine and Baronius the Learned Cardinals The Testimony of Baronius being more largely cited than the residue I thought it meet to search the Author and there I found these following passages Writing upon the Contest between Pope Nicholas and the French Bishops concerning Appeals he beginneth to shew how they complained that the Causes of Bishops which ought to be tryed in Councils by their Fellow Bishops were removed to the Apostolick Chair And they questioned in their Letters whether those Epistles of the more Ancient Bishops which were not inserted into the Body
thereupon to enquire diligently into the cause thereof and seeking to find it Nay this was the design of the blessed Peter and therein he imitated the Holy Scripture Whether to counterfeit or blaspheme the Scriptures be the worse I cannot tell but of this I am sure that they who think such courses lawful as this fastned on S. Peter and the Holy Scripture here will stick at nothing which they take for their advantage For that it was lawful to counterfeit S. James his Name he proveth afterwards very largely and now he is giving the reasons of it One intention was to stir up all people to Enquiry their admiration at so strange a thing being very prone to make them diligent to learn the cause of it Another was that all Bishops might see the more clearly that they were taught in the person of James For James being dead and uncapable of receiving the instruction it is evident that he was not intended thereby and therefore it must be for others in his capacity A third reason was the preventing of envy for had S. Peter vouchsafed being our Saviours Vicar and Head of the Church to write to any Bishop alive the Honour done unto that Bishop had been so great that all the rest had been tempted to maligne him shrewdly for that advantage His intention was saith he to transfigure these things in the person of James after the manner of the Holy Scripture and that as well for other Bishops as especially those that should succeed him in the Church of Jerusalem whence the preaching of the Gospel began according to the Prophesie of Isaiah that they might thus think with themselves If the Prince of the Apostles commanded Clement to write these things to James the Brother of our Lord whom Peter James and John did first of all ordain who now ceased to be a Shepherd and was rewarded with his Crown he certainly did not command him to write for his sake but for us to whom Solomon saith Look diligently to the face of thy Cattel and consider thy Herds c. Let this saith he be one cause of the Transfiguration or counterfeiting a person in this Epistle Having noted how S. Paul transferred a certain business on himself and Apollos by a Figure he concludeth thus Why therefore may we not think that S. Peter for the same reason commanded Clement to transfer his Epistle concerning his Death and Doctrine pertaining in common to every Bishop by a Figure to S. James already dead lest if he should have commanded him to have written to Simon the Bishop of Jerusalem who succeeded S. James or to any other as to Mark the Bishop of Alexandria or Ananias of Antioch or any other he should then perhaps seem to love him or honour him more than the residue Much more he saith to this purpose but all made vain with one small observation Whereas he pretends that Clement knew S. James to be dead there is a 〈◊〉 Epistle written by the same Clement To his most dearly beloved Brethren dwelling at Jerusalem together with his dearest Brother James his Fellow-Disciple So that S. James after all was still thought to be alive by those that transferred this Epistle on S. Clement by a Figure S. Peter's influence over the Bishop of Jerusalem and our Lords Brother was thought a considerable Circumstance for the Establishment of the following Popes And till the Protestants discovered the Fraud let Turrian say what he will there was scarce a person in the World that thought not the Letter timed well enough for the purpose And whereas he pretendeth so many and so great Testimonies of the Ancients confessing the Epistle to be S. Clement's he is not able nor does he so much as attempt to name one from S. Clement downward till this Spurious Isidore that affirmed any such matter Howbeit he quotes Origen Theodoret Gregory Nazianzen c. to prove the lawfulness of a Transfiguration and makes great Ostentation of the Fathers in shewing that S. Peter and S. Clement did wisely in the business CAP. VIII Of Peter Crabbe's Tomes of the Councils Wherein he agrees with and wherein he differs from Isidore and Merlin BEsides the Forgeries that are in Merlin and the Bastard Isidore Peter Crabbe whose Tomes of the Councils were published eight years after the first Edition of Merlin published more of as great importance as the former not omitting those of Isidore and Merlin but recording and venting them altogether He pretends to give an account of all those Councils that have been from S. Peter the Apostle down to the Times of Pope John II. He wrote before Turrian as Carranza and Surius did whom it is Turrian's business to defend The End being proposed before the Means with what design