Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	bishop_n	pope_n	power_n	1,636	5	5.0155	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61807	The necessity of reformation, with respect to the errors and corruptions of the Church of Rome the second part : wherein is shewed, the vanity of the pretended reformation of the Council of Trent, and of R.H.'s vindication of it : in his fifth discourse concerning the guide in controversies.	Stratford, Nicholas, 1633-1707.	1686 (1686)	Wing S5935; ESTC R19714	95,581	126

but it is needless in a matter so notorious The Bulla Coenoe Domini as it was published by Paul III. without those Additions which have been since made is it self alone an irrefragable Evidence of the Judgment of this Council as to the excommunicating of Kings For in that Bull all secular Powers are excommunicated who call any Ecclesiastical Persons to their Tribunals Courts c. (b) Bulla Pauli III. Idib Apr. 1536. Bullarii Rom Tom. 2. And this Bull was publish'd before the Convocation the Trent Council and twenty seven years before the Decree mentioned was made by the Council and therefore was confirmed by it And if any Prince stands a year excommunicated he is judged a Schismatick and Heretick and what punishment he is then liable to I need not tell you 4. Another gross Abuse confirm'd by this Council is giving the Pope the Election into Bishopricks in foreign Dominions As the form of Examination of Persons fit to govern the Churches in every Province is to be approved by the Pope so when the Examination is finish'd it is to be reduced into a publick Instrument and sent to him to be examined by four Cardinals and proposed in Consistory that his Holiness having full knowledg of the whole matter and of the Persons if by the Examination and Inquisition made they shall be found fit he may out of them profitably provide for the Churches (c) Sess 24. Cap 1. 5. The reserving of all such weighty criminal causes of Bishops as deserve Deposition and Deprivation to the Popes Cognizance and Decision And if the Cause be such as it must necessarily be tried out of the Court of Rome that it be committed to none except such Metropolitans and Bishops as the Pope shall chuse But that the Commission be special and sealed with the Popes own Seal and that he never give them any more Power than barely to take Instruction of matter of Fact and to make the Process which they shall forthwith send to the Pope the definitive Sentence being reserved to his Holiness (d) Sess 24. Cap. 5. Now as this and the Abuse next foregoing are both intolerable Usurpations upon the Rights of Princes so they make the Bishops in the whole Christian Church intirely dependent on the Pope He may set them up and pull them down at his Pleasure And is not the Universal Church like to be well governed when all the Bishops are at the Popes beck 6. The Exemptions of Monastick Orders from the Jurisdiction of Bishops This Abuse had been complain'd of long before as the great bane of Ecclesiastical Discipline and the chief cause of the lewd and scandalous Lives of the Monks and the Reformation of it was demanded of the Council by the Emperors Ambassadors (e) Soav p. 513. And what did the Council do in order to the removal of this grand Abuse Did they abolish all Exemptions already granted and forbid the granting of any more for the future No they ordained indeed That no Secular Clerk nor Regular dwelling out of his Monestry should be exempted if he offended from being visited punished and corrected by the Ordinary of the place As Delegate of the Apostolick See (f) Sess 6. cap. 3. That the Chapters of Cathedrals and other greater Churches by no Exemptions Customs Oaths or Agreements should be freed from being visited and corrected by their Bishops and other greater Prelats by Apostolical Authority (g) Sess 6. c. 4. That the Ordinary of the place shall every year by the Apostolical Authority visit all Churches however exempted (h) Sess 7. cap. 8. That all Secular Clerks notwithstanding any Exemptions Declarations Customs Oaths Agreements shall as oft as there is need be corrected and chastized for their Excesses and Faults by the Bishops resident in their Churches as Delegates of the Apostolick See i Sess 14. cap. 4. That the Monastries held in Commendam the Abbies Priories c. not tied to a Regular observance shall be visited by the Bishops as Delegates of the Apostolick See k Sess 21. cap. 8. But for those Monasteries and other Religious houses in which they are tied to Regular Observance the Bishops shall provide by Paternal Admonition that the Superiors observe their Regular Constitutions and