manners By St. Pauls Doctrine publicke quiet and honour are given into the custody of Secular power the Inquisition ought not to put her sickle into another mans harvest This conclusion needs no subtilnesse to make it bee understood of it selfe it is plaine and easie To the same man belongeth to judge and punish deeds words and writings of the same matter none can make question but that the offending of ones reputation favouring of Tiranny and dishonesty either with deeds or with words are offences subject to the Secular Iudgement Therefore those which are committed in writing also shall belong to the same By what reason can he pretend to censure the bookes of any of the foresaid causes who confesseth of himselfe to have no power to censure the words and the deeds Since that by the Princes Ministers such a disorder is put in practise vid. that under pretence of favroring honesty and Iustice and preserving a good name temporall authority comes to bee usurped peradventure because it is a very new thing that the Ecclesiasticall power should prohibite bookes for any other cause besides that of Religion since no Pope ever attempted it before the yeare 1550. therefore as a fresh thing it hath not yet beene well examined or because that some who give attendance upon publicke affaires thinke it not ill to discharge themselves of this burthen of looking over bookes and leave it to them as desire it But as every Government requires watchfulnesse and carefulnesse and he that discharges himselfe of these dispoileth himselfe also of his authority and doth not perceive it till it be lost and cannot be recovered againe so the most renowned Common-wealth which hath ordered that her Officers should over-see every booke which is Printed to prevent any inconvenient Doctrine from comming to light hath knowne very well that this care belongeth to the Prince and thence is necessarily inferred that his Deputies ought also to see whether that there be any inconveniences in bookes already printed which may hinder the reprinting of them To the same Person belongeth the preventing of evill to whom the reforming of an evill already sprung belongeth If the Prince may Lawfully by the authority he hath from God forbid the printing of a booke because it containes blasphemy against the God-head favoureth Tiranny offends publicke honesty teacheth evill manners or takes away another mans authority and reputation Hee may also Lawfully and by the same authority prohibit them that are already printed and doe containe the like inconveniences The Index of the bookes made in the yeare 1595. is already received with publicke authority by agreement therefore the bookes contained in it are to be prohibited without exception But if hereafter it be propounded by Ecclesiasticall Persons to have bookes prohibite for any of the aforesaid reasons it must not be granted that they should doe it but notice may be taken and the booke prohibited by Temporall authority onely leaving it to the Ecclesiasticall power onely when the booke is prohibited for cause of Religion There remaines the third prejudice which is new but of greater annoyance than the other two because that to bee deprived of ones authority and to lose good bookes are indeede very great evils but tollerable in respect of this to be constrained to endure within their owne Dominions a booke knowne to bee hurtfull The Court of Rome though it hath assumed to itselfe to prohibite bookes also for causes which concerned not Religion and did not belong to Ecclesiasticall power yet before these last yeares they have not dared to goe so farre as to say that the Prince may not also forbid those bookes which he seeth doe breede scandall evill example sedition or other perturbance within his Dominion Cardinal Baronius would be the first that should free this passe and speake it boldly who being conveniently opposed by that Prince who was particularly touched none ever since hath dared to this houre to maintaine the Cardinall his enterprize But because hereafter some may attempt the like with greater Art or upon an opportunity when mens eyes shall not be so open the businesse being of such moment requireth to have the successe of that businesse briefly set downe for a generall example and document adding thereunto the true Doctrine with her Grounds answering the objected cavillations That Cardinall in the beginning of the yeare 1605. printed his eleventh Tome of the Ecclesiasticall Annals wherein hee inserted a very long discourse against the Monarchie of Sicily Of which discourse what concerneth the Truth of the relation is not fitting now to be spoken of but to be left to his proper place This onely belongeth to the present purpose that the discourse is full of slanders and eagernesse against many Kings of Arragon of famous memory and especially against King Ferdinand the Catholicke and the progenitors on the Fathers side of him who now Reigneth The booke comming to Naples and to Milan was by the Kings Officers there prohibited that it should not be sold nor had there for the respects of their Prince which were too apparent to every vulgar person The Cardinall having notice of it assembled the Colledge of Cardinals in the vacancy of the Sea of Clement the eight and made an invictive against those Officers that in prohibiting of that booke had laid hands on Ecclesiasticall authority And afterwards when Paul the fifth was made Pope he writ unto the King of Spaine a long Letter dated the 13. of June in the same yeare with this conclufion amongst the rest That to the Pope onely belongeth the approving of bookes of all kinds much more Ecclesiasticall ones complaining greatly that in contempt of Ecclesiasticall authority the Kings Officers in Italy had prohibited his booke The wisedome of that King thought it best to answer with deeds and let the prohibition runne on which was published by his Officers The Cardinall could not containe himselfe but that printing his 12. Tome in the yeare 1607. he