these Editions of the Councils are so carefully multiplied we may conjecture by a Treatise that is set in the Front of them concerning the Roman Primacy Almost all the Compilers after Peter Crabbe having prefixed the same with one consent before their Work as the Aim of their ensuing Labours It is extant in Crab Surius Nicolinus Binius Labbe and Cossartius and the Collectio Regia Carranza hath it not nor Paul V. Paul V. in his own Work published at Rome Anno Dom. 1608. touches the Forgeries but very sparingly It does not become the Majesty of a Pope in his own Name to utter them It is moreover a thing of hazardous consequence for him to appear in Person in such a disgraceful business It besits his Holiness to act rather by Emissaries and Inferiour Agents as all great Statesmen and Polititians do being unseen themselves in matters that reflect too much upon their safety that Method you know is more stately as well as more Honourable and secure Yet he approveth others at a distance as his dear Son Severinus Binius in particular who dedicated all his Tomes to Pope Paul V. in the year 1608. and has a particular Letter of Thanks from Pope Paul himself as a Badge of his Favour before the Work As for Carranza he is but an Abstract or brief Compendium This Treatise of the Primacy thus put before the Councils containeth a Collection of Testimonies out of Counterfeit Epistles of the Primitive Bishops and Martyrs of Rome proving under the Authorities of most Glorious Names that the Holy Apostolical Church obtained the Primacy not from the Apostles but from our Lord himself that it is the Head and Hinge of all the Churches that all Appeals are to be made thereunto the greater causes and the contentions of Bishops being to be determined only by the Apostolical See that she is the Mother of all Churches and as the Son of God came to do the Will of his Father so ought all Bishops and Priests to do the Will of their Mother that all the Members ought to follow the Head which is the Church of Rome that the first See ought to be judged by no man neither by the Emperour nor by Kings nor
Love but a pretext to patch up and cover Forgery Yet let us hear what Binius and Baronius say concerning these Matters For though the Epistle be never so formally set down and a Lie written in the Top both of the Epistle and the Page Cornelii Papae Epistola 1. And again The sirst Epistle of Pope Cornelius yea though Binius saith in his Notes on this Epistle that S. Jerom witnesseth Cornelius to have written many Epistles and that this therefore is undeservedly taxed for its faith and authority which has gotten so famous a Witness as Jerom. Yet after all this though among other Circumstances of Importance it hath been laid down as a Good Record by Binius his Ancestors he saith That it doth attribute to Cornelius the Translation of the H. Bodies of Peter and Paus from the Catatumbae which is if I mistake not from the meaner Graves of the Common people Id ex Libri Pontificalis Erroribus in Epistolam irrepsisse probabile c. That that crept in into this Epistle from among the Errours of the Pontifical seemeth probable For more truly that Translation happened in the first Age a little after their Passion As by the testimony of S. Gregory the Pope we demonstrated above Surely the feet upon which this Peacock stands are very Black The pride of Rome is founded like that of the great Whore on the waters at least if not in the mire If you examine What or Where this Testimony of S. Gregory is that overthroweth this Epistle of Cornelius a Person much more Ancient and Authentick than himself and with what Circumstances or with what form of words Binius maketh use of the same Let your patience turn to Binius his Notes on those Words in the Pontifical Hic Temporibus c. in the Life of Cornelius and there it shall be satisfied CAP. XIX The ridiculous Forgery of the Council of Sinuessa put into the Roman Martyrologies How the City and the name of it was consumed though when no man can tell by an Earthquake MARCELLINVS the Bishop of Rome entered on his See about the year 296 in the dayes of Dioclesian The Pontifical in the Life of Marcellinus telleth us that he offered incense to an Idol to escape the wrath of the Emperour Binius saith When Marcellinus the Roman Pontisex was therefore accused because in the Temple of Vesta and 〈◊〉 he burnt incense and offered Sacrifice to Heathen Images and Idols to wit that of Jupiter and Saturn 300 Bishops came together in the City Sinuessa to pass their Sentence on the Fall of Marcellinus The place of meeting was the Crypta Cleopatrensis which fifty one after another could enter it not being able to contain them all by reason of its straitness After the discussion of the Cause and condemnation of certain Priests Marcellinus the chief Bishop publickly confessing his Sin 〈◊〉 Sackcloath sprinckled with ashes prostrate on the ground acting Repentance said I have sinned before you and cannot be in the Order of Priests and so condemned himself by his own Sentence ¶ After those of Magdenburg the English Innovators reject this Convention of 300 Bishops as if it were feigned by