to affect a soueraignetie ouer the Church of God But be it Iulius assembled a Synod at Rome at the request as well of Athanasius as of the Eusebians his Antagonists what then Was it to judge of the difference betweene them by way of Appeale or was it rather to compose matters betweene them as an indifferent friend The verie words of Athanasius are these The Eusebians sayth he write vnto Iulius and thinking to affray vs request him to call a Synod and himselfe to be Iudge if he would where the Latine Interpreter rendreth it Arbitrator and Baronius vseth the same word Now I would know whether men vse to speake in this manner of a soueraigne Iudge And indeed the Eusebians seeing Athanasius come to Rome drew backe and made Athanasius wait there a whole yeare and a halfe vntill in the end vpon their non apparance Iulius examined the cause of Athanasius and finding him innocent receiued him to the Communion of the Church Neither did Iulius himselfe in the carriage of this businesse vse anie of this absolute or as they tearme it of this coactiue power neither did his proceedings anie whit at all sauor either of the pretended authoritie of a Pope or of the lawfull power of a generall Councell his words are these Though sayth he I haue written alone yet is not this my opinion onely but of all the Italians and Bishops hereabout Whereby it appeareth that this was no generall Councell but onely a Synode within Italie and therefore hath Baronius no colour to conclude from hence a Power in the Pope to call generall Councels Moreouer in his letters to the Easterne Churches he pretendeth nothing but loue vnto them He that wrote vnto you out of loue sayth he should haue beene answered againe in loue But a little after when he attempted to restore the Bishops whom they had deposed they presently assembled in Synod at Antioch where being there present a farre greater number of Orthodox Fathers than of Arrians as Baronius himselfe confesseth by common voice and consent they reproued his insolencie scoffing at him and bidding him to meddle with what he had to doe Here againe Baronius as his manner is beginneth to juggle with vs Baron to 3. an 341. art 56. and to dazzle our eyes by telling vs that this Epistle was written by the Eusebians when as yet it appeareth to haue beene written and sent by the generall consent of all this being no point of faith and doctrine to distract them but onely of Church gouernment Socrates speaking of this Epistle Socrat. l. 2. c. 11. They wrote saith he all by common consent Now of ninetie Bishops there assembled there were not in all aboue thirtie six Eusebians or Arrians and they not willing to acknowledge that name neither So likewise speaketh Sozomen of this Epistle Sozom. l. 3. c. 7. the points whereof what they are alreadie hath beene declared But what saith Iulius to all this doth he alledge for himselfe that either by vertue of his succession to S. Peter or of the Nicene Councell they ought to appeale to Rome no such matter his words are onely these The Fathers of Nice ordained and that not without the counsell of God that the Acts of one Councell should be examined in another whereby there appeareth no greater power giuen to the Bishop of Rome ouer Alexandria than to the Bishop of Alexandria ouer Rome As for the grieuance whereof he complaineth it is onely this that contrarie to the custome they had not written first of all vnto him concerning the difference fallen out in Alexandria to haue his aduice for the composing thereof as being Bishop of the first See as also that manie Synods had beene held in the East concerning points of faith and doctrine without giuing him notice thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contrarie to the Rule and Canon of the Church wherein is contained that none might impose anie law vpon the Churches without the aduice of the Bishop of Rome which was but reason considering the place he held But it followeth not therefore either that he alone might make Canons or that they his aduice once heard might not otherwise determine if they saw cause As for those Epistles of Iulius which we find inserted in the bodie of the Councels they speake in a higher straine nothing there but of Appeales to the See of Rome and of reseruations of all greater causes all founded vpon Scriptures Traditions and the Councell of Nice in all which no one word is to be found tending to that purpose But the verie date of Felicianus and Maximianus Consuls giueth them the lye there being no such Consuls names or anie like vnto them to be found in all that age no not in Onuphrius himselfe and which is the greater wonder Baronius himselfe our grand Annalist is ashamed of them Now come we to examine that famous Councell of Sardica which as Baronius and his fellowes thinke and not without some colour and shew of reason much aduanceth the cause of the Bishop of Rome Baron to 3. an 346. art 5. To begin therefore first I aske who called it That Iulius Bishop of Rome sayth Baronius was the first Author thereof appeareth partly by that which hath beene alreadie spoken and partly by Sozomene who seemeth plainely to insinuate as much But what is this to the purpose The question is Who called it and he for answere telleth vs That the Bishop of Rome was the first Author and aduiser of it whereas the one argueth an authoritie the other onely a care which had beene verie little if in that great combustion he would not haue sought some meanes of pacification But how doth Sozomene seeme to insinuate as much Sozom. l. 3. c. 10. his words are these It seemed good in the minds of the Emperours that the Bishops of either part should at a day appointed meet at Sardica a Citie in Illyria now called Triadizza These are the words of solemnitie and absolute authoritie of the Emperours And Socrates speaking of the same Councell sayth Socrat. l. 2. c. 16. Graec. edit c. 20. That the one Emperour requested it by his letters and the other readily accorded thereunto Also the Synodall Epistle of the Fathers there assembled reported by Theodoret speaketh in this manner The Emperours beloued of God haue assembled vs out of diuers prouinces and countries Theodoret. l. 2. c. 8. and haue giuen vs leaue to hold this holie Synod in this Citie of Sardica And Athanasius a man of all others most interessed in this Councell Athanas Apolog 2. Balsamon in praefat Synod Sardicens By the commaund sayth he of the most religious Emperours Constans and Constantius c. And Balsamon in his preface to this Councell By the commaundement sayth he of these two brothers were assembled 341 Bishops at Sardica And now tell me what are become of Baronius his ghesses Likewise Liberius himselfe successor vnto Iulius sent Lucifer a
euident example hereof in the first Action where those Iudges ordained Concil Chalced. Act. 1. Cognit 2. That the Patriarche should take each of them one or two of his owne Prouince vnto him that they might handle the points of faith each of them with their seuerall companies and so report to the whole Synod what they in particular had agreed vpon Whereas if the Popes Legats had presided this action should haue belonged to them and not vnto the Iudges Yea but saith Bellarmine They sat first Bellar. de Concil Eccles l. 1. c. 19. a good argument for their precedencie and they spake first no good argument for their presidencie for euerie man knoweth that the argument had beene stronger if they had spoken last But he saith yet farther That they pronounced in the name of the Pope and of all the Councell the definitiue sentence against Dioscorus and that they degraded him from his Priesthood But he should remember that it is one thing for a man to giue his voice as Paschasin did and that first before all others for Leo and another thing to giue a sentence In which matter we shall need the lesse proofe because Paschasin himselfe hauing giuen his voice Concil Chalced. Action 3. addeth farther Let the holie Synod saith he now decree meaning of Dioscorus his cause Then followeth Anatolius Bishop of Constantinople and the rest euerie one in his order which take vp ten or twelue leaues and then in the end and not before was his condemnation signed To conclude saith Bellarmine the Synodall Epistle it selfe written vnto Leo sayth Tu sicut membris caput praeeras i. Thou wert there ouer the rest as a Head ouer the members in the person of those who supplied thy roome I graunt in order of sitting as for the Presidencie read on and thou shalt find toward the end of the letter that the Emperours themselues Imperatores ad ornandum decentissime praesidebant to grace and honour that assemblie presided in a comelie order But graunt we that the Pope did preside in that Councell in the person of his Legats what getteth he thereby more than this That to his face and in the middest of all his ruffe he lost his cause condemning himselfe by his owne mouth and pronouncing equalitie where he pretended superioritie and that in so great and so renowmed a Councell as that of Chalcedon was Neither may we here forget how that when as about this time the Bishops began too licentiously to abuse their authoritie the Emperour Valentinian thought it fit to meet with this inconueience by making a law against them Manie saith he complaine of Episcopall iurisdiction it is fit therefore to make a law for the restraint thereof Iurgium If therefore there shall happen to fall anie brawle or debate betweene clerkes and the parties shall be pleased to compromit the matter let the Bishops heare the cause and determine of it Which course is also permitted to lay men if the parties can so agree vpon it otherwise we no waies suffer them meaning the Bishops to be Iudges In Cod. Theodos inter Nouell Valentinian lib. 2. tit 12. For it is apparent that by the lawes Bishops and Priests haue no iurisdiction neither ought they to take knowledge of anie causes by the lawes and ordinances of Honorius and Arcadius contained in the Theodosian Code saue onely in cases of religion If both parties or either of them being Clergie refuse to stand to the iudgement of the Bishop then let the cause be decided according to the common lawes of the Empire But if the plaintife be a lay man and the cause either ciuile or criminall then it shall be lawfull for him to make the defendant being Clergie to answere vnto him by course of law before the publike Magistrate which course we will and commaund also to be obserued in the person of Bishops But if an action of Batterie or other enormous iniurie offered be brought against a Clergie man then let him answere the plaintife before the publike Magistrat in course of law by their lawfull Atturney But because this law is long and extendeth it selfe to so manie particulars therefore I referre the reader to the place it selfe where this law is set downe at large But welfare Baronius Baron vol. 2. an 452. art 52 53. who sayth That the making of this law incensed the wrath of God and caused Attila with the Hunnes to come downe vpon the Empire And why should we not rather beleeue the Writers of those times who impute that calamitie to the corruption of the Church and Churchmen witnesse Saluianus Bishop of Marscilles Baron an 444. vol. 6. art 30. But to returne from whence we came Baronius is bold ynough to affirme were we as forward to beleeue that the Popedome gat ground exceedingly vnder the reigne of Leo the first And first he saith that Dioscorus that coile-keeper which gaue fire to the Eutychian heresie in the East so soone as he was created Bishop of Alexandria according to the custome saith he dispatched away letters vnto Leo which dispatch of his Baronius interpreteth for no lesse than a plaine homage But can or will he be ignorant of this custome vsed among them namely that Bishops especially those of the greater Sees so soone as they were elected were wont to send away their letters generall to all the Churches at least to the most principall among them together with a briefe confession of their faith thereby to aduertise them both of their election and also of their true profession for the better maintenance of that bond of peace and loue which was betweene them How manie such entercourses and reciprocall letters haue we recorded betweene the Bishops of Rome and Constantinople Ep. 42. edit Pamel And so likewise did Cornelius Bishop of Rome aduertise those in Afrike of his election whereupon S. Cyprian and his Collegues congratulate him and which is more approue of his election for the verie Epistle which Cyprian wrote vnto him in answere to his letter beareth this inscription Of the election of Cornelius approued by him the said Cyprian And yet he neuer demanded Annats by vertue of such his approbation Yea but saith he Leo reproued Dioscorus for certaine ceremonies vsed in the Church of Alexandria and calleth him backe to the vsages and customes of the Church of Rome because that S. Marc was a disciple of S. Peter Leo. ep 81. No man can doubt but that Leo was euer harping vpon this string but tell me Cyprian ep 68. when Cyprian Bishop of Carthage either brotherly admonished Cornelius or sharpely reproued Steuen both Bishops of Rome did he thereby pretend or chalenge anie primacie ouer them if so by the like reason we may say that S. Paule chalenged a superioritie ouer S. Peter Paulus Ep. ad Galat. 1. when he withstood him to the face Secondly in the case of Hilarie Bishop of Arles Baronius
others but Frederick verie easily repressed him He also fostred incited against him the rebellions of Lombardie but these same also in the yeare 1237 An. 1237. Frederick hauing ouercome in battel at Corte noua brought them to that extremitie that he cōstrained almost al to yeeld themselues to his discretion Gregory til then could find no cause to manifest himselfe an open enemie against Frederick who onely sought but his owne But behold an occasion offered Frederick by force of armes recouered a part of Sardinia called Galura Gregorie pretendeth that all Sardinia belongeth to the Church therefore that this portion ought to be restored vnto him and we haue seene before vpon what friuolous title Contrariwise Frederick went carefully about to retaine it as being the auncient demaine of the Roman Empire and hereupon Gregorie being obstinatly bent he gaue the kinglie title thereof to Hentius his bastard Then was the Pope resolued on the day of Coena Domini to excommunicat him heaping vp together many vaine and friuolous causes which before he had not spoken of to strengthen the same Which Frederick vnderstanding being then at Padua sitting on his throne of justice declared and made his Apologie by Peter de Vineis his Chancellor who forgat nothing of the abuses and corruptions of the Pope and of the Court of Rome To the same end wrot the Emperour to the Romans and to all the other Princes cleering the equitie of his cause against all the obiections of the Pope and to shew how little account hee made of his Anathemaes he sent vnto him these verses Roma diu titubans longis erroribus acta Corruet mundi desinet esse caput Rome in great errours long time tost and shaken Head of the world no more shall fall forsaken But on the other part Gregorie openly professed himselfe head of the rebels of Lombardie stirred vp new commotions in Apulia joyning to himselfe in league the Genowayes and Venetians so that daily appeared some new treasons against Frederick some new rebellions still arose notwithstanding Frederick who lost no time passed into Tuscane and drew neere vnto Rome Now was it time for Gregorie to haue recourse to Precessions in shew for to mollifie the hearts of the people but in effect to trie all extreame meanes to publish the same indulgences pardons and absolutions from all enormities to such as should crosse themselues against Frederick as were woont to be granted to them that crossed themselues for the Holie Land against the Saracens So that an armie of Croysadoes issued forth of Rome and met him in the field but were by him in the first encounter ouerthrowne with a great slaughter With like faith and deuotion Gregorie conuerted against him the money that he had exacted throughout all Christendome namely in Germanie France and England vnder colour for the Holie Land and the Friers Preachers and Minors had none other theame of their sermons but this That there was greater merit in ruinating Frederick and his than in exterminating the Saracens than whom they were farre worse This rage passeth yet further Gregorie writeth to king S. Lewis requesting that his letters might be read coram toto Baronagio Franciae Before all the Barons of France That he had deposed Frederic and set Robert his brother in his place being resolued to assist him to this effect with all the forces of the Church Whereunto answered in full Councell Circumspecta Francorum prudentia saith the Author the circumspect prudence of the Frenchmen the words deserue to be written at length By what spirit or with what bold timerity hath the Pope disinherited and cast downe from the top of the Empire so great a Prince than whom none greater neither equall among Christians being not conuicted neither confessing the crimes obiected against him And if he were to be deposed for his demerits yet he could not be iudged but by a generall Councell Of his faults his enemies ought not to be beleeued of which number the Pope was knowne to be the chiefe For our parts hee hath beene vnto vs hitherto innocent yea rather a good neighbour neither haue we seene any hurtfull thing in him in secular faithfulnesse nor in the Catholike faith Wee know that he hath faithfully made warre for our Lord Iesus Christ valiantly exposed himselfe to the dangers of the sea and of battels We haue not found so much religion in the Pope but contrariwise he which ought to haue aduanced and protected him fighting the battels of God hath endeuoured wickedly in his absence to ruinat and supplant him The prodigall effusion of our bloud against him the Romans little regard so they may satisfie their wrath And when he shall haue by vs or others ouercome him he will trample vnder feet all the Princes of the world and lift vp his hornes of boasting and pride because he hath oppressed Frederick a great Emperour But least wee should seeme to haue receiued the Popes message in vayne though it he apparent to vs that the Church of Rome hath not done it for loue of vs but for hatred of the Emperour we will send prudent embassadours vnto him which may diligently enquire of his faith and certifie vs of it and if they find nothing but sound and good wherefore should we molest him But if he or any other bee it the Pope himselfe should hold an euill opinion concerning God we will persecute him to the death which the Popes embassadours hearing departed confounded There went then solemne French embassadours to the Emperour who rehearsed to him from poynt to poynt that which they had heard from the Pope Which when the Emperour vnderstood he was astonished at so vnmeasurable an hatred and answered I am a Catholike Christian rightly beleeuing all the articles of the Orthodoxall faith my Lord Iesus Christ forbid that I should euer depart from the faith of my noble fathers and predecessors for to follow the steps of vile cast-awayes The Lord iudge betweene me and him who hath so wickedly defamed me through the world and lifting vp his hands vnto heauen with teares and sighes he cried out The Lord God of reuenges render vnto him his reward Thus writeth the Monke Mathew Paris an English Chronicler And let the Reader judge what opinion France and S. Lewis had of this Pope In the meane time the affaires of Syria waxed daily worse and worse and the Christians that last passed thither had ill successe in Damascus which gaue pretext to Gregorie to call a Councell at Lateran An. 1240. in the yeare 1240 in which Frederick consented to be present hauing made truce with him But when he heard that he had sent his Legats Iames Cardinall of Prenest and Otho of S. Nicholas beyond the Alpes vnder colour to exhort the Princes to send to the Councell but indeed to make him odious to exact money of the Churches and to abuse the Councell against him hee intreated the Princes his confederats not to send
the nomination of the Occidentall Babylon Know saith he in briefe Petrarch Epist 8. that neither mine nor Ciceroes penne himselfe if he were aliue would suffice to decypher it Whatsoeuer we read of the Aegiptian or Assyrian Babylon whatsoeuer of the foure Laberinths of the mouth of Auerne of the groues infernall or of the marish of Sodome being paralelled with this hell they are all but fables and bables Here is tower-topping and blaspheming Nemrod Here is Symiramis and her quiuer Here inexorable Minos and Radamant Here is all-deuouring Cerberus Pasiphae prostituted to a Bull and here is the mixed kinds and prodigious progenie of Minotaurus Here are the execrable delineations of variable and wicked Venus To conclude whatsoeuer confused hideous or horrible forme was euer poetically imagined and fained may here be really seene and discerned Surely thou hast heretofore beene happie for thy vertues but now thou art much more happie in thy absence and remotion Take you this to be the same citie that you saw it sometimes heretofore to be Fie no it is sure another farre vnlike to the same Questionlesse that then was verie bad and those times most defiled and polluted but this moderne Rome is not a citie it is an habitation for spirits and diuells and to speake in a word the sinke of all sinne and licentiousnesse and that same hell and gulph of the liuing described by the mouth of Dauid so long time before it was founded or knowne Ah how often doe I call to mind that same fatherlie voyce and healthfull admonition when vpon my departure thou saydst vnto me Whither goest thou What doest thou intend What headlong ambition makes thee so vnmindfull of thine owne safetie Questionlesse hee that hee writ to whom he calls Father must needs be a man of some eminent note in those times In his ninth Epistle to the same partie he subscribes himselfe an exile from Ierusalem amongst and vpon the riuers of Babylon Epist 9. alluding to the hundred thirtie and seuenth Psalme where the Psalmist deplores the state of the Church and his own condition in the Babylonian captiuitie And in his tenth Epistle he layes open his reason You maruell saith he at the subscriptions of my letters and not without cause in that you haue onely read of two Babylons one in times past amongst the Assyrians where Symiramis liued with so great renowme and another amongst the Aegiptians which flourisheth still in this our age But cease to admire saith he for this part of the earth hath also her Babylon Auignion for where I pray you may the citie of confusion be better seated than in the quarters of the West By whom it was built is verie vncertaine but by whom it is inhabited is manifestly knowne by people certainely who in all right may giue her this name And if you please beleeue me Here dwells puissant Nemrod on earth the strong and mightie Hunter conspiring against the Lord and with his ayrie towers aspiring vnto heauen Here also abides a more furious Cambyses than he of the East nay than the Turke himselfe Doe but consult with Catholike Authors but especially with Saint Augustine and you shall find what this name of Babylon meanes which hauing read you will then say it belongs no lesse to Rodanus than to the riuers of Euphrates and Nilus You may also peraduenture greatly wonder at the fiue Labyrinthes when amongst other writers you find no mention made but of foure this fift being the worst and most inextricable whether it then were not or as yet was not knowne Whosoeuer would truely view and peruse it let him come hither here wants no horrour of imprisonment no errour of palpable darkenesse no fatall Vrnes shuffling together the lots and destinies of mankind and to conclude no Imperious Minos no tearing Minotaures nor lasciuious pourtraitors of damned Venus are rare and scarce All hope of saluation lyes in gold the cruell king with gold is pacified the prodigious monster by gold is subdued for gold the web of saluation is wouen onely for gold the hard thresholds of this gate are showne for gold barres and stones are broken with gold the grizlie Porters mouth is stopt for gold heauen lyes open and what needs many words Christ himselfe for gold is sold And in the eleuenth Epistle protesting what danger hung ouer his head for speaking truth Epist 11. Euen as saith he without the kingdome of vertue veritie was alwaies feeble and weake being destitute of any aid or helpe what must needs happen doe you suppose where vertue lyes cleane extinguished and deepely buried There veritie no question is a most capitall crime and onely of it selfe sufficient to acquire many mens hatred where one mans loue shal be sought with many obsequies flatteries c. Where no faith no charitie no pietie remaines but rage enuie excesse and auarice raigne with all their artes and falsifiers where euerie bad man is exalted the greatest thiefe extolled to heauen and the iust poore man flatly oppressed Where simplicitie is called madnesse and malice sapience Where God is contemned and money adored lawes troden vnder foot and good men laught at so as now there are almost no more left for them to laugh at I would willingly exempt one from this deluge of impietietie and I confesse he would well deserue it but then me thinkes it would be ridiculous to cut off so solid and generall a rule for one nownes exception And therefore here no Noah nor no Deucalion shall float vpon the water and suppose that Pyrrha made no more happie nauigation and escape than the rest for a mightie floud of obscene sensualities did ouerflow the citie a wonderfull rage and tide-gate of feminine delights together with a foule and vncleane shipwracke of chastitie without any exception at all of virginitie and modestie This little of a great deale more Truth dares relate Then he concludes To this Epistle I haue neither set to my hand nor my seale neither time nor place you know where I remaine and can vnderstand mee well ynough by my words Then in his twelfth complaining in his heart to God for the miseries of the time Epist 12.13 in the thirteenth he does particularize the same That renowmed Court of Christ saith he that famous Propugnacle of diuine worship in times past our sinnes being the occasion thereof being now destitute of heauenlie aid and potection is become a denne of vncleane theeues And the originall of all these euills proceeds from one onely fountaine though many other lesser heads and springs rise out of the same from whence a raging floudgate of all manner of miseries breakes in wherein we cannot but perish and be ouerwhelmed in the surges of extreamest mischiefes and if the mercie of heauen preuent not humane transgression and enormitie the Church doubtlesse is like to suffer a most lamentable and fearefull shipwracke How different are liues and manners and how discrepant the minds of some that build and
seene they betooke themselues to a most shamefull flight Iulian wondreth whence this feare rose what reason might persuade such an armie to flie He went about suing to the Captaines and exhorting them to take armes to set themselues in battaile aray and couragiously to expect the enemie That they did not now contend for the glorie of the kingdome or for the possession of some countrey but waged warre for their liues religion for the honour of Christ and saluation of soules That it was a shamefull thing for the Germans whose nobilitie and vertue was famous throughout all the world to flie out of battaile that better were it to die then to giue place to the enemies before they see them But truely here might Pius haue said more to purpose that from the death of Zischa Here is the finger of God But whatsoeuer Iulian could vpbraid them of or set before their eies all is in vaine so much had feare ouercome shaâ—â— The ensignes are suddenly snatched vp and as if there were no Generall in the armie euery man tumultuously without staying for commandement without saluting his fellow also some casting away their armes make hast to flight running as fast as they could no otherwise than if the enemie had bene hard at their backes and the Cardinall will he nill he is faine to accompany them Aeneas Syluius Histor Bohem. c. 48. 49. A while after the enemy emboldened by their feare come and seise vpon their baggage and get a great bootie Wherefore the Emperor and the Pope despairing that they should euer by force bring them vnder speeches are cast forth of calling another Councell at Basil whither the Cardinall went to take courage and heart againe after the flight Monstrelet Monstrelet vol. c. 1.258 though ill affected towards the Bohemians saith They feared no martyrdome no torments their verie women took armes and fought and the dead bodies of many were found among the slain in battels So that here if we respect the cause and reason of this war it may seeme to be compared to that of the Machabees Pope Martin with Antiochus both in their Councels and in their successes warring in time past against the people of God which Antiochus also is set forth vnto vs for a figure of Antichrist Sigismund had giuen hope to the complaints of the people from all parts That hee would prouide in the Councell of Constance for the reformation of the Church and therefore as well the Vniuersities as many nations themselues had exhibited by their embassadors to the Councel verie many articles tending to reformation namely of Paris by M. Iohn Gerson Chancelor of the same and M. Peter de Aliaco Cardinall which to this day are read yet they were appointed to be examined after order was taken for the schisme When therfore Sigismund saw all things finished that seemed should goe before Concilium Constantiens Sess 12.14 17.39 Sess 15. 21. That Iohn the foure and twentieth was deposed That Gregorie the xij had renounced That sentence was giuen against Benedict the xiij and order taken as it was thought to preuent schismes to come and moreouer Iohn Hus and Hierome of Prague condemned and punished he thought now the time was come wherein he might seriously solicite the Fathers to take in hand a Reformation and that so much the rather for that there was not yet any Head chosen the Councel might both more safely with greater authoritie and with lesse contradiction ordaine for reforming the Head and constraining him into order and he which was to be chosen Pope would the more willingly accept of the law prescribed to him for hee knowing not of his owne election he himselfe would consent to the reformation of the future Pope Therefore in the fortieth Session Sess 40. in which sat chiefe the Cardinall of Ostia William Cardinall of S. Marke read certaine Decrees of which he required the Councell to giue sentence that they might be published by the future Pope before the dissolution of the Councell yet were they but matters superficiall as the number qualitie nation of Cardinals reseruations Annates common and mean seruices collations and graces expectatiue confirmations causes to be reserued to the Court of Rome or which are not to be reserued Appeales Rules of Chancelrie and Penetenciaries commenda's alienations of the goods of the Romish Church extirpation of simonie dispensations indulgences tithes also the causes for which the Pope may be corrected deposed All which neuerthelesse are put off to be ended after the Popes election that a law might be made of them in Councel by his authority by the aduise of the nations Without doubt because that word galled them that scaped from Sigismund who to some that said reformation shold be begun à minoritis with the meaner sort answered yea rather a matoritis with the greatest meaning the Pope and Cardinals For he himself had instituted a forme of reformation which is yet read printed at Ausbourg in the yeare 1484. Wherefore Cardinall Colonne being elected Pope called Martin the fift on S. Martins day 1417 and Sigismund vrging him earnestly to a reformation he declareth That this long sojourning at Constance had bin a discommoditie to all the Churches That so great a businesse needed mature deliberation That euerie Prouince as saith Hierome hath their peculiar manners and opinions which without trouble could not be soone taken away and by his cunning deuises hee preuailed so much that he obtayned the dissolution of the Councell on condition that another Councell should be held fiue yeares after then another seuen yeares after that and from thenceforth from ten yeares to ten yeares in which they should treat of matters pertaining to Faith and to the Common weale And to make them beleeue that hee meant good earnest he presently ordaineth that the next should be held within fiue yeares at Pauia And then in the fiue and fortieth Session Concilium Constantiens Sess 45. Platina in Martino 5. Cardinall Winbald by the Popes commaundement pronounceth Dominiâ—ite in pace My Lords depart in peace with which words they were dismissed Sublato saith Platina omnium consensu maximè verò Imperatoris without the consent of all yea of the Emperour Who entreating him that he would yet sojourne but a verie little while longer in Germanie Martin excused himselfe vpon the necessitie of returning to Rome for that the Chappels of the Saints by the Popes absence went to ruine Wherefore saith Volateran he departed against the will and liking of Sigismund What fit excuse when there were propounded to him the diseases of the Church fretting away her most inward bowels yea threatning an vtter ruine at hand Martin then passeth into Italie triumphing without doubt that he had by his diligence escaped this daungerous rocke of reformation which he so much feared and now wholly bendeth his mind to settle and strengthen himselfe in the Popedome Balihasar Cossa called Iohn the foure and twentieth or according to
Constance sayd Although Christ hath instituted the holie Supper vnder both kinds c. Yet notwithstanding c. These of Basill say hauing well examined the Diuine Scriptures and the doctrines of the holie Fathers That the faithfull of the Laitie or of the Clergie communicating are not bound by the commaundement of the Lord to receiue the Sacrament of the Eucharist vnder both kinds of bread and wine altering and wresting the decision beside the purpose whereas indeed the Bohemians complayned not that they were constrained to a whole Communion by the Romish Church but that they were excluded from it And what greater necessitie can there be to a Christian man than to sticke vnto the precept and prescript rule of his Sauiour These are euer their subtile deceits Lastly this Councel of Basil had forbidden to exact or pay Annates vnder pain of Simonie Eugenius who willingly wold loose nothing complaineth as of an iniurie done to the Church That this could not neither ought to haue beene done without hauing first consulted with Eugenius and his Colledge of Cardinals Respons factae per Domin Anton Auditorem pro parte Eugenij If any pretended abuses in them they ought to haue prouided against them without priuation of the substance that so Iustice and peace might meet each other euidently abusing the Scriptures For said he whence shall the Apostolike See defray charges in prouiding for the necessities and commodities of the vniuersal Church and for those things that belong vnto peace and the extirpation of heresies and errors And with the same reason ouerthroweth he that which they had ordained concerning indulgences election causes and vacations of Scribes and Abbreuiators of the Court of Rome and other like pillages And this was not the least cause why he would dissolue the Councell An Authour of those times not to be suspected saith That he was so prodigall of Indulgences that the Englishmen Thomas Gascoigne in Dictionario Theologico who perceiued it commonly sayd Rome commeth now to our gates The church of Rome is a great harlot for now she prostituteth herselfe to euerie one that offereth money And all being full of pardons the Popes negotiators at length gaue indulgences for a supper for a lodging for a draught of wine or beere for tennis play and sometime for brothelrie or leacherie We are not to omit that Eugenius who from the time of Martin his predecessour had accustomed himselfe to warfare and all the time of his Popedome had beene entangled in warre made such a wound in Christendome as hath bled euer since Vladislaus king of Hungarie had made peace with the Turke Eugenius sendeth vnto him Cardinall Iulian who promising vnto him some succours and a Nauie at Sea to stay and incumber the enemies persuadeth him to breake that peace seeing that it could not subsist with the enemies of Christ without his commaundement whereupon ensueth a bloudie battaile in which the Turkes had the victorie Aeneas Syluius l. 1. Epist 81. for to shew vs saith Aeneas Siluius after Pope Pius the second That oaths ought to be kept not onely with the domestick friends of faith but also with the enemies thereof In that battaile was slaine king Vladislaus a patterne of singular valour and of renowned Nobilitie Cardinall Iulian was wounded and in his retiring is slayne of the Christians themselues as Author of this miserable discomfiture by the desloyaltie of which he was instrument And from this misfortune arose others without end and without number so daungerous is it for any to enterprise any thing against faithfulnesse and beyond his vocation Memorable against perfidious persons Bonfinij Hist Hungar. Dec. 1. lib. 6. is that which we read in the Hungarian Historie When Amurath beheld his armie put to flight by king Vladislaus not without great slaughter pulling forth of his bosome the Articles of peace solemnely sworne vnfoldeth it and lifting vp his eyes stedfastly vnto heauen saith These are O Iesu Christ the couenants of peace which thy Christians haue made with me they haue holily sworne by thy Diuine Maiestie and haue violated the faith giuen in thy name they haue perfidiously denied their God Now O Christ if thou be God I beseech the reuenge here these thine iniuries mine and to them that as yet acknowledge not thy name shew the punishment of violated faith Scarcely had he said these words who expected the last of extremities against himselfe when the battell which before had beene doubtfull enclined towards his side c. This happened in the yeare 1444 An. 1444. from which time the state of Christendome could neuer well recouer it selfe More our the Councell of Basill or at leastwise they which in their name wrot against the Bohemians on their part set forward the progresse of abomination For when those Churches had determined not to admit any doctrine that was not grounded on holie Scripture Cardinal Cusan was charged by letters to confound them with this Axiome which they were not ashamed to maintaine That the Scriptures can by no meanes be of the essence of the Church either begun or continued but onely of the seemely order thereof Item That the Church is not knowne by the Gospell but the Gospell by the Church Item That so much the more worthily is the word of God giuen of God by how much the farther off it is from all Scripture yea and from all vocall word That by this reason he might reduce all things to the Church which they call Catholike from the Catholike to the Roman and at last draw them from the Roman to their Councell And when those Churches replied That that was not the mind nor voyce of the auntient Church which had otherwise celebrated the holie Eucharist and had in another sence interpreted the Scripture than now in these dayes it is Cardinal Cusanus Epist 2 3. ad Bohemos Let not this moue thee saith he that in diuers times diuerse are the ceremonies of Priests and that the Scriptures be found applied to the time and diuersly vnderstood so that in one time they be expounded according to the vniuersall ceremonie then currant but the ceremonie being changed the sence thereof again is changed Wherfore although of the same precept of the Gospel the interpretation of the Church be other than in times past yet this sence now currant in vse inspired for the gouernement of the Church ought to be receiued as befitting the time and as the way to saluation The reason followeth because the iudgement of the Church being changed the iudgement also of God is changed And by this accoūt whether it be their Church or their Councell it is not onely extolled aboue the holie Scripture but also aboue God himselfe who is held if we beleeue them to change his counsell after their pleasure of which doctrine truely euen the Iewes in their Thalmud and the Turkes in their Alcoran would be ashamed And when afterwards the Popes haue reduced the
