of that ridiculous question which was so solemnly sent to Rome Namely Whether he that had the name and title of a King only being given to idlenesse or he that was active and exercised the office and power of a King deserved to weare the regal diademe Which in plain termes was this Whether Chilperick King of France descended from the ancient race of Kings having out of respect to his own ease entrusted the management of affairs with his servant Pipin might not be turned out of that throne which his ancestours had so long enjoyed by his own servant whom he had unadvisedly rais'd to a Capacity of doing it if he would The good Pope was not ashamed of this senselesse question nor needed he to be instructed how profitable it was to judge for the strongest At length it came to this that King Chilperick's head was shaven and his man Pipin's wore the Crown Now Pipin having made use of pontificial authority to cheat the poore Francks of their King and to invade the temporal Soveraignty did out of gratitude recompense the Pope with a spiritual jurisdiction over the Gallicane Church Nay further when Desiderius the Lombard infested Gregory the third Pipin out of a tender regard to that See which had been so friendly towards him not only by his aid delivered the Pope from feare of being besieged in Rome but gave him as the Italian writers say the Exarchate with several other territories Eighthly The Conquering arms of Charlemaign son to King Pipin who having the same reasons that his Father had to indulge the pontificial See confirmed whatsoever his Father Pipin had granted to the Pope Yet to make him the more sure Leo the third with the people of Rome elected him Roman Emperour Hence it came to passe that as far as the Conquests made by Charlemaigne did reach So farre also did Papal authority extend No otherwise than the Mahometan doctrine did enlarge it's bounds by the victorious arms of Ottoman Thus have we proceeded to the Pope's Ecclesiastique supremacy through eight severall causes Of which the six former may be accounted the more remote or procatarctique The two latter being those which put together doe integrate the principal efficient and adaequate cause For although the six procatarctiques did very much embroile the Church affairs and laid them in a tendency to Papal encroachments yet it is evident that the universal power which the Pope acquired over the Western Churches owed it's very rise and being to the notorious jugling between the Roman Bishops and the usurpers of the French Merovingean Crown Well therefore may the Kings of France be stiled the eldest sons of the Papal Church Nay rather let them be stiled fathers thereof There being no appearance in History of a generall submission unto the pontificiall See untill the dayes of the traitor Pipin and the Emperour his Son But then you may perceive as it were a bargain stroake of mutual assistance between the pontificial and the French tyrants The pontificial assistance is made use of by Pipin for the deposing his master and invading the French Crown By Charles his Sonne for the obtaining of the Western Empire They on the other side in lieu of their secular Kingdomes settle upon the Popes an Ecclesiastique Soveraignty Nor are they content to gratifie them only so but they must needs be giving them a very fair temporal demeans The tast of which did so please their palates that they have been ever since hankering to be Lords paramount over all the world in Civil as well as Ecclesiastical affairs Wherefore it behoves me next to set down the remaining causes of the Papal encroachment Whereby the Bishop of Rome was encouraged to usurp unto himselfe the rights of the Magistrate CHAP. III. How or by what Causes the Pope was not onely confirmed in his Ecclesiastical usurpation but was also encouraged to invade the rights of the Magistrate HEre I shall in the first place premise that the causes mention'd in the foregoing Chapter did not only advance the Pope's Ecclesiastique Tyrannie but also had an influence upon the making of way for his temporal usurpation Had he not first come to that heighth in the Church he could never have dreamt of a superintendency over the state Likewise the causes which now follow are to be allowed an influence upon the Popes domination spiritual by way of confirming him in his unjust acquests Although I confesse they do more neerly concerne his invading the rights of the Magistrate in regard that we have already brought him unto the highest pinnacle in the Church Ninthly The donation which Pipin made and his sonne Charles confirmed unto the Pope whereby he was possessed of a very large territory yet not as Lord in chiefe thereof but rather as a dependant on the Empire as appeares by several actions of Charlemaigne and his Sons after him which sufficiently evince that they kept the Soveraignty of those places still unto themselves however this proved such a bait of temptation to the Pope that he hath ever since had an unbridled lust after the kingdomes of this world and the glory thereof insomuch that he who pretends to be the Universal Vicar of Christ and