the Donatists Because they think it improbable that in this 20. year of Dioclesian wherein the fiercest Flame of Persecution burned and the Anger of the Emperours did rage more bitterly against the Christians throughout all the Roman world 300 Bishops should be assembled together Bin. Not. in Vit. Marcellin By the way I must tell you that the English do upon several accounts besides that of the Persecution reject this Council of Sinuessa however it pleaseth Binius to ease himself of labour by mentioning only that Neither do they fasten it on the Donatists but the Papists For though Marcellinus be made a Donatist in opinion his Confession being founded on that Doctrine that no man guilty of mortal sin can though penitent continue in the Order of Priests Binius himself puts the Doctrine into his mouth while other Doctrines relating to the Popes Supremacy and other Persons defending this Council shew plainly enough whose it is notwithstanding the present Mist which Binius putteth before our eyes Hear him on But if no fear of the Persecution of Decius saith he could hinder them but that about sifty years before this as we said in our Notes of the Roman Council held in the Interregnum many Bishops of the Remoter Provinces and many others neighbouring on Italy and living in hanishment came together upon the Letters of the Roman Clergy at Rome and holding a Council there ordained those things which the present necessity of the Church did require Why should it seem more distant from the truth that by the most vigilant care of the Roman Clergy the Bishops of Forreign Churches should be called together by Circular Epistles and no fear or Danger of Life deterring them meet at the time and place appointed to transact and decide that cause of all other the most deplorable in which not only the Roman Church but the whole Christian Religion was brought into the greatest Hazard wherein the whole Foundation of the Church was shaken in the first Bishop of the Catholick Faith and almost utterly overthrown Binius you see consesseth the Truth that Mercellinus did offer Incense 〈◊〉 an Idol and that the Gates of Hell had well nigh prevailed against S. Peters Chair in the Idolatry of his Apostate Successor That therefore they might imitate God though the perverse way in bringing Good out of Evil the matter is so neatly ordered that the Ball reboundeth higher by its Fall the Weakness of Marcellinus increases the Popes power and his Disgrace is turned to his Greater Glory His slip is made the establishment of all his Successors For a Council of 300. Bishops is raised up by the Invention of the Papists which do all of them most humbly beseech the Cuilty Pope to condemn himself and Decree with one Consent that the Sovereign Bishop of the City of Rome can be condemned by no body For out of thine own mouth thou shalt be justified and out of thine own mouth thou shalt be condemned It is an important Point and no witness fit to be lost that giveth Testimony thereunto Concerning this Council therefore on the Words Act a Omnia The saith Though exceeding many among the most learned of men have endeavoured to prove those Acts to be Spurious and of no weight truly by Strong Arguments and would esteem it as no other than a Device of the Donatists cunningly contrived that the Name of Marcellinus well accepted of among all the Ancients and had in great Esteem should be defamed We nevertheless conceive the same Acts to be not only not Commentions or forged to be ascribed to the Donatists but rather to be had in great Veneration both because venerable Antiquity it self fighteth Sharply for them compelling a Reverence even from the unwilling by its majesty and because by the Common Assent of all being
two years c. And reprehends the Pontificals Confusion which I shall not 〈◊〉 to mention having greater matters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his time Constantine the first Christian Emperour arose Concerning whom the Pontifical is silent in the time of Melchiades having need of him in that of 〈◊〉 but Binius gives us this little Abstract of his History here After an Interval of seven days Octob. 3. 〈◊〉 Christ. 311. in the third year of the Emperour 〈◊〉 Melchiades began to sit In his time six moneths from the return of Peace to the Church being searcely past 〈◊〉 in the East being Emperour with Licinius stirred up a most grievous Persecution against the Christians whom he called the Firebrands and the Authors of all the Evils in the World Euseb l. 9. c. 6. Maxentius in the West oppressed the Empire with a grievous 〈◊〉 But Constantine his Fellow Emperour that Reigned with him in the West as Licinius Reigned with Maximinus in the East being stirred up partly by injuries and partly by the prayers of the Romans resolved to suppress the Tyrant When therefore he designed the War he despised the Aids of the Heathen Gods and determined in himself to implore only the Creator of Heaven and Earth whom his Father Constantius adored It happened therefore that while he was praying for Prosperity he saw at Mid-day the Sign of the Cross made with Beams of Light appearing in the Heavens in which these