THE MYSTERIE OF INIQVITIE That is to say The Historie of the Papacie Declaring by what degrees it is now mounted to this height and what Oppositions the better sort from time to time haue made against it Where is also defended the right of Emperours Kings and Christian Princes against the assertions of the Cardinals Bellarmine and Baronius By PHILIP MORNEY Knight Lord du Plessis c. Englished by SAMSON LENNARD Falleris aeternam qui suspicis ebrius Arcem Subruta succensis mox corruet ima tigillis LONDON Printed by Adam Jslip Anno Dom. 1612. TO THE MOST HIGH AND MIGHTIE PRINCE HENRIE Prince of Wales Sonne and Heire apparent to our Soueraigne Lord the King IF the Lord du Plessis most high and mightie Prince hauing finished this his worke out of that reuerend and honourable conceit hee had of your Fathers greatnesse that vnfained loue which true religion wrought in his heart and that hope he had of his future endeuors to beat downe Antichrist thought it a sinne though a stranger to thinke of any other Patron but himselfe to whom hee might dedicate these his labours much more I his naturall subiect linked vnto your Highnesse his naturall sonne with the same bond rapt with the same admiration fed with the same hope must say hauing finished these my labours Cui dicâre debeam ambigere nefas For the same reasons that moued him must likewise encorage me your greatnesse must encourage because the same being a Princelie branch sprung from that Royall stocke your religion must encourage because the same which your worthie father and all the Fathers of the Primitiue Church haue made profession of your hopefull endeuours must encourage because the same for what he conceiues of your Princelie father the whole world expects should be performed if not by his by your hand His pen hath made way for your sword and his peace if God giue long life may farther your warres Glorious be his peace and your warres and Gods glorie the end of both His Highnesse can best iudge what is fitting we can but wish and if hee haue begged at Gods hands with Hezekiah That there may be peace in his daies we all say Amen and with one voyce we all crie out Let there be peace vpon Israel onely we wish he may neuer haue reason to say as Dauid did I seeke peace and when I speake thereof they are bent to warre they intend mischiefe And therefore renowmed Prince leauing your royall father to Gods peace and his owne hearts desire giue me leaue though altogether vnworthie in a matter of such moment to aduise yet to wish with du Plessis that I may liue to march ouer the Alpes and to trayle a pike before the walls of Rome vnder your Highnesse Standard It was my first profession oh that it might be my last The cause is Gods the enterprise glorious O that God would be pleased as he hath giuen you a heart so to giue power to put it in execution Jn the meane time whilest our hopes are in the bud let me humbly beseech your Highnesse till my sword may doe you seruice to accept of the poore endeuours of my vnskilfull penne and as it hath pleased your Highnesse not long since graciously to protect my sorie labours bestowed vpon Charron his three bookes of Wisedome so now to pardon my boldnesse in vndertaking a worke so farre vnbefitting my strength and to protect my infirmities The God of heauen euer blesse your Highnesse and euer defend you from Antichrist and his bloudie designements that you may liue and liue long euen in perniciem to the ruine of him and all his Antichristian rabble Amen Amen To your Highnesse most humbly deuoted SAMSON LENNARD TO THE RIGHT REVErend Fathers in God GEORGE Archbishop of Canturburie and Metropolitan of England and IOHN Bishop of London RIght Reuerend and my verie good Lords I am bold out of that duetie I owe to two so great Prelats and pillars of this our Church of England to present vnto your learned and judicious censures my vnlearned and simple labours bestowed vpon a worke worthie the reading in it selfe howsoeuer by my vnskilfull pen it may be disfigured I confesse I was vnfitting amongst a thousand to vndertake a worke of such consequence and yet better I as I thought than none being a Mysterie fit to be layd open to as many as can read it in their mother tongue My good Lords pardon such faults as either by too much speed or too little skill or otherwise haue slipt my pen There is nothing past that may not be amended in a second edition if your Grace shall be pleased to giue the encouragement The God of heauen as he hath multiplied his gifts and graces vpon you fit for so high a calling euen in the highest measure so euer assist you with his holie spirit in that great worke you haue vndertaken to his glorie and the good of his Church Your Graces and Lordships in all dutie to be commaunded SAMSON LENNARD TO THE READER GEntle Reader I haue once againe aduentured my selfe vpon your gentle censures with this onely request That though perhaps a curious eye may find faults ynow yea sometimes where there are none you would be pleased to doe mee this fauour that if at any time you shall find mee to disagree sometimes from the Latine copie sometime from the French not to condemne me without the examination of both because in this translation I haue followed both the one and the other as occasion was offered and as I found them agreeing in one and the same sence This is all I request and so much the rather because I know the most vnskilfull is more readie to iudge than he that can iudge iudiciously S. L. TO THE FRIENDS AND FOLlowers of the Church of Rome LEt me once againe my brethren and friends speake vnto you and though perhaps I shall seeme to importune you ouer much yet it is with the same importunitie which the Apostle commends to his disciple 2. Tim. 4. v. 2. Be instant in season and out of season yea with that wholesome and opportune importunitie wherewith we pluck those that are neerest and deerest vnto vs euen by the haires of the head out of the furious rage of fire and water wherewith we pinch and prick those euen till they bleed that are dying of a Lethargie What shall I then say vnto you To some that are floating or rather fleeting betwixt many opinions and to others that haue alreadie stept ouer the threshold gotten one foot out of Babylon the huge height and greatnesse of the Popedome like a scar-crow is obtruded She is old indeed and by how much the more strucken in yeares in so much that she lyes groueling vpon her bellie by so much the more stupendiou◠Whereas contrariwise the reformed Church being little and of small continuance either by the noueltie thereof or the pouertie is contemptible And here that common crie of the Iewes
bee so muzled by these excommunications for first Cyprian in his Epistle to Pompeius Cypria in Epist ad Pomp. 74. Among other things saith he which our brother Stephen hath written vnto vs either insolently or vnfittingly or contrarie to himselfe hee hath also added this If any man come to vs for what heresie soeuer making no difference betweene heresie and heresie which yet the Councell of Nice afterward thought fit to make let him receiue imposition of hands in penance nay farther saith he his obduratnesse of heart and obstinacie is such as to presume to maintaine That by the baptisme of Marcion Valentin and Appelles children may be borne vnto God Thus he spake and this he maintained in heat of contention contrarie to what the Church afterward defined because these retained not the forme of baptisme But saith he a Bishop should not onely teach but also learne and he is the best teacher of others who is himselfe euerie day a learner As if he had said That Stephen should doe well to learne religion by conferring with his Collegues not to lay his authoritie vpon them vnder a pretence of custome which not grounded vpon truth saith he Cyprian Epist 71 is nought else but an aged errour Saint Peter saith he the first chosen of our Lord vpon whom also hee built his Church when Saint Paul disputed with him vpon the poynt of circumcision carried not himselfe in this manner neither boasted he that the Primacie was giuen vnto him hee told him not that he was an after commer and that foremost must take vp hinder most or disdained him for that he had beene a persecutor of the Church but submitted himselfe with all willingnesse to truth and reason giuing vs thereby an example of patience not to be selfe-willed in louing that which proceedeth from our selues but rather to account all that as our own which our brethren shal teach vs for our good saluation of our soules And vpon these and the like tearmes he euer holdeth him But Stephen staied not here for he had alreadie written to the Easterne Bishops Euseb l. 7. c. 4. who held opinion with Cyprian declaring vnto them That hee could no longer hold communion with them if they persisted in that opinion as appeareth by that Epistle which Dionysius Alexandrinus wrot vnto Xystus who succeeded vnto Stephen and yet more plainly by that which he wrot to Firmilianus Helenus and others to whom also Cyprian had alreadie dispatched Rogatian his Deacon And the Easterne Bishops vpon the intimation giuen them from Cyprian grew much offended with the insolencie and pride of Stephen and therefore in their answer vnto Cyprian We say they haue cause indeed to thanke him for that his inhumanitie hath giuen vs large testimonie of your faith and wisedome yet deserueth not Stephen any thankes for the good he hath done vnto vs no more than did Iudas for that by his treason he became an instrument of saluation vnto all the world But let this fact of Stephen passe least the remembrance of his pride and insolencie put vs farther in mind of his greater impietie And a little after comming to the fact it selfe Although say they in diuers Prouinces many things are diuersly obserued yet no man by occasion thereof euer departed from the vnitie of the Catholike Church which yet Stephen now presumeth to doe breaking that league of peace with vs which his predecessours so inuiolably obserued He markes not what a flaw he makes in this precious gemme of Christian veritie when he betrayeth and forsaketh vnitie And yet say they Stephen all this while vaunteth himselfe to haue Saint Peters chaire by succession And this no doubt was that which animated him to presume so farre vpon the Churches But made they any whit the more reckoning of his excommunications therefore or did they not rather tell him That thereby he had excommunicated himselfe Surely say they a man full of stomacke breedeth strifes and he that is angrie encreaseth sinnes How many quarels hast thou O Stephen set on foot throughout the Churches and how much sinne hast thou heaped vp vnto thy selfe in cutting thy selfe off from so many flockes For so hast thou done seeing he is a right scismatike which departeth voluntarily from the vnitie of the Church Cyprian Ep. 4. And thou whilest thou wentest about to seperat others from thee hast seperated thy selfe from all other Churches c. Walke saith the Apostle in your vocation in all humilitie of mind in meekenesse and patience supporting one another in loue endeuouring to keepe the vnitie of the spirit in the band of peace c. And hath not Stephen well obserued this precept thinke you when hee breakes off now with all the Churches of the East and anone with those of the South Or hath not he with great patience and meekenesse receiued their embassadours who vouchsafed not to admit them to ordinarie talke giuing order with great humilitie that no man should receiue them vnder his roofe and was so farre from giuing them the Pax that he forbad any man to affoord them lodging Can such a man be of one bodie or of one spirit who is scarcely of one soule in himselfe And see whither this grew in the end He is not say they ashamed to call Cyprian false Christ and false Apostle and a deceitfull workeman For finding his owne conscience surcharged with all these imputations he wisely began to obiect that to another which others might farre more iustly haue laid vpon himselfe Thus then wrot the Churches of the East vnto Saint Cyprian as much offended with the insolencie which Stephen had vsed vpon this occasion so that Pamelius had reason I confesse to say as he did That he would willingly haue left out this Epistle as Manutius had done before him but that Morelius i. Turnebus himselfe had printed it in his edition How farre is all this short of that mild and temperat humour of Saint Cyprian Cyprian Epist ad Inbaianum Edit Paris 70. in Edit Pamelij 73. We saith he will not fall at variance with our Collegues and fellow Bishops for the Heretikes sakes We maintaine in patience and meekenesse the loue of heart the honour of our societie the band of faith and Priestlie vnitie And for this cause at this present by the inspiration of God haue we written a treatise of the Benefits of Patience And at the same time for a lenitife of this sharpe humour he wrot another booke of Zeale and Enuie Such were the essayes of the Bishops of Rome euen in the heat of persecution and such were the wiles of Satan to serue his owne turne and to set forward his worke by their ambition and bad carriage of a good cause But Constantine comming shortly after to restore peace vnto the Churches and as it were to shed forth the sweet influence of his liberalitie and fauour vpon them these sparkes of ambition fostered by his bountie and no waies restrained by
as for any confirmation sought for at Syluesters hands there is no mention at all made therein And farther that Epistle which we haue in the first tome of the Councels besides that it is most foolishly written is not Synodical but written as it is expressed in the title by Hosius Bishop of Corduba Macarius of Constantinople Vitus and Vincentius Priests of Rome whereas the Synodals carried alwayes the title Of the Sacred Councell and withall the names of some of the most famous Bishops and to what purpose the name of Macarius Bishop of Constantinople which was at that time scarce built Neither doth it mend the matter that Baronius in stead of Constantinople readeth Ierusalem Baron an 325. art 171. for why then should Hosias subscribe before him contrary to the order established in the Councell or why before Victor and Vincentius Lieutenants at that time for the Bishop of Rome and lastly why was not Eustathius Bishop of Antioch first named As for the confirmation it selfe of Syluester Baronius acknowledgeth that whole Epistle to be forged and proueth the falsitie thereof by the date Neither is there any greater reckoning to be made of the testimonie of Pope Felix as being a witnesse in his owne cause and liuing one hundred and sixtie yeares after this Councell and either abused himselfe or abusing others with that said counterfeit Epistle Euseb lib. 4. de vita Constant c. 41. Now there were sundrie nationall Synods held shortly after vnder the same Constantine for the confirmation of that first Nicene Councell as that of Tyre in the yeare 334 at Ierusalem An. 335 at Constantinople An. 336 Baronius quarels vs concerning the issues of them and of their confirmation But what can he say for the calling and assembling of them or can he shew that either Syluester or Marcus complained that the Emperour had done them wrong as encroaching vpon their liberties and medling with that which appertained not vnto him 5. PROGRESSION 1 That Marcus Bishop of Rome called himselfe the Vniuersall Bishop 2 That Iulius Bishop of Rome offered to restore certaine Bishops deposed by their Metropolitans 3 Of the Canon of the Councell of Sardica by which Bishops wrongfully deposed might flie to Iulius Bishop of Rome An. 337. 1 ABout the yeare 337 we haue in the first booke of the Councels an Epistle of Marcus Bishop of Rome successor vnto Syluester written to Athanasius and to the other Bishops of Aegypt wherein notwithstanding what hath beene alreadie said he taketh vpon him the name and title of Vniuersall Bishop Surely we may well imagine that this Epistle is of the same stampe with the rest There he furnisheth his cause with all the arguments which hee can deuise The Church of Rome hath alwayes continued immaculat and vndefiled by the prouidence of God and assistance of Saint Peter euer so to endure And againe The Lord in the Gospell spake vnto the Prince of his Apostles saying I haue prayed for thee that thy faith should not faile Socrat. l. 2. c. 11. Edit Lat. Sozom. l. 3. c. 7. 2 After which time we find in Socrates and Sozomene that Iulius successor vnto Marcus tooke vpon him by absolute authoritie to restore sundrie Bishops of the Easterne Churches deposed for diuers causes by their Synods Because saith he the care of all the Churches belonged to him by reason of his See therefore he wrot to the Bishops of the East telling them that they had done verie ill to determine and conclude any thing against those Bishops without his priuitie Where it is to bee noted that these last words without his priuitie are added in the Latine translation there being none such to be found in the originall it selfe And farther saith he Iulius commaunded them to send some of their companions to appeare before him vpon a day appoynted Epist Marci in 1. tomo Concil to giue a reason and to iustifie their proceedings against them And if this Epistle be all one with that which we find in the first to me of the Councels with this title In the behalfe of Athanasius and concerning certaine excesses against the Church of Rome then would he farther persuade them therein that the Fathers of the Nicene Councell decreed That no Bishop might bee judged but by his See no Synod called but by his authoritie and thence proceedeth to sharpe reproofes and reproachfull speeches concluding at last That whosoeuer shall attempt any thing against this doctrine is irreuocably damned and for euer deposed from his charge And farther That whosoeuer shall be deposed without his authoritie he will maintaine him in his place and addeth this reason For that euer since the times of the Apostles and lately by the decree of the Nicene Councell as much the one as the other all greater causes haue euer beene reserued to the hearing and finall determining of his See An. 347. 3 So likewise in the yeare 347 in the Councell of Sardica at the motion of Hosius there was a decree which passed to this purpose That Bishops deposed by their Metropolitans if they found themselues aggrieued might craue and haue a new hearing of their cause before Iulius Bishop of Rome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which his successors since that time from a particular case haue extended to all sorts of causes and from the person of Iulius to all succeeding Popes and we now come to examine what Oppositions were made against these attempts OPPOSITION First therefore as touching the Epistle of Marc Athanas in Orat. Vnum esse Christum col 104. Athanasius himselfe might well haue answered him as he sometime spake in a treatise of his Thou art Peter and vpon this stone will I build my Church This is a faithfull saying and varieth not The Church is a thing inuincible And if perhaps Marc would haue gone to restraine this answere to himselfe and to his See Athanasius might haue replyed that though indeed he defended him yet his successor Liberius did openly condemne him namely when he wrote vnto the Bishops of the East in this manner Epist Liberij ad Oriental apud Hilar. in fragment I cast off Athanasius from our Communion not daining so much as to receiue his letters I maintaine peace with you embracing the confession of the Syrmian Councell which is all one in effect as if he had in expresse words renounced the Councell of Nice Wherefore S. Hilarie who liued at that time cryed out Ibid. This is an Arrian trecherie Anathema to thee O Liberius and to all thy companions Athanas in epist ad solitar vitam agentes col 470. Hiero. in Catal. in Fortunatian Bellar. de Rom. Pontif. li. 4. c. 9. Anathema againe and againe vnto thee thou false hearted double dealing Liberius And this is that accursed and wretched testimonie which Athanasius also and Ierome giue of him And Bellarmine himselfe acknowledgeth as much by reason of certaine letters which he wrote to Constantius the Emperour and
others all which were found in the Popes Librarie Now therefore let vs see what answere the Bishops of the East made to those letters of Pope Iulius They tooke sayth Socrates his reproofes in scorne Socrat. lib. 2. c. 11. edit lat Greca cap. 13. and calling a Synod at Antioch by common aduise and consent they returned his imputations backe vpon himselfe with all bitternesse telling him That he was no more to controll them if they thought fit to depriue anie man in their Churches than they intermedled at what time Nouatus was cast out of the Church at Rome Sozomene addeth Sozom. edit lat l. 3. c. 7. Graec. c. 8. That their answere was full of scoffes and threats For sayth he they attributed indeed verie much to the Church of Rome as the mother Citie and schole of pietie and of religion though so it were that their first instructors in Christian religion came vnto them out of the East yet for all this disdained they to be reckoned their inferiors as they who made it not their glorie to excell in pompe and riches but in vertue pietie Socrat. l. 2. edit lat c. 13. Graec. c. 17. and Christian resolution c. offering peace and communion vnto Iulius but still vpon condition that he should put out of his protection those Bishops of theirs which were fled vnto him This answere sayth Socrates much offended Iulius and it seemeth that it wrought vpon him for in his next letter he complaineth onely That they called him not to their Synod whereas before he pretended that they might not call a Councell without his authoritie he alledgeth now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the Canon of the Church forbad to impose anie Law vpon the Churches without the aduise of the Bishop of Rome whereas before he pretended a right absolutely to dispose of all which was the thing which moued them to replie that they would not be ordered nor concluded by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By which it appeareth that that answere of Iulius to the Easterne Bishops which we find in the Councels is meerely counterfeit seeing he is there made to speake worse than in the former euen to alledge That in the Councell of Nice there is a Canon which forbiddeth to call a Councell or to condemne anie man without the aduice of the Bishop of Rome though there be there no such word to be found witnesse the Glosse vpon that verie Epistle where he confesseth that there is no such thing there said apertè sed reducibilitèr i. not in plaine tearmes but onely by collection And thus we see how vnder colour of protecting Athanasius the Pope made way to his owne ambition Neither is Baronius his cause anie jot furthered and aduanced all this while He brought in Syluester who good man as he was neuer dreamt of anie such gay clothes attyred like an Emperour as we saw before and now he telleth vs that his successor Marcus began first to giue the Pall to other Bishops Pallium We read sayth he in the life of Marcus Baron an 336. art 62. to 3. that he ordained that the Bishop of Ostia whose office it was to consecrate the Bishop of Rome should at the time of consecration vse a Pall whereupon sayth he non inficias imus we denie not that he gaue him the Pall. Had Baronius beleeued it himselfe he would no doubt haue spoken it more roundly But let that passe this I aske when he sayth That this is the first place where the Pall is mentioned doth he not thereby acknowledge it to be a noueltie When he giueth it to the Bishop of Ostia at Rome gates is it not an argument that he sent it not at that time to the Metropolitans and Archbishops of farther countries Neither indeed is there anie mention made of this weed in all this age nor in manie succeeding ages after neither in the East neither in the West nor yet in Italie it selfe and must we then stand vnto a Legend as to a sufficient proofe For whereas he would proue it out of Isidore Pelusiota Baron an 216. vol. 2. art 15. 16. Isidor Pelusio l. 1. ep 136. a scholer of Chrysostomes it maketh cleane against him for it is there said that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Baronius interpreteth to be Pallium was worne by euerie Bishop in time of celebration and consequently no priuiledge of Metropolitanes or prerogatiue of certaine Bishops much lesse a present to be receiued or a commoditie to be bought for readie money at the Bishop of Rome his warehouse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his words are these The garment which the Bishop weareth vpon his shoulders made of wooll and not of linnen signifieth vnto vs the skin of the lost sheepe which the Lord sought and hauing found him layed him vpon his shoulders For the Bishop bearing a type and figure of Christ must also performe his office So farre is he from deriuing it from the High Priests of the Iewes to appropriat it to the Pope and to such as he for a fauour is pleased to impart it We haue alreadie shewed what maine opposition was made against the attempts of Pope Iulius yet doth Baronius vpon that attempt onely without effect ground an absolute and soueraigne power of the Bishops of Rome in generall He called saith he a Councell at Rome Baron an 340. art 1. sequ requested thereunto by the Arrians themselues who being cast out of the East hoped to find reliefe and succour in the West For answer we say that this was no Generall but a Nationall Councell such as euery Metropolitan might and the Bishops of Alexandria Antioch Hierusalem and Constantinople often did call in their seuerall dioces such as did Athanasius himselfe in this verie cause of Arrius Athanas Apologes 2. But this we affirme that no one of the generall Councels was euer called by other than the Emperour himselfe though at the request of Bishops so oft as cause required An euident argument that there was not at that time anie one Bishop acknowledged as soueraigne ouer all the rest by occasion whereof they were forced to haue recourse to a supreme secular power whensoeuer there was cause for Metropolitans and Patriarchs for the Clergie of sundrie Prouinces for the Bishops of the East and West Churches to assemble and meet together for the ordering of matters in the Church whence also it came to passe that during the space of three hundred yeares vntill the reigne of Constantine we neuer read of any Generall Councell and but of few Nationall yet were there in all that time Bishops of Rome neither during that eclipse of Christian Emperours in the reigne of Iulian could anie Councell be assembled how great soeuer the necessitie of the Church at that time was and yet the Bishops of Rome were at that time growne to some jolitie and began to looke somewhat big vpon the matter and
it out of question But shall wee therefore call him heretike minimè gentium And why not good sir since many a man hath beene so called vpon farre lesse occasion vnlesse a Pope holding opinion with Arrius by vertue of his Popedome be neither Arrian nor heretike An. 362. Now Athanasius in the yeare 362 held a verie famous Councell in Alexandria whither he inuited the Bishops out of all parts to helpe reestablish the true doctrine of the Church Our Annalist would needs persuade vs that hee did it by order from Liberius and that Liberius confirmed the acts of this Councell Which Baron to 4. an 362. art 208. saith he he plainely expresseth in his Epistle to Ruffinian But let who will read this Epistle and then say whether there be in it any one word tending to that purpose Nazianz. in Athanas At least Gregorie Nazianzene vnderstood it otherwise when as alluding to this Synod assembled by Athanasius he speaketh in this maner He prescribed lawes to all the world and drew euerie mans eyes vpon himselfe And vpon that question Whether and how farre forth such as had fallen were to bee restored he saith That the same courses were taken in all the Synods which had beene assembled In the presence saith he of the Bishops of all forreine Prouinces as also of Greece and of Spaine but of Italie or Rome no one word spoken Likewise in the yeare 364 Sozom. lib. 5. c. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there was another Synod held in Lampsacus where the Orthodoxe of Bythinia and Hellespont saith Sozomene sent Hypatianus Bishop of Heraclea to Valentinian the Emperour to intreat leaue to assemble themselues in councell The Emperour wearied with so many Councels called in the time of his predecessor Constans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to so little good purpose made answer That it was not lawfull for him being a lay man to meddle with the matters of the Church Whence Baronius concludeth That he thereby resigned all authoritie he had or could pretend in Church causes But the Emperour addeth farther Let the Church-men assemble themselues where they will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which words they tooke for leaue and thereupon assembled themselues And in the end that fell out which the Emperour foresaw which was that being ouerborne by the aduerse faction they could not hold themselues to the Nicene Creed Here againe Baronius taketh aduantage because they sent three Legats to Liberius Bishop of Rome with a Synodall Epistle True but these Legats comming to him salute him onely by the name of Collegue and brother and to begin withall tell him That they had brought letters to his Benignitie and to all the other Bishops of Italie and of all the regions of the West Who consequently were associated with him in the same letter And what I pray you hath Baronius now gotten Last of all and for an vpshot let vs not forget a good saying of Baronius who Optat. lib. 3. contra Parmen to shew the pride of Donatus alledgeth a saying of Optatus Seeing saith he that there is none aboue the Emperour but God which made him hee therein passed the state of men esteeming himselfe now no longer a man but a God Which was onely for that he refused to accept the almes and offerings of the Emperour with whom he held not communion Let Baronius lay his hand vpon his heart and tell me truely what Optatus would haue said of our Pope of Rome now adayes seeing that he so much lifteth himselfe vp aboue the Emperour both in his decrees and in his actions but onely this That of a trueth he is that man of sinne foretold vnto vs which lifteth himselfe vp aboue God and causeth himselfe to be adored in the Temple of God 6. PROGRESSION What ambition was vsed in aspiring to the Popedome and what was the cause thereof IN the yeare 366 in the election of Damasus successor to Liberius An. 366. appeared plainely with what ambition and violence men aspired to the See of Rome The booke of the Popes saith That Damasus got it by hauing the stronger faction And Ruffin who liued at that time saith That about the choyce arose so great a tumult Liber Pontificalis quia fortior plurima multitudo erat Ruffin l. 1. c. 10. Marcellin l. 27 or rather an open warre whiles some maintained Damasus and others Vrsicin that the houses of prayer that is the churches floated with mans bloud But Ammianus Marcellinus telleth vs both the historie it selfe and also the cause thereof Damasus saith he and Vrsicin enraged with a desire of that Episcopall See drew the people into factions who thereupon grew first to blowes and afterward to murders So that Viuentius finding himselfe too weake either to represse or to appease them withdrew himselfe out of the citie in which conflict Damasus had the vpper hand and it is certaine that in the Church of Sicininus where the Christians vsed to meet at seruice there were left in one day 137 dead bodies and a hard matter it was for a long time after to assuage this enraged populace And thence it was that Ruffin called it an open warre And Marcellinus adding the cause For my owne part saith he I doe not wonder considering the brauerie of that citie if men ambitious of that place set vp their rest for the purchasing thereof for hauing once aspired thereunto they are sure to be enriched with the offerings of gentlewomen and ladies and to be carried in their coaches sumptuously attired and so magnificent in their feasts as passeth any kings table Whereas they might indeed bee truely happie if not regarding the greatnesse of the citie they would order their liues after the manner of other meaner Bishops who approue themselues to the immortall God and to his true worshippers by puritie of life by modestie of behauiour by temperance in meat and drinke poore apparell and lowlie eyes Whence the reader may perceiue and judge wherein consisted the difference betweene the Pope and other Bishops in those dayes yet Baronius glorieth in this pompe and pride of the Popes and taketh great pleasure in these feasts as one delighting to hold his nose ouer the pot Baron to 4. an 367. art 8. 9. Rex Sacrificulus Marcellinus saith he was a Heathen and therefore enuied to see our Soueraigne Pontife to surpasse their High Priest in pompe and glorie But he should haue remembred That this is a question not yet decided among the learned Whether he were a Pagan or a Christian and by his words it should seeme that he was a Christian Hieron Epist 61 The modester sort of Bishops saith he approue themselues to the immortal God and his true worshippers c. What now saith Baronius to all this Hierosme saith he in a certaine Epistle of his telleth vs of one Protextatus then Consull designed who was wont to say vnto Damasus Make thou me Bishop of Rome
which fled vnto them for protection And this is that which the Fathers call Typhum seculi in Ecclesiam Christi inducere Typho isto to bring in worldlie pride and arrogancie into the Church of Christ which they doubted not to speake vnto Boniface himselfe saying We beleeue that seeing thou sittest in the Romane Church we shall no longer be oppressed with this vaine pride calling him alwaies Domine frater For whereas they triumph in this word Sanctitati vestrae i. your Holinesse they must vnderstand that the Popes themselues vsed the same stile and gaue the same title to them and to all other Bishops as Zozimus writing to these verie Africans We are persuaded sayth he that your Holinesse hath beene informed touching the proofe and triall which we haue made of Caelestius his absolute and sound faith and so likewise to others Against this maine wall of truth and veritie Baronius opposeth the brittle glasse of his owne fancie seeking to darken this cleare light with the smoake of his vaine discourse howbeit like a bird in a net the more he striueth the more he is intangled and the reader may easily obserue that he spendeth himselfe in vaine talke and sophistrie And first it much offendeth his patience that we say that those three Popes produced the Canon of Sardica vnder the name of the Councell of Nice for if it were done by error where is their infallibilitie if of malice where is then their sanctitie But saith he it may be that the text was corrupted Baron vol. 5. an 419. art 70. sequ and this word Nicene put for Sardican and I am forced to beleeue that these acts are not reported truly and as they ought to be Tell me reader whosoeuer thou art will such a shift serue in a matter of this importance Idem ib. art 87. Secondly saith he what aduantage was there to be gotten in alledging the one for the other for was not the Sardican Councell as good as the Nicene or are they not both Generall Councels and we haue alreadie proued that the Sardican Synod was neuer reckoned among the Generall neither did Innocent euer plead for himselfe other than the Canon of Nice vnder colour of this glorious name to dazzle the eyes of men and to abuse the world Thirdly saith he what likelihood that the Africans would withstand these Appeales seeing they had beene vsed from all antiquitie the onely thing which they misliked was the forme What need of answere to this argument more than the bare recitall of the argument it selfe and who doubteth of their presumption and arrogancie Or who knoweth not that euill manners giue commonly occasion of good lawes that vsurpations cause orderings and that if injustice were not we should not need the knowledge of the lawes Thou tellest vs that Celestius a companion and an abettor of the heretike Pelagius was condemned in Afrike August contra duas Pelagij ep l. 2. c. 3. Epistola Zosim ad Aurel. Carthag episcop that he appealed from this sentence to Zozimus Bishop of Rome that he admitted of the appeale and that this was but the yeare before true and Baronius you may perceiue that this proceeded of that Papall humor to admit of all plaintifes suffering themselues with flatterie and faire words to be abused oft times by the most dangerous heretikes But say I pray you what followeth Is it not that the Africanes complained of these wrongs that Zozimus carried it not farre that he was regulated and ordered the next yere following Augustin epist 261. edit Plantin Yea but saith he Doe you not see so and so manie examples of these Appeales mentioned in S. Augustine and thereupon alledgeth his 261 Epistle all at large Annalist would be as he is Doth he not see that all these examples were before the law was made and that they were the proper occasion and cause of this Decree and doe men in Commonwealths matters ground themselues vpon abuses or rather vpon Lawes vpon that which de facto is done or rather vpon that which of right ought to be done The truth of the cause is this Anthonie Bishop of Foussall in Afrike being deposed by the Bishops of his owne Prouince got letters of commendation from the Primat of Nicomedia to Zozimus Bishop of Rome by meanes whereof he found accesse to Zozimus and after him to his successor Celestin who bad man as he was went about to restore him by force of armes Whereupon S. Augustine who was present at his condemnation wrote to Celestin in this manner We are threatened saith he with a Posse comitatus and force of armes to put the sentence of the Apostolike See in execution and so shall we poore Christians stand in greater feare of a Catholike Bishop than the heretikes themselues doe of a Catholike Emperour Let not these things so be I doe coniure thee by the blood of Christ and by the memorie of the Apostle S. Peter who warneth those which are set ouer the Christian assemblies not to dominiere with violence ouer their brethren What could this holie Bishop doe more to stay the course of his rage and madnesse but in that great Synod of Carthage he with a multitude of other worthie persons layed the axe to the verie root of his pretended soueraignetie by their sentence there pronounced against him Now tell me whereas Baronius in this cause of Antonie Bishop of Foussall crieth out O admirabilem Dei prouidentiam c. O the wonderfull prouidence of God Ib. art 76. in matters concerning the Catholike Church at that verie time when controuersie was betweene the Fathers of Afrike concerning the Canon of Nice God would haue it that a cause should fall out by occasion whereof Saint Augustine himselfe who was present at that Councell was euen compelled to record vnto posteritie so manie examples of those who had recourse and did appeale to the Church of Rome Tell me I say whether we haue not farre greater cause to prayse his goodnesse in that out of these enormities and abuses he was pleased to direct this Councell to set downe a rule and a certaine order by which the Churches of Afrike might from that time forward for euer be directed Baron vol. 5. an 419. art 92. Fourthly will you see saith he how much they attribute and yeeld to the Church of Rome When they went about to set downe a certaine Canon of the Bible they consulted Boniface thereupon requesting him to confirme it and what likelyhood that they would not vse the like submission in the rest of their Canons But the verie reading of that Canon is a refuting of this assertion Concil Carthag Can. 47. It seemeth good vnto vs say the Fathers in that Canon that nothing be read in the Churches but onely the holie Scriptures which are these Genesis Exodus Leuiticus c. Wherefore their resolution and decree was absolute without anie reseruation both that the Scriptures onely should
had long since aspired vnto a secular kind of soueraigntie and power where the Latine interpreter hath put in Quasi which word is not in the Greeke it selfe Adde hereunto That in those dayes all the Patriarchall Churches were equally called Apostolicall and not the Church of Rome alone Sozom. l. 1. c. 16. edit Graec. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For Sozomene speaking of the first generall Councell of Nice In this Synod saith he were present for Apostolicall Sees Macarius Bishop of Ierusalem Eustachius of Antioch Alexander of Alexandria but Iulius Bishop of Rome was absent by reason of his age ranking Iulius in the same order and degree with the rest In which sence the Bishops of the East as Theodoret reporteth writing to Pope Damasus Theodoret. li. 5. ca. 9. call Antioch the most ancient and truely Apostolicall Church and that of Ierusalem they tearme the Mother of all Churches So likewise Ruffine Ruffin li. 2. c. 1. though himselfe a member of the Westerne Church as being a Priest in Aquileia In the citie of Rome saith he Syricius succeeding vnto Damasus and Timotheus in Alexandria vnto Peter and after Timotheus came Theophilus and Iohn in Ierusalem after Cyril restored the Apostolicall Churches And therefore this vsurpation of the Bishop of Rome proceedeth from the diuell and from none other Neither doe wee in all this age find any trace of that pretended donation of Constantine but rather we light vpon many arguments to proue the contrarie witnesse the verie production of the Instrument and the Vatican it selfe And for further proofe when by reason of the schisme between Boniface the first and Eulalius contending together for the Popedome Symmachus gouernour of the citie wrot vnto the Emperour Honorius he saith in this manner Baron vol. 5. an 418. art 81. sequent Absoluta iussione Idem an 419. art 2. 3. That since the knowledge of these matters belonged to him he thought fit to consult his Maiestie out of hand who thereupon rightly informed or not I will not say by his absolute command gaue order That Boniface should presently voyd the place and if hee obeyed not that forthwith he should be cast forth by force And when a little after for his more due information he had assembled a Synod out of diuers Prouinces To the end saith he that the cause being debated to the full in our presence Ib. art 10. sequent may receiue a finall and absolute decision And thereupon he sent for Paulinus Bishop of Nola a man at that time much respected for his sanctitie of life and wrot to Aurelius Bishop of Carthage and sent for Italians French Africans and others Ib. art 15. and in the meane time prouided the Church of Rome of a Bishop namely Achillaeus Bishop of Spoleto to the end the people of Rome might not be vnprouided of a Bishop at the feast of Easter Commanding the Church of Lateran to be set open to him and to none other And when Eulalius offered contrary to the Emperors command to intrude himselfe into the citie the Emperour by the aduise of the Bishops there assembled gaue sentence in fauour of Boniface commanding Symmachus the Gouernor to receiue him into the citie which he did accordingly with these words Your Maiestie hath confirmed his Priesthood Statutis coelestibus per me publicatis edictis de more positis c. And when I published your Edict euerie man reioyced thereat And to conclude Boniface falling sicke to preuent the like inconuenience against hereafter wrot to Honorius to prouide by his authoritie that the Popedome might no more be carried by plots and canuasses The Epistle it selfe in the Councels bearing this Title Supplicatio Papae Bonifacij and being ful of these and the like clauses God hath giuen you the regiment of worldlie things and the Priesthood vnto me You haue the gouernment of worldlie matters and therefore wee were worthie to be blamed if what was heretofore obserued vnder Heathen Princes should not now be obserued vnder your glorie c. Vnder your raigne my people hath beene much encreased which now is yours Neither doth the Emperour put this from him as a thing not properly belonging to him But let the Clergie saith he know that if God shall otherwise dispose of you they must refraine all secret plots and practises and if it fall out through their factions that two be named let them likewise know that neither of them shall sit Bishop but he which in a new election shall be by generall consent chosen If therefore the Bishop of Rome had beene at that time Temporall Lord of that citie and territorie thereunto adioining would he haue vsed these kinds of language Neither was it farre from this time that Synesius Bishop of Ptolemais in his 57 Epistle Synes li. 57. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To couple the ciuile power saith he with the Priesthood is to ioyne those things which will not hold together they busie themselues in worldlie causes whereas we were appointed onely for our prayers 11. PROGRESSION Of the Pretence which Pope Leo the first made vnto the Primacie An. 450. Leo. 1. in Anniuersar de Assumpt Serm. 2. 3. ABout the yeare 450 Leo the first would not giue ouer his pretence vnto the Primacie and therefore tooke for a ground those words of our Sauiour Tu es Petrus For saith he Peter is here called a stone or foundation c. and all his power was in his See there his authoritie was principally seene c. He is the Primat of all Bishops c. Whatsoeuer Christ bestowed on the rest he bestowed it by his meanes c. all which we read in those his sermons which he preached among the townesmen of Rome Idem Epist 8. ad Flauia Constantinop And farther he challengeth Flauian Bishop of Constantinople for that he had not first aduertised him of the state of Eutiches cause taking occasion therevpon to doubt of the lawfulnesse of his excommunication and would faine haue persuaded Flauian that he had done much wrong to him and to Eutyches both in not giuing way to the appeale which Eutyches had put in to the See of Rome Idem Epist 89. ad Episc per Viennens prouinc constitut This same Leo also complaineth to the Bishops of Viennois in France That one Hilarie Bishop of Arles tooke vpon him to install and to depose Bishops without his priuitie which he tearmeth to be no lesse than à Petri soliditate deficere to fall away from the soliditie of Peter whom saith he our Lord associated to himself in the indiuiduall vnitie and commaunded him to be called as himselfe was called And yet in the end he flattereth our Bishops of France willing them to remember that their auncestors oftentimes were pleased to consult the Seo Apostolike seeking by these sugred words to make them swallow the bitter pill of his tyrannous Supremacie and branding Hilarie with the name of a
