Subjectionalis Obedientiae And he maintains with good reason in another place Si per possibile Treverinus Archiepiscopus per Ecclesiam Congregatam pro Praeside Capite Eligeretur Ille proprie plus Successor esset Beati Petri in Principatu quam Romanus Episcopus That if it were possible that the Arch Bishop of Treves could be chosen Head of the Church by a General Council he would be a more lawful Successor of St. Peter than the Bishop of Rome which shews that in his time no Council had declared the Bishop of Rome as such Besides these words if it were possible shew that he belioved not that the Church could dispose of such a thing Gerson was also of this Opinion for he acknowledgeth very ingeniously that the Papal Authority cannot be conferred by the Church Papalis Authoritas si non a Deo esset immediate instituta a tota Ecclesia institui non poterat If the Papal Authority were not from God immediately it could not be instituted by the whole Church And though it were true that the Church had established it as Pope Innocent the Third pretends when he says Ecclesia non nupsit vacua sed Dotem mihi tribuit absque pretio pretiâ—sam spiritualium plenitudinem latitudinem temporalium illius me constituit vicarium qui habet in vestimento suo scriptum Rex Regum Dominus Dominantium The Church hath not married me without a Fortune but hath given me the invaluable dowry of God the fulness of Spirituals and the latitude of Temporals hath made me the Vicar of him who hath written on his garment King of Kings and Lord of Lords Although that I say were true it would not be less necessary to abolish this power which is the cause of so many disorders because the Church in those days might have created it for the good of the Church as she then thought And having found out that it is to her ruine she ought to destroy it for the Chair of Peter is for the Church and not the Church for the Chair of Peter Petri Cathedra propter Ecclesiam non Ecclesia propter Petri Cathedram Quod propter Charitatem fit non debet contra Charitatem Militare And since that our Faith according to Thomas Aquinas ought to be founded upon the Word of God only and not upon the Eshablishments of the Church as he says Fides nostra innititur Revelationibus Prophetis Apostolis Factis Ecclesia non statuit nisi de non necessariis ad Salutem According to this Truth we are not obliged to believe the Extravagant of Pope Boniface who says That it is necessary to Salvation to submit to the Pope And if the Church according to these People dared to change the Aristocratical Government instituted by Jesus Christ under which the Kingdom of God spread it self so far Piety flourished Idolatry was confounded shall it not be allowable for the Church and for Princes who are its natural Protectors to redeem it out of that Slavery into which the Enemy of Mankind hath reduced it to its first Purity and Simplicity Methinks if Men had any sense of Religion they ought to sigh continually for the deplorable condition of the Church and of the Greeks and Protestants whom we have cast headlong into the Evil they now labour under Some people will have it That because the Greek Patriarchs among themselves hold that Place which the Council of Nice and the Emperor Constantine gave to all Patriarchs he of Rome who had the first Place ought still to keep it and as in Place he was the first Bishop and the only Patriarch in the West he ought still to enjoy these Prerogatives But first of all none of the Greek Patriarchs unless it were that John of Constantinople against whom St. Gregory wrote so vehemently ever pretended to bear Rule over the other Bishops nor over the Church much less over Christian Princes as the Popes do and the Patriarch of Rome for above Three Hundred Years after his Institution never attempted it Secondly The Place which the Bishop of Rome held was Propter Principalitatem Vrbis in regard of the Dignity of the City which now hath no weight at all Rome being no longer the Seat of the Empire but the Sink and Common-shore of all filthy Iniquity a Den of Thieves and a Nest of Satan Nido di Satanazzo and the very Habitation of Sloth Laziness and Beggary Paris or London do at this time deserve this Honour a thousand times better Besides it was in a time when there were but very few Christians in the West These great States were not yet converted to the Faith France Germany Poland part of Spain and all the Northern Countries knew not what Christianity was so that one Patriarch might more easily have the inspection of this small number of Christians who resorted also to Rome for their civil Affairs as to the capital City where the Emperor resided How are they now able to govern all the Churches they who cannot govern that at Rome and which is worse that trouble not their Heads about it Add to this a fourth Reason which is That in those days they were not Temporal Princes as they are become since and had not