words were manifestly contained IN HOC VINCE The Explication whereof when he had learned from our Lord Jesus Christ appearing to him in his sleep and from his Priests he undertakes the War against Maxentius and happily conquers him Which Victory being gloriouly gotten in acknowledgment that it came from that One Invisible and Immortal God he erected a Trophy of the Cross in the midst of the City with this Famous Motto HOC 〈◊〉 ARI SIGNO VERO FORTITUDINIS INDICIO CIVITATEM VESTRAM TYRANNIDIS JUGO LIBERAVI Under this Saving Sign the true Mark of Fortitude I freed your City from the Yoke of Tyranny And as a man fest Token of his Liberality and Piety he gave to Melchiades the Publick House in the Lateran which heretofore was the Palace of Fausta the Empress Opt. Mil. He restored the Goods of the Church gave great Priviledges and Immunities to the Clergy and made a Decree that they should be maintained at the Publick Charge In the latter end of this first Tome Binius has a long Record of Gelasius Cyzicenus in fair Greek and Latine who being a very Ancient Author confirms all these things shewing the madness of Maximinus and his destiuction the building of Churches the evil manners of Licinius the Victory which the Religious Emperour obtained against that Wicked man the Peace of the Churches after Licinius his Death and the several ways whereby the good Emperour promoted the Christian Affairs Yet as if all this were a Dream the Scene is immediately overthrewn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tyraat a Murderer an Oppressor a Persecuter of the Church and smitten with Leprosie from Heaven namely for his great abominations Licinius is innocent and unjustly slain but Constantine is made the Destroyer of peace For in the Life of Sylvester the next Bishop after Melchiades the Pontifical saith he was banished into the Mountain Soracte Upon which words Binius further saith that Sylvester searing the cruelty of the Emperour fled from the City as his own Acts and Zozimus and Sozomen do probably shew As for Sylvesters Acts so simply and freely cited here meerly to cheat the Reader he afterwards confesseth them to be a Forgerie And as for Zozimus and Sozomen those Words Do probably shew shew Binius to be a Sophister He would fain have father'd the Story upon Zozimus and Sozomen but his Courage sailed him for they speak not expresly but Probably shew that is in his conceit they give him colour enough to side with a Cheat a Forger a Lyar a notorious Counterfeit Damasus against all the true Antiquities and Histories in the World The positive Relation of Eusebius Pamphilus an holy Father in the Niceue Council that lived in those times the Records of Gelasius Cyzicenus that ancient Author and Nicolinus the late Compiler of the Councils that commend Eusebius as the most faithful witness among Ecclestastical Writers being palpably contradicted while Zozimus the Heathen is favoured in some dark expression wherein his Envy tempted him to carp at the Emperour because he was next under God the Author of so much Peace and Felicity amongst the Christians As for Sozomen he was a Christian indeed but too late an Authot to contend with Eusebius and Gelasius 〈◊〉 Neither does Binius say he positively avers any such thing but probably shews either a 〈◊〉 or a Fernbush Some frailty perhaps which proves Consiantine a Man but Binius should have produced clear Testimonies as sound and authentick as the former if he meant to swim against all Antiquity in disgracing so glorious an Emperour positively affirming him to be guilty of Murder and Paricide Apostacy and Idolatry Persecution c. Binius acteth his part too far for is as he saith Constantine counterfeited himself to be an Heathen only to satisfic the People his great munificence and kindness to the Christians having imbittered the Multitude so far that it almost brake out into a Rebellion for the appeasing of the Sedition therefore he dissembled his Religion upon Temporal Considerations for which God was provoked Certainly he could never hope to be cured of his 〈◊〉 by going in earnest to the Heathen Priests and their Idols as Binius pretendeth when he was so deeply humbled and in danger of Destruction But this whole pretence is overthrown and the Genius of the Man more clearly 〈◊〉 in the passage following In 〈◊〉 Life of Marcellus with which we began the Chapter and which was some years before this pretended necessity he telleth us that Maxentius who studied to possess himself of the Tyranny of Rome at his first entrance into the Roman Empire feigned himself craftily to embrace our Faith thereby to please the Roman people and to take them with his 〈◊〉 for which cause he remitted the 〈◊〉 against the Christians and put on 〈◊〉 a shew of Prety that for a time he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Courtesie Love and Humanity This he proveth out of 〈◊〉 l. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But for a purpose of which 〈◊〉 was not aware his design being hereby to justifie the Counterfeit Epistle of Marcellus and to palliate the absurdities therein contained the Popes ranting so foolishly out of the Bible and threatning Maxentius the Heathen Emperour with the Authority of his 〈◊〉 Clement While he was a Pagan 〈◊〉 Now if Maxentius found it necessary to counterfeit himself a Christian to please the People Constantine who found the minds of men far more 〈◊〉 to Religion then Maxentius did was by consequent more engaged to appear a Christian than 〈◊〉 was that so he might also please the People But voluble Wits in