Church to that of Rome or rather to make them equall each to other For whereas the Countie Iustinian tearmeth the Bishop of Rome Arch Pontife which importeth no more as Baronius himselfe confesseth than Archbishop this argueth not any superioritie but onely a Primacie of this See Neither doe those words in the letters of Pompeius Archbishop of the Vniuersall Church make any thing at all for Baronius his cause as if the Popes had at that time beene taken for Vniuersall Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For it is in the Greeke onely of the Catholike Church a Title long before giuen as alreadie hath bin declared vnto Basil and to Athanasius and to sundrie other Bishops Because as Saint Cyprian saith the Church is but one of which euerie Bishop gouerneth his part or portion alone without a consorts and the Bishop of Rome had at that time a great part vnder him For I would know when Pope Agepete consecrated Mennas by the name of Vniuersall Bishop whether he purposed to make him Pope or no and Dorotheus Bishop of Thessalonica though inferiour in degree to the Patriarches yet calleth he the Bishop of Rome Father and fellow Minister and Companion in seruice Fourthly wee shall best judge of the cause by casting our eye vpon the effects It sell out therefore that one of Horâ—isda his Legats had been foulely outraged at Thessalonica Dorotheus which had euer much fauoured them before was accused as author of that outrage Whereupon Hormisda sent vnto his Legats That they should be instant with the Emperour that Dorotheus might be deposed and banished into some farre countrey or otherwise sent to Rome vnder sure and sufficient gard and withall that one Aristides who was supposed to haue had a finger in that businesse should not succeed him The Emperour his answer was That there was no reason why he should be sent to Rome to be heard there where they might easily acquit themselves for want of an accuser And so all his punishment was to be sent for a few dayes to Heraclea and then was he restored to his See againe How farre are these proceedings from that power which the Pope pretendeth And yet haue we no more of all this matter than we find in an Epistle of one of those Legats to Hormisda Here Baronius Baron vol. 7. an â—19 art 140. as his manner is crieth out Is it possible that Iustice vnder an Emperor who taketh his name from Iustice should be thus forestalled through money in the cause of the holie Father for that was the imputation which Iohn one of the Legats laied vpon the Emperour But if somewhat staieth Baronius his stomacke that the Emperour shortly after consulted the Pope vpon certaine points of faith And what of that for his place considered what more vsuall or what would he inferre thereupon Moreouer he pleaseth himselfe much in a certaine sentences taken out of a certaine letter which he wrot vnto Hormisda which sentence hee causeth to bee printed in great letters Ib. art 98. We beleeue and hold for Catholike that which was intimated to vs by your religious answer O how dangerous a thing it is to deale fairely with this kind of people And what shall we oppose this faire dealing against all those proceedings formerly by vs declared And yet he cutteth off this sentence with an c. whereas commonly he is no niggard in reciting whole Epistles and therefore we haue reason to suspect that something followeth which if it were knowne would maâ—e his cause especially considering that these Epistles are taken out of the Vatican and the greater part of them as yet remaine vnprinted Fiftly and lastly he maketh much of one Possessor a Bishop of Afrike who sent a certaine commentarie which he had composed vpon the Epistles of Saint Paul vnto Hormisda and complaineth that he could receiue no answer The reason was saith he Ib. an 52â— art 12 13 14. because hee well knew that the Catholike Church admitteth of no interpretation of holie Scriptures but onely such as were first approued by the Apostolike See And where I pray you can he shew vs that Saint Cyprian Hilarie Ambrose Augustine Ierome Chrysostome and others euer sent their bookes to him for his approbation or what should they haue done to haue gotten their bookes approued when Pope Marcellinus sacrificed vnto Idols and when Liberius became an Arrian and when many of the rest turned Heretikes To what purpose therefore serueth all this discourse of Baronius but onely to busie and to abuse mens thoughts with childish vanities 16. PROGRESSION That Iohn Bishop of Rome was sent embassador from Theodoric to the Emperour Iustine and what honour the Emperour there did vnto him An. 524. ABout the yeare 524 when Iustine the Emperour had depriued the Arrians of those Churches which they had in Constantinople Theodoric then king of Italie and a professed Arrian tooke offence thereat and sent Iohn Bishop of Rome his embassadour vnto him The Popes now vse to send kings in their errands assisted with certaine Senators to intreat him to restore them to their Churches if not to tell him That he purposed to serue the Catholikes throughout Italie with the same sauce Liber Pontif. in Iohan. 1. And the Pontificall booke saith That they entreated the Emperour with many salt teares and that in the end they obtained their request Which he repeateth two seuerall times howsoeuer Baronius would faine disguise the matter And Nicephorus reporteth That when Iohn Bishop of Rome was brought to an equall seat where Epiphanius Bishop of Constantinople was to sit side by side with him for he neuer contested with him for the precedencie he was not therewith content but required to bee placed vp aboue Epiphanius in a throne by himselfe which perhaps was granted vnto him in regard of his qualitie of embassadour And Marcellinus speaking hereof saith That dexter dextero Ecclesiae assedit solio â—eaning that Epiphanius gaue him the right hand which if we will credit Baronius in many places of his booke is the lesse honourable place But the Pontificall booke maketh sure worke and saith That the Emperour Iustine in honour vnto God prostrated himselfe before the Pope and adored him OPPOSITION Theodoric though an Arrian yet much commended for his great moderation whether it was because he could not endure this pride or whether he had beene informed that he had suffered himselfe to be led away by those extraordinarie honours which Iustine had done vnto him immediatly vpon his returne to Rauenna chipt him vp in prison where he continued to his dying day Which made the Popes for a while after not to carrie themselues so briâ—kly as before Yet persuaded they the common people Paul Diac. l. 25. that a certaine good man had seene the soule of Theodorie caried betweene this Iohn and Symmachus the chiefe Senator whose head he had taken off into the isle of Lipara by Sicilie there to be cast headlong into
of Vniuersall Patriarch which place Holoander for feare of the Popes displeasure hath translated Patriarch of all that quarter whereas the word there vsed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth all the habitable earth Wherefore it is to be vnderstood that all those Patriarchall Sees are sundrie times called Oecumenicall without prejudice of each to other because the Bishops of those Churches being placed in the middest of the enemies of Christianitie were alwaies taken as watchmen ouer the whole Church who were to looke euerie man not to his owne peculiar charge onely but to all in generall that Sathan by schismes and heresies infected not the bodie of the Church like vnto fellow tutors who though by consent they administer euerie one his portion of the pupils goods apart yet is euerie one of them answerable for the whole Wherefore we see that sometimes these Patriarchs without blame put their sickles into each others corne and vpon the first alarme giuen by anie of these they all sought presently to procure an Oecumenicall Councell which was then so esteemed and called when they all or the greatest part of them with their inferior Bishops met in Synod and as Rome for the honour of the Citie held alwaies the first roome in dignitie so the Church there for the grace which God had giuen her to keepe herselfe more cleane from heresies than anie other was most respected and the Bishop also of that Citie tooke place before the other Patriarchs and in causes which arose was euer consulted with much respect and reuerence whereof Iustinian yeelded the cause which was for that saith he we haue sundrie times beene reformed by the Church of old Rome L. 7. Co. de sum Trinitat But so soone as either the Pope or anie other Patriarch began to abuse this honour and to encroach thereby vpon the liberties of their fellowes euerie man began presently to crie out of tyrannie and oppression 18. PROGRESSION 1 That the Gothish Kings vsed their authoritie in the election and creation of the Popes 2 That Belisarius by the commaund of the Empresse thrust out Syluerius and placed Vigilius in the Popedome 3 That Vigilius condemned the Councell of Chalcedon and confirmed the Heresie of the Eutychians 4 Baronius his censure of Vigilius 1 IT cannot be denied that the Popes of this age were sharpely set vpon this desire of soueraigntie and dominion but they met commonly with one or other who knew well how to prouide a Martingall for a jade and so much the rather because men began now to grow jealous of their authoritie and power as they saw them to vse it in fauour of one or other Wherefore these Gothish Kings vsed ordinarily to beare a hand in their elections which were carried otherwise after a fashion more befitting rogues and theeues than ingenuous competitors And Agapete was no sooner elected Pope Anastas in Agapete but Theodatus immediatly sent him as embassador to Iustinian the Emperour of Constantinople to excuse him of the death of Amalasuntha his wife daughter to Theodoric and by him recommended to the Emperors protection a fit commission for a Pope And the same Theodatus vpon the death of Agapete placed Syluerius in his roome being the naturall and lawfull sonne of Pope Hormisda Siâ—e deliberatione Decreti An. 536. The Pontificall Booke saith That it was done without anie deliberation of the Decree and he made manie Priests to subscribe thereto by force and feare How then can these men who boast so much of their Mission justifie this calling with sundrie actions ensuing thereupon Syluerius accepted of his kindnesse but Vigilius whom Boniface had formerly nominated to the See by solicitation of the Empresse put in now againe for his interest And here the Reader may well obserue an apparent progresse and proceeding of the iniquitie of this See the relation therefore of Liberatus Archdeacon of Carthage is as followeth 2 Liberatus in Bretuario c. 22. The Empresse Theodora who was of the Eutychian Heresie called vnto her Vigilius sometime Deacon to Pope Agapete requiring him to promise her vnder hand That if he were made Pope of Rome he would abrogate the Councell meaning that of Chalcedon and that he would write his letter to Theodosius Anthymius and Seuerus heretikes of the same profession and therein ratifie and confirme their faith promising him to send her commaund to Belisariuâ— that he should set him in the See and withall to giue him seuen hundred markes of gold Centenaria septem This Vigilius what for loue of the gold what for desire of the Popedome accepted of the offer and thereupon came to Rome where he found Syluerius alreadie created Pope wherefore he went to Belisarius who then lay at Rauenna to whom he deliuered his message from the Empresse and of those seuen promised him two hundred markes if he would thrust out Syluerius and put him in his place Belisarius thereupon returned to Rome and called Syluerius before him into the palace layed to his charge that he had entertained secret intelligence with the Gothes to surprise the Citie and it is reported that one Marcus a scholer and Iulian one of the gard had forged certaine letters as from Syluerius to the King of the Gothes whereby he was conuicted of conspiracie against the Citie And yet in the meane time did Belisarius and his wife deale priuily with Syluerius to satisfie the Empresse by cancelling and disannulling the Councell of Chalcedon and by writing to authorise and to confirme the faith of the heretikes But he was no sooner gone out of the place but hauing had conference with his Councell he withdrew himselfe into the Temple of S. Sabina from whence vpon assurance giuen vnto him by one Photis sonne to the Ladie Antonina he was againe sent for to come into the Palace his friends aduised him not to aduenture his person vpon the tickle faith and promise of those Grecians yet he came into the Palace from whence in regard of their oath and promise they suffered him to returne safely vnto the Temple of S. Sabina But when Belisarius sent for him a second time seeing a mischiefe readie to fall vpon him he recommended his cause to God and went vnto the Palace where he entred all alone and after that was neuer seene by anie of his friends The day following Belisarius called together all the Priests Deacons and Clerkes commaunding them to proceed to the election of a new Pope who after some little variance agreed in the end vpon Vigilius whom they chose in fauour of Belisarius and Syluerius was then banished vnto Patara a Citie of Lycia 3 Belisarius immediatly vpon the installation of Vigilius demaunded performance of promises which Vigilius had made vnto the Empresse and the two hundred markes which he had promised vnto him but he what for feare what for auarice refused to performe his promises Syluerius in the meane time arriued at Patara and the Bishop of that Citie went and
with manie others by which the cognisance of such causes is committed to the Ciuile magistrat And now what maketh all this for that absolute authoritie of the Pope Moreouer the Councell of Toledo which was held vnder King Gondemar in the time of Pope Boniface the third and that after that Decree of Phocas declareth that of Toledo to be the first See Concil Tolet. sub Rege Gondemaro not so much by vertue of anie new graunt as by the Synodall Decree of the auncient Fathers commanding all Bishops to vaile bonnet vnto him vnder paine of Anathema Which Decree of the Synod was also confirmed by the King Gondemar As for the Pope in all that long Epistle we find no one word spoken of him Baron an 610. art 14. and yet Baronius is not ashamed to auerre That the Church of Toledo had this priuiledge from Rome when as yet the Pope was not absolute Monarch in Italie itselfe for the Bishops of Istria and Venetia vnder their Patriarchs stood oâ—â— against them so also did the Bishops of Lumbardie as appeareth by that Epistle of Gregorie to Constantius Bishop of Milan Brixia ep 37. lib. 3. whom a certaine Bishop of Bresse would not acknowledge because it seemed that he as well as the Bishop of Rome derogated from the authoritie of the Chalcedon Councell But vnder his successor Sabinian the matter went a little farther Baron an 605. art 2 3 4. For we may learne out of a certaine Councell held at Mantua for which we are beholding to Baronius his Librarie That when as there was question about the choice of a new Patriarch of Aquileia and Agilulphaâ— the King of the Lumbards had caused one Iohn to be elected the Exarch of Rauenna to gratifie the Pope set vp against him one Candidian at Grado and so were there for a long time two Patriarchs of which he which sat at Aquileia would neuer acknowledge the Popes authoritie 23. PROGRESSION Of the attempt of Honorius against the Bishops beyond the Po. THe Lumbards at that time lying heauie vpon Italie on the one side and the Exarchs of Rauenna for the Emperour on the other caused the Popes to pull in their hornes and to make little vse or shew of their new title purchased from Phocas though in the meane time their ambitious humor and desire of soueraignetie and power neuer ceased to put forth vpon all occasions Honorius therefore Bishop of Rome about the yeare 623 tooke his aduantage vpon a lamentable and wretched accident The Bishops of Istria Venetia and Lumbardie as we haue alreadie said held no good correspondencie with the Bishop of Rome and it came to passe that Adelwaldus fift King of Lumbards fell somewhat distracted in mind whether by force of a poyson which is said to haue beene giuen him by Eusebius the Emperours embassador Sigonius de Reg. Ital. lib. 2. at his comming out of the Bath or otherwise it is a thing hard to say but in this case he made away twelue of the most principall men of charge in the kingdome and grew dangerous to the rest The Lumbards to preuent a mischiefe called a Councell and deposed him placing Adoaldus his brother in law in his roome yet was the kingdome hereupon drawne into factions some holding for the old King some for the new and among others they beyond the Po held for the new election as well clerkes as lay men Which Honorius perceiuing tooke presently part with the aduerse faction and dealt with the Exarch to reestablish Adelwaldus but aboue all to apprehend those Bishops and to send them safe to Rome to answere there for their offences to the end saith he that this their wickednesse may not escape vnpunished But the worst was that the Exarch was too weake a partie and not able to performe what he vndertooke and thereupon those Bishops persisted in their former resolution being now more incensed against him than before OPPOSITION If that Decree of Phocas made in fauour of Boniface the third found such opposition at home we may easily conceiue what light regard was had thereof in more remote Prouinces and Churches especially in that point which Boniface so much enforced That no prouision of a Bishop was good in law without his authoritie for the fourth and sixt Councels of Toledo at also the first and second of Bracara which were all held vnder Honorius make open shew thereof seeing that the Bishops assembled in these Councels openly professe that they were assembled by the care and industrie of Sisinandus their King Eius imperijs et iussia commoniti Chintillae salutaribus hortamentis who roused them vp by his commands to the due handling of matters concerning the discipline of the Church as likewise speake the fift and sixt By the wholesome exhortations of King Chintilla and the first of Bracara By the commaundement of King Arimire Moreouer we find the Chapter of the Greeke Synods translated by Martin Bishop of Bracara as we find them in the second Tome of the Councels authorised in that Synod for the Bishops are there prouided in full Synod by their Metropolitan who yet did nothing without the aduice of the other Bishops As for running to Rome for Buls or Pals not a word there to be found if the Pope sent it to anie it was his kindnesse but no man was bound of necessitie to accept it and if it happened vpon the accusation of anie Bishop that the Synod could not agree they neuer sent to Rome for a resolution but for a finall definition say they of this dissention this holie Synod hath thought fit that another Metropolitan of some bordering Prouince should be sent for to confirme and ratifie that opinion which he should thinke most agreeable to the Canons But here is to be noted that not long after this ordinance of Phocas made in fauour of the See of Rome the Church might plainely see in the person of this Honorius whom we now speake of how dangerous a thing it was that she should depend of one man Which Gregorie well foresaw when he said That if there should be one Vniuersall Bishop and he should happen to fall the whole Church must needs vnto the ground For the heresie of the Monothelites then rising in the Church Honorius with the first fell into it and was conuicted thereof by his owne hand writing which he had sent to Sergius Bishop of Constantinople neither was this a small heresie or of anie meane consequence for that not to acknowledge two wils in Christ is consequently to denie two natures in him also His letters were produced in the sixt Generall Councell Action 12. 13. 2. To. Concil Act. 12. 13. Concil Vniuers 6. and were there by generall consent condemned to the fire the summe of them was this That neither Gospell nor Epistle neither yet the Synods did euer teach vs these two faculties or powers in Christ That these were words inuented by some
owne swords when as by approuing them they rather cut the throat of their owne cause What speake I of their approuing hereof when they receiue it as one of the six sacred Synods and that in these words This picture meaning of the Lambe is receiued by the Canons of the sixt Synod published by humane and diuine ordinance c. As for that which he sayth That Anastasius in his translation of the seuenth Synod testifieth That none of the Patriarchall Sees receiued them besides his proper qualitie as vassall to the Popes this author maketh himselfe otherwise too too much suspect in this businesse when in his Epistle Dedicatorie to Iohn he sticketh not to say That in this Synod meaning the second of Nice there are manie things of the Canons of the Apostles and of the sixt Generall Councell found which with vs saith he are not found either interpreted or receiued of so good dealing were the ministers of this See euen in those dayes to leaue out whatsoeuer might make against them 26. PROGRESSION That Aripert King of the Lumbards bestowed the Cottian Alpes vpon the Pope and that Iustinian the Emperour sent for Pope Constantine to come to Constantinople An. 705. THe greatnesse of the Bishop of Rome at this time was such that the Emperours residing in the East being harassed what with the inuasions of the barbarous abroad what with ciuile dissentions and rebellions at home had need of their fauour to maintaine their credit in the West So had the Exarchs in Italie to make their partie good against the Lumbards And the Lumbards themselues were faine vpon occasion to speake them faire and the Popes as children of this world and wise in their generation made vse of the times for their owne aduancement Anastas in Joh. 7. Paul Diacon l. 6. c. 28. Blond Dec. 1. l. 10. In the yeare therefore 705 Iohn the seuenth entred vpon his See Aripert King of the Lumbards gaue him as Paulus Diaconus reporteth the inheritance of the Cottian Alpes Blondus and Platina say that he gaue him all betweene Turin and Gennes and from thence as farre as France and this they call Giuing to Saint Peter and he made no great difficultie to be liberall of another mans Paulus saith Sigon de Reg. Jtal. l. 2. That all this did formerly belong to the See Apostolike meaning by that pretended donation of Constantine the Great and that they were taken away by the Lumbards and that he sent the Act of the donation in letters of gold to Aripert But Platina marreth all when he sayth Plat. in Ioh. 7. That this is reported without an author and that seeing there is no certainetie of the donation it selfe and that the Canonists reckon it as a Palea or chaffe without corne or substance in it how can the confirmation hold for good Wherefore this was either a meere deuice of the Popes to encroach vpon it or else a humor of Aripert thereby to redeeme the manie enormious cruelties by him committed and mentioned by Sigonius according to the common error of the times but he shortly after pursued by his enemie was drowned in the passing of a riuer On the other part Iustinian the second wearied with his homebred trauerses being now at length restored to the Empire which he had lost purposing to be reuenged of his enemies thought good first to gratifie the Pope and therefore sent him the Acts of the fixt Councell by two Metropolitans exhorting him to receiue them Anastasius the Popes Librarie keeper sayth it was with request to strike out what he thought fit But Platina their Historian sayth That it was absolutely to haue him subscribe vnto them but both of them agree in this that he sent them backe againe as wanting courage to contradict or censure them An. 708. But in the yeare 708 Pope Constantine made better vse of the times for Iustinian hauing made away the chiefe of the aduerse faction and hauing pulled out Callinicus the Patriach of Constantinople his eyes sent him prisoner to Rome thinking thereby to doe the Pope no little pleasure and thereupon sent to him to come into the East with purpose to vse his aduice in matters and to oblige him to himselfe with honors which he means to doe vnto him The Historie sayth That he gaue order to haue him receiued in all places as his owne person That he fell at his feet and kissed them with his diademe vpon his head Paul Diaco de gest Longobard l. 6. c. 31. but withall it letteth vs vnderstand that he vsed his authoritie to make him come Paulus Diaconus saith That he commaunded the Pope Constantine to come vnto him not as Sigonius an author of these dayes that he beseeched him And Anastasius himselfe sayth That he sent his sacred Patent by which he commaunded him to come vp to the royall Citie and that he with all readinesse to obey the Emperours behests Anastas in Constanti caused shipping to be prouided and these are the authors who liued neerer vnto the times so that Baronius is idle when he interpreteth his commaunds to be but prayers and requests Wherefore the rest that the Emperour did was in deuotion and compunction and not in dutie or obedience And indeed Paulus Diaconus reporteth That the Emperour renewed vnto him all the former priuiledges of his Church so that he was to hold them from him in time to come And Anastasius giueth the cause Requesting him saith he to pray for his sinnes for these were the satisfactions which those times required and so saith he the Emperour dismissed him to returne to Rome Who durst speake thus in these daies But Platina after all Iustinian saith he for all these calamities changed nothing of his former life onely he had the Apostolike See in a greater awe and reuerence than before and so long as good friends as might be OPPOSITION Notwithstanding this strong support yet were there alwaies some or other who would not endure this Tyrannie The Church of Rauenna was but lately come to the yoke and that by the commaund of the Emperours Wherefore Felix succeeding vnto Damian came and presented himselfe vnto Pope Constantine to be by him approued and consecrated at Rome but sayth Anastasius he would not enter caution according to the custome that is Anastas Plat. in Constanti Blond lib. 10. Dec. 1. as Platina and Blondus more ingenuously deliuer would not oblige himselfe to a set forme of obedience and to send a certaine summe of money to Rome wherein the magistrats themselues of Rome assisted him The tale goeth that his Caution being layed by the Pope vpon the holie confession of S. Peter that is vpon his Relikes it was found shortly after all blacke and as if it had beene burnt with fire These were the pettie miracles of those times to put to children but the matter stayed not here Blond ib. The Archbishop being thus repulsed by the Pope returned to Rauenna
set it downe in Sigibert his owne words But is this all the esteeme he maketh of this great Oracle of the Canonists And I aske farther in all that schisme of Hildebrand or in anie other where this case was so hotly debated was Sigibert euer condemned of a falsehood or accused of forgerie If we should reject their authors as peremptorily as they do their owne what villanie would they not say against vs For whereas he saith that this word Inuestiture was not then in vse euery man knoweth that it came in with the Lumbards But I returne to Charlemaigne In the partage which he made of Italie he left Apulia and Calabria to the Emperour of Greece as heretofore in the time of Iustinian and appointed Dukes of Beneuent Spoletum and Friul as vnder the Lumbards As for the Exarchat of Rauenna Romania la Marche the Duchie of Perousa of Rome Tuscanie and Campania which he had giuen to the Pope he retained the soueraignetie ouer them to himselfe and consequently ouer the Popes who could not hold these Duchies but by oath of fealtie and allegeance conceiued in these words Sigon de Reg. Jtal. l. 4. I T. R. doe promise to be faithfull all my life long without fraud or mal engine to Charles my Lord and to his children c. And the truth is that it appeareth by Adrians Epistles that he held not himselfe all of the best contented with Charlemaignes dealings seeing he so often putteth him in mind of the great debt he owed to S. Peter and that therefore he should remember the promises which he had made vnto him Ep. Adrian ad Charol 30 31 39. complaining euer and anon of those whom he had left behind him in Italie to command euen in matters of the Church That the Bishop of Rauenna since his comming into Italie was growne stouter than before especially since the time that he had sent thither some of his Commissaries to elect a new Bishop reprouing him sometimes for these matters and calling him to answere it before S. Peter All which we shall see more at large hereafter An. 796. In the yeare 796 died Adrian in whose roame succeeded Leo the third by the election of the Clergie and people of Rome who presently vpon his election dispatched an embassadour vnto Charlemaigne to aduertise him of his election and to present vnto him the keyes of the Confession i. of the Sepulchre of S. Peter with the maine Standard of the Citie and manie other honourable presents in token of fealtie and homage requesting him to send some principall man of his Court to minister the oath of Allegeance to the people of Rome thereby to hold them in their dutie and subjection vnto him Ad suam fidem et subiectionem Aimoni. lib. 4. cap. 86. as Aimonius in his Historie reporteth whereupon Anguilbert Abbor of S. Ritharius was dispatched thither to that effect Shortly after the nobilitie of Rome growne wearie of the Popes yoke and willing to shake it off set vpon Leo as he went in solemne procession threw him from his horse and left him there halfe dead his followers tooke him vp and carried him to the Vatican It is reported that they pulled out his eyes but that God by miracle put them into his head againe We may well doubt of this miracle Lib. 4. c. 89. Zonar to 3. pag. 97. seeing that Aimonius reporting it addeth as some thought But Zonaras speaketh plainely and sayth That they who were put in trust to pull them out spared them and onely beat him about the eyes without perishing his sight and yet these men crie out A miracle Leo hereupon tooke a journey into Germanie as farre as Westfalia where Charlemaigne then was to craue justice telling him That the Romanes who had long since taken their Bishop for their Lord seeking now to returne to their auncient libertie and not able to oppresse him with false criminations had attempted vpon his life Whereupon Charlemaigne resolued in the yere 800 to make a voyage into Italie An. 800. Vpon his arriuall at Rome he assembled a multitude of Italian and French Bishops commaunding the accusers and the accused i. Leo the Pope to appeare before them himselfe presiding and sitting in the middest of them Anastasius the Popes Historian sayth That the Bishops then and there declared openly that they might not judge the See Apostolike Aimoni. li. 4. c. 90. but Aimonius a great deale more sincerely reporteth That there being none found that would come forth and charge him with his crimes he purged himselfe by oath And vpon this sedition tooke Charlemaigne occasion to seise into his owne hands all authoritie ouer the Citie of Rome for as an Italian Author of that time reporteth He thereupon resolued to make all the great ones of Rome as well Bishops as Laies Author quidam Jial apud Viguerium to become vassales of the Empire That they and the whole people should sweare fealtie to the Emperor That the Emperour should alwaies haue his L. Deputie residing within Rome in the Palace of Saint Peter at a certaine stipend by the day to void all contentions arising among them Missum suum and this Deputie carried matters so that the least in the Citie had alwaies iustice against the greatest though neuer so neere kinsman to the Pope all fines leuied to the vse of the Emperor who onely could dispense and pardon And this order continued saith that Author vnto the time of Lewis the second sonne of Lotharius This is certaine that vpon a Christmas day as Ado Viennensis writeth Pope Leo set the crowne vpon his head before S. Peters altar all the people crying out To Charles Augustus crowned of God Ado Viennens in Chroni an 798. Ab eodem Pontifice adoratus est great and peaceable Emperour of the Romans life and victories After which salutations he was adored by the Pope himselfe after the manner of the ancient Princes and from that time leauing the name of Prince he tooke the title of Emperour and Augustus And if you would know what is meant by the manner of ancient Princes Saluian telleth vs Saluian in ep ad parent That the manner was for seruants to kisse their Lords and Masters feet And in such qualitie did they acknowledge Charlemaigne euen as liege Lord of the Citie of Rome as Paulus Diaconus speaking to him saith You shall find expressed the names of the streets gates bridges places and Tribes of your Romulean Citie that is of Rome Aimo l. 4. c. 90. Paul Diacon in dedicat Festi Pompeij And thus did Charlemaigne make the Bishop of Rome know himselfe euē in Italie and in the proper place of their magnificence And this was the cause of his comming thither at that time not as they would haue it to kisse the Popes pantofle or to visit S. Peters threshold for we find euen at this very time one Claudius Bishop of Turin crying out
in an abridgement of the historie Author Coaetaneus apud Vigner pa. 214. saith in expresse words That after many mischiefes done vpon the people of Rome they made them sweare fealtie to the Emperour and confirmed Sergius in his See againe as not holding his Title of the Popedome for good before much lesse of the Seigneurie of Rome And Anastasius doth not sticke to tell vs That the Popes authoritie was then and there questioned and debated for saith he Drogo Archbishop of Metz and other Archbishops and Bishops gathered together against this Vniuersall Church and Head of all other Churches without the leaue of their Metropolitan and did euerie day make new quarels against our most holie Pope and his Bishops And if you aske who they were that joyned with Drogo he telleth you That they were Gregorie Archbishop of Rauenna Anguilbert of Milan Ioseph Bishop of Iuree Agin of Verona Almaric of Coma Norchauld of Verseils Saufredus of Rhegium Toringar of Concorda Odelbert of Aqui Ambrose of Luques Iohn of Pisa Peter of Volaterra Gauspran of Pistoria Cancio of Sienna Lupus of Textina Sisimond of Aprusia Pico of Scolana Fratellus of Camerin Gisus of Ferma Racipert of Nocera Amadis of Pinna Donate of Frisoli and others and with them the Counts Boso Adelgisus Iohn Guido Vernard Wifrid Maurinus and others that is the better part of the Bishops of all Italie Insomuch that Anguilbert Archbishop of Milan separated himselfe wholly from the Roman Church which one of his predecessors had newly acknowledged some sixty yeres before And this separation dured as the sequell of this historie will declare two hundred yeres Sigonius obserueth this separation but concealeth the cause which was the pride of that See Simonie other disorders there vsed in the time of Sergius Besides that Theodorus Abbot of Fulden reporteth of this Anguilbert That he was much affectioned to the memorie of good S. Ambrose whose liturgie continued in the Church of Milan at that day and long after To go on with the time Baronius vpon the yere 839 produceth out of the Vatican a certaine Epistle of Gregorie the fourth An. 839. written to the Bishops of France Germanie of Europe and of all Prouinces he might haue made shorter work and haue written to all the world wherein vpon the complaint of Aldric Bishop of Mans made of the wrongs done vnto him by the other Bishops he giueth them to vnderstand That according to the ancient Canons an Appeale from them lay to Rome or to his Legat à Latere exhorting them in all hast to take horse and come away to him This pretence of the Popes was no newes to them and wee haue said alreadie That Charlemaigne was content to sooth the Popes in their humor But Baronius telleth vs not what became of this letter or whether the Bishops of France gaue way to this Appeale or no and it is verie likely that no for had there beene any thing for his purpose or not something against it we should haue beene sure to haue heard of it Baronius told vs before That Charlemaigne disposed not of the Empire as properly depending of the Popes election and we there shewed the contrarie Loe now Lewis surnamed the Courteous Charlemaines sonne he from whom they claime that goodlie donation who disposeth absolutely of the Empire and of Rome it selfe Thegan de gest Ludouici as we haue alreadie declared And farther Theganus saith That he named his sonne Lotharins after his decease to receiue all the kingdomes which God had giuen him by the hands of his father Nomen Imperium Nitard li. 1. and to haue both the name and Empire of their father which the other sonnes much stormed at And Nitard saith That he diuided his whole Empire among his sonnes in such sort that Pepin should haue Gascoine Lewis Bauiere but Lotharius after his decease should haue the whole Empire and suffered him in his life time to beare with him the name of Emperour And when the brothers after many hot bickerings Helmold l. 1. c. 4 came at last to an agreement In the end saith Helmoldus by the mediation of Pope Sergius this discord was appeased and the realme diuided into foure parts in such sort that Lotharius had Rome with Italie Lorraine and Burgundie for his part Lewis the riuer of Rhine and all Germanie Charles France and Pepin all Guiene both which were writers of that time or not long after 30. PROGRESSION That Leo the fourth was consecrated without the Emperours leaue and how the matter was excused An. 847. WHen Lewis was returned into France Pope Sergius the second dyed in the yeare 847 and the same day was elected Leo the fourth and presently consecrated contrarie to the law and without expecting the pleasure of the Prince The people excused their doing by reason of the Sarasens who at that time pressed sore vpon them and Leo his sufferance as being forced thereunto by the people Anastas in Leo. 4. who yet as Anastasius reporteth liued in feare of Lewis his second returne to Rome vpon the like occasion as feeling their wounds yet bleeding of his first being there And farther he obserueth That they carried him to the Patriarches Palace of Lateran and there after the ancient custome kissed his feet And yet all the antiquitie of this custome was but since the time of Valentine who as himselfe reporteth was the first author of it and liued some thirtie yeares past And for the rest this was that Leo which walled and fortified the Vatican against the Sarasens OPPOSITION An. 854. Leo about the yeare 854 cried for helpe to Lotharius against the Sarasens who presently sent his sonne Lewis with an armie into Italie but withall because he was informed That the discipline as well of the Church as Estate of Italie established heretofore by his father and grandfather was much fallen to decay he commanded him as soone as the warres would giue him leaue to call together the Bishops and the chiefe men of Italie to aduise of some course for the restoring thereof Lewis hauing assembled them at Pauia and calling vnto him Anguilbert Archbishop of Milan he who as we haue alreadie said separated himselfe from the Roman Church judge Reader by that which followeth how farre the regall authoritie then reached and Andrew Patriarch of Aquileia signified vnto them That his pleasure was to take a particular account of the liues and dueties of the Bishops and the rest of the Clergie of their sermons of the repâ—â—ation of Churches and Hospitals of the regularitie of Monkes of the jurisdiction of the Counties De Iurisdictione Comitum and to reforme in euerie person and degree what he could find amisse commaunding those two to make relation of what he had said vnto the other Bishops who were so farre from declining his jurisdiction that they yeelded him a particular account vpon euerie of the said articles humbly requesting him to grant such as