must insert to small purpose a discourse of the same matter saying formally that it was an impious and abhominable thing that in these our most unfortunate dayes the Kings Officers should dare to censure bookes approved by the Pope not suffering them to bee sold by the Booke-sellers but with their Licence which they would grant but when they pleased yea and would absolutely forbid the sale of them that they doe it because the bookes rebuke their unjust acts and that it was to take out of St. Peters hands and putting into the Princes one of the Keyes given him by Christ vid. that of knowledge to discerne good customes from bad The Counsell of Spaine proceeded still with their wonted staidnesse and resolution nor did not move for the third time but let three yeares more run on And in the yeare 1610. the King made an Edict whereby hee condemned and forbad the booke in so grave a manner that hee aptly touched Cardinall Baronius as well as he had touched the Kings his Progenitors
and the blasphemy to be left unto their judging and they give two reasons for it The one is that when in the offence there is the principall and the accessory the principall draweth the other unto it but in hereticall blasphemies suspition of Heresie being the principall and belonging to the Inquisition the blasphemy also ought to belong unto it which is but the accessory The other is because it seemeth too cruell to them to have one offence punished with two sentences and doe alledge the common saying that there are not two Iudgements allowed against the same fault but these oppositions are easily answered The first because that suppose the suspition of Heresie were the principall which thing St. Thomas doth not allow yet neverthelesse it is not necessary that it should draw the blasphemy along with it since they are not so connexed together that they may not be severed and that one may not have judiciall knowledge of the one without knowledge of the other but the Secular may very well admit the Persons and examine him that is accused concerning the injurious words uttered against the Divine Majesty without going any further to examine what is his beliefe and what hee beareth in his minde Therefore there is no such connexion betweene the blasphemy and the enquiring of the Heresie but that they may be separated and each judged in the right and competent Court The like is to be said when holy and Divine words are had in derision as in transformed Psalmes in which the Secular takes notice onely of the injury done to God leaving it to the Inquisition to seeke whether it may thereby be supposed that the offender hath a perverse beliefe And in the offences done against holy Images with wounds and other stroakes it is a great deale plainer seeing that the Magistrate punisheth nothing but that externall act whereby Christ hath bin injuried in his Image leaving it to the Inquisition to search whether the offender have sinned because hee beleeveth some false Doctrine or onely through wilfull malice And to this purpose it is good to consider that Hereticall blasphemy is not the same as a sincere or cruell blasphemy most cruell is that which is most grievous and most abusive Most Hereticall that whence groweth the greatest suspicion of Heresie though in himselfe not so great The Inquisition regardeth the greatest suspicion which carrieth with it the greatest signification of there being an errour in the mind though in it selfe it were not so abusive and for this cause sometimes will make more matter of words spoken against Saints than against the divine Majesty The greatest punishment the Inquisition inflicts upon a blasphemer is Abjuration which punishment if it bee on a person of low degree may be said to be no punishment at all And therefore because offences of such importance should not passe unpunished with scandall and evill example the publicke determination that the Magistrate should punish the blasphemy and leave to the Inquisition the matters of Heresie is both just and necessary But that which seemeth absurd to some vid. that two Judgments should bee made in one cause is not inconvenient when the punishments which are inflicted are not of the same kind and the end of the wrongs is different the same Cause may be judged as civill and afterwards as criminall The end of a civill Judgment is to give every owne his owne the end of the criminall is to punish the Usurper So in cases of Blasphemy the end of the Inquisition is if the blasphemer have a false beleefe to teach him the true and absolve him from the censures he hath incurred by holding of the false The end of the Magistrate is no other but to punish the injury done to the divine Majesty The punishments which the Inquisition imposeth are spirituall as Abjurations Absolutions or Advisements The punishment which the Magistrate inflicts are corporall yea it may be said moreover that they doe not make two judgments in one Cause but in two severall Causes the Magistrate judging the offence of Blasphemy and punishing it with corporall punishment whereas the Inquisition forgoing the offence judgeth of the quality of the suspicion and punisheth it with spirituall punishment The Exposition of the two and twentieth Chapter THe two and twentieth Chapter mentioneth that some Inquisitors to extend their jurisdiction pretended that the offence of having two Wives did belong to their Office who doe alledge for reason that it is an abuse of Matrimony which is a Sacrament and that in Spaine the case is reserved to the Office of the Inquisition Contrary is the common Opinion of Civilians who seeing the the Lawes have imposed no punishment on this offence and the Canon Lawes doe not speake of it they conclude by necessary consequence that it belongeth to the Secular jurisdiction and this is observed in all Tribunals also in the state of Milan where the Inquisition hath more extended her Authority than in any other place of Italy the reason brought to the contrary that it is an abuse of