innumerable Legions of Monks and Beneficiaries at their command as now they have which renders this Power the most formidable of any upon Earth among the Catholicks If because Rome had heretofore the first Place for the Spirituality before other Cities she should pretend still to have it it will thence follow that she hath it for the Temporality over these same Cities since the Spiritual Authority of this City as I have already proved was founded upon the Temporal and Civil which she enjoyed as the Seat of the Empire and so in pretending to the Regency of Religion in France Flanders and other Catholick Countries they pretend also to have a Right of treating these States as they please and they have effectually made them their Subjects and Tributaries even to the disposing 〈◊〉 the Crowns of Kings as their fancy leads them There are others who believe they have hit on the right when they say that the Pope is Primus inter Pares and that so he is the first of all Bishops But I ask by what Authority It is true he was so among the Patriarchs whilst that Rome as I have said already was the Seat of the Empire but now I maintain that he is Vltimus inter Pares and unworthy of the Name of either Priest or Bishop being the Tyrant of the Church and of Christian Princes and a Temporal Prince himself Were he not a Temporal Prince all he could lawfully pretend to would be to be the first Bishop of Italy I know it will be said That I ask too much to obtain any thing and I know that it will be neither better nor worse but I will discharge my mind and tell the Truth God Almighty may raise up Princes
see here even One of their own Communion to have proved not only false but insupportable Let us beseech God if it be his Will to bring all others that are yet enslaved by them to the like knowledg of the Truth And that in the mean time he would vouchsafe unto us the Grace of his blessed Spirit that we may faithfully persevere in our Holy Profession to our Lives end That no Terrors no Interests no Craftiness of cunning Men who lie in wait to deceive may be able to make us fall from our own Stedfastness But that contending earnestly for the Faith which was once delivered to the Saints we may grow in Grace and in the knowledg of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ To him be Glory both now and for ever Amen The Authors PREFACE THE Authority of the Pope hath taken such root by the ignorance of the Holy Scripture by the multitude of Ecclesiasticks and by all the Temporal Benefices whereof the Pope is looked upon as the Source that a kind of Miracle seems necessary to destroy it and to Reestablish the Church in that liberty which the Son of God hath purchased for it by his Blood. Besides Impiety Irreligion Ambition and Dissoluteness have so seized upon the minds of the greatest part of Mankind that a man cannot hope to be so much as heard when he speaks of Reforming the Church Aâ—tho I am very well satisfied of that yet I think my self indispensibly obliged to represent the abuses of this Power and Authority which hath no just foundation at least in this respect I shall in some measure justifie my self towards God in doing my Duty I shall justifie my self to my own self whom my Conscience hath long accused of a large and Criminal silence I shall also justifie the Catholicks against the Hereticks who will know by this that we are not so blind as they imagin And this will also serve to fortifie the Catholicks against all the Temptations they may have of abandoning the Church by freeing themselves from the Papacy so that Renouncing the latter they may always stand firm to the former and also prepare themselves to fight couragiously against Antichrist who in all appearance is near at hand I have a great while hoped that there would have been found among the great and learned men that we have among us some one or other that would have undertook to open mens eyes and would have saved me a labour therein I could consult no body without manifest danger both to themselves and me since it is a work that may equally displease both weak Catholicks and Hereticks being obliged in regard of the first to disentangle and separate truth from falshood and a falshood more beloved by many Catholicks than the most Important truths And in regard of the Hereticks I know it is the way to undermine the foundation of their false Religions tho without dispute and indirectly in abolishing the Papacy In respect both of the one and of the other the effects of this mischievous Authority are terrible since it fills the Catholicks with ignorance and gross and low Ideas of the Christian Religion and mars the beauty of that as well as of the Church The Hereticks are thereby scandalized and harden themselves more and more in their obstinacy perswading themselves that every thing in our Religion is false seeing clearly that some part of it is so It is not to be doubted but that