most of these whom I haue named being Churchmen and of great place in their times I will onely content my selfe with these three verses of Baptista Mantuan a Carmelite who placeth her at the verie entrie into hell Hic pendebat adhuc sexum mentita virilem Foemina cui triplici Phrygiam diademate mitram Extollebat apex pontificalis adulter And shall all this be rejected by saying onely that Martin said it But let vs see what more Onuphrius the Iesuites and Baronius himselfe can say concerning this point Their maine argument is That we can find no space betweene Leo the fourth and Benedict the third to place Iohn the eight there And we answere let them subtract from the next precedent Popes the time which they haue added to them ouer and aboue the account of Marianus Scotus and other auncient Chroniclers and she will not want a place to stand in For Onuphrius giueth to Sergiâ—s the second two moneths more than Marianus doth to Nicholas the first he giueth nine yeares six moneths twentie dayes whom Marianus maketh to sit but eight yeare nine dayes to Adrian the second he giueth foure yeares and eleuen moneths whereas Marianus affoordeth him onely but two yeares And so may Onuphrius easily cast vp his account and we find the totall of ours So likewise Hermannus Contractus to leaue no roome for this Ione casteth three yeares vpon Sergius and nine vpon Leo the fourth and so doe the rest which are alledged by Onuphrius Secondly they say That vnto the time of Pope Formosus that is for the space of nine hundred yeares complete there was neuer anie Pope chosen who had not beene brought vp from a child in the Church of Rome and risen by degrees of Priesthood or Deaconrie We answere let them reforme then the generall current of Histories which report That Constantine brother to the Duke of Nepete was chosen Pope in the yeare 767 which was neither Priest nor Deacon nor Clerke but tooke all his degrees in a day and was consecrated by the Bishops of Praeneste Alba and Port and sat one yeare and one moneth since which time they cannot denie but that meere lay men haue beene elected Popes Thirdly they come to scan the words of the Historie of Martin Anglicus natione Moguntinus an Englishman borne at Mence What greater absurditie saith he But the absurditie is their owne and not the Authors for English was her surname not the name of her nation and themselues obserue that in the better manuscripts it is written Anglicus not Anglus Neither did anie euer vnderstand it otherwise no not Fasciculus Temporum where he writeth in this manner Some men saith he report that they neuer make Popes of Germanes which is false Besides that Polonus sayth a Margantine or Mangantine by nation and by consequent no Englishman Fourthly they say That Martin maketh her a student of Athens whereas at that time there was no learning there but barbarisme prouing it by Synesius who so reporteth of it in his time Synes in postrema epist ad fratrem We answere that Synesius sayth not there was no learning there but not so much as he expected and it was no small matter that could adde to the learning of Synesius but it is apparent that in Greece there were Vniuersities continuing manie yeares after at Athens at Thessalonica Constantinople and a famous one in the Isle of Chio since that inundation of the Turkes and in this verie time of which we speake Zonaras telleth vs that Michael Bardas the Emperour restored learning there and therefore as learning was not then in her heat at Athens so was it not likewise cleane extinguished And whereas they say that at this time there were no Lectures of Diuinitie at Rome a goodlie commendation for the See of the pretended Head of the Church we answere them that this great scarcitie bred her the greater admiration Fiftly they examine the circumstances Martin saith it was done as she went from Saint Peters to the Latran and the Popes say they at that time dwelt not in the Vatican But we aske whether then and a long time before S. Peters Church was not built that so the Pope might goe from the one to the other in procession And then they say it is strange that in all those nine moneths no bodie should perceiue it We answere that there is nothing more common but should they not rather admire the judgement of God in proclaiming their abhomination by this mysterie Sixtly not being able to denie that the Popes vse to turne out of this way they alledge a wrong cause of their so doing saying That if they went the right way the streets would be too narrow for the prease of people We answere that they who haue seene the place know the contrarie But Platina affirmeth it in those words De primo non abnuerim For the first I will not denie it and the effigies erected vpon the place as Antonine reporteth auerreth as much which the Iesuites themselues cannot denie But willing to seeme more vnderstanding than he they would faine persuade vs that this is the pourtrait of a Priest going to say Masse with the Clerke at his heeles A man may well say that this is Rasura in loco suspecto for what should such an Image make in that place Seuenthly for the close stoole they passe it ouer in a word That this is an idle tale of the people others say by way of Allegorie that this is to shew the new elected that God raiseth the poore out of the dung Erigit è stercore pauperem Antiquit. de Fauchet vol. 2. But for the matter it selfe can they denie but that the stoole is yet to be seene in the gallerie of the Palace of Latran as they goe to the Chappell called Sancta Sanctorum where the Conclaue was wont to be held while the Popes dwelt there And as for the cause if it were such as they say why then is there a hole in it And why should not we beleeue so manie Authors And the verses of Iohannes Pannonius long before this controuersie was risen doe they not testifie as much Non poterat quisquam reserantes aethera claues Non exploratis sumere testiculis Cur igitur nostro mos hic nunc tempore cessat Ante probat quod se quilibet esse marem Meaning that now Popes vse before hand to trie their manhood by their wenching and begetting of bastards Eightly they say That Zonaras Nicetas Cedrenus and others speake not of it We answere that these Authors liued long after and speake principally of the affaires of Greece and but sleightly of them neither And I would know if in a matter of the Latine Church we should alledge a Greeke Author whether they would not presently call vs to the Histories of the Latines And what wonder if these idolatrous Monkes shaking hands with the beastlinesse of the Romane Church were willing to conceale this shame But Laonicus a
by degrees he put off and resigning to the king that which he had receiued from him and deliuering the ensignes of his Priestly dignitie into the hands of the Bishops he recited with his owne mouth the forme of the deposition in the middest of this assemblie according to the example of his predecessor Hebo which was there read word by word and by all the Bishops that were present subscribed all of them saying vnto him Cap. 54.55 according to thy profession and subscription cease from thine office Which being done they discharged the Clergie and people from their oath they had made vnto him that it might be free for euerie man to subiect himself to the authoritie of any other man And here the Synod ended which we haue thought good to repeat the more at large that it might appeare with what grauitie wisedome moderation circumspection our Fathers of France haue proceeded in this businesse all of them with one accord speaking by the mouth of Arnulph Bishop of Orleans and withall what they thought and judged of Rome and the Bishop thereof Sixtly Pope Iohn hereupon waxeth angrie and full of discontent in so much that he threateneth his excommunications against the Kings But Hugh least his competitors should thereby take aduantage sendeth him the whole course of proceeding in writing and withall sends him letters to this effect We know we haue done nothing against your Apostolike See and if you vouchsafe not to giue credit to vs that are absent being present your selfe learne the truth of those that are present Grenoble is a citie situat vpon the confines of Italie and France where the Bishops of Rome were wont to meet the Kings of France If it shall so please you you may doe the like or if it shall content you better to visit vs and ours we will receiue you at the foot of the Alpes with all honour and follow you with all due obseruances both staying here and returning backe This we speake from the bottome of our hearts that you may know and vnderstand that neither we nor any of ours wil refuse your iudgemēt But Iohn resolued rather to send Legats And in the meane time whilest these things were thus delayed Gerbert afterwards Pope Siluester the second writ an Epistle to Siguin Archbishop of Sens who to the Pope seemed to fauour Arnulph the man accused and now condemned Which Epistle was read at the end of this Synod Gerbertus in Epist ad Siguinum Senomens Your wisedome saith he should haue auoided the wilie subtilties of craftie men and haue hearkened to the voyce of the Lord which saith If they shall say vnto you Here is Christ and there is Christ follow them not It is said that he is at Rome who iustifieth that which you condemne and condemnes that which you take to be iust and we say that it is God and not man that condemnes those things that seeme iust and to iustifie that which seemeth euill c. God saith If thy brother haue sinned against thee goe and reproue him c. How then doe these that emulate vs say That in the deposing of Arnulph we were to expect the iudgement of the Bishop of Rome Can they teach vs that the iudgement of the Bishop of Rome is greater than the iudgement of God when the first Bishop of Rome and the Prince of the Apostles tels vs that we must rather obey God than men yea the great Doctor of the world Saint Paul telleth vs That if any man shall preach vnto you any other doctrine than that ye haue receiued though he be an Angell from heauen let him be accursed Thinke you that because Pope Marcelline burnt incens to Idols therefore all the Bishops must doe so too I dare boldly say that if the Bishop of Rome shall sinne against his brother and being often admonished shall refuse to heare the Church this Bishop of Rome I say by the commaundement of God is to be accounted as a Heathen or Publican For by how much higher his degree is by so much greater is his fall And if he shall therefore account vs vnworthie his communion or fellowship because none of vs consent vnto him against the Gospell yet he cannot therefore seperat vs from the Communion of Christ A Priest if by his owne confession or otherwise he be not conuicted cannot be put from his office especially since the Apostle himselfe saith Who shal seperat vs from the loue of Christ Iesus And againe Sure I am that neither life nor death c. The priuiledge then of S. Peter saith Leo the great is not in force wheresoeuer iudgement is not executed according to equitie And therefore we are not to giue occasion to those that emulate vs to thinke that Priesthood that is euerie where one as the Catholike Church is in all places one should in such sort be subiect to one onely man though he be corrupted with money fauour feare or ignorance none may be a Bishop but only he that is commended for such or the like vertues Let the Canon Law of the Catholike Church the Apostles the Prophets the Canons ordained by the spirit of God and consecrated with the reuerence of the whole world the Decrees of the Apostolike See not disagreeing from them c. Fare ye well and depend not vpon holie mysteries But Pope Iohn in the meane time hardly enduring these things appointed a Synod sometimes at Rome sometimes at Aix where our Bishops pretending that they were not bound to goe forth of the realme would not be found at the last at Mouson vpon the borders of France where onely Gerbert whom Hugh had nominated Archbishop of Rheimes appeared and in the presence of Leo Abbot of S. Boniface the Popes Legat many of the Bishops of Germanie and Italie assisting he defended the cause of the Fathers of France in such sort that the Legat durst not proceed any farther before he had consulted with the Pope and therefore referred the determination thereof vnto another Synod at Rheimes but yet in the meane time he forbad Gerbert to vse his Episcopall function who not fearing to answer him to his face told him That it was not in the power of any Bishop Patriarch or Pope to remoue from the communion any of the faithfull who hath not been conuicted or of his owne accord confessed the fact or hath not refused to come vnto the Councell but of all these three was none that might hinder him since he had neither confessed nor was conuicted and had onely amongst all the Bishops of France appeared at this Councell But in the meane time Gerbert went into Germanie to the Emperour Otho the third with whom he had been formerly brought vp who shortly after made him Archbishop of Rauenna perceiuing wel that our kings not yet setled in their new kingdomes nor approued by all did much feare to offend the Pope and indeed he saw that whatsoeuer our Bishops could alledge to the contrarie in the
succession of the Bishops of Rome which they so much boast of may be defended We must not forget that Baronius reprehendeth our Historiographer Glaber in one poynt wherein neuerthelesse hee expresseth to the life the beleefe of our French Church The Earle Foulke of Anjou hauing built a Church went himselfe to Rome with a great summe of money which he deliuered to Iohn the seuenteenth to the end he would send a Legat to consecrate the place Whereunto he agreed and sent thither a Cardinall with direction to doe whatsoeuer Foulk should commaund But saith Glaber the Prelats of France hearing thereof Glaber Historiar lib. 2. c. 4. Baron to 10. an 996. art 21. 22. 23. 24. iudged it to be sacrilegious presumption proceeding from blind ambition c. being a thing too vndecent that he that ruled the See Apostolike should be the first that did transgresse the Apostolicall and Canonical order especially being aunciently confirmed by many authorities Multiplici authoritate that not any Bishop should presume to exercise any such power in anothers Diocesse except it were at the request or by the permission of him to whom it appertained yea not excepting the Bishop of Rome himselfe whose Diocesse they held not to be the whole world But thus he proceedeth An innumerable multitude of people being gathered together in a cleere and quiet day to see the dedication of this Temple a sudden tempest arose out of the South which in a moment beat downe the Temple to the ground Which strange accident being spread abroad through the whole countrey there was no man that doubted that the insolent boldnesse of this presumption had made vaine the vow of Foulk and was a manifest warning to all that were present and to come neuer to attempt the like For though the Bishop of Rome for the dignitie of the Apostolike See was had in greater reuerence than all other in the world yet it was neuer permitted that he should transgresse in any thing the order of the Canonical gouernment For as euerie Bishop and spouse of the true Church hath some vniformitie in his seat with the Image of our Sauiour so generally it becommeth no man to doe any thing ouer boldly in the Diocesse of another Now from the opinion of this Monke let vs know what the judgement of our Church should be 39. PROGRESSION Of Inchantments and the art of Nigromancie practised by the Popes to attaine the Popedome and vsed by them for other wicked and vnlawfull purposes How the diuill deceiued Syluester the second touching the time and place of his death Of Benedict the ninth his sacrifices to the diuell who in the end strangled him in the forest and of his strange apparitions after his death THe Age that followeth mends but a little and therefore a Carthusian noteth That in the yeare 1000 we enter into a monstrous time infamous for Magicke artes and all maner of wickednesse his words are these and not without cause There began about the yeare of our Lord 1000 an effeminat time Fascicul Tempor An. 1000. wherein the Christian Faith began much to decline from her first virilitie as appeareth in the prophesie of S. Hildegard c. men betaking themselues to sorceries and inchantments and the Priest was as the people After Iohn the seuenteenth succeeded Gregorie the fift by countrey a Saxon created by the Emperour Otho the third and chosen out of his companie at Rauenna who being sent to Rome to be consecrated the Emperour not long after receiued the Crowne from his hands But he had no sooner turned his face towards Germanie but that Crescens a Consull constrained him to leaue the citie and set vp against him another Pope in such sort that at the request of Gregorie Otho was enforced to returne to Rome where he vsed much seueritie in punishing the authors of that sedition But shortly after Gregorie being dead Otho the Clergie and people being assembled together chose for his successor that Gerbert of whom we haue spoken so much before who in his youth was his tutor and was called Siluester the second A man as appeareth by many of his owne writings still kept in diuers Libraries that had penetrated euen the depth of all profound learning especially the Mathematikes but yet blamed by many Authors for eleuated spirits neuer keepe a measure in any thing for that his studies extended to Nigromancie it selfe by helpe whereof he made his way to the Popedome A matter so little doubted of by those that were best acquainted with the secrets of those times that they constantly beleeued that whosoeuer affected the Popedome in those dayes made profession of this art and thereby attained thereunto Martinus in Chron. Galfridus in supplement Sigiberti Malmesburiensis l. 2. Hist Angl. Anton. Archiep. tit 16. part 2. sect 18. Vincent l. 24. c. 98. Henric. Erford in Chron. Plat. in Siluestr Iohannes Stella ibid. I should be ashamed to alledge it but that Martinus Polonus Vincent of Beauvois Malmesburiensis Anthonie the Archbishop Henrie of Herford Carthusianus Platina Stella and others goe before me and the most part of them doe absolutely affirme That Gerbert had learnt this art in a booke which he stole from Seuille in Spaine that he did homage to the diuill and had in his closet a brasen head by which the diuell gaue him answers With whom consulting about the time of his continuance in that See answer was giuen him That hee should not die vntill he had celebrated Masse in Hierusalem a voyage farre from his thought to haue euer vndertaken and therefore he promised to himselfe a long life But falling sicke of an ague at Rome in the church of the holie Crosse called Hierusalem whilest he was celebrating Masse in Lent by a strange noyse of diuels he perceiued his death was at hand and began to see the doubtfull meaning of the Oracle Whereupon being moued with the horror of his sinnes he discouered it to some of the Cardinals and desired them that for a satisfaction his carkasse after his death should be put into a chariot drawne with two horses and there buried where the horses of their owne accord should draw him Which desire of his being performed it fell out that the horses carried him to the church of S. Lateran where the Cardinals buried him And his sepulchre say they by the noyse and ratling of the bones and the sweating of the sepulchre did presage a long time after the death of the Popes This historie neuerthelesse by some in these dayes is called into doubt and especially by Baronius because there is no mention made of any such matter by Glaber and Dithmarus but quite contrarie he is commended by them for his almes-deeds and charitie towards the poore But the Monke of Malmesburie speakes thereof as of a matter beyond all controuersie and describeth all the circumstances yea he affirmeth That he had an auncient book by him wherin the names of all the Popes were registred
which saith That Siluester ended his life after a base and villanous manner Benno Card. in vita Hildebrandi And Cardinall Benno another of that time speaking of him hath these words Gerbert shortly after the yere of our Lord 1000 ascending from the bottomelesse pit by the permission of God possessed the See foure yeres who changing his name was called Siluester the second and by those selfesame means which he had deceiued others which was the answers of the diuels he likewise deceiued himselfe being surprised by the iust iudgements of God with a sudden death And afterwards he proceedeth in the historie as before Benno addeth That he had for his disciples Theophilact and Laurence who sacrificed vnto diuels and that betwixt them and diuers others after his death there was much contention by the selfesame arts who should attaine to the Popedome and that his successors a long time after made it their profession which hereafter we shall speake of more particularly Baronius though in horror of the miserable end of Siluester he call it into doubt yet he giueth but a hard judgement of him to the end he might both begin and end that Age with the publike abhomination of that See Before his Popedome he painteth him out to be a courtier among courtiers with which profession he began that by his garrulitie flatterie detraction and double heart composed to dissemble and to deceiue Baron an 991. art 6. 7. 992. art 3. he might excell all others But being come to his Popedome he affirmeth that of him which he would haue vs beleeue of all the rest That he was no way transubstantiated by his chaire But to say the truth saith he An. 999. art 2. he was verie vnworthie of that See but such indignities the church of Rome was constrained to endure because the Roman Bishops were elected by secular Princes In the meane time he would not see that better were not chosen by the elections and factions of the Clergie Sergius successor to Siluester made this Epitaph wherein he acknowledgeth him to haue bin created by Otho the third Post annum Romam mutato nomine sumpsit Obtulit hoc Caesar tertius Otho sibi After a yeare he ruled Rome with changed name Otho the third then Caesar gaue the same And whereas Sigonius affirmeth Othone 3. Diploma Donationis quod Assisij seruatur in Archiuis Ecclesiae Romanae That Otho the third at his request renewed the Donations which are said to be of Pepin Charles Lewis to the Church of Rome as he alledgeth no Author so it is easily refelled by the testimonie of Otho himselfe For in that donation whose letters patents are kept in the Popes register at Asisij he giueth onely eight counties to Siluester his master as before wee haue noted by which donation he excludeth all the rest and withall the palea of Constantine he reiecteth and acknowledgeth not that of Charles and Lewis and makes as little account of that of Caluus himselfe Adde hereunto that not without the dishonour of the See this donation is said to be gotten by Siluester by the seruice of the diuell Iohn Sicco a Roman succeeded Siluester in the yeare 1003 according to Platina the nineteenth who continued onely fiue monethes and yet in that short time it is said that he brought to passe that the election of the Roman Popes should belong onely to the Roman Clergie without the consent of the people whereby the authoritie of the Cardinals was greatly encreased alledging these words The people are to be led not to be followed Bacontorpius in Prologo in 4. sent q. 10. An order neuerthelesse ill obserued a long time after Stella likewise attributeth vnto him the Feast of all Soules first inuented by Odilon Abbot of Clugnie the obseruation whereof Iohn afterwards imposed vpon all Iohn the twentieth called Fasanus succeeded him and presently Sergius the fourth neither of them prayse worthie in any thing Afterwards followed Benedict the eigth Iohn the one and twentieth Benedict the ninth Siluester the third Gregorie the sixt which bring vs to the yeare 1045 An. 1045. and were all of one stampe created by the factions of the Earles of Tuscane and if we may beleeue their owne writers all infamous for the art Magicke Cardinall Benno speaking of Hildebrand who was Gregorie the seuenth saith Cardin. Benno in vita Hildibrandi That he had learnt of his masters the doctrine of the diuels of Theophilact whose surname was Benedict the ninth of Laurence the Archbishop of Amelfis and of Iohn Archpriest of S. Iohn Port Latine who was named Gregorie the sixt Particularly of Theophilact or Benedict the ninth he saith That he sacrificed to diuels in woods and mountaines and by the art Magicke won vnto him the loue of women The bookes that were found in his house after he had ended his wicked life in a bad manner witnesse the same He was alwayes assisted by Laurence the Prince of Inchanters who gloried much amongst the Bishops Cardinals and Senators that he had such a disciple In the end saith he he was strangled by the diuell in the forests his Archpriest banished and Laurence enforced to run away In all other things he was so ignorant that he had a Collegue consecrated with him to doe the seruice For which cause Onuphrius himselfe calleth him a man of nothing Martinus in Chron. Platina in Benedict 8. Petrus Damianus in libro qui inscribitur Gratissimus and yet neuerthelesse by certaine intermissions of times hee raigned ten yeares and somewhat more Many Authors report and among the rest Petrus Damianus the Cardinall who liued neere about those times That Benedict after his death appeared to a certaine Hermit neere to a mill in a most horrible shape being in bodie head and taile like to an Asse and being asked why he so appeared he answered Because I liued in the Popedome like a beast without reason without law without God This Damian neuerthelesse being a great champion of the Popes as shall be shewed in his due place Herman contractus in Chron. Waltramus de inuestitura Glaber Hist l. 5. Platina in Siluest 3. alijs The Cardinall Benno saith also of Siluester the third That the Church of God by his occasion was strangely torne and troubled with ciuile wars and infinit murders But Waltramus being guiltie of his owne insufficiencie and perceiuing the Emperour comming to Rome resigned the Popedome to the Archbishop of S. Iohn Port Latine for 1500. pounds of gold And Glaber sayth he was chosen Pope being a child of twelue yeares of age but Baronius saith of ten yeares Platina therefore thus speaketh of them all The Popedome was then come to that passe that he that excelled all others in bountie and ambition I say not sanctitie of life and learning was onely able to obtaine that dignitie the best sort of men being oppressed and reiected I would to God saith he this had
which without wrong done vnto his Authors he could not conceale For Hermannus a Chronicler of those times and Leo Bishop of Ostia had witnessed before That the Romans being wearied with the wickednesse of Benedict expelled him and substituted though not without money Siluester in his place And that some few monethes after Benedict with the helpe of his kindred and friends recouered it againe who that he might with more libertie betake himselfe to his owne pleasures he substituted Iohn the Archpriest Herman in Chron. Leo l. 2. c. 80. Otho Frisingensis supra who was accounted almost the more religious he would haue said the more hypocrite And of all three Otho Frisingensis recounteth before vnto vs the pitifull estate that Rome was then in I my selfe saith he haue heard it in the city from the Romans themselues To conclude Baronius calls those three false Popes tricipitem Bestiam a Beast with a triple head rising from the gates of hell Where is then that See against which the gates of hell cannot preuaile Now Cerberus himselfe as that which the Poet speakes of is choked with a ball of pitch And where is that euer-running spring of the spirit of God or in whom did it now reside This ball of pitch saith he a certaine good man and a zealous called Gratian made for them Baron an 1045 1044. and see how he did it He went to the aforesaid men and persuaded them with money to forsake the See and to Benedict he left the reuenues of England because he seemed to be a man of greatest power and authoritie The Romans in recompence thereof as to the purchaser of their freedome made him Pope who was Gregorie the sixt I aske now Whether this transaction may bee borne with amongst the Canonists or whether all this may redownd to his profit without simonie And to say the truth for this either cause or pretence of cause hee was afterwards in the Councell of Sutri by the authoritie of Henrie the Emperour and the consent of the Romans expelled his See and the Bishop of Bamberge who was Clement the second installed in his place chosen from amongst strangers because alas therefore there were none capable thereof at Rome But Baronius is much grieued with these words Leo Ostiens l. 2. c. 80. who calls this election a detestable presumption of the Emperour Henrie and doth vehemently endeuour to proue that therefore the Popedome of Clement could not be lawfull But in all this time when will he find vs any Pope and how will he fill vp that gulfe of pretended succession which they so much boast of Except he meane to supplie it with the abhominations of Benedict the ninth who yet continuing euen after the death of Clement thrust himselfe thrice into the chaire We must not forget that you may vnderstand that the libertie of the Churches was not yet wholly taken away that Henrie the King of Germanie in the yeare 1006 held a Synod at Frankford whereof Dithmar thus speaketh Dithmar l. 6. The generall Councell is appointed at Frankford by the King and was visited by all those that are on this side the Alpes Which was done to make Bamberge a Bishopricke and being done Eberard was nominated Bishop by the Emperour and consecrated by Willegisus the President of the Synod and all this without the knowledge or consent of Rome Henrie his sonne likewise called another Councell in the yeare 1047 An. 1047. wherein he sharply repressed all simoniacal persons Glaber saith Glaber l. 5. c. 5. Coadunare fecit He assembled as well the Archbishops as the Bishops c. And for a conclusion after he had pronounced a curse against all those that had committed simonie he protesteth and saith As God hath giuen me of his meere mercie the Crowne so will I freely giue that which belongs to his religion Here is no mention made of Rome But Baronius wittily after his manner saith That he thinkes that Clement the second was at this Synod though without any Author for saith he the Emperour ought in duetie to giue his helping hand vnto him by this his Edict which he likewise performed in fact But suppose that Pope Clement were present thereat and in all these proceedings not remembred doth it not hurt his cause the more So likewise in Spaine in the yeare 1012 there was a Councell held at Leon Baron vol. 11. an 1012. ex script Anto. August art 16. Glaber l. 3. c. 8. in which thus spake the Fathers We say they are met together at Leon and by the commaundement of King Alphonsus the fift we haue made these Decrees which are intituled The Decrees of the King Alphonsus and Geloira the Queene And in France in the yeare 1017 a Councell was called by King Robert touching the cause of Heresie notwithstanding that he by the testimonie of all the writers of those times was commended for his pietie and deuotion 40. PROGRESSION Of the wicked inuentions of Hildebrand and the Popes of this time to enlarge their power and authoritie Of the doctrine of the redemption of penitentiaries by whom and when it came in Of the fained myracles of Alexander the second to deceiue the people Of the troubles that arose in Milan through the Popes intrusions there Of the Peter pence that were granted at this time by diuers Princes to the Pope Damianus Bishop of Ostia exclaimeth against the lasciuious life of the Roman Clergie THe thirtie yeares that follow vnder diuers Popes vsing rather the magistracie than ministrie of Hildebrand who especially swayed in those times gaue occasion vnto them to vsurpe againe that which the Emperour Henrie the second had taken from them by restoring that auncient law which was made in a solemne Synod betwixt Hadrian the first and Charles the Great and was in force vnder the gouernment of his whole race and afterwards confirmed vnder the Othoes and other Kings of Germanie This Hildebrand was by nation a Tuscan by profession a Monke of Clugnie He obtained that dignitie by bad meanes as Cardinal Benno and the Roman Archpriest doe witnesse The minoritie of Henrie the third the sonne of the Emperour Henrie the second being a child of fiue yeares of age and brought vp vnder the tuition of Agnis his mother as the minoritie of Princes produce many times weake counsellors was a great occasion why Hildebrand abusing his youth did dare to enterprise so much But the diuell especially by his messengers thrust himselfe into the businesse whilest they that they might the more easily obtaine that they desired abused the people vnder the name of two pretended Heresies the one was Simonie the sale for siluer or other thing equiuolent thereunto of Ecclesiastical charges though at that time there was nothing at Rome more cōmon where the Popedome it selfe was set to sale to whomsoeuer would giue most where the Popes sold all Ecclesiastical dignities and themselues to the diuell as we haue often seene
worshippers of false gods were woont to doe he vsurpeth both the Empire and the Popedome c. He resisteth the diuine maiestie and the most Christian King ordained from aboue and inaugurated by God himselfe he impugneth And cunningly and craftily and closely he goeth about in a sheepes skin and vnder the title of Christ to get into his hands the Empire of the whole world For these causes the Emperour the Bishops the Senat the people pronounce him deposed being vnwilling to commit the flocke of Christ to the gard and custodie of such a wolfe And so both those pretended heresies of Simonie and Nicholaisme with one consent they ouerthrew and this verie Decree not onely the Bishops of Germanie and France but of Italie it selfe in a Synod holden at Pauia did vnder their Seales and by oath confirme They writ likewise by the authoritie of the Synod of Wormes to Hildebrand that he should giue ouer the Popedome and betake himselfe to a priuat life and also to the Clergie and people of Rome that according to the Law of their auncestors they should chuse another but yet so as that they should lay no violent hands vpon the person of Hildebrand but leaue him to the iustice of God Amongst all these Bishops there was not any that contradicted the decree but Albert of Wirthsbourg and Herman of Metz who likewise were soone persuaded by the admonitions and reasons of William of Vtrecht to be of the same opinion and to subscribe with the rest Gregorie so soone as hee vnderstood hereof is nothing at all discouraged but borrowing a great summe of money of Mathilda distributeth it amongst the people with the poore mens money payed his souldiers wages flattereth the people of Rome setting before their eyes their auncient renowme and giues them hope of libertie and so calls a Councell at Rome where in a full assemblie in the name of the Synod of Wormes one Rowland a Prelat of Parma vpon the suddaine stands vp and without any duetie done vnto him speakes vnto him in these words Our most Christian Emperour and the reuerend Bishops of Italie Germanie and Fraunce commaund thee to resigne that charge which thou hast vsurped by subtilty money and fauour For it is not lawfull for thee against their willes and the authoritie of the Emperour and decree of the Church of Christ to meddle with the Sheepefold of Christ And presently turning himselfe towards the assemblie Most holie brethren saith he chuse according to your owne Law a Pastor which choice of yours the sacred Consull Tribune and your Prince according to the maner of your auncestors will authorise For this Hildebrand is neither Pastor nor Father nor Pope but a theefe a wolfe a robber and a tyran Whereupon they rushed vpon him and he wanted not much of being ouerborne by the people In the Letters which he deliuered there were these words Because thine entrie began with so many periuries and the Church of God by the abuse of thy nouelties hath beene endaungered in this so great a tempest and hast dishonoured thy whole life by thy infamous conuersation as we haue promised vnto thee no obedience so will we neuer performe any to thee Gregorie therefore returning the fault vpon themselues the day following depriued Henrie as much as in him lay of the kingdome of Germanie and Italie discharged the Princes of their oath of allegiance excommunicateth Sigefrid Archbishop of Mence and the Bishops of Vtrecht and Bamberge threatning to proceed in like maner against the rest if they came not to Rome to purge themselues In which decree let the Reader note the cunning he speakes to Peter as to his reuenger Heare me saith he O Peter Prince of the Apostles thou and thy brother S. Paule can best witnesse for me besides others that I was drawne against my will to the gouernement of thy holie Church and therefore I persuade my selfe that it pleaseth thee that I should rule the people of Christ committed by God especially to thy charge c. Being therefore confident herein for the honour of thy Church in the name of the omnipotent God the Father sonne and holie Ghost and by right of thy authoritie I interdict Henrie the King the sonne of Henrie the Emperour who by a straunge pride the like whereof was neuer heard of hath risen against the Church all the Kingdome of Germanie and Italie c. To the end all people may see and vnderstand that thou art Peter super tuam Petram and vpon thy rocke the sonne of God hath built his Church c. These selfesame words hath Sigonius and not vpon this rocke And some denying that the King could be subiect to the Popes curse or excommunications Thinke you saith he that God when thrise together he committed the charge of his Church to S. Peter saying feed my sheepe that he excepted Kings And so what he would he obtayned Thus Hildebrand being by the Bishops of Italie Germanie and Fraunce deposed in a Councell at Wormes and Henrie excommunicated and depriued his kingdome by Hildebrand and the Clergie at Rome they both endeuour to strengthen their owne part But forasmuch as such Kingdomes as are long time gouerned vnder a minoritie are seldome or neuer without factions there arose presently against Henrie many Princes of Germanie to whom Hildebrand alledged that Pope Zacharie had deposed Childerick king of Fraunce onely for his negligence and placed Pepin in his Throne Why then should it not be lawfull for him to do the like against whomsoeuer should rebel against S. Peter And they on the other side vnder his patronage are content to comfort and to flatter their consciences with these toyes Of this number was Hugh Duke of Alsatia who was growne far in debt Rodulphus Duke of Sueuia the Emperors brother in law fed with the hope of the Empire Bertholdus Duke of Zaringia his sonne in law Welfo Duke of Bauaria the Bishops of Mence Mets and Wormes and certaine Abbots eyther stroken with a feare of the excommunication or for some speciall causes bound to these Princes who with one consent reuolt from the Emperour ioyne their counsels and forces to the Saxon rebels and fill all Germanie with robberie sword and fire Insomuch that the Historiographers of those times want words to expresse the horror and abomination of that disordered confusion which by all good men was imputed to Gregorie who crie out against this vnworthie and wicked act in their sermons curse Gregorie wish all ill to Hildebrand publish him to be Antechrist vnder a shew of pietie say they he exerciseth his furies with honest words he makes shew of seeking the publike good vnder the title of Christ he playes the part of Antechrist in Babylon he sits in the Temple of God and extolleth himselfe aboue all that is worshipped as if he were God he glorieth that he cannot erre and for the greater increase of his glorie he takes vpon him to make an Emperor at his pleasure
God than man which Saint Peter in the Acts spake to another sense At his returne into Italie finding himselfe more firmely setled in Rome in the yeare 1097 he caused those articles to be confirmed An. 1097. but yet strengthened with a notable reason Guill Malm. l. 4 Edinerus in vita Arnulini Archiepiscop Symeon Dunelmens l. 2. Chron. That it was too abhominable that those hands that by the signe create their Creator should be bound as handmaids to serue those that euerie day and houre pollute themselues with vncleanenesse Thus abusing the world with a shew of reuerence due to the holy Eucharist because then Transubstantiation began to take footing To conclude we read that in these times he made a shew vpon this occasion of his authoritie in France and England in France in that Geffrey Bishop of Chartres was not onely deposed by him for his many and grieuous offences but Iuon Abbot of S. Quintin put into his place of whom he made choyce being a man famous in those dayes that by his commendations he might the better countenance his owne vsurpation In England in that he persuaded Anselmus an Italian the disciple of Lanfrane being chosen Archbishop of Canterburie by the consent of King William the second to take his confirmation of him which being once admitted by the Primat of England was an example for all the rest to doe the like OPPOSITION But it is now time to consider what the state of the Christian world was especially in the time of these schismes which for the space of sixteene yeares filled it with fire and sword The Popes Cardinals Councels Decrees Excommunications being opposit the one against the other each part chalenging to themselues the true Church affirming that without it there was nothing but heretikes heresies Christ himselfe if you will beleeue them was personally present on both parts and yet not so much as his footsteps to be found in either In so much that many Christian States tooke part with neither of them but left the gouernement of the Church to their owne Bishops not so much as turning their eyes towards Rome out fathers hauing then learnt that the Church of God might subsist without Popes and that Christ without their Vicarship was able to gouerne the Church Germanie was the Theatre of this tragedie wherein it much grieued all sorts of people that such controuersies as should be decided by Scriptures were with a strange disorder of all things determined by ciuile warres And therefore in the yeare 1088 at the entrance of Pope Vrban An. 1088. the Bishops and Princes on both parts assembled in Councell at Garstunghen to find some course for peace to be proposed to Vrban before he were touched with the affections of his predecessors which he seemed neuerthelesse to succeed by right of inheritance There Conrade Bishop of Vtrecht layd open vnto them how necessarie a thing peace was and how detestable it was for any man vpon any pretence whatsoeuer to breake his plighted faith for whosoeuer did so contemned him by whom he sware since we are not so much to consider to whom we sweare as by whom and we are admonished by Christ and his Apostles to obey Tiberius Nero and the most wicked monsters that are how much more then good and lawfull Princes Ambitious therefore and proud are they who with a brasen face abuse the words of our Sauiour Whatsoeuer thou loossest vpon earth shall be loossed in heauen adulterating them by their interpretations enforce them to serue their owne appetites and like children and such as are vnskilfull in all things endeuour to deceiue vs as if saith he wee were ignorant that it is a familiar and common thing with the holie Prophets and Preachers of the word to call one and the same thing by diuers names according to the capacitie of the hearers and to expresse them sometimes figuratiuely sometimes simply according to the diuersitie of the effects Doubtlesse that which Christ Iesus spake more obscurely in one place he expresseth plainely in S. Iohn and most plainely in S. Mathew S. Marke and S. Luke Peace be vnto you saith he Auent l. 5. As my Father hath sent me so I send you Receiue ye the holie Ghost Whose sinnes ye remit shall be remitted and whose sinnes ye retaine shall be retained And to the end he might sow concord and shew himselfe to be the onely true shepheard he saith to one If thou loue me feed my sheepe that is goe into the whole world and preach the Gospell to all creatures And againe All power is giuen me both in heauen and in earth goe therefore and teach all nations And therefore this heauenly Doctor opened the minds of his Disciples that they might vnderstand the Scriptures Moses the Prophets and the Psalmes and commaund them in his name to preach repentance and remission of sinnes to all nations and to be witnesses of these things This good Bishop had not yet learnt that these places were to be restrained to one Pope to Peter onely excluding all the rest both Apostles and Bishops or that they were more to be applied vnto him than the rest And therefore he addeth For these causes Hildebrand is fallen headlong into ambition since he vsurpeth the power of the immortall God whose messenger he is such are the customs the times the men The Supreame and Soueraigne Maiestie had ill prouided for humane affaires if it had deliuered the sword into the hands of one mortall man whosoeuer For who can set limits to the boundlesse desires of man c. We haue no need to be taught after what manner Peter and his Collegues vsed the Spirituall power or to speake more truely the dispensation and procuration of the heauenlie food for we are the Butlers as it were and Yeomen of Gods garner It plainely appeareth in the booke of the Acts of the Apostles written by Saint Luke the Physitian that the armour of our warfare is the spirit not sword nor rapine nor murders nor periuries but our breastplate or helmet girdle sword buckler are peace loue righteousnesse hope truth the word of God faith all which our most Christian Emperour hath many times of his free will offered to Hildebrand but he hath refused them We denie not but he is a man and apt to sinne without which no man commeth into the world but it is his happinesse that the greatest are not layed to his charge He is giuen to the lusts of the flesh but yet that which nature hath permitted which as youth hath stirred vp in him old age is accustomed to correct I confesse that this is a great sinne but yet humane and such as many yea good men haue often committed And if we truely consider of this our Prince we shall find that whatsoeuer vices there are in him either by naturall inclination or by reason of his age they are ouer counterpoysed by his excellent vertues his readinesse in the execution of great