the Imperial Seat which the Roman Princes had possest and granted it to the profit of the blessed Peter and his Bishops Which considering what follows is far more fit to be understood of the Emperours leaving Rome and granting it to the Bishop whence they pretend he did go on purpose So that the agreement between Optatus Milevitanus and the Epistle of Melchiades is very small or none at all But admit that Melchiades and Optatus Milevitanus had said both of them that the Lateran was given to Melchiades what is that to the Dominion and Temporal Kingdom A single House instead of an Empire Though that the House was given Optatus Milevitanus doth not affirm even by Binius his own confession How the things in this Epistle should be concerning the Donation of Constantine to Melchiades and Sylvester is difficult to conceive because Melchiades was dead before the Donation was made to Sylvesier It is very unlikely therefore that Melchiades should make mention of that Donation His Epistle talking of Constantine his being President in the H. Synod that was called at Nice is a manifest Imposture Melchiades being dead before the Nicene Council as is before observed Yet hence it is proved that Constantine 〈◊〉 a Donation to Melchiades and Sylvester Binius holdeth fast the Donation though he lets go the Epistle Like a Lo gician who lets go the premises but keeps the conclusion For it is most firmly proved by Optatus Milevitanus What is proved by him That Constantine the Great gave the Lateran to Melchiades How is it proved Why he testifieth that a Council of 19 Bishops met in Fausta's house in the Lateran Truly he doth not expresly write that the house was given to Melchiades But it seemeth probable to Binius his imagination And so it is most firmly proved by Optatus Milevitanus a most approved Writer Thus those things that are told concerning the Dominion and Temporal Kingdom given to the See of Rome are manifestly enough proved to be likely by what we said in our Notes upon the former Epistle But it is better proved by the continual possession of those houses by the space of thirteen Ages until now as he afterwards observeth Though the length of an unjust Tenure increaseth the Transgression Having first proved the Donation he proceedeth thus Hoc Edictum à Graecis persidâ Donatione quâ juxta illud Virg. 2. Aeneid Timeo Danaos Dona ferentes donare solent acceptum mutilum esse ac dolosè depravatum hae rationes evidenter demonstrant These following reasons evidently shew this Edict of Constantine by the persidious Donation of the Greeks to be maimed and treacherously depraved He enters upon the business gently pretending at first as if the Donation were true that it was depraved by the Greeks But afterwards when he is a little warm in the Argument and somewhat further off from his Sophistical Defences he falls foul upon it as a Counterfeit and rejects it altogether as in the close will appear to the considerate Reader But here let us see what Arguments he produceth to prove it maimed and treacherously depraved 1. Because it pretendeth the Primacy of the Church to be granted by a Lay-man which was immediately given to Peter by God himself and by our Lord Jesus Christ as is manifest by those words Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church 2. The Emperour by this Edict is made to give a Patriarchal Dignity to the Church of Constantinople Which if it be true how then could Anatolius the Bishop of Constantinople be said to take the Patriarchal Dignity to himself long after even after the Council of Chalcedon was ended Leo Gelasius and other Roman Bishops resisting him How could the Church of Constantinople be a Patriarchal See at this time wherein even the name of Constantinople was not yet given to Byzantium 3. This Edict was first published by Theodorus Balsamon out of the Acts of Sylvester the Pope falsly written in Greek under the name of Eusebius Bishop of Caesarea not that he might do any service to the Church of Rome but that he might shew the Patriarchate of Constantinople to be the eldest Which Acts of Sylvester were not known till a thousand years after Christ coming then forth in Eusebius his name out of a certain Book of Martyrs but were now increased by the Addition of this Edict of Constantine His design is if it be possible to clear the Church of Rome of this too palpable and notorious Counterfeit And for that end he would fain cast it on the Treacherous Greeks that he might thereby acquit the more Treacherous Romans Which he further pursues in the clause following The new found Hereticks that oppose this Edict of Constantine translated out of Greek into Latine with such great endeavour and impertinent study let them know that in this they