many Catholicks of our time do see this evil since in the preceding Ages many have perceived it and that the evil is come to so high a degree that it is almost impossible not to take notice of it And truly there have been some who could not forbear saying somewhat of it but this hath been but very slightly and superficially It seems as tho they were ashamed of Jesus Christ and his Gospel as the Scripture speaks In truth it is a deplorable thing that amongst the multitude of learned men professing the Christian Religion and that employ themselves in writing there cannot be found so much as one man of understanding touched with the miseries of the Church and of such courage as to represent it to those who may and ought to remedy it the Sacriledg daily committed in the Church under the very name of the Church and under the pretence of Religion Either the greatness of the evil must discourage them and bereave them of all hopes and not being able to cure the Ulcer they had rather let it wholly alone Omittere potius praevalida Adulta vitia quam hoc assequi ne palam fieret qualibus flagitiis Impares simus Tac. Annal. Lib. 3. or else it must be that their own interest is concerned in the continuance of this evil or that they have no regard for the desolations of the Church or lastly they are afraid of shaking the Catholick Religion in respect of weak Brethren and for fear of giving occasion to the Hereticks thereby to insult over it If they had these last thoughts it was for want of examining the thing for it is certain that the Papacy hath neither by nature nor Divine institution any connexion with the Christian Religion but on the contrary its Principles are opposite and tend to its destruction It is also certain that those who have separated themselves from the Church see very clearly the inconsistency of the Papacy with the Gospel since there was nothing else that heretofore obliged the Greeks and since the Protestants to forsake the Church so that no man can believe but that they see the thing very well since it is the only place wherein they daily attack us with a mighty advantage and tho it were not true that they knew it perfectly we are however indispensibly obliged to oppose Errors Mendacia nec tegunt nec vulnerant and not to palliate them and certainly not sincerely to acknowledg palpable gross abuses is to betray Religion and the Church for that makes men call in question the best establisht Truths according to that saying He that denies all things grants all things Qui en todo niga loda And I have always observed that a frank and generous acknowledgment when a man is in an error produces a very good effect upon all judicious and reasonable persons and disposeth the Protestants with much more readiness to embrace the Catholick Verities Furthermore I dare be bold to affirm That one of the principal causes of the irreligion and impiety which reigns in the World proceeds in great measure from the little Reason and Wisdom wherewith this Primacy and Papal Almighty power is exercised which converting all Religion to its Temporal Profit makes the very Divinity of the Christian Religion to be called in question For as the World goes men will have all or nothing So that having at first received the Article of the Papacy as an Article of Faith whilst they see the Popes under colour of this Article robbing and
their Right that the Pope is Sennor del Mondo and they call him Nostor Sennorâ— Our Lord as well as Jesus Christ. There is no State in Europe which they have not endeavoured many times to destroy and which they have not greatly endamaged Matthew Paris relates to us that King John of England because he would not receive an Archbishop of Canterbury whom Poâ—e Innâ—cent the Third had Elected against the Canons he was first Excommucated by Innocent who accordingly gave away his Kingdom to Philip the August King of France and that poor King John was compelled to implore the Popes mercy who received him very bountifully on condition that from thenceforth his Kingdom should depend upon the Holy See should be Tributary to it and pay 20000 Marks of Gold every year And that this King having recovered his courage resolved to Abjure Christianity as an evil Religion thereby designing to cast off the Popish yoke Because he made himself the Popes Vassal he was called the Apostolick King. I wonder why the Kings of France and Spain will not add to the Titles of Most Christian and Most Catholick that of Apostolick Kings at the same price as this King John of England did 'T is not his Holiness's fault they may have it when they please They answer that it is true that they have heretofore caused disorders but that it will never fall out so again that it was some hot headed men that amongst the Apostles themselves there was found a Judas But I maintain that all these disasters proceeded not only from the pettish humour of any one Pope but were the natural