writ vnto Richard Archbishop of Sens to consecrat him but Richard as we learne by the letter of Vrban himselfe refused to doe it vpon which his refusall Vrban himselfe was inforced to consecrat him commanding Richard to yeeld his helping hand to Yuo in the gouernement of the Church reseruing still his obedience to his Church Yuo Carmitens Epist 12.8 but Richard neuerthelesse would not obey him but writ saith Yuo sharpe letters and such as were derogatorie to the Maiestie of the Apostolike See Wherupon Yuo warneth him that the Scriptures pronounce him an heretike because he agreeth not with the Church of Rome I appeale vnto his owne conscience out of what peece of Scripture he proueth that But he likewise acknowledgeth ingeniously that by the hand of Vrban he had bin raised from the dunghill and therefore he held himselfe obliged in duetie to aduaunce his honour and commoditie and to that end tendes that salutation of his in a certaine congratulatorie Epistle Cum Petro pugnare cum Petro regnare To fight with Peter and to raigne with Peter that is as the Popes courtiers say to follow the Popes fortunes through what dangers so euer But here the Archbishop stayed not for he assembled at Estampes the Bishops his Suffragans namely of Paris Meaux and Troy to deliberat hereupon wherein he sheweth that this ordination was against the Maiestie royall which Yuo had greatly offended in receiuing it all of them concluding to restore Iefferay into his place and to depose Yuo whereupon he appealed to Rome to which appellation they refused to obey for which cause he complaineth to Vrban imployeth his helpe That he would be pleased to write to the Archbishop and his Suffragans in his behalfe that it was necessarie to send a Legat into France to prouide for these and the like matters But in the mean time whilest they vnited themselues together for the libertie of the French Church King Philip the first sent to the Pope for a dispensation to marie his concubine Bertrade and so withdrew his hand and commanded Yuo to be established in his Bishopricke Thus it oftentimes falleth out that the priuat vices of Princes doe greatly prejudice their publike dignities In these Epistles in the meane time it is worth the noting That Yuo doth not alwayes agree in doctrine with Vrban For whereas diuers Bishops had condemned the inuestitures of lay persons for heresie because by this means the great Prelats got vnto themselues the right and prerogatiue of lay founders and patrons An. 1099. Yuo neuerthelesse hauing gotten the Bishopricke and being out of their reach maintained against Hugh the Popes Legat the Primat of Lyons and others Yuo Carnutens Epist 235.238.239 That it was no heresie since there was nothing here that concerned faith which had nothing common with Orders This was Yuo who otherwise held with Vrban and did omit no occasion whereby he might serue him and did carefully aduertise him to assist Manasses with his authoritie for his confirmation in the Bishopricke of Rheimes Idem Epist 48. Because saith he it is necessarie that the Church of Rome should haue one in that See that should be a true and trustie seruant vnto him He armeth him likewise in such a sort with his counsels against those obstacles that may any way hinder the course of his Legats or Decrees in France that he feared not to say of himselfe I thinke of my selfe that there is no man on this side the mountaines that hath suffered greater wrongs endured more contumelies for the maintenance of your commaunds and that fidelitie that is due vnto you Yea Richard the Archbishop of Sens being dead and Daribert canonically nominated to his place Yuo being prohibited by Hugh Primat of Lyons and Legat to Vrban to consecrate him Bishop because he had not performed vnto him his due obedience Yuo deales sharpely with the Legat by letters giuing him to vnderstand That he would not obey him to the preiudice of the auncient Canons and the venerable authoritie of his forefathers he therefore bitterly reproueth him But Baronius who had hitherto approued him begins now to chide him because he had not spoken of inuestitures as was fitting Baron an 1099 art 8. That which remaineth saith he in this Epistle of Yuo is more harsh as speaking too abiectly of the auncient inuestitures yea of many things he speakes with contempt which if they were not corrected in other Epistles of the same Author would call into question that his glorious reputation which he hath gotten by defending the Apostolike See and the Catholike veritie So much doth reason and affection disagree euen in great personages An. 1093. In England Anselme by nation an Italian being chosen Archbishop of Canterburie by the consent of King William the second craues leaue of him to goe to Rome to receiue his Pall of Pope Vrban wherewith the King being greatly offended answered That no Archbishop or Bishop in his realme was subiect to the Court of Rome or to the Pope and that he had that libertie in his realme that the Emperour had in his Empire Anselme therefore was accused of high treason all the Bishops consenting thereunto except Gondoulfe Bishop of Rochester Vrban hereupon sent Gualter Bishop of Alba into England to bring him the Pall and to reconcile him to King William But Anselme being still desirous to goe to Rome King William answered him in plaine tearmes That if he would promise and bind himselfe by an oath vpon the booke neither to goe nor to appeale to Rome for any affaires whatsoeuer he should then well and peaceably enjoy his Bishopricke if not that it should be free for him to passe the seas but neuer to returne And this he spake in Common Councell He neuerthelesse went to Rome where by his counsell the Decree was renewed vnder paine of excommunication against the inuestiture of Layman Mathias Paris in Guilielmo 2. and so he continued at Lyons so long as William liued Let vs adde hereunto in these times the report of the Monke of Malmesburie touching the Romans The Romans sometimes Lords of the world Malmes l. 5. a people that goe in long gownes are now of all others the most ignorant An. 1097. selling iustice for gold and the Canons rule for siluer We must not forget that it was at this verie time that Pope Vrban granted to Roger Earle of Calabria and Sicilia those letters patents so much disputed by Baronius against the King of Spaine Baron an 1097 art 20. 21. sequent who now possesseth the kingdome both of the one and the other Sicile where in consideration of his good and loyall seruices done vnto the Church of Rome and against the Sarasens he made him the sonne of the vniuersall Church and by a speciall priuiledge he granteth vnto him and to his sonne Simon or any other his lawfull heire that they should neuer haue during their liues within their dominions
are manifold you would as little spare him When he had vttered this with a loud voyce he said Verily I feare not to vndergoe death for the truth but I tell you in the word of our Lord that the omnipotent God will not pardon your impietie Yee are full of all vncleanenesse and goe to hell euen before the people that are committed to your charge God is the reuenger Platina in Honor 2. Sabell Ennead 9. l. 4. Platina saith that he was followed by many of the Roman Nobilitie as a Prophet and the true disciple of Christ But Sabellicus saith This wicked deed that was cōmitted by the Clergie defamed their whole order yet it was the fault but of a few for their licentious life was grown to that height that they could not endure wholesome admonitions And Honorius truely tooke it grieuously saith he but presently addeth caeterum questione abstinuit but the restrefrayneth to speake of By this the Reader may judge what his anger was Let vs here speake of that which is written touching Nordbertus An. 1125. who came to Honorius in the yeare 1125 for the confirmation of the order of Premonstre instituted by him who published that Antichrist was euen at hand and readie to bee reuealed S. Barnard writing to Gaufrid Bishoppe of Chartres saith Barnard Epist 56. ad Gaufr Carnotens Whereas not many dayes since I saw his face and from his heauenlie pipe that is to say his mouth I heard many thing yet this I neuer heard that he should go into Hierusalem But whē I did inquire what he thought of Antichrist he protested he knew most certaine that he should be reuealed in this present generation And hereupon it appeareth that this question was then verie frequent But saith he as I entreated him to declare vnto me from whence he had this certainetie as I gaue eare to his answer I thought I might not beleeue him neuertheles he affirmed that he should not die before he saw the general persecution of the Church which truely he saw not long after if he obserued it against them that were called the Waldenses and so bloudie and cruell as hardly was euer any But the mischiefe was That Antichrist walked about the Theatre of the world but so disguised as few knew him and they that did know him durst not speake ill of him Vrspergen Abbas an 1119. The Abbot of Vrsperge telleth vs of this Norbertus That he was at the Councell of Collen vnder Calixtus in the yeare 1119 where he was accused of all that were there touching many things whereof he wisely excused himselfe whereupon it is written of him That the hands of all these were against him and he against them all Vpon what occasion he sheweth not 46. PROGRESSION Of the factions in the Popedome betweene Innocent the second and Anaclet the second and how Innocent requited the Emperour Lotharius in defending him against Anaclet Of the militarie enterprise of Innocent against Roger Duke of Apulia and Calabria and the successe thereof BY the death of Honorius arose a great schisme in the Church of Rome the one part hauing chosen Gregorie the sonne of Guido who was named Innocent the second the other Peter the sonne of Peter Leo who was first consecrated and called Anaclet the second both citizens of Rome but Anaclet of the more honourable familie so that Innocent after he was consecrated by the Bishop of Ostia was constrained for his safetie to flie into the towers of the Frangepanes riuals of Piter Leo and at length to leaue the citie Anaclet in the meane time being possest of the Vatican and finding therein crownes cups crosses and crucifixes of gold siluer and other rich ornaments caused them to be molten and made into money to content those that were of his faction and followers And it is likely the other would haue done no lesse if he had had power and meanes according as the election of the Popes at these times were carried Innocent therefore imbarked himselfe with his Cardinals and came to Pisa and there excommunicated Anaclet and presently went into France and sent to King Lewis the Grosse declaring vnto him the equitie of his cause to be protected by him This was the occasion of the Councell of Estampes where our Bishops disputing with those of the Popes S. Bernard held for Innocent who at the same time was inuited by Legats to take his refuge in France For hauing S. Bernard on his side was a great helpe vnto him And our Frenchmen were willing to bind the Pope vnto them who for a good turne receiued might afterward requite them in Italie There was also by chance at the same time in France Vincent l. 27. c. 6. Bernard vita l. 2. c. 1. Suggerus Abbas in vita Ludouici Grossi Henrie the first King of England whom Bernard persuadeth in the behalfe of Innocent against the opinion of all his Bishops through whose persuasion he went to Chartres to meet him Then both the Popes indeuored to defend each others part but Anaclet thundered his Excommunications at Rome against Innocent and his partakers Innocent at Clermont and Rheimes did the like against him and his followers And moreouer in Italie the Princes of the Normans defended the faction of Anaclet for he had bound Roger with a new benefit Leo Hostiens seu Petrus Diaconus l. 4. c. 99. in giuing him the title of a King and Anselme also Archbishop of Milan with all the Bishops of Lombardie his Suffragans And as on the one side S. Bernard defended Innocent so Anaclet was authorised by Sinaretus Abbot of Mont Cassin and all those of his Order who were of great authoritie especially in Italie where it was a question of holding his seat at Rome Innocent therefore in the yeare 1132 An. 1132. endeuoured to procure an enteruiew and conference betweene him and the Emperour Lotharius at Liege where according to the example of Charls and Otho the Great he requested him to take vpon him the protection of the Church A thing which he willingly yeelded vnto but vpon condition That the inuesting of Bishops which the Church of Rome had taken away from his predecessor Henrie should be restored vnto him At which word Vita Bernardi l. 2. c. 1. saith the Author of the life of S. Bernard the Romans were amazed and waxed verie pale thinking they had incountred greater danger at Liege than they had auoided at Rome vntill S. Bernard whom he had alwayes neere vnto him caused Lotharius to change his opinion telling him That it stood not with his generous mind to make a benefit of the diuision of the Church because it was a thing that could not be done without much slaughter and bloud Wherefore Lotharius was therewith content Vrspergens in Lothario so that he would promise him to crowne him Emperor so soone as he should be reestablished in the See at Rome Then Lotharius came into Italie in the yeare 1133
of sheepe Thinke you S. Peter did thus or S. Paule played thus Thou seest that all Ecclesiasticall zeale is feruent for the keeping onely of dignitie All is giuen to honour little or nothing to sanctitie If the cause so requiring you endeauor to beare yourselfe a little more humble and sociable Far be it say they it becommeth not it fitteth not the time it agreeth not with Maiestie consider what person thou bearest Of pleasing God is the thing they last of all speake with the losse of soules they trouble not themselues vnlesse we call that salutaris that is high that iust that sauoureth of glorie c. The feare of the Lord is counted simplicitie that I say not foolishnesse What then wilt thou doe c I know where thou dwellest vnbeleeuers and subuerters are with thee Wolues they are and not sheep yet of such art thou Pastour It is good to consider how if it be possible thou mayest conuert them least they subuert thee c. Here here I spare thee not to the end that God may spare thee Eyther denie thy selfe a Pastour to this people or shew thy selfe one Thou wilt not denie it least thou shouldest denie thy selfe to be heire of him whose seat thou holdest It is that S. Peter who was neuer knowne to haue gone adorned with precious stones or with silkes nor couered with gold nor carried on a white horse accompanied with souldiers and a troupe of seruants making a noyse about him Yet without these things he beleeued he might sufficiently fulfill that wholesome commission If thou loue me feed my sheepe In these things thou hast succeeded not Peter but Constantine Though thou goe in purple and gold yet thou shouldest not neglect thy Pastorall worke or charge thou shouldest not be ashamed of the Gospell Howbeit if willingly thou preach the Gospell thou hast glorie among the Apostles To preach the Gospell is to feed doe thou the worke of an Euangelist and thou fulfillest the worke of a Pastour Yea say you thou warnest me to feed Dragons and Scorpions not sheepe Euen for that I say so much the rather vndertake it but with the word not with the sword And hence he enlargeth himselfe seriously to shew vnto him of what weight and moment is the charge that hee pretendeth how largely the same is extended and that if he will well discharge his duetie he hath a greater burthen vpon him than can euer be well home Therefore it better stood with wisedome that he should renounce all other affaires and namely secular which haue their Iudges the Princes and Magistrats of the earth there being no need he should thrust his sickle into other mens haruest A lesson truely far different from that of the Palatines so call they them of the Court of Rome Seeing then neuerthelesse Eugenius sticketh in the mud being so mightily adiured by Bernard and leaueth the true inheritance of Saint Peter for that of Constantine of feeding sheep for to deuoure the world what iudgement hereupon might Saint Bernard make or what might he leaue for vs to make but euen this that this is the second beast that hath taken as S. Iohn had prophecied the place of the first and vnder the name of the seat of S. Peter hath inuaded the throne of Constantine hath changed his sheepe-hooke into his Scepter vnder pretext of the Church of Christ hath stollen into the temporal Monarchie that kingdome which the Apostle had foretold should perish before the man of sinne were reuealed to build vp his ruines and which now sheweth it selfe reuiued and renewed For in many of his Epistles he leaueth vnto vs traces whereby it appeareth that Eugenius was not bettered by his admonitions Whence he oftentimes sayd Ego liberaui animam meam I haue deliuered my soule and discharged my conscience c. But in one Epistle he telleth vs Bernard Epist 125. that the Beast mentioned in the Reuelation to whom is giuen a mouth speaking blasphemies and to make war with the Saints occupieth the Chaire of S. Peter as a Lion prepared for the prey If they will needs haue it that he speaketh of an Anti-Pope yet doth it not remaine firme out of this verie place that it is possible that Antichrist should sit at Rome and hold the Chaire of S. Peter and that S. Bernard hath so beleeued and thought How far is this from the Doctors of these dayes which suppose he is to be exepcted out of Babylon Neither is it hereto be omitted that when by the diligence of good S. Bernard our French Church had held a famous Councell at Poitiers to reduce into a better life by authoritie thereof one Gilbert Porretan Bishop of that place holding an ill opinion concerning the Trinitie and there had conceiued in a certaine writing what ought to be held and beleeued concerning that point the consistorie of Cardinals beeing greatly moued thereat came thus to reproch the same to Pope Eugenius Otho Frisingen de gestis Frederic 1. l. 1. c. 57. What hath that thy Abbot done and with him the French Church with what impudencie haue they dared to erect their heads against the Primacie of the See of Rome For it is this alone that shutteth and no man openeth openeth and no man shutteth Shee alone can discusse of the Catholike faith and in her absence may suffer preiudice of none in this singular honour Surely if the same had beene done in the East as in Alexandria or Antioch before all the Patriarkes yet were their authoritie of no force without ours for to define any thing that might hold firme and stable c. At length Eugenius was brought by them to that passe that he earnestly resolued without delay to punish so great a rebellion and noueltie Insomuch that S. Bernard is constrayned to go to Rome with great submission to purge himselfe And the Symbole of the French Church though it were good and approued of all good men was accounted for none So hard a matter it was at that time to doe well and to please them both together Otho of Frisinghe noteth that S. Bernard disputing with that Gilbert had vttered some words that might displease the Cardinalls whereupon Gilbert had sayd Et hoc scribatur let this also bee written S. Bernard replied Yea and with an yron stile and nayle of Adamant And this perhaps did sting them Petrus venerabilis Abbas Cluniacens 16. Epist 47. Peter Abbot of Clugni who liued in these times could neuer satisfie himselfe with praysing Pope Eugenius especially in his seuen and fortieth Epistle of the sixt Booke of S. Bernard in which neuerthelesse hee ingeniously saith But some man may say the Church hath no sword Christ hath taken it away when he said to Peter Put vp thy sword into the scaberd whosoeuer smiteth with the sword shal perish with the sword Verum est inquam verum est It is true I say it is true The Church hath not the sword of a King but
away by the same meanes many filthie doctrines which the Semi-Pelagians Faustus Cassianus and others had brought in easily getting foundation of their doctrines out of the naturall pride of men But Saint Bernard being once dead the schole of Abayllard continued in the Schole-men who haue so followed his methode that he by right may be acenowledged their father It little wanted then but that the tares choked the good corne when with them little or no mention is made of justifying by faith the fortresse of saluation is thenceforth placed in dead workes as if Christian doctrine that most profound secret hidden before all time and reuealed in his time were nothing but a certaine morall discipline In the same time also Gratian compiled his Decrees not more fortunatly than Iustinian his Pandectes out of the Canons and auncient Decrees which hee in many places applieth to the abuses of the time and especially to the Roman ambition although he leaue vs therein many good footsteps by helpe of which the diligent searchers may find out the ancient doctrine practise of the Church Auentine an Author most studious of antiquitie teacheth vs Auent l. 6. that before Gratian the Canon law was farre otherwise For saith he as it is perfect and whole in our Libraries it containeth two parts the first the Acts of vniuersall Councells which are manifestly receiued the other of the Constitutions Epistles and Rescripts of Popes as euerie thing was done the causes assistants witnesses with the circiumstances of places and times Would to God he had not taken so much paines And in the meane time Pope Eugenius approueth it and commaundeth it to be read in all Vniuersities because without doubt he reduced the whole Church vnder the Popes yoke little remembring the good counsels that Saint Bernard gaue him in his bookes of Considerations The same methode hath Peter Lumbard this Gratians brother in his foure bookes of Sentences collected out of the places of auncient Fathers compiled into a certain order which he oftentimes maketh to serue by changing leauing out or adding some word to the corrupt diuinitie of his time so that from thenceforth onely Gratian is consulted with and onely Lumbard is read in scholes In these two consists all Christian law and diuinitie No man hence careth for seeking to the fountaine in the holie Scriptures of the old and new Testament in the monuments of the Fathers or Acts of auncient Councels to looke more neerely into the matter is counted heresie Auentine to this purpose saith Auent Annal. Baior l. 6. I haue learned and heard of my Masters Iacobus Faber and Clitouous more than a thousand times That this Lumbard had troubled the pure fountaine of Diuinitie with muddie questions and whole riuers of opinions which experience if we be not blind doth more than ynough teach vs. Which notwithstanding as well as himselfe are most famous among them of the Church of Rome 47. PROGRESSION Of the humilitie of the Emperour Frederick and the pride and insolencie of Pope Adrian the fourth The Pope stirreth vp the subiects of William King of Sicilia to rebell against him TO the Emperour Conrade succeeded in the yeare 1152 Frederick his nephew An. 1152. in the Empire of Germanie a Prince by the testimonie of all writers qualified with many vertues And in the yeare 1153 dieth Eugenius An. 1153. whom Anastasius succeedeth created as abouesaid by the Cardinals alone who continued but one yeare neuerthelesse peaceable at Lateron because he let the Romans doe what they listed Then behold Adrian the fourth an English man borne entreth into the Popedome who could not be consecrated at Lateran vnlesse first the people chased away Arnold who as we haue said preached at Rome against the superfluous pompe of Popes and withall would put downe the Senat which they had established Both which being refused him he waxeth angrie forsaketh the citie and with his Court retireth to Orvietto Frederick in the meane time setteth forward to be crowned in Italie who in his way inuested Anselme of Hauelburge with the Bishopricke of Rauenna then vacant by the death of Moses being chosen by the voyce of the Clergie and of the people and moreouer maketh him Exarch whence he tooke the title of Seruant of seruants Archbishop and Exarch of Rauenna Sigon de regno Jtal. l. 12. This set Adrian alreadie into an ague who neuerthelesse met him at Viterbe where Frederick stepping to him held his stirrop for him to light from his horse and conducted him into his tent There the Bishop of Bamberge speaking for the Emperour declared vnto him with much respect That all the Church was come from the end of the world for to bring him this Prince and that seeing prostrat at his feet he had rendred him due honour he besought him to doe what lay in him to set the Imperiall Crowne vpon his head Sigonius saith here that he paused a while seeming as it were to conceale from vs the insolencie of this Pope which we read in Helmold Helmold in Histor Sclauorum c. 81. an Author not to be suspected because he was rightly ashamed of it The answer then of Adrian was this Brother these are but words that thou tellest vs thou sayest thy Prince hath giuen due reuerence to Saint Peter but Saint Peter hath rather been thereby dishonored Instead of holding our right stirrop he hath held the left This being told againe by the Interpreter to the King he humbly answereth Tell him that it was not want of deuotion but of knowledge for I haue not much learned to hold stirrops and he is the first to my knowledge that euer I did that seruice vnto The Pope replied If he haue through ignorance neglected that which is most easie how thinke yee that he will acquit himselfe of that which is greater Then the King somewhat moued I would be better instructed saith he whence this custome hath taken footing from good will or of duetie if from good will the Pope hath no cause to complaine that I haue failed in a seruice which is but arbitrarie and not of right but if you say that of duetie from the first institution this reuerence is due to the Prince of Apostles what importeth it betweene the right and left stirrop so that humilitie be obserued and that the Prince prostrat himselfe at the Popes feet Helmold l. 1. c. 73. Thus saith the Historie was this point long and eagrely disputed and in the end they departed each from other sine osculo pacis without the kisse of peace Let the Reader note here the charitie of this Bishop to reiect an Emperour onely for hauing held the left stirrop for the right and an Emperour endued with such vertues as the Author faileth not to say That his wisedome and courage was greater than of all the inhabitants of the earth And he addeth The principall Lords which were as the pillars of the realme were afraid to returne without
and Lotharius prostrat at his knees receiuing the Imperiall Crowne and when he was returned into Germanie the Pope by two Cardinalls sent him the Epistle aboue mentioned Therefore all the Princes of the Empire which assisted him were greatly offended hereat and as some of them complained of so insolent a Legation one of the Popes Legats Quasi gladium igni addens as it were adding the sword to fire replied for to take away all ambiguitie Of whom then doth the Emperour hold the Empire if not of my Lord the Pope At which words Otho Count Palatine set his hand to his sword and would haue slaine him had not the Emperour withheld him who also without any other answer sent away the Legats in safetie to Rome by the neerest way for feare least they should goe vp and downe suborning the people In the meane time Frederick writeth to all the States of the Empire complaining of this insolencie and sent them a copie of the letters obseruing vnto them the clauses abouesaid Flowing saith he from the Mammon of Iniquitie that puffeth him vp with a heape of pride of hautinesse of arrogancie and of execrable loftinesse elatione of heart notwithstanding that he held the Empire by the election of the Princes and from God alone That the Apostle S. Peter himselfe had instructed the world in these words Feare God honour the King So that whosoeuer shall say he holdeth the Imperiall Crowne by the benefit of the Pope is contrarie to diuine institution to the doctrine of S. Peter and conuicted of lying To this he added moreouer That he was resolute as he had begun to warrant the libertie of the Churches from the hands of the Aegyptians to wit from the Pope as from a Pharaoh exhorting them to lend him their helping hands And it is not to be forgotten that he found about the Legats many blankes signed and sealed to be filled at their discretion for to sow their venime of iniquitie through the Churches of Germanie to despoyle the Altars carrie away the vessels of the house of God cruces excoriare to slea or fleece the crosses that is to say to plucke off the gold and siluer that couered them which was the cause that he made them take the neerest way that hee might câ—â— off such practises The Legats being come to the Pope who besides was in contention with the Romans resolued vpon their answer to write to the Bishops of Germanie complaining that Frederick had misconstrued the good meaning of his letters and namely these words Insigne beneficium tibi contulimus Radeuicus l. 1. c. 15. 16. We haue giuen thee this notable benefit of the Crowne And much harder were the words in his letters He requested them to pacifie his mind and to induce him to make such satisfaction of the speeches to his Legats as that all men might be edified thereby So doing they should doe a good seruice to Saint Peter But the Bishops and Prelats of Germanie being vpon this Legation assembled together doe answer him That all the Commonwealth of the Empire was moued at the clauses contained in his letters that the eares of the Emperour could not patiently heare them nor of the Princes endure them that themselues for that sinister ambiguitie could not approue them being vnusuall and neuer before heard of till then Radeuicus l. 1. c. 16. That in consequence of his letters they had admonished the Emperour From whom thankes be to God say they we haue receiued such an answer as became a Catholike Prince Note here his words as followeth There are two things saith he whereby our Empire ought to be gouerned the holie lawes of Emperours and the good custome of our Fathers and predecessors These bounds of the Church we neither will nor can transgresse neither admit any thing that departeth from them We willingly yeeld to the Pope his due reuerence but we hold the free Crowne of our Empire onely from God and his diuine bountie The first voyce of election we acknowledge is from the Archbishop of Mentz and then of other Princes euerie one in his order the royall vnction from the Bishop of Cologne the last which is the Imperiall vnction from the Pope Whatsoeuer is more than this ex abundanti est à malo is superfluous and from that wicked one c. Wee haue not neither will we by Edict stop the entrance and passage of Italie from them that goe to Rome be it for voyage or other reasonable causes hauing the testimonie of their Bishops and Prelats but we haue an intention to remedie the abuses wherewith all the Churches of our realme are grieued and almost all cloisterall disciplines dead and buried In time past God exalted the Church by the Empire now the Church not by God as we beleeue ruinateth the Empire They began by a picture from that they came to writing and now writing endeuoureth to passe into authoritie We will not endure it we will not suffer it we will rather for goe our Crowne than consent that by vs it shall fall into decay Let them deface the pictures let them withdraw these writings that there remaine not an eternall memorie of enmitie betweene the Kingdome and the Priesthood In these tearmes represented they to Adrian the resolution of Frederick concluding with a supplication That he would mitigat the former writings by other more mild for to appease the magnanimitie of the Emperour And in the mean time the Emperour sent into Italie Otho of Witelsbach Palatine and Renold Earle of Assell his Chauncellor great personages for to keepe all men in obedience Sigon de regno Jtal. l. 12. and to receiue the oath of the Lords Bishops and Comminalties the forme whereof was this I promise that from henceforth I will be faithfull to Frederick the Emperour of the Romans my Lord against all men c. namely I will not take away from him his royalties of such a Countie or Bishopricke c. Radeuicus l. 1. c. 18.19 I will execute all his commaundements that he shall commaund me by himselfe or by letter or his embassadour to doe iustice c. So that Adrian seeing the commission of these forerunners of the Emperour prosperously to goe forward and perceiuing him about to passe into Italie with an armie he sent vnto him two Legats Henrie and Iacinth Cardinals with letters wherein he correcteth his plea Which Legats saith the Author reuerently with an humble countenance Radeuicus de gestis Frederic l 1. c. 11. and a modest voyce began their Legation in these words Praesul Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae the Bishop of the holie Church of Rome and most deuout Father of your Excellencie in Christ saluteth you as his most deere and speciall sonne of Saint Peter Our venerable brethren your Clerkes all the Cardinalls doe also most humbly salute you as Lord and Emperour vrbis orbis of the citie of Rome and of the world How different is this stile
belong to that Court that vseth to commaund both Emperours and Kings And Baronius hath set downe this excellent Apothegme in great letters Baron an 1169. art 11. By the pride of the seruant we may iudge the modestie of the Master Doubtlesse the wisest of this world judge otherwise of the power and authoritie of the Pope Otho Bishop of Frisinghen saith Otho Frisingens in prologo l. 4. Chron. Two persons are constituted in the Church by God the Priestlie and the Princelie the one hath the administration of the Sacraments of Christ and to exercise Ecclesiasticall descipline with the spirituall sword the other carieth the materiall sword against the enemies of the Church defending the poore and the Churches of God from the oppression of the wicked punishing euill doers and exercising secular iudgement These are the two swords whereof we read in the Passion of our Sauiour but Peter is said to vse but onely one Therefore euen as to the spirituall sword spirituall possession belong that is to say the tithes the oblations of the faithfull and others of like sort so to the materiall are subiect all worldlie dignities as Duke domes Earle-domes and the like Now God would that these things should be in his Church orderly and not confusedly that is to say not in one person alone but diuided betweene two as I haue formerly named Euen as these persons therefore that carrie the materiall sword are not to meddle with those things that are spirituall so is it not fit for the spiritual to vsurp the other And to make good this saying many testimonies of the Scriptures and of our Lord himselfe besides the example of Saints may be alledged as that Gospell that saith Giue vnto Caesar the things that belong vnto Caesar and vnto God the things that are Gods That which our Lord Iesus Christ had deliuered in words he declared also by effects when yeelding tribute to whom tribute belonged he gaue tribute for himselfe and Peter And S. Paul acknowledged that we ought to yeeld honour to whom honour belongeth considering that all power is from God who being brought to iudgement did not appeale to Saint Peter who then possest the chaire at Rome but to Nero a most impious and a wicked man ordained by the will of God King of the whole world And thus much touching the honour of Kings But he goeth about to defend the Pope by some poore weake reasons but in the end concludeth I confesse I know no other refage but this that we haue known holie men both of Apostolike faith and merit as Syluester Gregorie Vlric Boniface Lampert Gothard and diuers others that haue had these things but for my selfe to speake my owne opinion I doubt whether this exalting of the Church in these dayes be more acceptable to God than the humilitie of former times Verily it seemeth that state was the better this the happier Neuerthelesse I agree with with the Church of Rome c. That is to say to be rather temporally happie with the one than spiritually happie with the Apostles and the holie Fathers and shortly after he hides not from vs vpon what foundation he groundeth his reason That all scruple saith he of that controuersie being resolued by his authoritie and example is againe secretly signified by that which was sayd to S. Peter Duc in altum lanch into the deepe and cast your nets to take fish Luke 5. yea it is so secret that for the space of 500 of the first and best yeres none of the auntient Doctors could perceiue this mysterie Jdem l. 3. Chron. 1.3 But the same authour speakes more openly in another place After the donation of Constantine the Church of Rome affirmeth that all Realmes of the West belonged to it by the gift of Constantine this he refuteth himselfe In token whereof it doubted not to exact tribute euen to this present of all those except the two Kingdomeâ— of the French that is to say the Gaules and the Germans which hee would gladly draw into his Net if they would suffer him But in our France at the verie same time they that were called Waldenses or Albienses earnestly set against the Church of Rome condemning all the traditions thereof rejecting the ceremonies and declaring it in expresse words to be that Babylon in the Apocalyps the mother of fornications and the Pope verie Antichrist the man of sin foretold by the holie Scriptures These people maintayned the puritie veritie and simplicitie of the Christian Religion in all the Countries both on the mountaines and vallies of Daulphine Prouence Languedoc and Guyan where the corruptions and papall inuentions could not so easily penetrat no otherwise than as we see the Tongues customes and habits of nations to be preserued in Countries more remote against the inundation and mingling of the people as the originall Tongue of Spaine in the mountaines of Biscay and the auntient Tongue of the Brittons in Wales with their manners and customes also and so likewise of others For that so great a multitude of people spread from the Alpes euen to the Pirence by the instruction of Waldo had beene as it were hatcht vp in one day exceedeth all beliefe all reason Contrariwise he that would retire himselfe from the world seriously to contemplate his owne saluation it is likely he rather learned it of them and afterward taught at Lyon where for the renowne of the citie they that were his followers or affected his doctrine were called Waldenses as they who preached in the citie of Alba ware called Albienses and not many yeres before Peter Bruitzius Henrie his disciple publiquely teaching at Tholouse were called Tholousians and so likewise were they called at the Councell of Lateran held vnder Alexander the third Of this antiquitie to the end we need not doubt thereof the aduersaries themselues auouch the truth amongst whom Frier Rainerius who writ about the yeare of our Lord 1250 Among all the sects that are saith he or euer will be none can be more pernitious to the Church of God than that of Lyons An. 1250. Frater Rainerius de Waldensibus for three causes the first because it hath continued a longer time than any some say that it hath beene euer since the time of Syluester others say from the time of the Apostles that is to say inasmuch as integritie euer went before corruption and the same maintayned by them as it is said of the true Church in the Apocalyps that it was preserued euen in the desart The second because it is more generall for there is not almost any Countrie where into this sect hath not crept whereas in the meane time they aske vs where our Church then was The Third because all the other procure horrour by their blasphemies against God this of the Lionists hath a great apparence of pietie in as much as they liue vprightly before men and put their trust in God in all things and obserue all the Articles