Deputy to Him in His Kingdome seems unto me a pretty riddle Our Saviour doth absolutely Declare that His Kingdome is not of this world But I pray to what world doth that belong which is full of armed Souldiers walled Cities fortified Havens strong Gallies great Guns abundance of Ammunition and Treasures Tenthly The general decay of Learning after the dayes of Charlemaign Whence it came to passe that the East and the West were not more alienated one from the other by the distinction of different Empires than they were by the want of mutual correspondence in learned entercourses Nay it was the policy of the Popes by affronts done to the Emperours and several other waies to augment the strangenesse between the Greeks and the Latines That so the Barbarians being brought up in a prejudice against the Gracians might neglect their language and consequently be overcast with such a night of ignorance that they should not be able to see the injustice of the Papal proceedings And truly to the losse of the Greek tongue may justly be imputed the losse of all purity in the Latine and consequently of History Geography skill in Antiquity and whatsoever savour'd of polite learning Thus the whole Western Empire were quite deprived of the benefit they might have received by informing their judgments in Religion with the goodly books that were written in Greek Nay they did not so much as knowingly converse with the Latin Fathers So that it was allmost impossible for them to be acquainted with the infant purity of the Christian religion which they had taken upon trust from the Roman Bishop Whereas if they had but well studied the writings of those men whose Fathers were converted together with nay some before the Bishop of Rome it would have been
increase of veneration Thirdly The comming of the Lombards into Italy who intending the finall conquest of that Country for themselves made it their businesse to destroy the power of the Emperour whom they found Lord thereof Wherefore as soone as the Emperour began to chastise the Insolency of any Roman Bishop who now by reason of the aforementioned causes began to play tricks The Lombard was at hand to help him Again on the otherside when the Lombard out of a desire to win Rome it selfe fell foule with it's Bishop The Emperour for fear of loosing his dominion was faine to helpe him whom before he did endeavour to punish Marke how capriciously things in those daies stood and how exceeding well they suited with the Roman Bishop Whensoever he had to doe with the Lombard he was sure of the Emperous help And when he contended with his Master the Barbarian presently took his part Thus did he rivet himselfe into his Authority between the Emperour and the Lombard till at last by the helpe of the French He brought them both below himselfe as to any Italian Dominion Fourthly The reputation of Gregory the first Roman Bishop of that name who was sir named the Great This man lived in the hottest season of the Barbarian violence when the Empire of the Romans and their learning failed In such an age as that was he being endowed with great natural parts and well accomplisht with acquired perfections did easily overtop his contemporaries Before he was Bishop By his retiring for devotion 's sake to the private life of a Monk By his zealous turning his own house at Rome into a Monastery In general by his outward austerity and sanctity of life he so gained upon the Roman people that they would not part with him when he proffered to goe into Brittany for to convert the Saxons And when he was sent to Constantinople upon publique employment he quickly obtained the Emperour's favour Afterwards when he was chosen Bishop By his zeale in continuing to write volume upon volume concerning the Christian Doctrine As also in destroying the Heathen Authours and those goodly buildings at Rome which he feared might tempt the admiring beholders to hanker after the ancient Roman glory By his new modelling the Christian worship adding many inventions of his own to make it more splendid and pompous in vulgar eyes By his converting the English Saxons By these and many other waies he grew renowned in the world and filled Christendome with his name Nor did his glory expire with his life About an hundred years after this Gregory our Bede in the West and Monke Damascene in the East were passionate in their respects for him and highly magnified him in their writings Nay generally the Monks for a long time did so reverence his memory that he seemed to eclipse the primitive Fathers Now this great esteem and high valuation which the world had of Gregory the first did redound upon the Roman See and proved notably advantageous for his successours But nothing more strengthned their hands than his converting our English Nation No people in the world for a long time after were more prodigal of their bloud more enpensive of their estates in behalfe of the Roman Bishops than our English No people more earnest in their devotion to Rome This can be attributed to nothing else but their conversion by Gregory and to that impression which his memory had left in the