rather further our Cause than fight against us Who do our selves with Irenaeus Cyprian and other Holy Fathers as well Greek as Latine profess the Priviledges of the Church of Rome not to be conferred and given of men but from Christ to Peter and from Peter to his Successors Where the 〈◊〉 are so great we need not make a Remark on the common Cheat his vain Brag of the Fathers But this we may observe that whereas the Popes Claim is somewhat blind to the Prerogative which is pretended to be given to S. Peter Binius hints at a proper Expedient to make it clear For suppose our Saviour made S. Peter the Rock on which he built his Church How comes the Pope to be that Rock Since S. Peter being an Apostle immediately inspired and able to pen Canonical Scripture some of his Prerogatives were Personal and died with him He tells you that the Priviledge was granted from Christ to Peter and from Peter to his Successors So that it was not Christ but Peter that gave it to the Bishops of Rome Now it would extremely puzzle him to shew where Peter gave that power to the Bishops of Rome in what place at what time by what Act before what Witnesses All he can produce is S. Clement's counterfeit Letter and that miscarries But in opposing the Edict of Constantine the Protestants further their Cause rather than fight against them Is not this a bold Aslertion Their Popes have laid Claim to the whole Empire of the Western World even by this very Edict or Donation of Constantine And yet the Protestants did nothing when they proved it to be a Forgery This Donation is an old Evidence proving the Divine Right of Peter's Primacy and the Popes Supremacy Did they promote their Cause that proved it to be a Cheat Certainly they that have Fingers so long as to grasp at an Empire and Foreheads so hard as to claim it by Frauds will stick at nothing they can conceive for their advantage Is it impertinent to discover Knavery in the Holy Roman Catholick Church or Imposture in the Infallible
Chair And together with the Credit of Rome to take away an Empire Besides the Spiritual Right of being the Rock there are ample Territories and Cities claimed with a Temporal Kingdom Let him therefore pretend what he will the Authority of such Instruments is very convenient And because he knows it well enough he produces the Diplomata or the Patents of other Kings and Emperours to confirm the Churches Secular Right extant as he saith in the Original with their Imperial Seals as particularly those of the Most Christian Princes of France restoring those things which the Longobards took away But he does not tell you by what Arts they got possession of those Territories at first nor by what Ancient Evidences Seals or Patents they held them before the Longobards touched them And because a Kingdom is of much Moment in the Church of Rome he further saith As for the Dominion of things temporal given to the Church herself proves them by the Broad Seals of the very Emperours giving them yet extant in the Originals and she quietly enjoyeth them How quiet her injoyment is you may see by that stir and opposition she meeteth and by all the clamour throughout the Christian World that followeth her Usurpations Which she defendeth here by the Seals of Emperours in general Terms but what Seals they are she scorneth as it were to mention in particular Which argueth her cause to be as Bad as her pretence is Bold But as for the Rights granted to the same Roman Church S. Leo Faelix Romanus Gelasius Hormisda Gregorius and other their Successors that flourished famously from the times of Constantine have defended them saith he not by the Authority of this Constantinian Edict but rather by Divine and Evangelical Authority against all the Impugners of them The man is warily to be understood for some of these whom he pronounceth as Defenders violently oppose their claim as Gregory in particular who for himself and all his Predecessors renounceth that Blasphemons Title which John of Constantinople first arrogated but the Bishops of Rome acquired afterwards by the Gift of Phocas the bloody Emperour So that all these are Mummers brought in as it were in a Masque to shew their vizars and say nothing For of all these Roman Bishops mentioned by Binius Gregory was the last who testifieth that none of his Predecessors ever claimed such a Title We may further note that he speak here with much Confusion because he speaks of the Rights granted to the Roman Church but does not distinguish between the Divine and Humane Rights of which he is treating For the Business he is now upon is the Temporal Klngdom in desending of which these Popes down to Gregory did forbear to use the Authority of this Constantinian Edict as he calleth it by way of scorn not because they had it not but rather as he pretends because they had no need of it having enough to shew by Divine and Evangelical Authority for the same Which is another pretence as bold and impudent as the former For I think none of his own Party will aver that the Bishop of Rome can claim a Temporal Kingdom by the Holy Scripture As for any other Claim by this Constantinian Edict or any Donation else of