that iudge the world saith he let them see and iudge these things least wrong should seeme to proceed from whence equitie and iustice should be had We shall bee condemned of rashnesse and said to open our mouthes against heauen but we write not these things out of a spirit of pride but with the inke of griefe wee feele our owne priuat miseries and deplore the publike c. The Apostle speaking to the Romans saith Euerie creature ought to be subiect to the higher powers If the Apostle so writ to the Church of Rome who in the Church of Rome will presume to contradict this Apostolicall doctrine c. Some Angels are greater and higher in dignitie than others yet they admit not the pride of emancipation or freedome the one aboue the other One of them long since would be freed from the power of God and of an Angell became a diuell by these extraordinarie liberties now adayes are wrought the vtter ouerthrow of many But to dispute of the doings of the Pope is held they say for sacriledge besides the disputation is not equall where it is not lawfull for the defendant to answer neither is it a quarell when thou strikest and I onely must endure the blowes In the same sence in the Epistle 158 to Iohn Bishop of Chartres and vpon the same subiect which was then pleaded by the Author before the Pope he saith All the lawes and the Canons and whatsoeuer we could alledge out of the word of God Petrus Blaesens Epist 158. to affirme and make good our cause Maiores inter caeteros the greatest haue held detestable and sacrilegious and did publikely iudge vs enemies to the Church of Rome vnlesse we would relinquish these word by which we endeuoured to proue the Church of Saint Augustine which they affirme particularly to be his to be subiect to the Church of Canterburie c. For hauing no regard of the losse of soules they permit in the Monkes all vnlawfull things to cast off the yoke of all discipline to follow all pleasures of the flesh and to pay for their riot and excesse through the whole yeare an annuall pension Wee hauing then beene publikely forbidden to produce in this cause either Canons or Lawes but onely priuiledges if we had any readie at hand whereof they knew none we had at that time saw that in this respect we were destitute of all humane comfort and they being resolued to prouide a lay man and not learned but rich ynough to purchase honors who had bought this Abbie by simonie not priuily but publikely and as it were in open market I put my selfe forward to accuse him and to make my selfe a partie against him but when I layed open manifest and notorious things they whom he had made friends with the Mammon of iniquitie poured wine and oyle into the wounds of his infamie Moreouer hauing gotten much money from the Marchants of Flanders and in a manner drawne them drie notwithstanding borrowed an infinit quantitie of gold of the Romans so by this meanes the Doues wings were all siluer and the hinder parts of her backe glittering all in gold in such sort that they would heare no more of the libertie and dignitie of the Church of Canterburie for the which the Martyr Saint Thomas fought euen vnto death This pretended Martyr notwithstanding suffered for the Popes authoritie who as Peter of Blois here tells vs according to the example of the Pharisies gilded his sepulchre that he might the better rob his Church Neither are we to forget also That in his treatise of the Institutions of a Bishop written to Iohn Bishop of Worcester he attributeth to euery Bishop that authoritie which the Church of Rome restraineth to the Popes as successors of Saint Peter We read saith he that our Sauiour said to Peter Petrus Blaesens de Institutione Episcopi If thou louest me feed my sheepe thou art the heire and Vicar of Peter feed my sheepe In being an Euangelist doe the workes of an Euangelist and of a Pastor be not ashamed of the office of a Pastor Thy ministerie hath more charge than honour if thou affect honour thou art mercenarie if thou wilt imbrace the burthen the Lord is strong to encrease his grace that profit may come by profit and gaine by gaine But if thou canst not endure the burthen and knowes thy selfe insufficient it is too late to complaine He said before Take heed by all meanes thou wrap not thy selfe in secular affaires for there is no agreement with the spirit of God and the spirit of this world persist in thy vocation the world is wholly giuen to wickednesse And this hee afterward recited Animabus Praelatus es non corporibus Thou hast the charge of soules and not of bodies Nihil Praelato commune est cum Pilato A Prelat hath nothing common with Pilat thou art Christs Steward Peters Vicar thou art not to make an account to Caesar but to Christ of that iurisdiction that is committed vnto thee And by these and the like places we may judge what he thought of the Popes who so violently drew all secular power vnto them But he was constrained verie often to temper his stile according to the tyrannie of those times Petrus Blaesens in Tractatu de Peregrinat Hierosolimit as when he said The sword wherewith Peter cut off these seruants eare exceedeth in these daies according to all mens opinion the weapons of Alexander and Caesar Abbas Vrsperg Let vs now come to Innocent the third The Abbot of Vrsperge tells vs of his entrance into the Popedome I haue heard in those times saith he things incredible to be related and hard to be beleeued that the same Pope said That he would take away the Kinglie Diademe from Philip or that Philip should take from him the Apostolical Ensigne Now albeit it were not to be beleeued that he would prefer his will before the will of God neuerthelesse it appeareth that he was at all times contrarie vnto him But God foreseeing from aboue permitted not that through all Germanie his diuine seruice and the Ecclesiasticall dignitie should perish which continued there more permanent than in other countries albeit much corrupted and depraued through the instigation of sinne and chiefly carnall pleasures And he noteth especially that Innocent opposed the authoritie of the Apostolike See against Philips Vt regium genus deperiret To ruinat the royall race But Auentine saith That he raised cognatas acies Auent l. 7. brother to fight against brother and the sonne against the father and the one to pollute himselfe with the bloud of the other and then crying out Who saith he can giue any other reason of the discord among Christians but the spectacle of the Roman Bishop quasi paria componentis taking pleasure to see and to cause them like Fencers to murder one another euen so the Christian people were slaine the Bishops of Rome encouraging the one against the
thither and declared that hee would giue no safe conduct to such as should vndertake that journey especially for that he had vnderstood that the Pope hauing had aduertisement that his Agents had collected great summes of money in England and in Fraunce was resolued to breake truce with him Here it is good to heare the same Author speake Matth. Paris in Henrico 3. Cardinall Iohn Columna hauing beene author of the truce Gregorie receiueth letters from the Legat That in Fraunce alone hee had gathered alreadie so much money as whereby hee might bee vndoubtedly able to wage warre against the Emperour for a whole yeare Whereupon repenting and grieuing that hee had accepted the truce called for the excellent Cardinals Iohn de Columna and Raymund mediatours of the same I am ashamed in my selfe saith he to them that I granted truce to Frederic the enemie of the Church Goe then in hast thou speaking to Columna which wast the spokesman betwixt vs and tell him boldly that I will not hold it and that I will be his enemie and doe defie him God forbid answered Columna that in the mouth of so great a man such light words should be reported to so great a prince especially by vs which are of no common ranke for I cannot consent to this counsell of instabilitie and vnfaithfulnesse but doe constantly contradict the same To whom the Pope replied And I hold thee not henceforth for Cardinall Nor I thee for Pope sayd Columna and so departed and of a friend became his aduersarie But it verie fitly fell out addeth the author that the French king Lewis hauing intelligence of it made to be stayed in his kingdome all that money which had bin gleaned from the clergie by his permission Mellitis sermonibus fellitis comminationibus By honied speeches and bitter threatnings That by this meanes the Pope who is called Christs vicar on earth might be found faithfull though against his will Now it so fel out that Frederic was not vnarmed or vnprepared against him for he had at that verie time fiue armies a foot the first before Fayenza which he himselfe in person commaunded the second on the Tuscane Sea vnder Hencius king of Sardinia against the Genowayes the third vpon the frontiers of Germanie against the Tartarians vnder the conduct of Conrade king of Germanie the fourth in the Marca de Ancona and vallie of Spoletum the fift in Palestina vnder Rodolph Marshall of the Empire for to defend the kingdome of Hierusalem which he did notwithstanding the trauerses and hinderances of the Pope for the space of fifteene yeares The warre then continuing the siege of Fayenza dured a long time neither had he little cause to reuenge himselfe of the inhabitants who some time before hauing shut the gates of their citie before and behind vpon him violently assailed him and wickedly slew another disguised like vnto him in imperiall armour thinking it had been their Lord. Yet notwithstanding they imploring his mercie he gaue them their citie and the like libertie as to other cities of the empire which be spoken to them that accuse him of being prone to reuenge The Legats also returned accompanied with many Bishops for the Councell them he requested to turne towards him and promised them all safe-conduct desirous only to make knowne the justice of his cause vnto them Now they refusing it and chusing rather to commit themselues to the safegard of the Genowayes his enemies Hencius who watched to surprise them tooke them at sea and led them prisoners to Naples Collenucius l. 4. At which successe and others prosperously performed in the Marca de Ancona and in Romania Gregorie the ninth conceiued so great discontent being withall verie auntient that for griefe thereof he died It is not in the mean time to be forgotten that the Popes to colour their affaires the better had euer sounding in their mouthes the holie land that when vnder Honorius the third king Iohn of Brenna had taken the famous citie of Damieta Cardinall Pelagius the Popes Legat pretended that he was to haue the chief commaund ouer the armie whereat the king incensed retired himselfe through despite to Ptolomais whereby were lost the best opportunities to doe good and in the end after many bad successes Damieta was forsaken Againe when as vnder Gregorie the ninth Richard earle of Cornewall the king of Englands brother was bent to the holie wars with an armie at his instance for recouerie of these losses and was come to S. Giles in Languedock readie to embarke himselfe there came a Legat to him from Gregorie with the Archbishop of Arles commanding in his name that he should not passe the Seas All which was to despite Frederic wherat this prince much offended said vnto them I thought there had beene firmenesse of truth in the Apostolike words and in the preachers that he sent vnto me and now I am readie to enter on shipboord this Pope whom they call the successor and Vicar of Iesus Christ who neuer failed of his word forbiddeth me to march forward in his seruice And neuerthelesse resolued Detestans Romanae Ecclesiae duplicitatem Detesting the double dealing of the Church of Rome with great bitternesse of mind to goe imbarke himselfe at Marseille giuing the Emperor to vnderstand by Robert Tuing Knight and other his embassadours Papalem muscipulationem The iuglings of the Pope and his Legats The same had he done a little before to the crossed souldiers in France and other nations who being come to Lyons that from thence they might take their journey into the Holie Land found there the Popes Legat who made them the like prohibition and deliuered a commaundement in writing That euerie man should returne backe to his owne home This gaue occasion to exclaime Vnde haec in Romana Curia in Papa multiplicitas Whence commeth this varietie in the Court of Rome and in the Pope Is not this here both the time and place prefixed and appointed by his Legats and preaching Friers vpon their promises wee haue set forward our iourney haue sold and engaged our houses bidden our friends farewell sent our mony before c. And little wanted they from laying violent hands vpon the Legat if the discretion of some Prelats had not restrained the furie of the people To prouide for the election of a successor to Gregorie there remained but tenne Cardinals at Rome they therefore intreated Frederick to permit them two whom he kept prisoners to come to them and to be present at the election which he graciously granted vnto them yet on condition they should both returne except one of them were created Pope Now there was nominated Godfrey Bishop of the Sabins called Celestine the fourth who died seuenteene dayes after before he was consecrated The Cardinals assembled againe and as they were diuided some for the Church others for the Empire that they could not agree the two prisoners to performe their promise giuen returned till at
diuine Mysteries ought not to be celebrated vntill first it be againe dedicated The Deuill is let loosse the Pope is an hereticke polluteth the Church yea the world Gregorie that is called Pope All this in presence of many Prelats named expresly by the Authour Againe the Legat asketh Is there not giuen from aboue a power vnto the Pope our Lord to bind and loosse soules and to execute ahe place of S. Peter on earth And whilest all men expected what he would answere beleeuing that the iudgement thereof depended on his answere he replied by way of question How can I beleeue that to any person tainted with Simonie and vsurie and perhaps with greater crimes any such power is granted as was to S. Peter who being made immediatly his Apostle followed the Lord not so much by the steps of his feet as by brightnesse of vertues At which words the Legat blushed Neuerthelesse he proceedeth for all that in his enterprise begun in so much as the Abbots of the kingdome are constrained to come to the king to make their complaint with their heads lowly bowed and their faces full of teares We are beaten verie sore and yet we dare not crie out our throats are cut and yet we may not weepe or complaine The Pope imposeth an impossibilitie vpon vs an exaction detestable to the whole world New and vnexpected seruices are daily thus and thus reuiued and inuented of the Romans so that they suffer vs not to haue neuer so little time to fetch our breath The Bishops then vniuersally gather together and fortifie themselues with reasons which they oppose against it but the Legat being borne out by the king who would gratifie the Pope he made a schisme amongst them that he might the more easily sayth Mathew seise vpon his prey Gregorie de pecuniae congreganda vigil contemplator a vigilant contemplator in gathering of money together expecting his desired prey from England signified to the Legat That he should not as before assemble the whole Clergie together least they should encourage one another and strengthening themselues with their former reasons and exceptions should flatly contradict him but rather that he should endeuour to bow euery one of them by himselfe hauing first by all meanes weakened the constancie of the king to the end that he who before stood for the Clergie and had giuen them hornes being made effeminat might be for their ruine When the Legat had vnderstood these things de docto factus est doctior ad nocendum becomming more skilfull to hurt called together afore him by the Popes authoritie the whole Clergie of England to London on the feast day of all Saint and in the end obtained his ful desire For the poore sheepe were deliuered vp as it were rictibus Luporum cruentatis to the bloudie throats of Wolues by the seducings of the Legat mellitis super oleum mollitis sweeter than oyle and honie which he afterward turned into darts The same also did Gregorie in all the other Prouinces of Europe in Scotland Denmarke and France it selfe in which notwithstanding according to the measure of his power the matter had diuers euents finding eftsoones many impediments For as wee haue seene before hauing gathered money in France when he would abuse it against the quiet rest of Christendome S. Lewis intercepted the money and made it be stayed neuerthelesse he continued in the same obstinacie vntill his death as Mathew Paris witnesseth Gregorie saith he being vnable to sustaine the griefes hee had conceiued and yet stirred vp and drawne vpon himselfe the eleuenth of the Calends of September dyed pro meritis à summo Iudice recepturus to receiue of the soueraigne Iudge according to his deserts c. The greatest griefe which more inwardly pricked the heart of Gregorie at his death was for that the Emperour anon after the feast of the Assumption had taken a certaine castle of the Popes nephewes other his kinsmen in Campania neere Mountfort c. and in signe of the subuersion thereof had left a tower halfe ruinat that the memorie as well of the fault as of the vengeance taken might not dye And in this sence it is that he may seeme justly to take to himselfe that saying of our Lord The zeale of thy house hath eaten me vp Neither are we to expect better of Innocent the fourth from new Popes proceed new exactions No sooner is he seated in his Pontificall chaire but he presently sendeth euerie where new exactors into England as into his farme he sent first one master Martin with power to excommunicat and suspend which hee so well fenced withall that he presently obtained whatsoeuer the Pope chalenged to himselfe in benefices Ad opus Clericorum consanguineorum suorum For the vse of his Clergie men and kinsmen neither was he ashamed saith he to exact and extort from the Prelats and especially of Monkes in a commaunding manner Palefridos concupiscibiles choyce palfreyes or ambling nags by letters straitly commaunding this Abbot and that Prior That he should send vnto him such horses as became a speciall Clerke of the Pope to ride vpon but such as gainesayd and pretended excuses and causes of deniall though reasonable as did the Abbot of Malmesburie and Prior of Merton he grieuosly punished by suspending them vntill such time as they made full satisfaction At length the king himselfe was wearie of these and such like extortions who after hee had yeelded all sorts of subiection to the Pope so that he placed his Legat in his owne throne could not chuse but be moued at the complaint made vnto him by the whole Church and that so much the more confidently as he knew that when the Popes chamber at Lyons was by chance set on fire that same Charter whereby king Iohn had made England tributarie to the Pope was withall burned to ashes Therefore hauing assembled a Parliament he began to set downe a most excellent order for the well gouerning of the realme and for the reforming of justice But the diuell saith Mathew Paris enemie of mankind disturber of peace and raiser vp of schismes vnhappily hindered all that by the Popes couetousnesse For the Pope beleeuing that the flexible English had alreadie submitted their neckes to the sayd contribution according to their custome as well by reason of the kings desire thereto as for the instance of his request sent à Latere suo one master Martin his Clerke whom many for his wicked rauening called master Mastife hauing a new and vnheard of power greater than euer any Legat had before him For he stretched forth his hands to exact contribution made prouisions after his owne fantasie voyd of reason ad opus ignotorum for to supply the need of vnknowne persons and violently tooke away the reuenues for to giue them to the Popes kindred being cruelly armed with the Popes authoritie whose Bulls he daily shewed new at his pleasure and according as the businesse on euery sudden
to goe personally to the Court of Rome to release those that were innocent and guiltlesse out of their prisons Whereunto we may annex That the same Nogaretes father Paulus Aemilius in Philippo Pulchro Guido Perpinian de Haeresib Blondus Decad. 2. l. 9. Gulielmus de Nangiaco Nicholaus Emericus l. 1. Jnquisitionum who by Philip the Fairs iniunction tooke Pope Boniface was burnt in Languedoc for the opinions of the Waldenses for these Waldenses did not only persist and go forward in France but euen out of the bloud which the Inquisitors daily shed their steps and impressions grew more frequent famous ouer all Italia and Germanie In Italie where Boniface with all rigor seueritie rooted out those whom he called Fratricellos The brethren whose principal Doctors were Gerardus disciple to Sagarellus of Parma Dulcinus disciple to one Nouarius Hermannus who while he liued being in Italie esteemed for a Saint was afterwards by Pope Boniface his commandement digged out of his graue at Ferrara whom notwithstanding after their manner they accused of sixe hundred seuerall foule crimes now plainely conuinced to bee false and vntrue because they seriously did inculcat and aboue all other things beat vpon this point the aduersaries themselues bearing witnesse That the Pope was Antichrist the Church of Rome the Apocalypticall Babylon and that they who would faine seeme and appeare to be spirituall were reiected of God And no man will presume there was any just cause why they should vndergoe such impietie and crueltie from Boniface a most vnconscionable and prophane Pope yet we see that at the same time we find them to haue beene in Germanie Hereunto we will annexe That vnder Nicholas the fourth Guido Perpinianus de Haeresibus Peter the sonne of Iohn de Besiers a Franciscan made the Postille vpon the Apocalyps wherein he refers all those speciall places to the Roman Church the which he calls a carnall Church the Synagogue of Sathan and the Pope mysticall Antichrist as also his Prelats Antichrist members For which cause he was condemned of heresie by the Inquisitors and because they could not come by him when he was aliue they pluckt him out of his graue being dead And also Peter Cassiodorus an Italian who writ that vehement and persuasiue Epistile to the English Church Bernard de Lutzemburg de Haeresibus Nicholaus Emericus l. 1. Inquisitionum Super Cathedram Mosis sedent Scribae Pharisaei cuinam illos aequiparabo c. Wherein he exhorts them to shake off the yoke of Antichrist with his vniust and continuall exactions And these things fitly lead vs vnto the fourteenth Age. 56. PROGRESSION Benedict the eleuenth succeeds Boniface he is poysoned and Clement the fifth a French man obtaines his place Henrie sonne to the Count of Lutzemburg going into Italie to be crowned Emperor was poysoned in receiuing the Hoast Clement dyes in the way betwixt Vienna and Bourdeaux BEnedict the eleuenth a Tuscan of the Dominican Order succeeded Boniface being elected by the Cardinals at Perugia whither they were retired vpon Boniface his ouerthrow At his first entrie he excommunicated Nogarete and the inhabitants of Anagnia which assisted his enterprise but so he restored both Iohn and Iames Colonna to be cardinals and yet they were commaunded for a time to refraine wearing of the hat King Philip he absolutely released of all censures restoring to him all those priuiledges that Boniface had taken from him but in the ninth moneth of his Papacie as many write being killed with a poysoned fig he dyed Thomas Walsingham in Chronico Leandro Alber. An. 1305. Wherefore in the yeare 1305 after ten moneths altercation the Cardinalls chose Raymond Goth a Gascoine Archbishop of Bourdeaux who was absent who tooke vpon him the name of Clement the fifth He vnderstanding of his owne election commanded presently all the Cardinals to repaire to Lyons who forthwith obey and he determining to transferre the Papall See into France made choyce for that end of the citie of Auignion which also liked the Cardinals so well as there it continued for seuentie foure yeares Some say the cause was in that there they might more freely wallow in their delights than in another place though this no doubt they might haue done in Italie but this seemes to bee the more solide reason Because at Rome through the supreme authoritie power of the Senators and Nobilitie they were kept within due bounds being oftentimes driuen with their whole Court to remoue to Perugia Viterbe Oruietto Anagnia and Assisia And his predecessors hauing in diuers voyages into France met with a more open courteous conuersation hauing here greater reuerence vouchsafed them than at Rome as not being there yet so plainely discouered and looked into These men also hoped they should more peaceably raigne in Auignion and from hence with lesse opposition extend their authoritie and power ouer other nations Doubtlesse Herman and Occan Friers Minorites who were renowmed Diuines in this contentious age of the Church lay vpon this Pope the notes of wonderfull ambition auarice and sensualitie but more particularly Villanus and Antoninus who peremptorily write That he kept a concubine publikely in Auignion who was daughter to the Count de Foix Moreouer That all the vices crimes sinnes impieties and flagitions which formerly possessed the Roman Church vnder a vale and cloke of vertue and pietie did openly and most impudently in this man habituat and grow shamelesse And hereupon our whole countrey of France brought forth little better fruits Nicholaus Clemangis in l. de corrupto Eccleclesiae statu if you consider loosse and lasciuious liberties for Clemangis Archdeacon of Baieux sayes That Rome might cleerely herein discerne the imminency of her own ruine ouerthrow because leauing that citie for her odious abhominable fornications she fled into Auignion where the more freely the more openly shamelessely she discouered the courses of her simonies and wicked prostitutions and so brought strange and corrupt manners into our France which were the introductors of many other calamities As also for forensiall delayes and trauerses because they taught vs all the wiles and subtilties of the Roman Court and the verie stile and forme of the Rota which vtterly extinguished our naturall simplicitie so as we could neuer afterwards be repurged of these corruptions Neither shall you read of any man who alledged That Rome was S. Peters seat or that wee must goe thither where the holie Ghost had his residence Out of question Auignion which liked and pleased them well was then to them no lesse the same than the other whereas now at this day they referre the vniuersal Church to Rome onely as also onely to Rome this seat and chaire When the Cardinals came to Lyons they crowned Clement with a wonderfull concourse of nobilie from all parts King Philip and his brother Charles were present which Charles was lately returned out of Italie and had not faintly furthered
helpe made no such great account of vs nor we of him but that these amities brust forth many times into open warre and contention Those of the kings Councell and of the bodie of the Parliament shewed him how diuersly the Pope and his adherents sought to infringe and cut off his prerogatiues The kings officers complaine that all iurisdiction was transferred from the royall tribunal to sacred decisions That many more temporall causes and controuersies betweene temporall men were heard and adiudged by the Bishops and other Priests than by the kings officers and Iudges Whosoeuer in any thing stood not to the censure of the Prelats he was expelled the Church remoued from communicating with the godlie and it was come to that passe as euen for debt when the partie was altogether vnable he was interdicted water fire Wherfore the deputies of the Prelats and Clergie were commaunded to appeare in the moneth of December at Bois de Vincennes neere Paris there Master Peter de Cugnieres the kings Atturney defended his Soueraignes cause and producing those words of our Sauiour in Saint Mathew Giue to Caesar that which is Caesars and to God that which is Gods he argued the distinction betwixt the jurisdiction spirituall and temporall verie worthie of obseruation of which the one belonged to the ciuile Magistrat the other to the Church which could not interpose her selfe in matters temporall without mingling heauen and earth together and entangling the whole earth in an vtter confusion His speech hee also confirmed by many apt and well applied places out of the Scriptures and the sacred Canons and insisting much vpon that text of the 22 of the Prouerbes Exceed not the auncient bounds and limits which thy fathers layed Because saith he if any customes were introduced contrarie to the same they could be of no worth nay rather they should be corruptions and Prescription can take no place against the kings royall prerogatiue neither can the king himselfe renounce these lawes and iurisdictions as may be proued by many chapters which are in the tenth Distinction If therefore saith he the king is sworne at his coronation no wayes to alienate the lawes of the kingdome and to reuoke againe those alienated so if they should be supprest or vsurpt by the Church or any other he is bound to renew and reuiue them againe And with that he brought forth a scedule comprehending sixtie six particulars wherein were expressed such aggrauations and oppressions for which the Clergie was to make satisfaction Bertram then Bishop of Hutum being to speake in behalfe of the Clergie hee ript vp the memorie of Charles the Great Lewis the Godlie and S. Lewis and other Pinces who in times past had endowed and immunified the Churches aduancing highly their glorie who had augmented Church liberties and so by many examples exaggerating their reproach and infamie who had preiudiced and impaired the same and this cause being referred for a day of hearing euen to the verie feastiuall of S. Thomas of Canturburie might fitly put the king in mind that this Thomas as on that day shed his bloud for the liberties and immunities of the Church and yet wee formerly obserued that the Diuines of Paris disputed how this Thomas was more probably to be supposed condemned because he suffered death for his rebellion But the king plainely made answer That he would haue a speciall care of all things to come Bertram vrgeth further for the better explication of himselfe when the king replied I would rather haue the liberties of the Church augmented than diminished I meane the true immunities and liberties but not vsurpations And therefore he consulted with them about the preseruation of royall rights and jurisdictions in hatred of which fact they endeuoured to depraue the memorie of Peter de Cognieres This is he who in a corner of our Ladies Church in Paris is commonly called Master Peter de Cogniet An Epistle of Lucifer to the Pope and Roman Church fel fit with these times Epist Luciferi ad Papam Some thinke it was written vnder Philip the Faire but because in some exemplaries it is said to be dated in the yeare of his Palace ouerthrowne 1351 Here seemes in the originall to be some error in computation of the yeares about the yeare from Christs birth 1318 it is referred to that yeare Lucifer is in it brought in discoursing How in times past Christs vicar preaching the word in pouertie of life the world was so conuerted that Erebus was turned into Eremum Hell into Hermitage but he had caried the matter so wisely as to suborne in their places those that should with both their clookes lay hold of worldlie kingdomes which Christ heretofore refused being offered him that therefore they should not now teach as he and his Apostles did Reddite Caesari quae sunt Caesaris c. Subiecti estote Principibus but seising both on spirituall and temporall things they should assume vnto themselues both swords endeuoring proudly to beare rule ouer Princes themselues And hereupon came in all excesse pride wantonnesse wicked deuises and simonie which carried that sway as he plentifully laid open that what aunciently in times past had beene forespoken by the Prophets was completely fulfilled The Church of Rome is become the Synagogue of Sathan The purpled harlot hath committed fornication with the kings of the earth Of a mother she is become a stepmother and of a Bride an adulteresse forgetting her originall charitie and chastitie and principally ruinating the Christian Faith which before she built vp and erected Then hee exhorts the Pope vehemently to perseuere in these offices Because saith he we are about to send forth Antichrist for whom all these treasures are to be reserued in the meane while we would haue you to be our Vicars c. They that spake so broadly in generall of the Roman Church what thought they suppose you of many her particular abuses Hereunto we may adde That Iohn Mandeuil an English man a writer verie neere to those times said Pope Iohn sent to the Grecians exhorting them to bee vnited to him and the Roman Church for the knowne and accustomed reasons of that plenarie power graunted vnto him ouer all the Church in the person of Saint Peter But they answered him laconically We vndoubtedly beleeue thy Soueraigne power ouer those that are subiect to thee but wee cannot endure thy extreame pride nor are we able to satisfie thy greedie auarice The diuell be with thee for God is with vs. 58. PROGRESSION Benedict the twelfth succeeded Iohn He holds the See while the yeare 1342 when as Clement the sixt came to the chaire after him Lewis the Emperour dyes and after some opposition Charles sonne to the king of Bohemia obtaines the Diademe Imperiall BEnedict the twelfth succeeded Iohn the Cardinalls hauing been sixteene daies in the Conclaue before they could agree vpon an election at last they resolued either for enuie or in despight one of another to
Iohn the three and twentieth for an expedition beyond the sea whereupon some Popes afterwards vnder other pretences would haue continued them but the cause of them ceasing they were to cease too neither could they be any longer tollerated especially at this time wherein Italie France Germanie and England were at peace and amitie one with the other And here they spent much time in the vnfolding of those exactions that were then in force Where they proue That neither the Pope nor the Church of Rome could by law impose any thing vpon Churches or Churchmen since he was not their Lord but Christ onely That these exactions are contrarie to the minds of their founders whose successors complaine vnto the king That the goods giuen to Churches are transferred to other vses yea to the vtter ouerthrow of Church and Commonwealth and all orders therein concluding in the end That the whole nation would neuer pay them vnder what pretence soeuer they were demaunded It were too tedious a thing here to repeat all their reasons the principall are these Annuities seeme to bind men to fall into heresie taking the word in the larger sence that is to say That it is lawfull to buy things spirituall or for spirituall to giue siluer or things temporall c. Item He that is so promoted seemeth to commit simonie and periurie Which they proue by that obligation that was required of Patriarches Archbishops Bishops c. You c. by the Apostolike permission and authoritie granted to you in that behalfe doe freely offer and promise of your own wills to giue for your common seruice to the Chamber of your most holie Father and Lord in Christ Pope Alexander and the holie and sacred Colledge of reuerend Fathers and Lords in Christ of the Church of Rome that is to say the Cardinals c. so many Florins of gold of the Chamber of good and lawfull weight c. with diuers other clauses verie strait which they were to sweare vpon the Euangelist and vnder paine of excommunication c. There flourished in these times the Cardinall Zabarella a famous Lawyer Zabarella de schismate circa annum 1406. who writ of schisme he feareth not to say That the defenders of the Pope had so corrupted the Canon law with their Glosses that there was nothing so vnlawfull which they thought not lawfull for them to doe in so much that they extolled him aboue God himselfe making him more than God From whence sprang infinit errors the Pope chalenging vnto himselfe a right ouer all inferior Churches and making small account of all inferiour Prelats in so much saith he that if God giue not his helping hand to the present state of the Catholike Church it is in danger of an vtter ouerthrow But at the next Councell it shall be necessarie to restraine this power and to confine it to that which is lawfull since it is a power subiect to that of the Church as it appeares in the fifteenth of the Acts wherein and not in him doth the fulnesse of power reside and in a generall Councell which representeth the Church In so much that the Church neither can nor euer could transferre that power in such sort to any one but that it euer remained wholly in her selfe not in the Pope whom she had euer power to depose And therefore it is vaine that they commonly boast of That he that is judged by the Church cannot be judged by men but by God alone It is in the power of the Emperor saith he to call Councels which plainely appeareth by the example of Constantine Iustinian Charles who did preside and were chiefe Iudges ouer them as it appeares by the first vniuersall Nicene Councell and others where when matters of faith were treated of the lay people were likewise present Neither is it lawfull for the Pope to hinder the calling of Councels by the intermission whereof the Church incurreth great danger whilest the Popes gouerne it after the manner of secular Princes not Ecclesiasticall Prelats And that which is more the Emperour if hee doubt thereof may demaund of the Pope a reason of his faith and if he be accused of any manifest crime proceed likewise against him by a course of law and to depose him he being the principall Aduocat and defender of the Catholike Church As touching the pretended fulnesse of power he saith That Saint Peter neuer had it but that he was one of the chiefe Apostles and ministers to whom in as much as he bare the person of the Church the keyes were deliuered For as well at Antioch as at Rome he tooke vpon him the administration of his part or portion no otherwise than the rest did And therefore the Pope commaunding nothing but what is just and lawfull is to be obeyed But whereas it is said that he is solutus legibus not subiect to lawes it is to be vnderstood of his owne lawes and not the law of God whereunto he is bound as well as others We must therefore beware least that honour be done vnto him whereby we may make him equall with God nay in any sort to adore him since S. Peter himselfe would neuer endure it but vtterly refused it Acts 10. And whereas it is commonly said That the Church cannot erre he saith it can no way be vnderstood of the Pope or of the Church of Rome but of the Church of Christ and the congregation of the faithfull And that euerie particular member of the Church is bound to be carefull for the preseruation of the Catholike faith And this he saith he hath presumed to write in this manifest danger of the Church moued onely with a zeale of God and his glorie and not any hope or expectation of reward In like manner writ our Clemangis Archdeacon of Bayeux in his booke Of the corrupt estate of the Church which was produced in the Councell of Constance where he setteth downe by what degrees the Church rose to her temporal height and her spirituall declination at one and the same time and by what subtilties the Pope got all to himselfe and fatted himselfe by staruing others Afterwards comming to particular corruptions Nicholaus Clemangis in lib. de corrupto Ecclesiae flatu They beare more patiently saith he the losse of ten thousand soules than of ten shillings what say I more patiently yea they beare the ruine and losse of soules without any motion of the mind whereof there is with them not onely no care but no thought at all whereas for their owne priuat domesticall losses they presently grow furious He saith likewise a little after The studie of Diuinitie and such as make profession thereof are made a mocke and ieasting stocke which is most monstrous to the Popes themselues who preferre their owne traditions farre before the commaundements of God Now that worthie and excellent function of preaching sometimes attributed to Pastors onely and proper vnto them is of that base account with them that they