cause them to be observed by those that are under them and if within six months after Admonition they do not visit and correct them then the Bishops as Delegates of the Apostolick See may proceed to Visitation and Correction This is as I take it the sum of what the Council hath decreed concerning Exemptions In which observe 1. That the Bishops have nothing to do with any Regulars of what Order soever who do not dwell out of their Religious houses in case their Superiors take care that they observe the Rules of their Order By which vast numbers of men are left at liberty to defie the Bishops and to create to them all manner of Molestation 2. In case their Superiors neglect their Duty the Bishops cannot proceed to visit till they have first paternally admonished them and their six months further neglect after such Admonition But 3. That which I chiefly observe is That not only no Monasteries whether Regular or not Regular but not so much as any Churches or Chapters are otherways subjected to the Bishops than as they are the Popes Delegates they act purely by a Power derived from him which he may therefore either revoke or contract at his Pleasure A fine Sham Are not the Bishops highly promoted They may now visit and correct Churches Chapters Colleges Monasteries Abbies Priories Provostships Yes so far and so often as the Pope gives them leave We have seen that the Trent Council was so far from making any real Reformation in Discipline that it not only took no effectual course for the removal of any Abuse but on the contrary confirmed many and those such as were of all others most pregnant with mischief And yet this is not the worst for as it confirmed the old so 2. It introduced many new Errors in matters of Discipline as well as Doctrine by which the Popes Tyranny was enlarged and advanced to a higher pitch than ever Several of which have been already mention'd and therefore I shall not now inlarge upon them As 1. The Decree of Proponentibus Legatis pass'd in the first Sesfion under Pius l Sess 17. That nothing should be proposed to be treated of in Council but by the Popes Legats A Priviledg never granted to any Pope by any foregoing Council 2. The making of all their Decrees with the Reservation of the Popes Authority m Sess 7. Sess 25. cap. 21. as has been before shew'd Another new Prerogative conferr'd on his Holiness 3. The giving the Pope a Power to expound their Decrees as we have also before heard in case any difficulty arise about the sense of them or a necessity of Declaration n Sess 25. which was never granted by any

(m) Sess 11. which determins it necessary to Salvation for every human Creature to be subject to the Bishop of Rome and the Pope's Supremacy set so high that none might say unto him what dost thou It is true this Council was summon'd by Julius II upon pretence of reforming the Church but that which he really intended was to defeat the Reformation decreed by the Council of Pisa as Du Ranchin tells us (n) Review of the Council of Trent l. 4. c. 7. And that this was no uncharitable Surmise is sufficiently evident by the Event For what one Act can be mentioned of Julius during those five Sessions he lived that so much as look'd toward a Reformation And when after some Years Travel by the Midwifery of Pope Leo X something called a Reformation was brought forth what was it else but a Reformation from better to worse For as it takes no notice of any Corruption in Faith or Worship but supposes them entirely sound So 1. Not one in ten of those Abuses in other matters which were most complained of are so much as mentioned as will appear to any Man who will be at the pains to compare it with the Grievances which not long after were presented by the Princes of Germany to Pope Adrian VI (o) Fascit rerum expetiend ac fugierd fol. 177 178. and with the Articles of Reformation presented by the select Council to Paul III. (p) Richer l. 4. p. 136. and with other Catalogues of Abuses concerning Ecclesiastical Persons and Things published long before by Petrus de Alliaco Gerson and other Members of their own Church As for those Abuses which it meddles with what are they for the greater part but such as were in matters of small moment How triflng is all the Reformation that concern'd the Cardinals who above all others his Holiness only excepted stood in need of being reformed 2. Several of those Abuses it would seem to abolish it does it with such Reserves and Exceptions as do in truth give Protection to them For instance In the first Decree which is usher'd in with such a solemn Preface that if a Man read no further he will conclude that certainly