the Church of Rome are great enemies to the Dignity and Security to the Powers and Lives of Princes And this we shall briefly prove by setting down the Doctrines themselves and their consequent practices And here we observe That not onely the whole Order of Jesuits is a great enemy to Monarchy by subjecting the Dignity of Princes to the Pope by making the Pope the Supreme Monarch of Christians but they also teach That it is a Catholick Doctrine the Doctrine of the Church The Pope hath a Supreme Power of disposing the Temporal things of all Christians in order to a â—piritual good saith Bellarmine And Becanus discourses of this very largely in his book of the English Controversie printed by Albin at Mentz 1612. But because this book was ordered to be purged Una litura potest we shall not insist upon it but there is as bad which was never censur'd Bellarmine says that the Ecclesiastical Republick can command and compell the Temporal which is indeed its Subject to change the Administration and to depose Princes and to appoint others when it cannot otherwise defend the Spiritual good and F. Suarez says the same The power of the Pope extends it self to the coertion of Kings with Temporal punishments and depriving them of their Kingdoms when necessity requires nay this power is more necessary over Princes than over Subjects The same also is taught by Santarel in his book of Heresie and Schism printed at Rome 1626. But the mischief of this Doctrine proceeds a little further Cardinal Tolet affirms and our Countryman Father Bridgewater commends the saying That when a Prince is Excommunicate before the Denunciation the Subjects are not absolved from their Oath of Allegiance as Cajetan says well yet when it is denounced they are not onely absolved from their Obedience but are bound not to obey unless the fear of death or loss of goods excuse them which was the case of the English Catholicks in the time of Henry the VIII And F. Creswel says it is the sentence of aâ—l Catholicks that Subjects are bound to expell Heretical Princes if they have strength enough and that to this they are tied by the Commandment of God the most strict tie of Conscience and the extreme danger of their souls Nay even before the sentence is declared though the Subjects are not bound to it yet lawfully they may deny obedience to an Heretical Prince said Gregory de Valentia It were an endless labour to transcribe the horrible Doctrines which are preached in the Jesuites School to the shaking of the Regal Power of such Princes which are not of the Roman Communion The whole oeconomy of it is well describ'd by Bellarmine who affirms That it does not belong to Monks or other Ecclesiasticks to commit Murthers neither do the Popes use to proceed that way But their manner is first Fatherly to correct Princes then by Ecclesiastical Censures to deprive them of the Communion then to absolve their Subjects from the Oath of Allegeance and to deprive them of their Kingly Dignity And what then The Execution belongs to others This is the way of the Popes thus wisely and moderately to break Kings in pieces We delight not to aggravate evil things We therefore forbear to set down those horrid things spoken by Sà Mariana Santarel Carolus Scribanius and some others It is enough that Suarez says An Excommunicate King may with impunity be depos'd or kill'd by any one This is the case of Kings and Princes by the Sentence of the chiefest Roman Doctors And if it be objected that we are commanded to obey Kings not to speak evil of them not to curse them no not in our heart There is a way found out to answer these little things For though the Apostle commands that we should be subject to higher powers and obey Kings and all that are in Authority It is true you must and so you may well enough for all this for the Pope can make that he who is a King shall be no King and then you are disoblig'd so Bellarmine And if after all this there remains any scruple of Conscience it ought to be remembred that though even after a Prince is excommunicated it should be of it self a sin to depose or kill the Prince yet if the Pope commands you it is no sin For if the Pope should erre by commanding sin or forbidding vertues yet the Church were bound to believe that the vices were good and the vertues evil unless she would sin against her Conscience They are the very words of Bellarmine But they adde more particulars of the same Bran. The sons of an Heretical father are made sui juris that is free from their fathers power A Catholick Wife is not tied to pay her duty to an Heretical Husband and the servants are not bound to do service to such masters These are the Doctrines of their great Azorius and as for Kings he affirms they may be depos'd for Heresie But all this is onely in the case of Heretical Princes But what for others Even the Roman Catholick Princes are not free from this danger All the world knows what the Pope did to King