the Church it selfe the Masse the bodie of Christ and all are set to sale c. Nichol. Clemangis ad Gersonem It is become a publike faire a brothell house worse than the Synagogue yea Babylon it selfe For what doest thou thinke saith he of that prophesie of the Reuelation of S. Iohn Doest thou not think that in some sort it belongs to thee Thou art not growne so shamelesse as to denie it Jdem de ruina reparatione Ecclesiae Consider therefore of it and read the damnation of the great strumpet sitting vpon many waters there contemplate thy worthie Acts c. And a little after It is now long since that this thine arrogancie not able to endure it selfe began to fall though slowly and by little and little and therefore thy ruine not to be perceiued of any that is to wit as the light of the Gospell began to shine but now thou fallest downe headlong like a riuer downe a hill Much more like vnto this may you read in this Author which let it suffice that I haue briefely collected But yet I cannot omit an Epistle or declamation that he writ to that purpose to Gerard Market a Doctor of Paris the Argument whereof is this We are not onely to depart from Babylon with our affections but with our bodily feet Which argument for as much as he handles it excellently according to that precept of our Lord in the Reuelation Goe out of Babylon my people c. Let it not be troublesome to the Reader if I insert it wholly and so much the rather because our aduersaries could be content it were buried in their liberaries That we are to flie out of Babylon according to the admonition giuen in both Testaments thou confessest but thou wilt not haue that flight to bee vnderstood corporally changing the place but spiritually not imitating the corrupt manners of the wicked Truly this is not amisse but it sufficeth not for a full resolution of this question We see the Patriarch Abraham was commaunded to depart out of his owne countrey and from his kindred and fathers house not onely in affection but effect too yea his bodily departure is first commaunded and then he is enioyned to withdraw his verie mind and thoughts from it too Lot after he receiued a commaund to goe out of Sodome because he was backward and slow in doing it he was taken by the Angels and drawne forth with a kind of violence The people of Israel were not commaunded to goe out of Aegypt because it was not in their libertie to doe it because of their grieuous oppression but by the commaundement of God giuen to Moses and by the ministerie of Moses obeying God they were led forth with a strong hand not onely by a departure of affections but by a March on foot too Now by the circumstance of these places it is easie to note for what causes this was done Abraham was commaunded to goe forth of Chaldea wherein he was borne because the inhabitants of the countrey were Idolaters Lot was constrained to goe out of Sodome because they were wicked men and that hee might escape that destruction that hung ouer their heads for their sinnes The Hebrewes were led out of Aegypt by Moses and Aaron not onely because of that intollerable seruitude they endured in their bodies but much more for the saluation of their soules because the Aegyptians were giuen to vaine superstitions and it was not there lawfull for the Israelites to sacrifice vnto the Lord. And therefore in these words of our Lord so often repeated by Moses to Pharao by his commaundement this cause is openly exprest Let my people goe that they may sacrifice vnto me I doe not thinke therefore thou wilt denie except thou wilt openly contradict the Scriptures that wee must depart out of Babylon not onely with our liues and conuersations but with our feet too since that there with sound manners with integritie of conscience with the obseruation of the commaundements of God it is not lawfull to liue and least we being altogether vnable to resist the corrupt and wicked maners of the Babylonians violently carrying all things headlong with them they put vpon vs their manners The nature of man by it owne corruption is prone vnto euill and good men are more easily drawne into errour by the wicked than the manners of the wicked mended by the good Vice be it neuer so pernitious and dangerous by little and little growes into custome and whilest it stealingly creeps into vs it growes and encreaseth Errours when they are made publike change their names and take vpon them the laudible titles of vertue and wisedome For to omit those grieuous sinnes which a man may not lawfully name but yet is lawfull for God to punish with his vengeance behold rapine and robberie by a publike impunitie are not accounted vices which vntill now were woont to be punished with death Now who is he that can liue there in health sound and free where not onely things vniust are permitted but where a man is constrained by all sorts of punishment the most cruell that may be to beleeue to say to follow to embrace as iust and laudible that which is most vniust most wicked Who can be sober who would not abhorre to liue where all are madde Who can be so confident vpon his owne strength that he should hope in the middest of the fire not to burne or in the middest of a shipwracke not to bee drowned But perhaps thou wilt say That the furnace of Babylon burnes onely the kings ministers not the children of God Let that man boldly applie that historie to himselfe that is like to those holie children that may with reason expect that God should bridle the force of a fire so furious and consuming to preserue him The furnace of Babylon burnt onely the ministers that kindled it Consider diligently whether they are of the number of these ministers that put fire to the furnace that are constrained to consent to follow to approue the things that belong to the kindling thereof and that dare not resist it when they would which whosoeuer doe to vse the words of the Apostle are worthie of death not onely they that doe them but they that consent to those that doe them God was afeard of faithfull Abraham least he should be burnt in Vr a citie of the Chaldees for then as thou seest the fire was alreadie kindled He was afeard of holie Lot least he should be corrupted with the companie of the wicked and so should be partaker of their destruction And yet we in the midst of the furnace of Babylon burning aboue woonted measure secure our selues from all daunger and flatter our selues with the deliuerie of the three children as if the case were all one with vs that as the flame of the burning furnace was extinguished with the dew of heauen that it could not offend them so no flame of euill concupiscence no
according to his Gospell That the Church of Rome with other Churches in the world were departed from the traditions of the Apostles That they all sought after riches and pleasure and dominion ouer the people consumed in wickednesse and luxurie the goods destinated to the poore people of Christ That they either knew not the commaundements of God or if they knew them made little account of them These are Pius the second his own words in which who acknowledgeth not the voyce of truth He addeth immediatly The principall men of this great Synod perceiuing the obstinacie and immouable courage of these miserable men gaue sentence That putrified members of the Church which could not bee healed were to be cut off least they should infect the whole bodie putrified members because they accuse their putrifaction In the assemblie therefore it was concluded That such were to be burned that reiected the doctrine of the Church So that they who held that it belonged not to Ecclesiastical persons to sentence any man to death by the testimonie of Pius himselfe were their judges in this case Touching the sentence pronounced against Hus he expresly saith That he appealed from them to Christ Iesus the soueraigne Iudge which was not the least part of their crime But as touching their death Both of them saith Pius suffered death with a constant mind and went ioyfully to the fire as if they had beene inuited to a feast neither of them yeelding any one word that might discouer any shew of heauinesse or a discontented mind When they began to burne they began to sing a hymne which hardly the flame and noyse of the fire could let to be heard Neuer haue we read of any of the Philosophers that suffered death with better resolution and greater courage than these endured the fire Poggius a Florentine an honorable writer of our age writes an eloquent Epistle of the death of Hierome to Nicholas Nicholai though he seeme according to his maner to inueigh a little against the manners of the Clergie This Poggius whom hee here alledgeth who was Secretarie to the Councell Poggius Concilij Constantiens Secretar in Epist. ad Leonard Aretinum writ an Epistle to Leonard Aretine which for as much as it is worthie the reading I haue here thought good to set down at large Soiourning for many dayes at the Bathes saith he I writ from thence a letter to our friend Nicholas which I thinke you haue read Afterwards some few dayes after my returne to Constance the cause of Hierome whom they tearme an heretike was heard and that publikely which I haue thought good to relate vnto you both for the weightinesse of the matter and especially for the eloquence and learning of the man I confesse I haue neuer seene any man that in pleading a cause especially that concerned his life who hath come neerer to those auncient Orators we haue so much admired It is a wonderfull thing to see with what words what eloquence what arguments what cariage what countenance what confidence he answered his aduersaries and at the last concluded his plea in such sort as that it is much to be lamented that so noble a spirit and so excellent should applie it selfe to those studies of heresie si tamen vera sunt quae sibi obijciunt if neuerthelesse note the words of Poggius the matters obiected against him be true for it belongs not vnto me to iudge of so great a cause but I refer myselfe to the opinions of those who are wiser than my selfe Neither would I haue you to thinke that according to the maner of Orators I relate vnto you euerie particular circumstance of this businesse for it were too tedious and a worke of many dayes I will onely touch some principall places whereby you may in some sort vnderstand the learning of the man This Hierome being charged with many matters which tended to heresie and those confirmed by witnesse it was at the last determined placuit that he should answer publikely to euerie poynt that was obiected against him Being therefore brought before the assemblie and commaunded to answer to such poynts as were obiected a long time he refused to doe it alledging that hee was first to plead his owne cause before he answered to the false accusations of his aduersaries but this condition being denied him standing in the middle of the assemblie What iniustice is this saith he that hauing lyen for three hundred and sixtie dayes in prison in ordure in stench in fetters and want of all earthly comforts whatsoeuer in all which time you haue heard my aduersaries speake against me and yet you will not now suffer me to speake one houre for my selfe Hence it is that whilest euerie mans eares are open vnto them to heare in so long a time whatsoeuer may persuade that I am an heretike an enemie of the faith a persecutor of Ecclesiasticall persons and shut against me whereby I haue no meanes to defend my selfe that you haue concluded me to bee an heretike in your owne conceipts before you know what I am And yet notwithstanding all this yee are but men and not gods not perpetuall but mortall such as can stumble and fall and erre be deceiued be seduced c. In the end it was decreed that first he should answer to those errours that were obiected against him and afterwards he should haue leaue to speake what he would There were read therefore out of the pulpet all the heads of his accusation which were likewise confirmed by witnesses Then it was demaunded whether he had any thing to obiect It is incredible to be spoken how cunningly he aunswered with what arguments he defended himselfe He neuer spake any thing vnworthie a good man insomuch that if he thought that in his heart which he professed in words there could not be found in him any iust cause of death or of the least or lightest offence He affirmed all to be false and that they were all crimes deuised against him by those that hated him But by and by the cause for the multitude and weight of the offences which could not be determined in one day was put off for three dayes longer At which time the arguments of euerie crime being recited and by many witnesses affirmed he arising Forasmuch saith he as you haue with such diligence heard mine aduersaries it is right and conuenient that with indifferent minds yee likewise heare me speake Which after much adoe being graunted vnto him he first began with praier vnto God that he would be pleased to giue him that mind and that facultie of speech that might redownd to the saluation of his owne soule And then I know saith hee many excellent men that haue suffered many things vnworthie their vertues oppressed by false witnesses condemned by vniust Iudges c. And againe it is an vniust thing that a Priest should be condemned by a Priest and yet this was vniustly done by the Colledge and Councell of Priests
Legats of the other Easterne Patriarches of the Archbishops and Prelats euerie one in his order And hence may the Reader discerne what the Patriarch might judge of the pride of the Latine Bishop But what may we say of Baronius who in diuers places contesteth That the left hand in Councels was euer the more honourable As touching the matter it selfe for the concluding of the controuersies of the Latine and Greeke Churches is made an instrument of a vnion Laetentur coeli wherein they agree on both sides That the holie Ghost proceedeth from the Father and the Sonne That the Sacrament may be indifferently made of leauened or vnleauened bread That the soules of the faithfull that haue not yet satisfied for their sinnes goe to Purgatorie That the Pope of Rome is Head of the vniuersall Christian Church All which articles the Greeke Emperor causeth to be approued by the most part of his hoping he should haue assistance against the Turkes But Michael Bishop of Ephesus with some others doth euer withstand the same reiecting especially the two later Which is more when Ioseph Archbishop of Constantinople was dead Eugenius would haue them proceed before him to the chusing of another promising against his disposition to ordaine him without money yea to giue them some if need were and to depose him that did obtaine with him the place of Patriarch which he would not doe if they deferred his election till they came into their countrey The Greekes perceiuing whereto he tended namely that he might enter possession of the supreme power in the Church by that meanes and that with their consent answer him with one accord That their Patriarch cannot bee by their laws chosen any where else than at Constantinople That it is their custom he should be chosen and consecrated in his owne Church That the Emperour who was not ignorant of these ceremonies would not suffer it to bee otherwise Which the Pope vnderstanding Concisium Florent Sess vltim though much against his mind with gracious words he let them depart Now they were no sooner returned into their countrey but they were reiected of their Churches in this especially that they had admitted the supreme authoritie of the Pope of Rome whose pride being more neerely looked into they at last refute it in their writings published notwithstanding that he had endeuoured to bind vnto him some of the best learned as Isidore Bishop of Russia and Bessarion Bishop of Nicea to whom he had giuen a Cardinalls hat which he chose rather to weare in Italie than in Greece And from that time forth were by the Popes neglected the affaires of Greece and abandoned to the furie of Infidels But it is in no wise here to be omitted That during the time that Eugenius held his Councell partly at Ferrara and partly at Florence hee published diuers writings against that Decree of Basil That a Councell is aboue the Pope in which he did not sticke to affirme That so farre was it off that he ought to obey generall Councels that then he most merited when he contemned the Decrees of the Councell and which is more he declareth this proposition to be hereticall The Councell is aboue the Pope although both then and euer since it was held and affirmed by all the Vniuersities of Christendome Whence it came that whilest the Roman Church sayd she is superior to all other Churches and the Roman Bishop to all other bishops by this decree of Eugenius should the Bishop of Rome be made superiour or of higher authoritie than the Vniuersall Church and consequently that pretended infallibilitie of the Church shold be deriued not now to the Romish Church but to one onely man which is the highest degree of Antichrist in the Church according to that of S. Augustine in his booke of the citie of God August de Ciuitate Dei l. 18. cap. 2. That Antichrist should not onely sit in Templo Dei in the Temple of God but as Saint Paule hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Templum into the Temple as if he himselfe were the Temple it selfe he alone the Church In the meane time let the Reader judge of that Infallabilitie of the Church represented in a Councel by these Councels which at one same time and in one same matter doe decree things directly contrarie As touching the affaires of the Bohemians for which particularly the Empeperour Sigismund had so instantly requested the Councell the most part of the Churches terrified with the perfidious treacherie vsed towards Iohn Hus and Hierome of Prague refused to send any one thither but the principall of the Nobilitie ouer-ruled the matter that some should appeare for to render a reason of the innouation in religion imputed vnto them So soone as they came thither they were receiued verie curteously by Cardinall Iulian the Legat who was not yet called backe Then in the Councell he maketh an Oration wherein he bringing in the Church of Rome speaking to them in his words and attributing to it selfe alone all that is spoken in holie Scripture concerning the Church the Spouse of Christ and presupposing that which is chiefely in question flattereth himselfe in this perpetual Elenche Sheweth that in her power are the keyes of the kingdome of heauen That she is without spot or wrinkle That whosoeuer departed from her was an Heathen and a Publican That the decrees of Councels are her decrees which are no lesse to be beleeued than the Gospels seeing they giue authoritie to the Scriptures To this the Bohemians in few words That they despised neither the Church nor Councels that they had beene condemned at Constance without being heard Oratio Iulian. Cardinal Legati in Append. Concilij Basiliens notwithstanding that they affirmed nothing but by the holie Scriptures and then they propound their Articles And on both sides were chosen such as shold enter into conference The disputation lasted fiftie dayes and after many spent on this side and on that it was thought best to leaue Theologicall questions and prouide for the Common wealth and to send some thither who hauing made search how matters stood might compound with them Here was the policie To permit the Communiō vnder both kinds to such as in other things would submit themselues to the Councell and proceeded with all rigour to the rest that embraced not the same condition These were the auntient Waldenses and their Disciples who requested that the Church might be reformed in most of the Articles which are conteined in their and our confessions who for this cause suffered much both by the warres that Sigismund made vpon them and by the diuision and back-sliding of their companions Yet doe we see their Churches outliue so many miseries vntill these times consist and continue most flourishing and largely propagated As touching the Fathers of the Councell of Basill they seeme to be somewhat ashamed of that Decreee of Constance concerning the Communion vnder both kinds And whereas they of
vniuersall authoritie both of Councels and of the Church it selfe to the person of the Pope alone Eugenius in the Councell of Florence Pius the second in his eloquent bull on that matter and others afterward it followeth that the Pope is exalted aboue the holie Scriptures yea aboue God himselfe and is therfore to be accounted for him of whom the Apostle speaketh 2. Thes 2. He exalteth himselfe against all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he sitteth in the Temple of God as God who dare correct God alter the sence of his word after his owne pleasure commoditie And thus Reader thou seest how this Mysterie of Iniquitie still aduaunceth forward OPPOSITION The precedent progression is intermixed with so many and mightie oppositions that there seemeth to be no need of any other notwithstanding as sighes encrease according to the euill so in this place aboundeth vnto vs verie manie The Emperour Sigismund had framed certaine Articles of reformation to be exhibited to the Councell of Constance diuers others also in diuers Nations had conceiued also some patternes M. Peter de Alliaco Cardinal of Cambray is particularly commaunded to write these things for to shew them to the Councel in the yere 1415 An. 1415. the first of Nouember foure monthes after that Iohn the foure and twentieth had renounced the Popedome the Seat being vacant two yeres before Martin was chosen to succeed during which space this matter of reformation seemed fittest of all to be thought vpon The Preface of his discourse is by a place of S. Bernard vpon the Canticles Sermon 33. A rotten vlcer spreadeth it selfe at this day ouer all the bodie of the Church so much the more desperat by how much the more it is farre and wide extended and by how much the more it is inward so much the more it is dangerous For if an heretike enemie should openly arise he might be cast out and so wither if a violent enemie she might perhaps hide her selfe from him but now whom shal she cast out or from whom shall she hide her selfe All are friends and all enemies c. they are the minister of Christ and serue Antichrist c. The wound of the Church is inward and incurable therfore in peace her bitternesse is most bitter And this place haue we aboue alledged at length out of which he draweth this conclusion Seeing that the Church from henceforth was fallen from euill to worse vnlesse betimes it be looked to and preuented after the horrible darknesse of so many schismes much more horride things were in very few daies to be expected He prosecuteth afterwards by degrees those things that he thinketh doe belong to reformation of the vniuersall body of the Church First That it is necessarie there shold be eftsoons held generall and Prouinciall Councels for the correction of abuses especially generall which can with greater authoritie correct both all sorts of persons and all things Neither are we to expect remedie from the Church of Rome as if it were able to satisfie all cases that fall out Many saith he suspect that she hath dissembled these things and for this cause hath neglected the holding of Councels that she might the more fully beare dominion according to her owne lust and pleasure and vsurpe the more freely the rights and prerogatiues of other Churches That before the time of Constantine because the Church might not with free libertie hold Councels it hath fallen into diuers heresies therefore no maruell if in these later times through neglect of Councels it fall into diuers schismes and innumerable other euils ad haereses disponentia which dispose it to heresies That generall Councels are first of all necessary for the reformation of the body of the Church Dist 19. C. Anastas ibid. Glossa Archid dist 15. especially of the Roman which is de arduis pertinentibus ad fidem difficult in things pertaining to faith in as much as that which the Glosse saith That the Pope ought to require a Councel when matters of faith is debated is not to be referred onely to the articles of faith but to those things that belong to the state of the faithfull Church whereas otherwise it would be too dangerous a thing to commit our faith to the judgement and fancie of one man alone Lastly that now if euer was a fit opportunitie either to procure the vnion of the Greekes with the Latines or to represse the designements of the Turks who after they haue rent and torne in peeces the Empire will with all violence rush vpon the Church and so make way for Antichrist And already saith he many very godly deuout men not without cause doe feare praesentialiter presently both the one and the other ruine namely of the Empire by the Turks and of the Church by Antichrist 2. For the reformation of the Court of Rome That for the auoiding of schismes which proceed from the factions of the Cardinals it is sufficient to haue of euery each Prouince but one onely Cardinall Also that the Pope ought to prouide remedies cut off the grieuous burdens wherwith the Roman Church oppresseth other Churhces seeing that the Greeke Church is alienated from it because of her exactions excommunications and statutes and that to take away those exactions it were meet she should abate of her pompe of her excesse and of the number of the Cardinals Excommunications which after the example of the Primitiue Church for to make them the more to be feared ought not come forth but for graue and weightie causes whereas in these dayes they are thundered forth for verie light and for the most part temporall causes and the Anathemaes themselues whereupon they are growne into contempt with all men That there be a meane vsed in Statutes Canons and Decrees which oblige to mortall paines and of which may be said that of our Lord to the Pharisies They lay burdens on mens shoulders which they wold not touch with the top of the finger And this article reached very farre 3. For the Prelats That they should be chosen capable in doctrine exemplarie in manners resident in their charges moderat in diet and expence abstaining from corporall armes from secular affaires cutting off all simonie That it was necessarie to declare that many obseruations are of that kind that they are rather counsels than precepts He bringeth for example Lent to be moderated out of the circumstances the Seruice to be abridged to a deuout and entire breuitie the varietie of Images in Churches to be repressed a meane and bounds to be set in new Holidayes Churches and Saints on Sondayes and solemne feasts onely to abstaine from labour and out of the Diuine Seruice to banish and put forth all Apocripha Scriptures new prayers and to be short all nouelties 4. For religious persons That their great number and diuersitie is altogether pernitious whilest the one boasteth and is proud in his Rule against the other aboue all
say If we admit the Councell to be kept the Lay-men will come and take away our temporaltie But as by the iust iudgement of God it came to passe that the Iewes lost their place which would not let goe Christ so by the iust iudgement of God it will come to passe That because wee will not let the Councell be called wee shall lose our temporaltie and I would to God that not also our bodies and soules too To that which at last he replied That the Councell of Basil was not lawful Yea rather answereth he it dependeth on the Councell of Constance if that were a true one then also this No man hath seemed to doubt whether that were lawfull nor likewise of whatsoeuer was there decreed for if any should say That the Decrees of that Councell are not of validitie hee must needs also confesse that the deposition of Iohn the foure and twentieth by vertue of those Decrees was of no force If they were of force neither could the election of Pope Martin hold good being done whilst the other was yet liuing If Martin was not Pope then neither is your Holinesse who were elected of the Cardinals by him created it importeth therefore none more than your Holinesse to defend the Decrees of that Councell And let the Reader note the argument of the Cardinall against the Papists which call into doubt the authoritie of these two Councels and consequently the vniuersall vocation and succession of Rome whereas Iulian maintaineth on the contrarie That there hardly is found any grounded on so manyfold authoritie And therefore hee defendeth the Decree whereby is affirmed That the Councell is aboue the Pope by the same reasons and examples as the Fathers of the Councell of Basil It was the ordinarie question of that time in which besides the decision of the Councell of Basill the greatest learned men in particular defend the sentence of the Councell And Aeneas Syluius before he came to the Popedome in the Historie of the Councell of Basil which wee haue aboue abridged had plainely declared his mind Aeneas Syluius Epist 54. 55. In his Epistle also to Gaspar Schlicke the Emperours Chauncellour wherein he approueth the Councell of king Charles the seuenth for the re-vnion of the Church It is lawfull saith he for secular Princes to assemble whether the Clergie will or no and neuerthelesse an vnion may be made thereby for hee should be vndoubtedly Pope whom all the Princes obeyed I see no Clergie-men that will suffer martyrdome for the one nor for the other partie Wee all of vs haue the same faith that our Princes haue if they did worship Idols wee would worship them also And wee would not onely deny the Pope but euen Christ also if the secular power did vrge it because charitie is waxed colde and all faith is perished How euer it be wee desire peace be it by another Councell or by an assembly of Princes I weigh not for wee are not to contend for the name but for the thing Call bread if thou wilt a stone and giue it me when I am an hungrie Let it not be called a Councell let it be called a Conuenticle a Congregation a Synagogue it mattereth not prouided that schisme be taken away Therefore that which the king of France writeth pleaseth me exceedingly and I would sticke to his opinion for he seemeth to permit to our king to wit of the Romans the assembling of this congregation How farre is he from them who acknowledge no Councell but that which the Pope is author of And not without cause truely considering what he writeth of the Councels of his time to Lupus of Portugal Jdem Epist 10. Now the Church is a play such as we see of the ball whilest with the strokes of the players it is stricken to and fro But God beholdeth these things from on high and although he seldome inflict on earth deserued punishments on men yet in his last iudgement hee leaueth nothing vnpunished But so soone afterwards as he sat on that chaire of pestilence hee retracteth yea when first the Cardinals hat touched his head he changeth his mind and declineth to the left hand as appeareth in his last Epistles In the same maner spake Laurence Valla a Senator of Rome and wrot a booke of purpose against the Donation of Constantine at the time when Pope Eugenius caused the Emperour Sigismund to sweare vnto it and otherwise would not crowne him and if you aske what was the state of the Church in his time I say Laurentius Valla de Donatione Constant and exclaime saith he that in my time there hath beene none in the Popedome either a faithfull or a wise Steward so much wanteth it that he hath giuen bread and food to the familie of God that the Pope maketh warre on peaceable people and nourisheth discord betweene the chiefest cities the Pope with his consumeth both other mens riches and his owne The Pope pilleth not onely the Commonwealth more than Verres or Catilina or any other robber of the common treasurie durst do but also makes a gain euen of Ecclesiastical goods and the holie Ghost which Simon Magus himselfe detesteth And when he is of some men admonished and reproued of these things he denieth them not but confesseth them openly and boasteth of it as lawfull and by any meanes will haue the patrimonie of the Church giuen by Constantine wrested out of the hands of them that occupie it as if that being recouered Christian religion would be more happie and not rather more oppressed with wickednesse luxuries and lusts if yet it can be any more oppressed and that there is any place further left for wickednesse c. And in the meane time Christ in so many millions of poore dyeth with hunger and nakednesse c. There is therefore no more religion no holinesse no feare of God and which I speake with horrour impious men take the excuse of all their wicked crimes from the Pope For in him and in them which accompanie him is the example of all wickednesse so that we may say with Esay and S. Paul against the Pope and them that are about him The name of God is blasphemed because of you among the Gentiles Yee which teach others teach not your selues Yee who teach that men should not steale yee play the robbers Yee which teach to abhorre sacriledge commit the same Yee which glorie in the Law and in the Papacie by preuarication of the Law dishonor God the true high Bishop And if the Roman people by too much riches lost veram illam Romanitatem that true Roman heart If Salomon also for the same cause fell through the loue of women into Idolatrie thinke we that the same is not done in the Pope and in the rest of the Clergie Yea so farre is he carried that he saith Alledge no more vnto mee thy Dabo tibi claues c. I will giue thee the keyes c. to proue thence thy
him aboue all Whether he had not written to the Emperor or to some Prince either for to raise a schisme or procure a Councel for this was it that principally stucke to his heart and presently againe renewed the tortures At length Paul being wearie that hee could wring out nothing with all those exquisit torments commaundeth Christopher de Verona his Physitian to tell the poore men that they should bee of good courage for they should straight be deliuered who notwithstanding as he was a a man of a free spirit plainely said to him in the presence of many That this could not so soone be done least the Pope should be argued of lightnesse and crueltie so soone to let goe as innocent them whom he had taken and tortured with so great tumult Some time therefore passed that he might not seeme to haue done any thing rashly and without cause In the meane time he himselfe came to visit them in the castle and when all other accusations failed him he chargeth them with heresie That they had disputed of the immortalitie of the soule out of the opinion of Plato which Saint Augustine affirmed to come neerest to the opinion of a Christian and for that they praysed the auncient Accademie and condemned the new he pronounced them heretikes which either in earnest or in ieast should from thenceforth any more make mention of the name of an Accademie So that if Laelius de Valla a Roman citizen and an Aduocat in the Consistorie had not taken their cause in hand they had vndergone the punishment of heresie At length wearied with the entreaties of the Cardinals he setteth them at libertie but yet in such a sort as that hee euer watched ouer their steps so that they judged not themselues to be free til after his death Death which tooke him by an Apoplexie when he had ordained that the Iubilie should be celebrated euerie twentie fiue yeares which falling in the yeare 1475 filled his mind with hope of excessiue gaine There be some which say That hee was in the night by the diuell strangled in the verie act of venerie And Platina noteth Gaspar Pencerus That he hated and contemned so the studies of humanitie that he called the students thereof by the name of Heretikes For this cause he exhorted the Romans not to suffer their sonnes be any longer at the studies of learning that it was ynough if they had learned to write and read Chronic. Genebr part 2. Therefore Genebrard calleth him The enemie of vertue and learning Fearing without doubt that if learning once came to be restored the abuses lying hid vnder the mists of ignorance would bee discouered And thus much aboundantly sufficeth to make knowne both his conscience and his knowledge Moreouer all offices generally were set to sale in his time neither was he woont to bestow Bishoprickes saue onely on them that possessed other offices by the sale of which they might come by money to giue to him As also this was he that extended the Bull of cases to be reserued to the Pope so farre as might be Bulla cuius initium Ineffabilis prouidentia in Summa Constitut reseruing to himselfe thereby so much the larger pretence of drawing money to himselfe from all parts The most memorable thing that he did for the good of the Church was That he bought at any price whatsoeuer all the most exquisit precious stones hee could get for to enrich the Papall Myter and tooke a pleasure to bee looked on and admired of all men in that brauerie for this cause he sometime retained strangers in the citie omitting the custome of shewing the Sudarium that he might be seene of more people at once Moreover he commaunded by publike Decree vnder a penaltie That none should weare scarlet caps but Cardinals and the first yeare of his Popedome he gaue them cloth of the same colour wherewith to couer the horses and mules when they rode that the Church of Rome might at length be brought to the perfect similitude of that Whore described vnto vs in the Apocalyps And Platina of this Paul in the life of Hadrian the first saith Platina in Hadriano primo in Vetustioribus Editionibus Vide eam quae prima omnium prodijt Coloniae Ann. 1479. Typis Iohannis de Colonia Iohannis Martien de Gheretzem He was so delighted with these effeminat delicacies hauing bought at a high rate precious stones from all parts and almost emptied the treasurie of the Roman Church so that whensoeuer he went forth in publike he seemed some Phrygian Cybele with turrets on his head rather than a myter Hence I thinke came through the sweat of his very fat bodie and the weight of the precious stones that Apoplexie whereof hee so suddenly dyed Which hee had noted also before to haue happened to Leo Augustus the sonne of Constantine Copronymus But all this hath Onuphrius rased out which in the oldest editions are read at large The like things we read also in Iames Cardinall of Pauia in his second booke of Commentaries And here Platina endeth his historie of Popes There is extant an Epigram of him made by Iohn Pannonius Bishop and Poet of those times Pontificis Pauli testes ne Roma requiras Filia quam genuit sat docet esse marem Pope Paule's a male Rome need no further triall He gat a daughter makes it past deniall And indeed Stephen Orichouius Bishop of Russia telleth vs when shee was knowne of all men to bee his daughter he often detested single life whereby hee could not see without shame her whom he might haue lawfully begotten But which is worse there want not some that accuse him both of Magicke and Sodomie which I here willingly omit OPPOSITION Pius the second as we haue seene hauing ouerthrowne his first and best writings was the first that decreed That the Pope is aboue a Councell and that it is not lawfull to appeale from him to a Councell against the Decrees both of Constance and Basil which had beene with so great solemnitie both determined and published but notwithstanding his retractation he was not presently beleeued Contrariwise the Vniuersities of Paris Colonia Prague Cracouia Oxford and others the most famous of Christendome constantly retained the Decrees of the said Councels and not without cause seeing that as Bellarmine witnesseth they had beene confirmed by the Suffrages of a thousand Fathers among whom at Constance were three hundred Bishops at Basil also by the testimonie of Pius the second in his Retraction with the consent of all the Vniuersities and with the applause of all which spake publikely of Nicholas Panormitan and Lewis Pontanus who saith he were accounted the two starres of the world Aeneas Syluius in Bulla Retract or the two chiefe and most famous lights of the Canon and Ciuile Law Yet neuerthelesse they approued by words and writings the Acts of the Councell condemned the doings of Eugenius neither was there any which either would
to the contrarie but let that saying cease which is verie erronious to affirme The state of the Church was neuer in so great daunger from the beginning of the world as it is to be seene at this present There haue been indeed greater persecutions and vexations of the Church but there were euer holie and deuout men who endued with the grace of the holie spirit comforted the faithfull instructing and strengthening them And now the Chruch seemeth to be set in securitie but such holie men are nowhere to be seene Therefore the Church decreaseth in faithfull men and in kingdomes it pineth away in persons notwithstanding the libertie it hath And before when it enioyed not so great libertie but was furnished with those holie men it dayly encreased and augmented as to him that will search the Histories will plainely appeare These things Saint Barnard partly noted in his time in his foure and twentieth Sermon and vpon the 72 Psalme They are the Ministers of Christ but serue Antichrist Which places because we haue aboue coted them in needlesse here to trouble the Reader withall Stephan Brulifer de timore seruili de paupertate Christi cum sermonibus varijs apud Andream Bocord Paris an 1500. Jdem in 4. lib. sentent Bonavent Basil per Jacob. de Pfortzeim 1501 In Fraunce Stephan Brulifer Doctour of Sorbonne of the order of Franciscan Friers whose bookes were Printed at Paris and at Basill in the yeares 1500 and 1501 taught publiquely in lectures in disputations and by writings That neither the Pope nor a Councell nor the Church can prescribe an Article statute or ceremonie which bindeth the conscience of a Christian That their power consisteth onely in this to take care that the commaundements of God bee kept to preach his word to administer the Sacraments so as hee hath instituted them taking heed that they bring in nothing besides that which hee hath commaunded As touching justification which is attributed to merits that it is a diuelish doctrine seeing that the Lambe sacrificed hath satisfied Gods justice for vs of which S. Iohn crieth Behold the Lambe of God which taketh away the sinnes of the world But when the Sorbonne would not endure him he committed himselfe to the protection of Diether Archbishop of Mentz And what shall we say of Platina Platina in Marcelino that famous Historiographer of Popes not speaking of Paule the second his Master which perhaps might bee imputed to some hatred but of the Popes and Chruch in his time plainely without spleene In the life of Marceline speaking of the persecution of Dioclesian Eusebius saith he sheweth That God permitted that calamitie which they suffered because of the maners of Christians corrupted by too much libertie and indulgence principally of the Churchmen whose peruersenesse the iustice of God would bridle by this persecution seeing dissimulation to be in their countenance guile in their heart and deceit in their words For these striuing who should excell each other in enuie pride enmities and hatreds seemed to sauour rather of tyrannie than Priesthood being altogether forgetfull of Christian pietie and prophaning rather than celebrating the diuine mysteries But what thinke wee shall become of our age wherein our vices are encreased so exceedingly that hardly haue they left any place of mercie for vs with God How great is the couetousnesse of Priests and chiefely of them which haue soueraigne power how great their lust appeareth euerie where how great their ambition and pompe how great their pride and sloth how great their ignorance both of themselues and of Christian doctrine how little their religion and rather in shew than in truth how corrupt their manners which euen in prophane men whom they call seculars were detestable there is no need to speake it They commit sinnes so openly and in sight its if they sought prayse thereby There will come beleeue mee there will come the Turke the enemie of the Christian name more violent than Diocletian and Maximian he alreadie knocketh at the gates of Italie We negligent and sleepie attend a common destruction prouiding rather for priuat pleasure than for common vtilitie In the life also of Stephen the third Pietie and religion is now become so cold Platina in Stephan 3. that they will not pray to God I say not bare-footed but hardly in their hose and buskins Speaking of a certaine procession from Lateran to S. Peters They weepe not as they goe or during the time of Diuine Seruice as those holie Fathers but laugh and that impudently I speake euen of them whose scarlet robes makes them more obseruable They sing not hymnes for that seemeth to them seruile but ieasts and tales they tell among themselues to stirre vp laughter What need many words The more talkative any is and the more wanton the greater prayse he deserueth thereby in that corruption of manners This our Clergie feareth seuere and graue men Why so because they had rather liue in so great licentiousnesse than obey him that admonisheth them or constraineth them to doe well and for this cause Christian religion groweth daily worse and worse The like wee read in many places whereby he left inregistred what he judged of his times not daring so freely to doe it in the liues of them that then raigned or had left after them their creatures as they call them of whom he might receiue iniurie Let vs adde Anthonie de Rosellis a Tuscan a famous Doctor both of the Ciuile and Canon law who in his learned bookes concerning that matter teacheth That no temporall jurisdiction belongeth to the Pope and in spirituall he subiecteth him to a Councell Which bookes were printed at Venice in the yeare 1487 but by their Index Expurgatorius they haue caused them to be raced out It remaineth to say something of thee that spake openly being sequestred from the Pope Platina in the life of Paul the second telleth vs That in the towne of Poli neere Rome were detected many heretikes and the Lord of the place with eight men and six women was taken who being brought to Paul were verie ignominiously vsed And behold the heresie They were saith hee of that sect which wee say is of a peruerse opinion of mind for that they sayd That none of them which haue beene since Saint Peter was truely Christ Vicar sauing onely they who haue imitated Christs pouertie Let the Reader note here the stile of Platina which sheweth that he speaketh out of other mens judgement And as for the Bohemians in the beginning of the Popedome of Pius the second they set forth their Apologie and Confession of Faith against the calumnies wherewith they were traduced among the people which were too long here to be inserted But they are conformable to the doctrine of the reformed Churches of this kingdom and are defended by the same places and reasons both of the holie Scriptures and Fathers But this fell out well for them that after diuers miseries was chosen king with