minds of their Ancestours and was handed along from father to sonne Nay what say ye if at this very day the Gregorian praises be fresh amongst our English Papists who also have a tender regard for the memory of their Convertor Austin and love the very Benedictines for his sake Fifthly The prodigious growth of the Saracenical Empire founded by Mahomet in the time of Heracltus The Saracens cut out so much worke for the Graecian Emperour in his Easterne provinces that he was forced to neglect and at last give over his interest in the West Now this may be observed all along in History that the weakning of the Emperours was the strengthning of the Popes Sixthly The general deluge of Barbarians overwhelming the Romans in the West much about the same time that the Saracens did in the East Pannonia Italie Spaine France Brittain were all over-run not many years after one another These Barbarians comming from Climates frozen with ignorance as well as cold did both give and receive a Conquest As they Conquered the Romans by their Sword So they were reciprocally foild by the Roman Learning and Religion Now the Bishop of Rome was the grand instrument of their conversion For in those times of general desolation he best held his own and was most eminent in the eyes of the Barbarians by reason of his residence in that Renowned City concerning which before their passage over the Rhine and the Danow they had heard their Fathers speak of old How feasable then was it for him to foist what he pleas'd into the beliefe of those men who newly came from worshipping such kind of Gods as Aegypt was wont to adore Alas those silly soules taken up with amazement at a discovery of the true God had neither leasure nor ability to attend the observing of those obtruded fopperies which they did imbibe together with the principles of their Religion Wherefore if he that first told them of an omnipotent eternal God whose seat was in the highest Heavens and of a Crucified Saviour did at the same time tell them of a St Peter and his Successour T is no wonder that they believed one as well as the other If Valens the Emperour be an Arrian then all those whom he converts will be Arrians too For it is well known that the Visigoths flying from before the approaching Hun when they had obtained their request from Valens for a quiet Habitation in Thrace did not only receive from him the Doctrine of Christ but that of Arrius also Insomuch that they and their posterity for a long time after did stoutly maintain Arrianism So great a prevalency hath that Doctrine which is first seated in the spirits of men Here I shall crave leave of the reader to make a small digression concerning Baronius with a promise to trouble him so no more Baronius in his annals will needs have it contrary to several Historians that these Goths were converted to Christianity long before the time of Valens His reason is because in the time of Constantine they had a Bishop named Theophilus present at the Nicene Councel But I suppose nothing can be lawfully concluded thence excepting this that some few of them were Christians in the dayes of Constantine For my part that the body of their nation was converted before their entrance into Thrace by the permission of Valens I see no reason to believe Seventhly The Collusion between Zacharias the third and Pipin Major domo to the King of France Pipin made use of Zacharias's authority towards the decision
manifest that he was no such man amongst the first Christians as he pretended himselfe to be amongst them As also how notoriously for the advancing of his own power he had impos'd upon the credulous ignorance of their Heathen souls Now that this tenth reason of the Papal encroachment is not a bare notion or a thing meerly bred in my own private conceptions any one will confesse who doth but consider how really it is exemplified in the series of humane transactions As long as this fog of ignorance did darken mens understandings neither the preaching nor the martyrdome of thousands of people could much prevaile to the shaking off the Roman yoke But the case was quite alter'd when at the taking of Constantinople the Graecian schollars were forced to sly for refuge among the Western Christians they every where teaching their own tongue the reviving of that noble language did bring along with it the restoration of all Learning So that now what neither Wicklef nor Hus nor Hierome of Prague nor the Waldenses and Albigenses could effect that Luther and Calvin have wonderfully perform'd to the Conversion of whole Nations As soon as the restoration of learning had enlightned the world men were of their own accord disposd to follow any who by breaking the ice as it were should lead the way to their spiritual freedome Eleventhly The fatal discord between the grand children of Charles the Great who as soon as their Father Lewis the Godly was dead fell together by the cares about the Empire At last they came to this composition that Lewis should be King of Germany and so much of France as lieth betwixt the Meuse and the Rhine Charles should be King of the rest of France except