Chilperick of France He depos'd him and put Pipin in his place and did what he could to have put Albert King of the Romans in the Throne of Philip sirnamed the Fair. They were the Popes of Rome who arm'd the Son against the Father the Emperour Henry IV. and the Son fought against him took him prisoner shav'd him and thrust him into a Monastery where he died with grief and hunger We will not speak of the Empeâ—our Frederick Henry the sixth Emperour the Duke of Savoy against whom he caused Charles the V. and Francis the I. of France to take arms nor of Francis Dandalus Duke of Venice whom he bound with chains and fed him as Dogs are fed with bones and scraps under his Table Our own Henry the II. and King Iohn were great Instances of what Princes in their case may expect from that Religion These were the piety of the Father of Christendom But these were the product of the Doctrine which Clement the V. vented in the Council of Vienna Omne jus Regum à se pendere The rights of all Kings depend upon the Pope And therefore even their Catholick Princes are at their mercy and they would if they durst use them accordingly If they do but favour Hereticks or Schismaticks receive them or defend them if the Emperour be perjur'd if he rashly break a League made with the See Apostolick if he do not keep the peace promis'd to the Church if he be sacrilegious if he dissipate the goods of the Church the Pope may depose him said Azorius And Santarel says he may do it in case the Prince or Emperour be insufficient if he be wicked if he be unprofitable if he does not defend the Church This is very much but yet there
of Bishops was greatly diminished at the erecting of the Cluniac and Cistercian Monks about the year ML but about the year MCC it was almost swallowed up by privileges granted to the Begging Friers and there kept by the power of the Pope which power got one great step more above the Bishops when they got it declared that the Pope is above a Coâ—ncil of Bisâ—ops and at last it was turn'd into a new doctrine by Cajetane who for his prosperous invention was made a Cardinal that all the whole Apostolick or Episcopal power is radical and inherent in the Pope in whom is the fulness of the Ecclesiastical authority and that Bishops receive their portion of it from him and this was first boldly maintain'd in the Council of Trent by the Jesuits and it is now the opinion of their Order but it is also that which the Pope challenges in practise when he pretends to a power over all Bishops and that this power is deriv'd to him from Christ when he calls himself the Universal Bishop and the Vicarial Head of the Church the Churches Monarch he from whom all Ecclesiastical Authority is derived to whose sentence in things Divine every Christian under pain of damnation is bound to be subject Now this is it which as it is productive of infinite mischiefs so it is an Innovation and an absolute deflexion from the primitive Catholick Doctrine and yet is the great ground-work and foundation of their Church This we shall represent in these following testimonies Pope Eleutherius in an Epistle to the Bishops of France says that Christ committed the Universal Church to the Bishops and S. Ambrose says that the Bishop holdeth the place of Christ and is his substituteâ— But famous are the words of S. Cyprian The Church of Christ is one through the whole world divided by him into many members and the Bishoprick is but one diffused in the agreeing plurality of many Bispops And again To every Pastor a portion of the flock is given which let every one of them rule and govern By which words it is evident that the primitive Church understood no Prelation of one and Subordination of another commanded by Christ or by virtue of their Ordination but onely what was for orders sake introduc'd by Princes and consent of Prelates And it was to this purpose very full which was said by Pope Symmachus As it is in the holy Trinity whose power is one and undivided or to use the expression in the Athanasian Creed none is before or after other none is greater or less than another so there is one Bishoprick amongst divers Bishops and therefore why should the Canons of the ancient Bishops be violated by their Successors Now these words being spoken against the invasion of the rights of the Church of Arles by Anastasius and the question being in the exercise of Jurisdiction and about the institution of Bishops does fully declare that the Bishops of Rome had no superiority by the laws of Christ over any Bishop in the Catholick Church and that his Bishoprick gave no more power to him than Christ gave to the Bishop of the smallest Diocese And therefore all the Church of God whenever they reckoned the several orders and degrees of Ministery in the Catholick Church reckon the Bishop as the last and supreme beyond whom there is no spiritual power but in Christ. For as the whole Hierarchy ends in Iesus so does every