the Sacrament of Matrimony concluded nothing for the first Wife taken in true matrimony hath the Sacrament annexed to it and in this there happeneth no abuse at all Then in taking of the second there is no Sacrament nor Matrimony nor any manner of Spirituall contract but a meere nullity done de facto non de jure so that there cannot be said to be any abuse of the Sacrament neither in the first nor in the second act Well may it be said that by the second wicked act of taking another Wife there is an injury done to the first which was a Sacrament and this is most true but the injury done to the Sacrament of Matrimony doth not belong to the Inquisition for adultery is an injury done to the Sacrament and yet it doth not belong to the Inquisition to judge of it And if any one would make having of two Wives a token of Heresie inferring that hee that doth it beleeves it to bee lawfull with this reason hee might draw all cases to the Inquisition for it may as well be said that the adulterer or the thiefe doe commit those wickednesses beleeving that they are lawfull things and amongst the rest wee should put into the Inquisition all Gipsies who get their life by stealing and much more your high-way robbers But contrariwise wee must alwayes suppose that every sinner hath a true beliefe and Catholicke Doctrine but doth sin either through frailty or through malice or through humane compassion and so ought to bee punished by his ordinary Iudge which ought also to bee observed in him that hath two Wives if there appeare no other token of a perverse beliefe And it is not true that in Spaine the case is absolutely reserved to the Inquisition yea it is ordinarily punished by the Secular by branding in the fore-head with a hot Iron But because the Iewes and Moores hold plurality of Wives to bee lawfull those
THE HISTORY OF THE INQVISITION Composed by the Reverend Father PAUL SERVITA who was also the Compiler of the Councell of Trent A Pious Learned and Curious Worke necessary for Councellors Casuists and Politicians Translated out of the Italian Copy by ROBERT GENTILIS LONDON Printed by J. Okes for Humphrey Mosley and are to be sold at his shop in Pauls Church-yard at the signe of the Princes Armes 1639. The Printer to the Reader THe hidden Treasure never availed any as Solomon the wise said This present Booke like to a great Treasure was alwayes much Esteemed by the best Politicians but it lay hidden because it went notabroad but in a Manuscript and came onely to the hands of the Governours of the Venetian State and of some few forraigne Princes who by especiall favour were made partakers of it Now a liberall hand which desireth the common good by meanes of my Presse hath communicated it to the world that every good States man may participate of it Receive it with a cheerefull countenance and beleeve it will not a little profit thee and others Farewell The History of the Inquisition and particularly oâ— the Venetian With the Motives which caused that most Renowned Common-Wealth of Venice to make divers Ordinances touching this matter To the Most Renowned Duke of Venice F. P. V. S. wisheth all happinesse PERFORMING with all due reverence the command laid on me by your Highnesse to draw unto a head and set downe in order all matters which concerne the Office of the Inquisition against Heresie I have found all things so well ordered in times past by the Counsells of this most Renowned Common-wealth that there needeth no other thing to be done but onely to put together that which on divers occasions hath beene determined bringing to passe that which was deliberated by the most excellent Councell of Ten and in the yeare 1550. the 22 of November the 8 Chap. vid. that throughout all the Venetian Dominion should bee an uniforme proceeding and conformable to what is observed within this renowned City As also it was agreed upon betweene Pope Julius the third and this most illustrious Common-Wealth in the yeare 1551. Chap. 18. 19. Which in my respectfull opinion may easily be done if the orders made upon severall occasions be reduced unto Chapters and thence as it were a recapitulation framed wherein shall briefly and summarily be set downe so much as is necessary to be observed and Copies may be given either of the Heads alone or joyned with the aforesaid determination it shall seeme best I will first gather the Heads then will I adde the considerations and causes for which these Orders were first established to the Honour of God for the which it is also necessary to continue the keeping of them for the maintenance of holy Religion and publicke quietnesse CHAP. I. THat as in Venice by a publicke and ancient decree there are deputed three Senators Inquisitors against Heresie to be present at all which is done by the Friers Inquisitors so in other Cities of the State the Governours shall be present at the framing of Processes made by the Inquisition CHAP. II. That the Governours of the Cities having some lawfull let to hinder their presence they shall cause the Podesta his Deputie or some other of the Court of Iustice to supply their place CHAP. III. That no Governour having any intimatenesse with Rome shall be an assistant to the aforesaid framing of Processes CHAP. IV. That the Assistants Office shall be onely to be present without doing any thing else and if any doubt arise to make it knowne to the Prince CHAP. V. That the assistants shall not sweare faithfulnesse or secresie to the Inquisitors CHAP. VI. That the Governours shall from time to time give the Prince account of what is done in the Office of the Inquisition CHAP. VII That the same Governours shall give notice to the Prince and the Embassadour of Rome of the death of the Inquisitor or of the occasion of changing him CHAP. VIII That the Governours shall not admit of any Inquisitors in the Cities by them governed without the Princes Letters CHAP. IX That the Governour shall assist not onely in Seular mens causes but also in Ecclesiasticall and Regular mens