caetera diuina in the Church of the holie Crosse of Hierusalem said to be found in the time of Innocent the eighth Can any man doubt but that hee hereby mocked the Crosse of Christ That man who in the yeare 1494 in his rage published with his owne mouth a pardon for thirtie thousand yeares to as many as would say a certaine prayer before the Image of Saint Anne the mother of the blessed Virgine Benedicta sit sancta Anna mater tua ex qua sine macula peccato processisti c. Where were now the Dominicans who preached a contrarie doctrine This is that man who diuided the world amongst the Princes gaue to Ferdinand of Aragon and to Isabel of Castile the West Indies discouered at that time by Colombus But by what right if not by that wherewith he bound himselfe before to the Prince of the world euen to him that said vnto Christ All this will I giue thee if thou wilt fall downe and worship me OPPOSITION Now in the Historie of these three Popes described by their owne friends and followers wee haue a kind of hidden or rather publike Opposition against their tyrannie For is there not here a liuelie picture of Antichrist whose name onely as Painters vse to doe they haue concealed Alâ—eric de Rozate inâ— bene a Zenon â—â—ol 6. num 18. c. de Quadrieâ—â—â—i praescriptis leauing to vs not onely to diuine who he should bee but to pronounce this verie man to be the man of sinne euen Antichrist himselfe Let vs neuerthelesse see amongst other Authors of that age whether it will not more manifestly appeare Albericus de Rozate an excellent Lawyer defendeth as many had done before That the Empire depended not vpon the Pope That the Emperour needed not his confirmation That they who thought otherwise were guiltie of treason and their goods to bee confiscated That the Popes Jdem in verbo Romae according to the present state of their affaires haue sometimes exalted sometimes depressed the Empire to the end they may get vnto themselues a power both ouer temporall and spirituall And these are his verses Curia Romana non petit ouem sine lana Dante 's exaudit non dantibus ostia claudit The Courts of Rome without the wooll refuse the sheepe Giuers they heare against no giuers the doores they keepe As likewise that of the Donation of Constantine I haue heard of men of great credit that there was then heard a voyce from heauen saying To day is the poyson of Aspes sowed in the Church of God and they say that this is to be found in the auncient authentique writings and so doth the said M. Iohn of Paris report in his booke of the Papall and imperiall power C. 21. Hieronimus Paulus Catalanus a Canon of Barcelone and Doctor of both lawes Chamberlaine to Alexander the sixt in his booke of the practise of the Apostolike Chauncetie feares not to say That the Donation of Constantine was not de facto Read Laurentius Valla and Pope Pius in his Dialogue neither haue I read any thing of any such Donation in any approued writer especially those that haue written that age or the next vnto it For neither doth Eusebius who was a diligent writer and enquirer into Christian affaires make mention thereof c. nor Ierome nor Augustine nor Ambrose nor Basil nor Iohn Chrysostome Amian nor Beda nor Orosius And it is apparent that for aboue three hundred yeares after Constantine the Emperours had the gouernement of the citie by Dukes Presidents and Exarches vntill the time of Innocent the second as it plainely appeareth in the Histories and Chronicles To which purpose he alledgeth many places out of the Digests the Code and the new Constitution And in the life of Phocas the Emperor we read that Pope Boniface obtained the Panteon of him Which is that Church that is called Maria retunda If therefore you will know from whence the Church had her lands and reuenues see the Acts of Charles the Great of Pipin and of Pius in the sayd Dialogue and the collections newly gathered by Bartholmew Platina the Liberarie keeper in one great volume wherein he hath gathered all the instruments appertaining to the state of the Church as touching their temporalties especially the acquisition of their lands reuenewes and rights vnto them vpon the reuiew whereof I haue likewise bestowed some paines Of the sayd Donation and cure of the leprosie of Constantine read that which Remus the Bishop of Padua hath writ at large in his historie of the liues of the Popes Both the one and the other the Donation and the Cure grounded vpon one and the same vanitie Hieron Marius in Eusebio Captiuo Mancinellus was yet more bold who vpon a solemne day about the houre of procession mounting vpon a white horse according to the custome made an Oration at Rome before all the people against Alexander the sixt openly reprehending his abuses his scandalous life and foule abhominations and hauing ended his speech exemplified it before their eyes Alexander therefore caused him to be apprehended and commaunded both his hands to bee cut off which were no sooner healed but vpon another feastiuall day with the like boldnesse he spake againe But by the commaundement of Alexander his tongue was presently cut out Machiauellus Historiae Florentin l. 1. whereof he died Machiauel the Secretarie of Florence in his historie saith plainly That vntill the time of Theodoricus king of Lombardie the Pope had no temporall jurisdiction yea was hardly acknowledged to haue any superioritie in causes Ecclesiasticall aboue the Church of Rauenna but that power and authoritie that it hath it got afterwards by diuers guiles and subtilties sometime taking part with the Greekes sometimes with the Lombards vntill they had ouerthrowne both the one and the other But especially their greatest power they attained vnto by the wicked abuse of their excommunications indulgences and publication of the Crosse but yet so that at what time they thundered most in countries and kingdomes most remote they were in greatest contempt at Rome hauing much adoe to reside there notwithstanding they promised not to intermeddle with ciuile causes but Ecclesiasticall onely Hee likewise saith That they were the authors of all the warres in Italie after the time of Theodoricus king of the Gothes and in his owne time of all those troubles that were in Italie That the Cardinals were but simple Curats of the Parishes in Rome increasing afterwards by little and little in wealth and honour and pride and titles and habiliments as the Popedome and the contention for the Popedome increased And in the handling of this subiect he concludeth the first booke of his Florentine historie which it shall not bee amisse for the Reader to take a view of Guicciardine also the Standard-bearer of the Church of Rome writ the like discourse in the fourth booke of his histories but the place was carefully rased out but
auntient times except onely saith he in one kind of men who must in no wise be excepted These are the Priests whom now almost alone next after Kings and Princes we see to be the richest and most giuen to riches Here must I needs exclaime O wretched as well as fortunat Fraunce Is it possible thou shouldest striue now to abolish by wicked ambition the institutions of thy Elders confirmed by so many holie Decrees and approued by the continuance of so many yeares And now by the abuse of a fauourable law shouldest make hast to loose a singular prerogatiue not obtayned by flattering the Pope by wresting or by begging it but required as a recompence of the merit of our Elders that thou mightest vse in the establishment of sacred things that auntient and peculiar right proceeded à majorum gentium Pontificibus from those Bishops of the Primitiue Church And with what face then alledgest thou that peculiar Sanction whereof thou so much boastest as of a certain honor of Religion Whence hast thou the libertie or confidence to cal thy selfe Most Christian vnlesse thou wilt keepe it by the same Religion whereby thou hast gotten a glorious name and a law witnesse of thy pietie O fault pleasing to those thine enemies who enuie this Palladium of thy felicitie and perhaps of the Kingdome as a gift come downe from heauen which being either taken away or cut off thou withall canst bee then no longer fortunat Take heed I pray thee thou beleeue not too much those earth borne men whom antiquitie therefore called Giants who heaping vp large Titles vpon Titles after the example of the Aloidae seeme to warre against God and thinke to climble vp into heauen to offer violence to the inhabitants there And hee leaueth not for vs to ghesse whom hee meaneth For of these things saith hee publique consent layeth the blame on the Head of Christendome who if hee be not well conditioned the inferiour members draw from him the causes of diseases Wherefore wee see it to bee the wish of godlie men so oft as that indignitie is set before their eyes that God would either fashion better the Pillar of the Church or place some fitter in his roome Neither yet sayth hee am I ignorant that the Church is builded vpon a most firme Rocke by a cunning hand so that it cannot bee ouerthrowne by any force neither ayrie nor earthlie c. But now pietie and religion the gardians of this house complaine with a loud crie that the proportion which the hands of the Architect did modell forth at first is not now kept which is a notable dishonour for the head The cause of this vnseemely disproportion they lay vpon the Merchant Mercurie to wit the Pope who since the time hee gouerned the light of the world and began to bee the chiefe coach-man hee did not burne the world as Phaeton is said to haue done but rather ouer shadowed it with most horrible thicke darkenesse So that from thenceforth it commeth to passe that in the holie Camp that is in the Church is nothing done rightly nor in order And here hee putteth himselfe forth to speake of the abuses of the Church namely them that proceeded from sale whence he shewed that the present gouernement was nothing like to the institution of Christ that if any man cast his eyes on the vniuersall face of the Clergie on their pompous prouision and their designes hee is presently constrained to say that the Spouse hath renounced her bridegroome and denounced vnto him that he is to keepe houshold by himselfe And there againe he maketh a comparison of Christ and the Apostles with the Pope and Court of Rome And then hee passeth to the discipline of the Church violated by them who ought to preserue it from all impuritie Who will beleeue sayth hee that these men that doe thus know what is the good and right faith And who knoweth not that the chosen stones of the Sanctuarie not long agoe haue beene so dispersed and cast downe that the Maiestie of the Church is decayed and now the Spouse of God herselfe as forgetfull of her coniugall faith hath not onely turned aside from her bridegroome but euen without any respect of modestie licentiously wandred about by the high-waies and by the streets and prostituted herselfe for money in euerie Prouince Who remembreth not that the Pastors as fugitiues are become not onely forsakers of the flock but driuers and stealers of it away And haue wee not seene the chiefe Heads of Prelates behaue themselues so preposterously and impurely as in steed of ordering things in good seemelinesse and teaching the daunce called Emmelia to mollifie mens hearts and make their mindes gentle they lead them the warredance Pyrrhicha in armour altogether abhorring the holinesse of order hee meaneth Iulius They which should bee the chiefe annointers of the Champions for the holie Combates and who ought to bee the Authors of waging godlie warre for their altars and bounds against prophane peoples and Infidels are not they themselues the butchers of Christian forces setting them at warres one against the other to the destruction of that sacred name And there hee declareth the wrath of God fallen both vpon Alexander and him What hope saith hee of saluation can these men haue who beeing chiefe Priests gouerning the sterne of the Ship at noone day runne it against the rockes of impietie And when they which ought by their good life to shine and giue light to the Lords familie strike into our eyes the horrible darkenesse of error and blindnesse of mind c. Can I beleeue that they haue the knowledge of good faith who holding the Altar and sacred things vnder the Lords mantle yea and kissing the Lord himselfe as Iudas did neuerthelesse make no account of his Precepts and Institutions and embrace things directly opposite and contrarie c. And what man is there I pray you who if hee consider the state motion course habitude inward and outward affections and the verie Sessions of the Church such as wee haue seene them of late can iudge that they make any account at all of the sacred Oracles and monuments to wit of the holie Scriptures For we see that the Pontificall iurisdiction hath so degenerated from the auncient charitie that there where was woont to be the bosome of equitie and benignitie is now found to be a shop of contentions and of impious snares to intrap Thence are those pit-falls of Processes and cautions of Pontificall rites of purpose set forth for to deceiue the Lords familie There are the profits of amerciaments on Prelats which plainely augment the pages of receits Thence againe the sacrilegious faires of those things which cannot without impietie be in humane commerce I omit now to speake of tesseras non modo veniales sed etiam vaenales Indulgences set to sale which giue largely by a sordid or filthie bountie impunitie of wickednesse and absolution for breach of sacred lawes Therefore
who hauing left their dwellings are constrained to flie into the desarts And moreouer with bitter deep-fetcht sighes he exhorted Leo to prouide especially for three things The peace of Italie The discipline of the Court of Rome and the reformation of Faith sicke euen to death which he better expresseth in these verses Led tria praesertim restant cura atque labore Digna tuo bellum est primum quo fessa laborat Italia pleni humano iam sanguine campi Est aliud Romana graui maculata veneno Curia quae spargit terras contagia in omnes Postremum est oppressa fides exposta rapinis Vndique in praedam populis proiecta cruentis A te haec subsidium magnis clamoribus orant Sancte Pater succurre Leo Respublica Christi Labitur aegrotatquè fides iam proxima morti Three chiefe things rest worthie thy paine and care The Warre is first wherewith Italians are All tir'd and fields with humane bloud are fild Another is the Court of Rome defil'd With venome which to all lands is conuaid Last is the Faith opprest and open layd To rapine made to bloud-succours a prey These of thee with lowd cries for helpe doe pray Helpe holie Father Leo Christs estate Doth fall and Faith lyes sicke now at deaths gate And in all these things we haue seene that Leo followed a quite contrarie course as appeareth by the judgement of many great men that liued vnder the Popedom at that time But now we come to that which was done by whole corporations Grauamina nationis Germanicae There was not any nation vnder Leo which presented not vp their grieuances against the vnlawfull proceedings of the Court of Rome which violated all Concordats refused elections reserued the principall dignities for the Cardinals vnmeasurable in distributing expectatiue graces vnmercifull in exacting annuities which measured Indulgences according to the quantitie of money redoubled the tenthes vnder pretence of making warre against the Turkes bestowed benefices and Ecclesiasticall offices to the vnworthie yea to Mule-keepers and drew all causes without difference to Rome Of which things are extant whole bookes presented to Emperours and Kings together with their necessarie remedies especially in the yeres 1516 and 1517 which are our bounds At which verie time also flourished at Paris Iohn Maioris an excellent professor of Diuinitie whose Theses we haue of the power Royall and Papall Remedium contra grauamina nationis Germanicae Ioh. Maioris dist 24. q. 3. handled at large Dist 24. q. 3. First The Pope hath not any temporal domination ouer Kings c. 2. For if thou say he succeedeth Christ Christ is Lord of all On the contrarie thou canst not proue that Christ according to his humanitie is Lord of all seeing he said to Pylat My kingdome is not of this world And that being graunted yet the consequence is of no force impossible to be proued for oftentimes the Lieutenant hath not so great authoritie as his superiour whose Lieutenant he is For Christ instituted the Sacraments gaue the law of grace and may reuoke all diuine positiue law yet this cannot the Pope do 3. If the contrarie should be granted then would follow this conclusion Constantine gaue nothing to Syluester but onely restored vnto him his due the contrarie whereof is said 96 D. C. Constantinus 12. Q. 1. C. Futurum 4. The Popes themselues confesse that temporall iurisdiction pertaineth not vnto them that they will take nothing from the right of Kings Innoc. 3. in C. Nouit de judicijs Alexand. in C. Causam Qui filii sint legitimi And in that famous chapter Per venerabilem in the same title where Innocent the third saith That the king of France acknowledgeth not any superiour in temporall things and therefore may dispence with his sonne as with his inferiour But if thou say with the Glosse he acknowledgeth not any de facto in deed but yet he ought de jure by right I hold this to be a Glosse of Orleans which corrupteth the text because if it were so the Pope had not sufficiently answered to that gentleman of Mont-pellier requiring a dispensation for his bastard that thereby the king might dispense with him For the Pope sayd The king of France is a supreame Soueraigne in his kingdome in temporall things If he had spoken de facto his answer had beene none for the gentleman might haue answered him I acknowledge not or will not acknowledge a superiour de facto 5. Many deuout kings haue beene canonized by Popes that neuer acknowledged the Bishops of Rome to be aboue them in temporall things and in this haue died Therfore it is a signe that the Bishops of Rome haue not domination ouer all in temporal things Item Kings haue not their powers immediatly from the Bishop of Rome neither doe they take any influence from him in temporall things but haue their kingdomes by the consent of the people by succession by purchase by donation or by some other title For earthlie power dependeth not of the spirituall power of the Pope as the Captaine dependeth of his Generall but as two powers not subordinat of which neither dependeth of the other For he that possesseth a kingdome is not vassall of the Bishop of Rome neither is the Emperor his subiect in any manner And these were the Maximes of the French Church at that time But of the same time we haue two notable instruments one of Germanie the other of Fraunce as for the first Leo had sent his Legats into Germanie to exact tenthes vnder colour of making warre against the Turkes and they had prepared an eloquent Oration to induce the Princes thereto But they consulting about that matter with a notable personage he declared vnto them That Germanie had alreadie been ynough and more than ynough taxed That after peace was made among Christian Princes and that they were well disposed to that holie warre it would then be time ynough to thinke on tenthes That since the time that Popes haue mixed sacred things with prophane or rather forsaken the sacred to busie themselues onely in ciuile matters there hath beene no meane nor end of miseries and calamities there hath beene no care had of the flocke of Christ and contempt of diuine things hath aboundantly growne Christ sold and the whole world polluted vnder pretence of religion and brought to extreame ruine with this filthinesse and contagion Exhortatio viri cuiusd doctissimi ad Principes ne in Decimae praestationem consentiant Will you saith he destroy the Turke I praise your purpose but I greatly feare least yee erre in the name seeke him in Italie not in Asia Against him of Asia euerie of our kings is strong enough of himselfe to defend his owne limits But for to tame the other all Christendome is not sufficient That other who hath elsewhere enough to do with his bordering neighbours hath yet done vs no harme but this man
alone to the Lambe 2. Thess 2. v. 8. to the spirit of his mouth to the brightnesse of his comming Which things are of so much the more greater weight in as much as our aduersaries the ministers of Antichrist hauing gotten the vpper hand of all haue with all diligence and industrie left nothing vndone whereby they might with continuall care and craft extinguish and deface our proofes by abolishing withholding or corrupting the instruments and writings of good men from time to time in all ages By which meanes we are forced to seeke right out of the instrument of their owne pleading out of their owne writings for to decide and defend our cause to produce witnesses out of their bosom and testimonies from their owne mouth to make seeing Gods will is so euen Balaams Asse to speake the verie beast that carrieth them to vtter their Histories Councels and Decrees to the rebuke and reproofe of themselues and their doings But it remaineth for recapitulation to set before our eyes in what state wee found both the See of Rome and Roman Bishop at first and vnto what state from that by degrees at length we haue brought him and now see him brought As touching therefore their spirituall function the Bishops of Rome in those first ages as we haue seene were indifferently called Bishops and Priests behauing themselues as brethren towards others yea by their neerest neighbours were named Brethren and Collegues they were consulted withall and did themselues also consult with others about the affaires of the Church controuersies schismes and heresies liuing simply in their profession and dying vertuously in the confession of the name of Christ they glittered not in any other purple or scarlet than with their owne bloud the Crosse was their onely glorie But not long after we might perceiue in some that spirit which from Saint Paules time wrought which vnder pretence of the dignitie of the citie drew vnto it selfe the cause of the neighbors would haue their counsels accounted for Decrees and turned the honour voluntarily offered them into right of homage seemelinesse into seruitude That sting notwithstanding of ambition was oftentimes beaten backe by the persecutions and many times also blunted by the vertuous Oppositions of the ancient Fathers But when after that by Constantine peace was restored to the Churches through the fauour of Princes they encreased in honors and riches behold this spirit continually watching ouer the worke and not loosing any moment of time gathereth heart and strength to it selfe by degrees And because that by reason of the dignitie of the citie the first Seat was willingly granted vnto it they contend That their Church ought to haue dominion ouer other Churches That like as Rome I meane the Commonwealth thereof ruled ouer other cities and Prouinces so the Bishop of Rome like as a Monarch ouer other Bishops That therefore from all parts of the world they should appeale vnto him from him expect commaundements which all men were held absolutely to obey Whereas he on the contrarie ought to depend of none might be judged of none neither yet of all together And hereof came those falsifications that wee haue seene of Councels and Decrees those suppositions of Acts and Histories those prophanations of the holie Scriptures and shamelesse wresting of them to a contrarie sence Hence are also those contestations and protestations of some of the greatest men in all ages against that domination which they arrogat to themselues ouer other Churches and Bishops which they on the other side besides and against all right diuine and humane either by none or by a false title complained to be vsurped not sticking to pronounce That it proceeded from none other and pertained to none other than the forerunner of Antichrist or Antichrist himselfe Yet thinke not for all this that they any thing slacked in their purpose By Phocas the murderer of the Emperour Mauritius his Lord was the Bishop of Rome declared Vniuersall Bishop he laboured to be so declared so farre was he off from blushing at it Now from thenceforth carried with full sayles hee maketh no difficultie of any thing As Emperours and Kings in a confused troubled world had need of his helpe or endeuour he got authoritie in their dominions Hee winneth the Archbishops to his side by alluring the most ambitious with commissions and offices and hauing woon them hee bindeth them vnto him by a Pall and that at first was sent them freely and onely as a token of good-will towards them afterward by ordinance made necessarie and a badge of subiection at length by degrees it grew to be sold taxed exacted the price thereof euerie day encreasing of which the Archbishops from time to time complayned After that hee obtained of the Princes That the Clergie the Lords lot sayth hee and inheritance should bee exempt and free from all temporall jurisdiction whereupon followed licence of all vices impunitie of all crimes and so by little and little withdrew from their lawfull and naturall Lords them whom hee had marked with his character by voluntarie seruitude yea and liege homage bound them vnto himselfe By their ministerie and meanes and not without mysterie hee sitteth and presideth in the Councels of Kings exerciseth his kingdome in their realmes and his tyrannie in the consciences of kings and their people whilest he bindeth them to his pleasures by his censures and excommunications and as he will loseth them from all duetie and obedience He setteth Princes one against the other or else bandeth their nobles and people against them and maketh many to sheath their swords in their owne bowels By which and by such like meanes hee obtained at length a Soueraigne Empire in spirituall things throughout the West And because the East yeelded not vnto him hee excommunicated those Churches and chuseth to himselfe from among his owne Patriarches of the Easterne Churches imaginarie indeed but yet future Images of his vniuersall Monarchie which hee arrogateth to himselfe who were resident with him representing the person or vizor rather of the Orientall Church Yea when hee celebrated the Masse Cerem Roman l. 3. Charta 6. 7. hee commaunded the Epistle and Gospell to bee read in Latine and in Greeke signifying both Churches but in Latine first and with seuen candles lighted in Greeke afterward with two onely lighted for to shew the supereminencie of the Latine Church Yet who knoweth not that the Greeke Testament is the originall and the Latine but a translation taken out of the Greeke At last hee pardoneth all sinnes out of his fulnesse of power thereby affecting the Maiestie of God who alone pardoneth and of Christ the Lambe of God who alone taketh away sinnes Yet truely hee giueth not those pardons but selleth and maketh merchandise of them and vnder that pretext wasteth and despoyleth the whole world Then hee instituted Iubilies at certaine set times which by degrees hee shortened being truely his generall Marts and Faires in which he
fift booke they proue nothing but this That Iohn vpon the wrong which was done vnto him had recourse to Gregorie who made his cause to be reuiewed in a Synod and his confession being there found Orthodox Gregorie requested the Patriarch of Constantinople to receiue him againe with fauour as one which had beene abused and wronged by such as he had put in trust with the examination of his cause and intreated the Emperour to assist him therein all which sauoureth not of the nature of an Appeale but onely of that ancient recourse which the oppressed vsed to make to the chiefe Sees and which the Bishop of Rome vsed commonly to draw to a consequence of Soueraigntie and Dominion The like is to be said of the case of Adrian Bishop of Thebes whose processe as hee saith Gregorie read ouer for the Appeale there spoken of vpon the accusation which was mixt and partly Ciuile partly Ecclesiasticall belonged properly to the Ciuile Court in the point for which the Emperour in the first instance committed it to Iohn Bishop of Iustineana Prima and secondarily to the Ecclesiasticall Court in that which concerned his deposition And Gregorie there speaketh in verie proper tearmes when he saith That Adrian being wronged by his brethren and fellow Bishop as by his enemies fled to the citie of Rome And againe He is saith he Confugit come to Rome to complaine with teares And in like sort doth Baronius abuse the other examples which he alledgeth Fiftly he saith That Gregorie dealt about his Palls amongst the Archbishops of the East also making vs beleeue that this custome is as ancient as Christianitie is old And wheresoeuer the Bishop of Rome writing to any Bishop saith vnto him Vices tibi meas committo i. I make you my Vicar he inferreth presently That he sent him the Mantle or Pall withall which he bringeth in as if it had now suddenly sprung out of the ground it being a thing which former ages neuer heard of But let vs see vpon what credit though wee now come to enter into an age which was wholly set vpon new fangles and deuises For proofe hereof therefore hee citeth the 55 Epistle of Gregorie lib. 4. whence he collecteth That he bestowed this Mantle or Pall vpon Iohn Bishop of Corinth whereas yet his words are onely these You know saith he that heretofore this Pall was giuen for money but we haue taken a strict order in a Synod Pallium pro Commodo that neither this or any other order shall hereafter be disposed of either by money or by fauour And I see no reason but that by the same argument he might haue said That hee sent him his Orders also True it is that the two Bishops of Rome and of Constantinople pulled who could pull hardest to get all jurisdiction into their hands as if the Church had beene a prey betweene them two and this was the cause that Gregories letters slew so thicke as they did into Greece And so much bee said of the power which he chalenged ouer the Church As for the Emperour Maurice Baronius taketh pepper in nose against him a man otherwise well reported of and much commended by Historians His grieuance is onely this That according to the law of his predecessors he tooke vpon him to confirme Gregorie in his Popedome and is scarce friends with Gregorie himselfe for suffering it In the end he saith That the Emperour was a Tyran Baron vol. 8. an 590. art 2 3 4 sequent and Gregorie forced to doe what he did and that it was of this Maurice that he meant when vpon the fift Penitentiall Psalme he vsed these words That he is no King who maketh the Church a Chamber-maid whom God appointed to be free and Mistresse of the house if so then was Gregorie a notorious hypocrite neither is there any trusting of him seeing that he said one thing and meant another in all the dealings which he had with Maurice For doe but read the Epistle which he wrot vnto Maurice concerning that law which he had made to this effect That no souldier vntill he were dismissed no accomptant without his discharge first had and obtained should take the Frocke vpon him and enter into religion and then tell me whether it be possible for a man to vse greater submission than he there vseth He is answerable saith he for it before Almightie God whosoeuer is either in word or deed found faultie against his gracious Lords And so were I your most vnworthie seruant if in this case I should hold my peace c. Greg. li. 2. Epist 62. 65. Thou wert my good Lord before such time as thou wert Lord of all c. And when I thus presume to speake vnto my Lords what am I but dust and a verie worme of the earth c. Power is giuen from heauen vnto my Lords ouer all men c. and Christ shall one day speake vnto thee saying To thee haue I committed my Priests or Bishops c. And in the end I haue saith hee Meos Sacerdotes now in euerie poynt fulfilled my duetie seeing that I haue yeelded my obedience to the Emperour and haue not kept silence in that which was of my knowledge Who can read this and thinke him a Pope which wrot it And in like manner speaketh he to Theodore the Emperors Physitian My tongue saith he is vnable to expresse the good which I haue receiued of the Almightie and of my Lord the Emperour and what shall I giue againe for all this good but onely this Vestigia pure amare i. To loue the ground he goeth on in the same sence in which he elsewhere often saith Greg. li. 2. Epist 64. ad Dominorum vestigia transmisi i. I haue sent it to the feet of my Lords And at the foot of that Epistle he saith God hath not giuen him power to rule ouer souldiers onely Idem Epist 52. but also ouer Bishops where hee vseth the word Sacerdotibus meaning thereby All men of the Church And shall then Baronius his plea be admitted Baron an 593. art 15. when he saith That Gregorie spake as one which liued vnder a Nero or a Dioclesian especially when he maketh such open protestation That he speaketh the truth wholly without all reseruation and thereupon is so bold in the same Epistle as to say vnto him What wilt thou answer before the iudgement seat of God when he shall say vnto thee at that day Of Notarie I made thee Captaine of the gard of the Captaine of the gard Caesar of Caesar Emperour Was it feare or duetie which drew these words from him But if you will take a true view of the judgement which this man had of the Emperour then read the Epistle which he wrot without all passion to Anastasius Bishop of Antioch Whereas saith he men which are Orthodox in the faith are daily preferred to holie Orders wee haue great cause to render
all thankes therefore to the Almightie and daily to pray for the life of our most religious and Christian Lord the Emperour and of his gracious consort and of his courteous progenie in whose times the mouthes of the Heretikes are stopped for though their hearts boyle with peruerse and froward thoughts yet vnder a Catholike Emperor they dare not to vtter their mischieuous imaginations And in like maner writeth he to Isicius Bishop of Ierusalem Greg. li. 7. Epist 11. and to sundrie others But the conclusion of all was this That the law of Maurice stood still in force and Gregorie himselfe was faine to publish it by his letter directed to the Metropolitans and to the Bishops of the chiefe Sees in whiche he calleth him Most religious and most clement Emperour Baron to 8. an 593. art 22. 23. But yet Baronius like a man that would saile with euerie wind telleth vs That Gregorie corrected this law before the publication therof and that thereby he declared that his Apostolike power was aboue the Emperours law But who so shall take the paines to read this Epistle all along Baron ib. art 49 shall find that hee doth nothing therein but onely declare the intention of the Emperour to put it in execution and to justifie this law rather than to reproue it 22. PROGRESSION Of the murder of the Emperour Maurice by Phocas What flatterie Gregorie vsed vnto Phocas and that Boniface the third of Rome got to be called Vniuersall Bishop WE haue alreadie seene the controuersie which was betweene Gregorie of Rome and Iohn of Constantinople it remaineth that wee now come to the issue thereof The Emperour Maurice vnto whom Saint Gregorie had written so many letters Zonor li. 3. pa. 64 65. sequent came to fall into dislike and hatred of souldiers and one Phocas a Centurian made himselfe captaine of the mutiners and was afterwards for his paines by them proclaimed Emperour Maurice seeing that fled away with his wife and children and presently was Phocas crowned by the Patriarch and forthwith he pursued after Maurice and when he had ouertaken him Paul Aquileg 1. li. 17. slew his wife and children before his eyes not sparing the little one which hung at the breast and afterward caused his throat to be cut likewise Maurice had sent away his sonne Theodosius to reserue himselfe to better fortunes with Cosroë king of Persia but he was also taken brought backe and murdered so was the Empresse Constantina also with her three daughters And the Historians know not well which of the two they should most condemne in him his Treason or his Crueltie Phocas therefore was no sooner chosen Emperour but Gregorie presently wrot vnto him and that with abhominable adulation and flatterie He beginneth his Epistle with Gloria Deo in excelsis which is the song of the Angels at the Natiuity of our Sauior Greg. Epist 36. li. 11. Glorie be to God on high saith he which changeth the times and translateth kingdomes who some times in his iustice sendeth Princes to afflict his people and other times in his mercie those which shall lift them vp againe For which cause wee reioyce that thou art come vnto the Empire Let the heauens reioyce and let the earth leape for ioy and let all the people be glad thereof c. Epist 44. And to Leontia the Empresse he writeth in this manner What tongue can speake what heart can conceiue the thankes which we owe to God for the happinesse of your Empire Let the Angels giue glorie vnto God euen the Creator which is in heauen aboue and let all men giue thankes here in earth beneath c. But the conclusion of this Epistle is this That they would take the Church of Rome into their protection and alwayes continue mindfull of Tuâ—es Petrus assuring them that for their paines Saint Peter would not be vnmindfull of them nor faile to vndertake the protection of their Empires All tending no doubt to the establishing of his owne authoritie But he happening to dye shortly after and Sabinian his successor suruiuing but a little time An. 605. Boniface 3 in the yeare 605 who also liued not aboue eight monethes and some odde daies to effect that which his predecessors had proiected tooke his aduantage seeing the Emperour Phocas on the one side displeased with Cyriacus Patriarch of Constantinople because hee would not approue of such his murders and on the other jealous least the hatred of his dealings might haply cause Italie to reuolt from vnder him and thereupon he asked and by the profers which he made of his good seruice obtained of him That the Church of Rome should thence forward bee the Head of all other Churches and the Bishop of Rome should be called the Soueraigne and Vniuersall Bishop And thereupon he published that Imperious ordinance in a Synod at Rome consisting of 62 Bishops and from that time forward vsed euer in his Mandats these words Volumus iubemus i. We will and commaund and that in the Prouisions of Bishops whom though they were elected by consent of Clergie and people yet would he not suffer to be either called or accounted as Bishops but by vertue of his letters patents with that clause of Volumus iubemus in them and so saith Platina in plaine tearmes Which pretentions of his Platina in Bonifaciâ— though sometimes they found some crossings yet were they the beginning of that schisme betweene the Greeke Church and the Latine a schisme which continueth euen vnto these our dayes OPPOSITION Suppose we now that Gregorie himselfe had risen againe from the dead and seene his successor vsing that Title which hee before hand had so formally condemned in his Epistles how could he haue saued him from this so necessarie a conclusion drawne from the propositions of his owne words and so oftentimes by him repeated Whosoeuer will be called Vniuersall Bishop is the forerunner of Antichrist Boniface the third willeth and requireth and ordaineth himselfe to be so called therefore it followeth that he was the forerunner of Antichrist if not Antichrist himselfe Bellarmine here findeth out two creepeholes The one is concerning the fact Bellar. de Rom. Pontif. l. 2. c. 17. Non instituendo sed asserendo Lib. 4. de Gest Longobard c. 37. where he sayth That Phocas did not ordaine this by way of a new Institution but onely of declaration of a thing euer before acknowledged in the Church But let him read the Historie it selfe Paulus Diaconus who liued not farre off from these times speaketh after another manner Phocas sayth he at the suit of Pope Boniface ordained That the See of the Romane Apostolike Church should be the Head of all other Churches because the Church of Constantinople wrote her selfe The first of all other Churches And so testifie all the Historians which came after him namely Freculphus Rhegino Anastasius Hermannus Contractus Marianus Scotus Sabellicus Blondus Pomponius Laetus