effects of the Principles of the Papacy And tho we do not see it visibly break forth every day by some bloody example yet we ought not to believe that the habit or the will is ever the less but that there is some external extraordinary reason which suspends the Action and which does sometimes make them act directly contrary to their own inclination Do not we see that the Inquisition it sâ—lf at Rome that Impious Tribunal which hath the power of authorising the greatest crimes and of Canonizing for the Popes Interest even Parricides and the Assassins of our Kings as amongst others by a Decree of the ninth of November 1609 it did condemn the Decree of the Parliament of Paris given out against John Chatel who had attempted to Murther Henry the Fourth This Tribunal I say hath not long since condemned the Jesuits Morals tho they were perfectly conformable to the Principles of the Inquisition and we see that the Jesuits of France are at this time in the Kings Interest against the Pope which is absolutely contrary to their Maxims and to all their former conduct which shews that it is not true that because an ill person does a good action he is no more to be feared Tho a man be extreamly wicked it does not follow from thence that every thing he does shall be so We must not think that the habit is lost because we do not always see its acts Philosophers tell us that it is often so It is a sort of a Truce and not a Peace Non pax sed induciae bellum enim manet pugna cessaâ— A Cobler says Horace is still a Cobler tho his Stall be shut Et Alfenus vafer omni abjecto instrumento Artis clausaque taberna sutor erat Thus the Pope remains still Pope tho he sometimes do a good Action Valerius Maximus says in a certain place that there are people Quorum animus peregrinatur in nequitia non habitat whose minds light upon iniquity but like a Traveller in an Inn they fix not so may it be said of the Popes Quorundam paparum animus peregrinatur in bonitate non habitat that they sometimes touch upon a good action but cannot hold to it The Viper is a very dangerous creature tho she doth not always bite when it lyes in her power But it is never good to trust her Nemo juxtae viperam securos somnos capit quae si non percutit certe sollicitat Says St. Hierom somewhere The Papacy is just the same it is the Chair of Pestilence Cathedra Pestilentiae where the best men are corrupted It is what he very well understood who said that the greatest harm he could wish a man was that he were Pope And the Holy Carthusian Father that praises God that none of his Order had ever yet been Pope How can any man maintain that Princes need not stand in fear of the Pope when three Popes of this present age have condemned the opinion that the Pope cannot depose Kings as wicked and contrary to the Faith Accipe nunc Danaum insidias crimine ab uno disce omnes These were Paul the Fifth Innocent the Tenth and Alexander the Seventh of whom it may be said that they were Ottimi Pontefici Ecclesiastici mediocri that they were true Popes but very indifferent Clergymen who will be both Judg and party in their own cause and pretend that their evidence must be taken even when it tends to their own profit and to the spoiling of those who believe them I could yet produce a later example which is that of the present Pope who with unsufferable rashness lately threatened to Excommunicate the Greatest King upon Earth because he would Reign alone in his own State and take away from some people who ought to employ themselves only in serving God the disposal of some Benefices which belong properly to the Soveraign of a State who we see makes a more judicious choice of men fit to serve in these Employs because he doth not sell them nor give them to his Relations as they did who had but very little regard to the merit of those upon whom they conferred these things Besides of right the Popes have nothing to do in the Dominions of other Princes and there have been sufficient proofs given by this Great Prince of his zeal for Justice and for Religion But these men love to make people feel their yoke and it may be well said of them what Mithridates said of the ancient Romans that it was not their love to Justice that made them fight against Princes but the desire of their Authority and of their Greatness Non delicta Regum illos sed vires ac Majestatem insequi It is well known how ill they have treated Spain not long since upon the account of the President of Castile who had reason in what he did and how at this time they handle the Venetians Don't we know how Alexander the Seventh and his Nephews behaved themselves at Rome towards our King in the person of his Ambassador the Duke of Crequi We may remember how that under Henry the Fourth they wanted but very little to have utterly ruined France and to have made the French all subject to the Spaniards and if the Parliament at Paris had not been better Christians than