though they were of the Inquisitors Monasterie CHAP. X. That the Governours shall not suffer any act to be made after denuntiation without their presence CHAP. XI That although the Inquisitors should impart the businesse to them yet the Governours should not forbear to be present thereat CHAP. XII That the Ecclesiasticall persons having framed a Processe without their assistance the Governours shall cause it to be framed againe before them CHAP. XIII That they shall doe the like though the Processe were to be sent out of the State CHAP. XIV That in the Processe mention shall be made of the Governours assistances or their Deputies CHAP. XV. That no Decrees or Precepts which come from out of the State shall be put into any Processes CHAP. XVI That neither the Processes nor the Prisoners shall be sent out of the Dominions without the Prince have notice of it CHAPT XVII That the Praetoriall Vicar or other of the Court being assistants shall not be Consulters CHAP. XVIII That the Governours shall not suffer the imprisonment of any before the Processe be framed CHAP. XIX That they shall not suffer the Inquisition to meddle with Inchantments and South-Sayings if they doe not containe Heresie CHAP XX. That they shall doe the same by Herball Inchantments Witchcrafts and Sorceries CHAP. XXI That ordinary blasphemies shall not be judged by the Inquisition nor wounding of Images nor irrisions committed by singing of Psalmes or impure Letanies CHAP. XXII That the delict of having two Wives shall not belong to the Inquisition CHAP. XXIII That the Assistants shall not suffer the Inquisition to meddle in cases of Vsury CHAP. XXIV That the Jnquisition shall not in any cause proceed against Jewes or Infidels CHAP. XXV That the Inquisitors shall not proceed against the Greekes CHAP. XXVI That he that shall be thought to have done against the Faith beyond the Alpes shall not be cited by Criers nor by affixment of Scedules CHAP. XXVII That the Inquisition shall have nothing to doe with the goods of condemned persons CHAP. XXVIII That no Bull shall be published by any Order from the Congregation of Rome without the Prince his License CHAP. XXIX That the Inquisition shall not cause any prohibition of any sort of Bookes to be printed without the observing the conditions of the agreement CHAP. XXX That the Inquisition shall not command any that is of a Secular Art or profession CHAP. XXXI That the Inquisitor shall not cause Artificers to be sworne unto them CHAP. XXXII That the Inquisitor shall not make any Precept or Monitory for the Commonalty or for the Iudges CHAP. XXXIII That the Inquisitors shall not publish any Edict containing more than the sixe ordinary Heads CHAP. XXXIV That cases which
they connot bee subject to others Therefore it is not bee suffered that the Inquisition should search out what the Greekes doe or beleeve in secret And if they chance to heare that any lives or speakes scandalously of the Latins then have they a ready and easie way to helpe it by giving the Magistrate notice of it by whom justice shall bee administred and especially in a matter of such importance as to provide against scandals and tumults The Exposition of the sixe and twentieth Chapter THe sixe and twentieth Chapter that no man be publickly cited who is gone beyond the mountaines upon the imputation of any offence committed in those Countries seemeth at first sight to be a thing which cannot happen and happening to be of very small moment yet if that way were once given it would bee very frequent and of great importance Pope Clement the eight in the yeare 1595. made a Bull concerning Italians onely commanding that none no not for matters of Merchandise should goe into a place where there were not a Parish Priest and a publicke Church which exercised the Romish Rites unlesse hee had leave from the Inquisitors adding that those who had leave should bee bound to send every yeare a certificate over that they were confessed and had communicated To bring in the observance of this Bull as soone as any Italian comes beyond the mountaines presently the Iesuits come upon him for comming over without Licence and if he doth not yeeld unto them and promise them obedience they presently examine some adherent of his against him and frame a secret Processe against him which they send to Rome from which there is a processe writ to Rome to the Inquisitor of the place where hee was bred up to call him by publicke Citation This Citation in former times was wont to be made from the Inquisition of Rome but now they are beware of doing so because the Cities beyond the Hills doe revenge themselves by proceeding against some adherents of the Court of Rome and to avoyd this danger they cite no more to Rome but have him cited to the place of his bringing up This invention though it bee coloured with Religion aimeth at the making of the Court of Rome Mistris in Italy of Merchandises which come from beyond the Mountaines as three hundred yeares agoe it brought under it with a lesse pretence the Merchandises of the East It will not bee from the purpose to relate here what was then done and what was the event of it especially within this City that we may the better sinke into that which is now done It was ordered and commanded by the Governors that Infidels should be forbidden to carry Armes or any other instrument where with they might make Warre with Christians the Derree as honest was received by all men This ready obedience of the World gave Pope Clement the fifth hope of stepping yet one step further wherefore in the yeare of our Lord 1307. hee published a Bull and commanded that none might carry any Merchandise of any kind into the the Easterne Countries nor that there should any bee suffered to goe out of the Harbors for such a voyage upon paine of excommunication and other grievous penalties as well spirituall as temporall and amongst other that none hath carried or suffered any to bee carried of what kind soever might bee absolved unlesse hee