Emperours before the Longobards he slighteth all especially the Authority of this Constantinian Edict conceruing which he saith None of all those who sate over the Church before the year 1000. many of which saw the genuine Acts of Sylvester recited concerning which we spake above is read to have made any mention of this Edict For as much as the Counterfeit Edict was not yet added to the Acts by the Greek Impostors He does not tell us how he came to know that many of the Roman Bishops saw the genuine Acts of Sylvester before the year 1000. that being an Artifice or Color only as if there were two divers Books of Sylvesters Acts and the one a true one He tells us not a word of the Contents that were in them but he before told us plainly that the Acts of Sylvester the Pope were falsly written in Greek under the name of Eusebius Bishop of Caesarea that they were not known till 1000. years after Christ coming then forth in Eusebius his Name And now he telleth us as plainly that the Counterfeit Edict was not yet added to the Acts by the Greek 〈◊〉 The poor Greeks on whom he layes all the Load of Imposture never injoyed the benefit of these Acts nor ever pleaded the Imposture as the Latines did And in all likelyhood they made it that laid Claim and Title to the Supremacy by it Since therefore the Question is come to this Who were the Impostors we must define against him that the Counterfeit Edict was added to the forged Acts not by the Greek but Latine Impostors For how Counterfeit to ever he will have it Pope Adrian in his Epistle to Constantine and Irene which remains inserted in the Nicene Council recites this whole History almost in the same manner and so confirmes it by the Truth of this Edict As Binius himself telleth us on the words Ipse enim So that the Edict was pleaded long before the Greeks added it to the Acts of Sylvester For Pope Adrian died in the year 795 and the Acts of Sylvester were unknown till the year 1000. Yet this Adrian founded his Epistle to the Emperour and Empress in the second 〈◊〉 Council upon the truth of this 〈◊〉 And in very truth the Story he telleth is the same of Constantine's Leprosie c. contained in the Donation Which if 〈◊〉 had been pleased to remember was published by the Latines in Isidore Mercator's Collection of the Councils about the year 800. Where the Greeks in all probability first found it and were cheated as many Wiser men have since been with the appearance of it there So that searching it up to the Fountain Head it rests still among the Romans By the way to shew you that Binius is his Crafts-Master over against these words concerning Adrian before mentioned he putteth down that Famous Marginal Note Donatio Constantini confirmatur The Donation of Constantine is confirmed not by Binius as the simple Reader would suppose but by Adrian's Epistle recorded in the 2 Nicene Council and expresly containing the whole Fable of Constantine's Leprosie Vision and Baptism So that the first that ever knew it in the World for ought I can yet perceive was this Adrian of whom we have spoken somewhat before Now he comes to shew how greedily the Popes received this Cheat of the Greeks Among those who received the Acts of Sylvcster in good seoth corrupted thus with the addition of this counterfeit Edict by an evil Art and by the sorry faith of the Grecians carried out of the East into the West and that earnestly defended them as Legitimate and Genuine and pure from all fraud and Imposture the first is found saith he to be Pope Leo
with Her And if nothing else be the Roman Church but a Pope and Council 〈◊〉 the Roman Church is but a blinking 〈◊〉 There is no Roman Church upon this account sometimes for two or three Ages together for she always vanishes upon the 〈◊〉 of the Council The Roman Church is in a great 〈◊〉 but she may thank herself She threw her self into this Peril by making her self a Schismatick an 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 She first breaks the Rule and if the Pope and his Doctors about him be the Roman Church as they certainly must needs 〈◊〉 for all that depart from 〈◊〉 shall be Schifmaticks if the Head of the Church and all the Members that cleave unto it be the Roman Church she first brake the Rule and then forged Ancient Canons in the Name of the Nicene Council to defend her Exorbitancy she cut her self off from the true Church in the sixth Council of Carthage by a perverse inveterate obstinacy and to acquit her self afterwards laid the Curse and Scandal upon others She pretends at least that the most Holy Churches were Excommunicated that 217 Bishops in a Sacred Council Alypius S. Augustine Aurelius and all his Collegues were puffed up with pride by the Instigation of the Devil and accursed by a Dreadful Excommunication for so it is in the Epistle of Bonifaee 2. to Eulalius And now she hath nothing left to support her Enormity but that Greatness alone which by these Forgeries she hath acquired and maintained These Thorns are never to be pulled out but the Veins and Sinews will follow after For in rejecting these Thorns in her sides all her Authority Infallibility Antiquity Tradition Vnity