particular one in its own Bishop Beyond the Bishop there is no step till you rest in the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls Under him every Bishop is supreme in spirituals and in all power which to any Bishop is given by Christ. S. Ignatius therefore exhorts that all should obey their Bishop and the Bishop obey Christ as Christ obeyed his Father There are no other intermedial degrees of Divine institution But as Origen teaches The Apostles and they who after them are ordainâ—d by God that is the Bishops have the supreme place in the Church and the Prophets have the second place The same also is taught by P. Gelasius by S. Hierom and Fulgentius and indeed by all the Fathers who spake any thing in this matter Insomuch that when Bellarmine is in this question press'd out of the book of Nilus by the Authority of the Fathers standing against him he answers Papam Patres non habere in Ecclesiâ sed Filios omnes The Pope acknowledges no Fathers in the Church for they are all his Sons Now although we suppose this to be greatly sufficient to declare the Doctrine of the primitive Catholick Church concerning the equality of power in all Bishops by Divine right yet the Fathers have also expresly declared themselves that one Bishop is not superiour to another and ought not to judge another or force another to obedience They are the words of S. Cyprian to a Council of Bishops None of us makes himself a Bishop of Bishops or by tyrannical power drives his collegues to a necessity of obedience since every Bishop according to the license of his own liberty and power hath his own choice and cannot be judged by another nor yet himself judge another but let us all expect the judgment of our L. Iesus Christ who onely and alone hath the power of setting us in the Government of his Church and judging of what we do This wasâ—spoken and intended against P. Stephen who did then begin dominari in clero to lord it over Gods heritage and to excommunicate his brethren as Demetrius did in the time of the Apostles themselves but they both found their reprovers Demetrius was chastised by S. Iohn for this usurpation and Stephen by S. Cyprian and this also was approv'd by S. Austin We conclude this particular with the words of S. Gregory Bishop of Rome who because the Patriarch of Constantinople called himself Universal Bishop said It was a proud title prophane sacrilegious and Antichristian and therefore he little thought that his successors in the same See should so fiercely challenge that Antichristian title much less did the then Bishop of Rome in those ages challenge it as their own peculiar for they had no mind to be or to be esteemed Antichristian Romano pontifici oblatum est sed nullus unquam eorum hoc singularitatis nomen assump sit His predecessors it seems had been tempted with an offer of that title but none of them ever assumed that name of singularity as being against the law of the Gospel and the Canons of the Church Now this being a matter of which Christ spake not one word to Saint Peter if it be a matter of faith and salvation as it is now pretended it is not imaginable he would have been so perfectly silent But though he was silent of any intention to do this yet S. Pauâ— was not silent that Christ did otherwise for he hath set in his Church primùm Apostolos
to the Sulphurous flames of Hell and to be tormented worse than Lucifer himseâ—f for his daring to resist so many great Names and if he will not now obey let him take fire and brimstone and make a fume whether the possessed will or no until the Devil tells you all his mind in what you ask him the liver of Tobias his fish were a rare thing here but that 's not to be had for love or money And after this he conjures him again by some of the names of God and by the Merits and all the good things which can be spoken or thought of the Most Blessed Virgin and by all her names and titles which he must reckon one and forty in number together with her Epithets making so many †and by these he must cast him headlong into Hell But if the Devil bâ—â—â—ubborn for some of them are very disobedient there is a fourth and a fifth and a sixth Exorcism and then he conjures the earth the water and the fire to make them of his party and commands them not to harbour such villainous Spirits and commands Hell to hear him and obey his word and conjures all the Spirits in Hell to take that Spirit to themselves for it may be they will understand their duty better than that stubborn Devil that is broke loose from thence But if this chance to fail there is yet left a remedy that will do it He must make the picture of the Devil and write his name over the head of it and conjure the fire to burn it most horriblâ— and hastily and if the picture be upon wood or paper it is â—en to one that may be done After all this â—tir Sprinkle more holy water and take Sulphur Galbanum Assa foetida Aristolochia Rue St. Johns wort all which being