first precisely paid so much as the principall which was transported amounted unto The difficulty if not impossibility of observing so strict an order was a cause that there were many offendors in Venice who during their life did little thinke of it but at the poynt of death to receive their absolution they left according to the Popes command order to have the offence satisfied Neither wanted there Confessors to urge it instantly denying also absolution to such as did not pay or give order to be paid so much as the principall of that whcih hee had carried into the East came unto Many who have beene that voyage severall times found themselves to owe more than they were worth at their houre of death Wherefore for the discharge of their Consciences they would by Will leave all they had to the Popes disposing The Heires and the Commissaries did deferre the executing of the Wills seeing they tended to the destruction of Families and of the Common-wealth especially there being some who held such Wills to be voyd and extinguished By this meanes in fifteene yeares the mony due to the Pope came to a summe sufficient to have emptied the City of money to which Pope Iohn the two and twentieth who was his successor applying his mind and gathering the money on all sides in the yeare 1322. sent Ardenato Largo and Falcone Castario Nuncioes to Venice to receive that which by Will was left to the Popes disposall constraining notaries and others to produce the Wills excommunicating them which did not deliver them Besides hee gave these Nuntioes Commission also to see to and to excommunicate all those which were alive that had sayled thither to absolve them paying the principall of the Merchandise which was carried thether These Nuntioes being come to Venice having erected a judgement Seate committed divers disorders amongst the which one was that they Excommunicated St. Marke his Proctors and above two hundred other Persons men and women for the aforesaid cause Those who were then consultors of the Common-wealth amongst which was one Andrea Bishop of Chiozza did advise that these Nuntioes actions were not Lawfull resolved to withstand them with apeales other remedies which were put in practice to that these Nuntioes attempts did take no effect Onely as it hapneth in such cases many inconveniences remained which continuing with great danger for the space of two yeares the Pope was forced to apply a remedy which was worse than the soare He made a Bull in the yeare 1324. confessing that his Nuntioes actions had bin disorderly suspended the censures by them pronouced and gave the Arch Bishop of Ravenna Commission to execute it commanding him afterwards that he should set downe a convenient time for men and women who had beene censured by the Nuntioes to appeare for that cause at the Court of Rome which was then at Avignon either in Person or by their Proctors to treate of their businesse excepting none but onely the Duke and the Commonalty It was a brave increase for the Court of Rome to have some 200. Persons or more to come thither at once for money matters of so great weight But what happened and whither the Pope were obeyed by few or many I cannot justifie But it is certaine that then there did arise an opinion which said that it was no sin to carry Merchandises to Infidels so they were not things for the use of Warre and therefore that the Pope could not hinder it which moved him in the yeare 1326. to make a Bull declaring them to be Hereticks which said that it was
plaine that the office of the Inquisition within this dominion was appoynted by order of the greater Councell and by consent of the Pope in the yeare 1289. with Covenants then established Wherefore no new thing which hath happened since can alter it if the same who agreed in the institution doe not likewise agree in the alteration And therefore if the Court of Rome decrees any new thing concerning that matter it cannot extend its force upon that Office but onely with the Prince his consent This is the true reason why Bulls and Orders made since that time at Rome cannot binde Neither can it be aleadged to the contrary that diverse times doe require divers Orders and that Popes for the better government have made other reasonable Lawes which ought to be received for the answer to this plaine that as in the world nothing can bee held unchangeable and every custome ought to be accommodated to the times and persons so it is to be done to them whom in reason it concernes to doe it and by no others If any one would rule common businesse of himselfe though he did doe it with a good intent and happy issue yet did he neverthelesse transgresse Divine and Humane Lawes the same reason which caused the Inquisition to be first instituted by agreement doth now also suffer no new Laws or orders to be made but by agreement To give force unto a Law it is not sufficient that it be convenient and reasonable but it is also essentiall that it be made by those who have full power Neither is that said onely for the preservation of power and jurisdiction but also for the necessity of a good government The Inquisition was not then instituted with the same Conditions as in the rest of Italy because the considerations of this Common-wealth and other States were different So now likewise divers considerations cause that which is expedient at Rome sometimes not to bee expedient here Wherefore it may not be convenient presently to execute in this state that which the Pope for his owne respects hath ordered but first ought to be considered whether it agree with the respects of this place which thing none but the Prince can doe as one who alone knoweth what is needfull for the publicke affaires And therefore although the new or old Bull should seeme unto the Governour honest and profitable yet ought not he therein to follow his owne judgement it being proper to the Prince alone to know what is expedient Neither ought it to seeme grievous to the Bishops or Inquisitors to have that