Succession Credit and Veracity is gone As for Baronius and the way he takes a man may safely throw away the Sword when he has killed the Enemy but the Church of Rome is not arrived to such an happiness Politicians pull down the Ladder by which they have gotten up to the Top of their desires But the case is altered here They are undone if the Ladder be removed To acknowledge these Helps to be Forgeries is their apparent Ruine Some Papists use these Counterfeits by vertue of which their Predecessors acquired and established their Empire as Vsurpers do Traytors by whose villanous help they are seated in the Throne But they can never wash off the Guilt they have contracted nor make the Act or the Crime committed once to be again undone After 700 years enjoyment of the Benefit they begin to slight the means of acquiring it But it is because they cannot help it The Cheat is detected and they would sain perswade the World they are Innocent of it All of them either hold these things to be Forgeries or if Forgeries to be none of their The Confession is not Genning like 〈◊〉 of S. Peter rather it is awkward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like that of Apiarius 〈◊〉 Confession the sixth Council of Carthage observes to be sorced For after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 obstinately persisted as long as possible in an impudent denial reviled his Judges abused the Roman Chair disordered the Church and inflamed the World when God had brought him into so vast a strait that he could do no otherwise then the Fraudulent Dissembler as they call him fled to Confession but the Root of his Malevolence he retained in him Some Papists confess these Forgeries but deny them to be theirs They confess the things but justifie themselves The things they say are Forgeries but themselves no Forgers And whether of the two be the greater Impudence is hard to define They confess the Fraud but make no Restitution All their Drift is to save their Skin when one pretence is broken they fly to another nay they go on to quote these things even now they confess them where they are not detected they still do quote them and wish still they were as able to conceal and defend them as ever For for one that knows them they meet with a thousand that are ignorant of those devices There they dissemble their Conviction and hide their Confession with the Ignorant and before such make shew of these Frauds as of great and glorious Antiquities though like Proteus they transform themselves into other shapes before the more Learned They find it meet and necessary to fail with every Wind and to adapt themselves fitly in their discourses both to them that know them and to them that know them not with them that know them they seem to decry the Impostures These things I speak not to the poor simple seduced Papists who did they believe and know these things would abhor them to the Death but to the Seducers themselves who so delude the Ignorant and are by all Methods ever busie in carrying on the Cause of the Temporal Kingdom of the Church of Rome as by their obstinate practises is most apparent Baronius himself bewrayeth his Confession to be without any purpose of amendment even by the Defence he maketh for his good Old Friend the Bastard Isidore A Jerom of Frague or a John Huss a Latimer or a Ridley though never so holy and pure in other things were to be cursed with Bell Book and Candle if the least Errour appeared in them that reflected on the Popes Security Though never so Innocent they were with all violent fury pursued to the Fire But if a man have this one Vertue of maintaining the Popes Interest he may lye and cog and cheat and forge abuse Apostles Councils Fathers and be followed by an Army of Popes and Doctors becoming a Zealous and Venerable Saint notwithstanding Hincmarus of Rhemes could hardly escape for offering to mutter against Isidere But Isidore himself because he did the Pope Service though he be a Sacrilegious person and deserves all that can be called Bad for the incomparable height and depth of his Villany yet he is received to fair Quarters and well esteemed of by Cardinal Baronius Testimonium illi perhibeo utar verbis Apostoli saith he quod Zelum habuit sed non secundùm Scientiam c. I will give him this Testimony and here I will use the words of the Apostle He had a Zeal but not according to knowledge For because the contention of Aurelius Bishop of Carthage Augustine and other African Bishops seemed to him a little more hot than it should be with Boniface and Celestine the Roman Popes in the Cause of Apiarius the Priest he supposed it expedient in that Epistle which he feigned in the name of Boniface to patch up what was cut away But away with these things The Church of God is not founded nor does it lean upon Chaff it self being the Pillar and Ground of Truth Baron Martyrol Octob. 16. I will not note how he abuseth the Scriptures nor how he wresteth the words of the H. Apostle to cover a filthy piece of Knavery nor yet in what sense he maketh the last words which he uttereth to sound concerning the Roman Churches being her self the Pillar and Ground of Truth