some great Matter follows and so indeed it is as to the matter of the Decree but then an Exception is added which renders it utterly insignificant For the Decree is That Patriarchal Metropolitical and Cathedral-Churches and Monasteries shall be disposed not at the instance of any Person by way of Commendam but shall be provided with such Bishops and Abbots as are of suitable Age Learning and Gravity of Manners Hitherto well but see now the Exception Vnless it shall be thought good that with respect to the profit of the Churches they be conferred upon Men otherwise qualified upon the account of their Prudence Nobility Probity Experience or for that they have been Ancient Courtiers and deserved well of the Apostolick See (q) Nisi ratione utilitatis Ecclesiarum Prudentiae Nobilitatis Probitatis Experientiae atque curalitatis antiqae cum competenti literatura in sede Apostolica veritorum aliter visum fuerit faciendum Sess 9. in Decret Reformat Is not the Mockery now manifest Does not the Exception pull down as much as the Decree sets up Was not the Church notwithstanding this solemn Decree like to be provided with excellent Bishops Metropolitans and Patriarchs when it was sufficient qualification that they were Noblemen ancient Courtiers with a competency of Learning or such as had done the Pope good Service To as good purpose was it decreed That no Man should be dispensed with to hold more than two incompatible Benefices without a great and urgent Cause (r) Bulla Reformat Sess 9. For when the Pope has a mind to gratifie a Favourite will he not easily find such a Cause Beside That a manifest Abuse is hereby establish'd viz. Dispensations without any urgent Cause to as many as the Pope pleases to hold two such Benefices as are incompatible 3. Instead of the Removal some very pernicious Corruptions and Abuses were by express Law established I shall instance in one viz. The Exemption of Church-men both as to their Persons and Purses from the Jurisdiction of all Secular Powers (s) Reformat Curiae alior which is utterly inconsistent with Civil Government and hath been one main Cause of those numberless Treasons Seditions and Rebellions in which that Church hath the preeminence of others 4. As for some other Decrees which respect Manners and Discipline namely That Clergymen especially should live chastly and that they who live otherwise should be severely punished according to the Canons That the Constitutions of former Popes against Simonists should be renewed (t) Ibid. Could they be otherwise than insignificant as long as the causes of these Corruptions were still maintained and no provision made for putting the Canons in execution For the Pope to talk of reviving the ancient Canons without first reforming his own Court from whence the neglect and contempt of these Canons mainly proceeded was as absurd as to go about to cleanse the Stream while the Fountain remains polluted And that de facto the Censures decreed by this Council were for the most part never executed is confess'd even by the Bigot Carranza (u) Summa Concilior p. 897. I need say no more Nor was it indeed needful to say so much since I might have spared the pains of proving that which was so notorious by the event I appeal to the Romanists themselves whether Corruptions and Abuses did not more abound and whether Complaints against them were not more loud and clamorous after the celebration of this Council than before A worthy Reformation so palpable was the Cheat that divers of their own Church speak of it with Indignation and Abhorrency This says the Doctor frequently quoted is that excellent Reformation so earnestly desired by all Christian Nations for 200 years or to speak more truly this is the Cover and Daub for the Abuses of the Roman Court (w) Haec illa est eximia tantopere à Christianis Nationibus ducentis abhinc annis exoptatat Reformatio vel ut verius dicamus abusuum Curiae-Romanae incrustatio atque involutio Richer l. 4. p. 26. And speaking again of this Council he represents it as that which might make any Man despair of ever seeing a good Reformation For since says he Diseases Injuries and Corruptions flow thence from whence Medicine and wholsom Laws ought to proceed who would not abandon all hope of the publick Safety and of the Restauration of the Church to a better state (x) Cum igitur morbi injuriae atque corruptelae illinc unde medicina juraque salutaria debebant promonare scaturiunt quotusquisque de Ecclesiae in melius instauratione de publica salute spem omnem non merito abjiciat l. 4. p. 117 118. What those Diseases Injuries and Corruptions were which flowed from this Council and