which is just and lawfull executed in due manner judgement and forme The Inquisition of Spaine which is likewise ordained by agreement proceedes in the selfe same manner It hath its owne Lawes and proper Customes by which it is governed neither is it altered or receiveth new Orders from Rome but if for any publicke respects the Court beleeveth that it were good to bring up some new thing in Spaine they write to the Generall Royall Counsell over the Inquisition where it is consulted of and according as the respects of Spaine will beare it is received either in part or in all or in part or in all laid aside But that the observance of this Chapter is necessary not onely for the maintaining of the proper Power and jurisdiction but also to withstand infinite inconveniences hee may finde it plainly that shall consider these things following First speaking of Bulls already made many are contrary to the Institutions of this most renowned Common-wealth as those that command Hereticks to be burned openly and alive The confiscation of goods with censures to those Princes who doe not admit of them The demolishing of a house where a Heretick is found although it be none of his owne That the Inquisition may cause any that it suspecteth to give it a pecuniary security to live a good Catholicke That the Inquisition have an armed Court properly belonging to that office All these are Pontificiall Ordinances contrary to the Customes of this State some doe give Inquisitors excessive authority as those which will have them have power to give leave to weare Armes and to make Crocesegnati which things could not bee put in practice without great confusion some are so severe that they cannot agree with the government of this State as that of Paul the fourth which will not have him pardoned his life that will come home againe having held any one of those five Articles which by him are named And another of Pio the fifth that no sentence given in the behalfe of one that was accused and found innocent should transire in rem Iudicatam although it were given after the Canonicall purgation but that the Office may alwayes take the same cause in hand againe upon the same proofes which order if it were in use would bee a continuall torment to those wretches And that other of the same Pope that whosoever should offend or but onely threaten a Notary or other Officer of the Inquisition or a Witnesse examined in that Office besides the Excommunication should be guilty of High Treason and should be punished with Capitall punishment his goods confiscated his children infamous and uncapable to succeede others by will To which punishment should also be subject whosoever should not onely case one to escape out of Prison but he also that should but attempt it although the effect did not follow and also whosoever should favour any such or mediate for them with other clauses of most cruell temerity comprehending also titular Persons and Princes Yet this is that Bull which was made in the yeare 1569. but was never received nor published in this State The Cardinall Arrigoni eight and forty yeares after that vid. in the yeare 1617. commanded the Inquisition of this City of Venice that it should print it and publish it and it had beene done if the most renowned Reformators of those times by order of the most excellent Counsell had not hindered it Any one may consider how many Processes might be made for every word that should be spoken to one of the notaries witnesses or denouncers who had thought themselves wronged and how many wretches would have bin daily vexed It were long to rehearse all those things which are contrary to the customes of these Countries but the above said are sufficient to shew that without the disturbance of the publicke authority and peace they cannot be all generally admitted But if any be necessary or profitable for the punishment of Hereticks it is fitting that it should be received but to know which is such a one belongeth properly to the prince nor can any one else know it Neither ought any one to be confident that they may bee received without confusion because they are of force in Rome and yet things there are quietly carryed the State of Rome being different from that of other Princes The Romans say they are above these Ordinances if they thinke fit they
in the yeare 1595. in the Index published a rule that all Catholicke Writers Bookes written after the yeare 1515 might be corrected and amended not onely by taking away what is not conformable to the Doctrine of Rome but also with adding to it This Precept hath beene put in practice and executed continually these seventy yeares though it hath beene done publickly but some few yeares since So that if in Authors wee finde no good Doctrine favouring Temporall authority wee know who hath taken it away If wee finde any that favoureth the Ecclesiasticall we know who hath put it in and finally we may be assured to have no booke true Wherefore since the onely aime is to extinguish or corrupt those Bookes by which onely well minded men might receive necessary instruction The Secular Magistrate ought also to be circumspected and not suffer himselfe under faigned pretexts to bee deprived of more than heretofore hee hath beene and when new mention is made of prohibiting any booke which treateth not of Articles of Beliefe to informe himselfe well of the Doctrine which it containes and of the ends for which the Court of Rome would forbid it before he gives his consent And if any good and famous Authors Booke should be new Printed to see that the good Maximes be not taken out or new ones inserted contrary to the Authors intention Yea publicke service justice and honesty would require that good Maximes should bee printed againe and that those Bookes which have beene corrected by taking away or altering things favouring Temporall Authority given by God should againe be restored according to the first and uncorrupted Coppies according to the Authors meaning And because by new