distinctly blessed the Exorcist must hold the Devils picture over the fire and adjure the Devil to hear him and then he must not spare him but tell him all his faults and give him all his names and Anathematize him and curse not onely him but Lucifer too and Beelzebub and Satan and Astaroth and Behemot and Beherit and all together for indeed there is not one good natur'd Devil amongst them all and then pray once more and so throw the Devils picture into the fire and then insult in a long form of crowing over him which is there set down And now after all if he will not go out there is a seventh Exorcism for him with new Ceremonies He must shew him the consecrated Host in the Pix pointing at it with his finger and then conjure him again and rail at him once more to which purpose there is a very fine form taken out of Prierius and set down in the Flagellum Daemonum and then let the Exorcist pronounce sentence against the Devil and give him his oath and then a commandment to go out of the several parts of his body always taking care that at no hand he remain in the upper parts and then is the Devils Qu. to come out if he have a mind to it for that must be always suppos'd and then follows the thanksgivings This is the manner of their devotion describ'd for the use of their Exorcists in which is such a heap of folly madness superstition blasphemy and ridiculous guises and playings with the Devil that if any man amongst us should use such things he would be in danger of being tried at the next Assizes for a Witch or a Conjurer however certain it is what ever the Devil loses by pretending to obey the Exorcist he gains more by this horrible debauchery of Christianity There needs no confutation of it the impiety is visible and tangible and it is sufficient to have told the story Onely this we say as to the thing it self The casting out of Devils is a miraculous power and given at first for the confirmation of Christian Faith as the gifts of Tongues and Healing were and therefore we have reason to believe that because it is not an ordinary power the ordinary Exorcisms cast out no more Devils than Extreme Unction cures sicknesses We do not envy to any one any grace of God but wish it were more modestly pretended unless it could be more evidently prov'dâ— Origen condemned this whole procedure of conjuring Devils long since Quaeret aliquis si convenit vel Daemones adjurare Qui aspicit Iesum imperantem Daemonibus sed etiam potestatem dantem Discipulis super omnia daemonia ut infirmitates sanarent dicet quoniam non est secundùm Potestatem datam à salvatore adjurare Daemonia Iudaicum enim est If any one asks Whether it be fit to adjure Devils He that beholds Jesus commanding over Devils and also giving power to his Disciples over all unclean spirits and to heal diseases will say that to adjure Devils is not according to the power given by our Blessed Saviour For it is a Jewish trick and S. Chrysostom spake soberly and truly We poor Wretches cannot drive away the flies much less Devils But then as to the manner of their Conjurations and Exorcisms this we say If these things come from God let them shew their warranty and their books of Precedents If they come not from God they are so like the Inchantments of Balaam the old Heathens and the modern Magicians that their Original is soon discovered But yet from what principle it comes that they have made Exorcists an Ecclesiastical Order with special words and instruments of collation and that the words of Ordination giving them power onely over possessed Christians Catechumens or Baptized should by them be extended and exercis'd upon all Infants as if they were all possessed by the Devil and not onely so but to bewitched Cattel to Mice and Locusts to Milk and Lettice to Houses and Tempests as if their Charms were Prophilactick as well as Therapeutick and could keep as well as drive the Devil out and prevent storms like the old 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of whom Seneca makes mention Of these things we cannot guess at any probable principle except they have deriv'd them from the Jewish Cabala or the Exorcisms which it is said Solomon us'd when he had consented to Idolatry But these things are so unlike the wisdom and simplicity the purity and spirituality of Christian devotion arâ— so perfectly of their own devising and wild imaginations are so full of dirty superstitions and ignorant fancies that there are not in the world many things whose sufferance and practice can more destroy the Beauty of Holiness or reproach a Church or Society of Christians Sect. XI TO put our trust and confidence in God onely and to use Ministeries of his own appointment and sanctification is so essential a duty owing by us to God that whoever trusts in any thing but God is a breaker of the first Commandment and he that invents instrumental supports of his own head and puts a subordinate ministerial confidence in them