the Province of Narbone which together with Italy and the title of Emperour fell to Lotharius who indeed ought to have been Emperour of the whole as being the eldest and chosen by their Father in his life time to be his Colleague in the Empire Thus was the Empire of Charlemaign cantonized by his Nephews and at last brought to a contemptible state for want of establishing a firme succession in the Eldest Hence it came to passe that the Huns the Saracens and the Lombard Dukes did miserably afflict the Empire finding no united strength to oppose them Moreover France fell quite off from the Empire being Governed by its own Kings Nay when Otho the great had setled the confusions brought upon Italy by Berengarius Guido and Lambert Yet still did the old danger hang over the Empire for want of a firme Succession For as soon as he and his Son Otho the second were dead There grew that quarrel between some of the Romans and the Germans about election of a new Empirour which made way for the Pope to order all things according to his own advantage as appeares by the twelth cause that next followes Twelfthly The formal making of the Empire elective by the constitution of Otho the third and Gregory the fifth whereby the Romans were excluded from the chusing of their own Emperour It being wholy conferred on the Germane Princes Otho and Gregory were induced to make this alteration by some affronts which they had received from the Roman people For Otho after the death of his Father had like to have missed of the Emperiall Crown The party of one Crescentius a powerfull Roman publickly giving out that it was high time for the Italians to choose themselves an Emperour and to bring the seat of the Empire into Italy again However Otho at last carried it and Crescentius with his party did submit But when Otho had made his own Countryman and kinsman Bruno Pope by the name of Gregory the fifth the Romans brake out into greater discontents than formerly so that the new made Pope is faine to fly for 't In his absence the people of Rome make Crescentius their Consul and he makes John Bishop of Placenti a Pope Well the Emperour Otho marches into Italy takes the Castle of St Angelo in which Crescentius had fortified himselfe and puts him to an ignominous death And having cruelly tortured John of Placentia he resettles his Cozen Pope Gregory Hereupon he and his Cozen having been equally vext by the Roman people did take a sharpe revenge in transferring from them upon their own nation the power of choosing the Emperour Otho had no children to care for and so was the more desirous to have the Empire setled in an Elective way after such a manner as he thought was advantagious to the Germans The cunning Pope did not only gratifie his Countrimen the Germans and revenge himselfe upon his enemies the Italians but also abundantly provide for the emolument of his successours It being provided in this constitution that he who was Elected by the German Princes should be called Caesar or King of the Romans but not Emperour or Augustus till he was crowned and consecrated by the Bishop of Rome Thus was the unreasonabl'st thing in the world committed that a Bishop should take from a People over whom he had but the spiritual charge their temporal birthright of Electing their own Prince and conveigh much of it into his own hands But when was this done Even in that barbarous age which was wrapt up in the very midnight of ignorance which brought not forth so much as one Ecclesiastique writer either good or bad And therefore is noted for a miserable age by Bellarmine himselfe in the Column of his Chronology over against those times which Column is entitled Varia Thirteenthly The unhappy juncture of a silly rash inconsiderate Emperour And a cunning subtile audacious Pope at the very same time I mean Henry the fourth and Pope Hildebrand alias Gregory the seventh Henry led a most dissolute extravagant life in making traffick with the German Bishops selling their preferments for mony Besides he went about to enslave the Saxons a considerable body of his subjects by building Castles in their Country to keep them in awe whil'st they were trampled upon by his licentious creatures This made the Saxons take armes in defense of their own liberty and at first they forced him to a composition But afterwards he gathering a great army together quite routed the Saxons and within a while got their chiefe Princes into his power having first passed his word for their security by the mouths of his Ambassadours Now such was the basenesse of his nature that having once got them into his power he brake his word and promise with them all excepting Otho Duke of Bavaria to the great regret of the German Princes Things stood in this posture when Hildebrand or Gregory the seventh took occasion to fish in troubled waters For the Pope observing that the Germans were generally discontented with the perfidious cruelty of their Emperour judged it the most opportune season to trample upon Emperial Majesty Wherefore he summons Henry to appear at Rome and give in his answers to those accusations that were brought