prohibitions sent out under hand the force of the agreement may not be deluded or diminished when the Index of the yeare 1595. is printed the agreement also should be printed at the end of it Taking notice of the prohibiting of Bookes is not onely necessary to prevent the extinguishing of good Doctrine in Italy which beginneth now to be done but also because that under the pretence of good the Inquisition may not usurpe that authority which doth not belong to it forbidding of Bookes which though they be evill yet have nothing to doe with Religion which is the second prejudice The Ecclesiasticals have declared unto us that they prohibit books for eleven causes of which there be five that doe in no wise belong unto them The first of them is when the Booke containeth any thing against his neighbouts reputation especially Ecclesiasticall Persons or Princes The second if it containes any thing against Ecclesiasticall liberty immunity and jurisdiction The third if with politick propositions of ancient Princes or Historians they favour tyranny The fourth if the Booke containes conceites or quippes against any ones reputation The fifth if they containe lasciviousnesses and other things against honesty There is no question but those Bookes wherein such absurdnesses are found ought to be condemned but every one may not doe it it were breeding a confusion in the World if every one who knoweth an order to be good might Decree it That belongeth to publicke authority which onely can make a Law upon that which belongeth to her Government He that is zealous and seeth the evill which is in a booke let him procure the suppressing of it and hee doe well by his authority that may lawfully doe it The diligence in seeking out and discovering of an evill is commendable but to goe about to remedy it when it doth not belong unto him is usurpation and ambition If by a booke the neighbours reputation bee touched though he bee an Ecclesiasticall man it belongeth not to the Inquisition to right it That Office is against Heresie and is not to protect any mans reputation The Secular power is protector of mens honours and he is to defend it and to punish any one that doth wrong it with deeds words or writings Let the Inquisition be carefull that by bookes there is no Doctrine sowne against the Faith and God hath provided a Magistrate to give a remedy if by deeds words or bookes any mans reputation is wronged If Ecclesiasticall Persons doe see any injury done to themselves or to others it is just that they may crave the Magistrates helpe and expect amends through him If any thing bee written against Ecclesiasticall liberty and immunity because it is enjoyed by priviledge from the Princes it belongeth to the Prince to maintaine it to them as farre as the publicke Service will permit it were not good that every priviledged Person might out of his owne power defend his priviledges Would God there were Bookes which might deserve prohibition for being against Ecclesiasticall liberty rather than Bookes that doe deserve it for extending it so farre as it doth confound all government It usurpeth and taketh away that which belongeth to the Secular and shameth Christs Ministery which is for Celestiall things and not to become masters of Terrestriall committed by God unto others It is not a lesser but a greater evill to extend Ecclesiasticall liberty so farre as it may become irregular then to restraine it more than it ought to bee What is the cause that no booke is censured Because it vaunts it too much and taketh away the temporall The best way to maintaine it is not to prohibite those bookes which keepes it within the bounds but rather those which doe make it hideous for the absurdnesse of it wherefore it ought not to bee denyed but if any one should write in this behalfe contrary to truth the Magistrate ought to proceed against the author and the booke and observe the decency and authority due to the Ecclesiasticall order but it is not just that they should right themselves If politicke things be written according to the maximes of Princes and ancient Historiographers according to all mens opinions it belongeth not to the Ecclesiasticall to judge of them if they be tirannicall that belongeth onely to Princes to whom is proper the Government of States Private men doe not understand it and much lesse the Ministers of Christ to whom is severely forbidden to entermeddle in it and if any one will goe further hee must not thinke to remedy it with his owne authority but to signifie it to him to whom it belongs to helpe it As it is also most plaine that those who desire to have an unresistioned liberty doe give the name of Tiranny to the lawfull power given by God to that Doctrine which opposeth it self to their attempts so that under pretence of Religion they will become arbitrators of all Governments The same is to be said of bookes containing conceites or biting quippes which directly or indirectly doe offend in any one and if they doe teach ill manners laciviousnesse surfeits which offend the publicke dignity none of these excesses is Heresie that they should belong to the Inquisition The Inquisitor is made a Iudge of the beleefe and not a censurer of
which doe make no account of it which both put together doe make a great number On the other side let us behold how easily some are brought to obedience through a spirituall feare Since God then hath given the Prince these two meanes to cause him to bee obeyed vid. for feare of temporall punishments and for conscience sake for so St. Paul teacheth it were a great losse to forgoe the second of these meanes which is not least necessary with letting the contrary bee spread abroad contrary to Catholicke Doctrine Recapitulating then the heads gathered in this matter of bookes they will be ten The first that those which are contained in the Index of the yeare 1595. what cause soever they are prohibited for the Princes consent having bin to it are alwayes to be held for such The second that for the time to come no prohibition bee suffered what clause soever there be in it although it bee with censure if it be not admitted by publicke authority as it was agreed The third that if the Ecclesiasticall shall desire the publicke consent for prohibition of bookes which treate of matters of Faith so they containe 〈…〉 their proposition being verified shall be agreed unto The fourth that heede shall be alwayes taken that under pretence of Religion Christian Doctrine be not forbidden which defends temporall authority The fifth that it shall not bee granted to the Inquisitor to prohibit bookes for any other cause but onely of Heresie but if any behad for any other respects it shall be prohibited by the Magistrate The sixt that books printed elsewhere though approved by any one else by what authority soever if they be hurtfull to the Common-wealth they shall bee prohibited by the Secular Magistrate or by a publick Edict according to the occasion The seventh that in the printing againe of bookes heed be taken that those things be not taken away which favour temporall power The eight that if any of those that are gelded in which the Doctrine maintaining temporall power is taken out be new printed they shall be printed againe according to the old Coppies The ninth that if the Index of the yeare 1595 be new printed care be taken that no new names be inserted The tenth that together with the same Index the agreement be printed There remaines another poynt to be briefly touched in this matter which is not of so great importance and yet such as of it selfe merits some consideration Which is that the prohibition not being used with due moderation is hurtfull to the sale of bookes and to the Art of printing for if a booke be printed which hath bin seene by the Inquisitor and the Bishop and by them approved yet if at Rome any thing be found though of small moment not against Religion for in such a matter nothing can be of small moment but against somewhat touching the Court which the Inquisitor hath not entred into who granted the Licence They prohibit the booke to his losse who caused the booke to be printed and is in no fault having the Inquisitors approbation and this disorder is frequent and would be more frequent if they did not feare that upon the Booke-sellers complaints Princes would give eare unto it for every Courtier to get credit sheweth himselfe carefull in marking the prejudices of the Court and also the shadowes of them not onely in bookes printed out of Italy but in them also which are approved by the Inquisition and even in them which are printed in Rome it selfe It were just that if any thing were found contrary to Religion in a booke printed with approbation the charges should be paid by him that hath approved it since the Booke-seller is not in fault But if any thing bee found which for its owne proper respects is displeasing to the Court it seemeth not reasonable that a prohibition should be granted which seemeth also to be so resolved on by the agreement of the yeare 1595. when it saith that for the time to come no bookes be prohibited but forraigne ones or printed without Licence or with false Licence although such words might be cavilled upon because they have made no exception of Religion but the agreement beeing Construed in this Sence cannot chuse but bee Commended The Exposition of the 30. and 31. Chapters THe thirtieth and one and thirtieth Chapters which speake of Secular Arts and of Artificers faults can never bee too exactly observed Every well ordered Common-wealth when some cruell kinde of offence ariseth doth make a Magistrate a purpose to take notice of that onely that the care of other things may not divert him For this cause in the Christian Common-wealth was the office of the Inquisition appointed which should tend onely to the rooting out of Heresie It is most naturall for every one who hath the universall jurisdiction to put over many things to him that hath the particular jurisdiction or suffer him to usurpe it and it useth to be easily done because of the great power that is given him and because that he who hath the universall jurisdiction employed in many businesses sometimes doth not give heede and sometimes if he he not a man of good knowledge thinkes that it is a helping of him so that he doth not onely not withstand the inconvenience but doth favour it A cause not belonging to him that hath the particular jurisdiction being once taken serves for example to take it the second time and from divers times a Custome is framed which afterwards serves for a Law and cannot be taken away without many difficulties and the universall jurisdiction comes to be diminished and the way is opened to the disturbing of the government By these wayes and occasions the Inquisitors against Heresie have not onely strived to draw divers other causes to their Office but also to appropriate unto themselves the government of the trade of Bookes and to command divers others alleadging therefore two kindes of reasons The one is that they doe not command any new thing and that which without their command ought to bee done for if they doe enjoyne the Butcher that he shall not sell flesh in Lent hee is bound without that to not sell it so that the command ement is an admonishing them of their duties So likewise they say that they doe not cause such persons to sweare any thing but what they are bound to doe For if they cause Booke-sellers to sweare that they will not sell prohibited Books they are already tyde to doe it so there is nothing done but to adde a greater provocation to performe their owne duties But this reason is cavillous it being one thing to warne one of his duty and another to command it him The Preacher and the Confessor doe admonish without usurping others authority because they impose no penalty nor use any meanes to make them obey this is onely a teaching which is not joyned with constraining That commanding which carryeth in consequence a revenge against the disobeyer