being taught by the Divine Spirit who as St. Austin says does without noise of Words speak in the Heart very well understands this to be the Original of these Mischiefs that some Popes your Predecessours having itching Ears as says the Apostle Paul heaped up Teachers after their own Lusts not to learn from them what they ought to do but that they should take pains and employ their Wit to find out ways how it might be lawful for them to do what they pleased To which we may add that as the Shadow follows the Body so Flattery follows Greatness and Truth can hardly find any way to the Ears of Princes hence it has come to pass that there have been Doctors ever ready to maintain that all Benefices being the Pope's and the Lord having a Right to Sell what is his own it must necessarily follow that the Pope is not capable of the Guilt of Simony insomuch that the Pope's Will and Pleasure whatever it be must needs be the Rule for all that he does which doubtless would end in believing every thing lawful that he had a mind to do From this Source as from the Trojan-Horse those so many Abuses and such mortal Diseases have broken forth into the Church of God which have reduced her as we see almost to a State of Desparation The same of these things having come to the Ears even of Infidels let your Holiness believe us speaking what we know who deride Christianity more for this then for any thing else so that through our selves we must needs say through our selves the Name of Christ is blasphemed amongst the Nations As for you most Holy Father for so in truth you are besides that Prudence which you so long since have obtained being also instructed by the Spirit of God when you gave your self wholly to this care that the Church of Christ wherewith you are entrusted might be healed of her Distempers and recover a good state of Health you saw and you saw aright that where the Disease grew at first there the Remedy must begin And following the example of the Apostle Paul you intended to be a Dispenser and not a Lord but to be found faithful in the Lord like that Servant in the Gospel whom the Lord set over his Family to give them their Food in their season And in order to this you resolved at no hand to Will that which is unlawful nor to desire the Power of doing what you ought not For these Reasons you called us to your self who how unqualified soever we may be in point of skill for so weighty an Affair do not yet want a good Affection towards the Honour and Glory of your Holiness and above all to the Reformation of the Church of Christ You enjoyned us with most serious expressions that we should go and bring together all those Abuses and lay them before you protesting that if we proceeded herein negligently and unfaithfully the account that should be given to Almighty God of this matter committed to our Trust should be upon our selves And that all things might be more freely handled by us and opened to you afterward you bound us by an Oath and under the Penalty of Excommunication that we should discover no part of this our Trust to any one whatsoever We therefore in obedience to your Command have brought together those Distempers in as few Words as may be and their Remedies the most effectual at least which we for our part could think upon And now we rely upon your Goodness and Wisdom to mend all those faults and supply all those defects of the performance which are left in it by reason of our incompetency for this undertaking But to reduce all our Thoughts to some certain Heads since your Holiness is both the Prince of these Provinces which are the Ecclesiastic Estate and Territory and withal the Governour of the Universal Church and likewise the Bishop of Rome we have not taken upon our selves to speak of those things which concern that Principality which by your Prudence is so excellently Govern'd as we see We will touch upon these matters only that belong to the Office of the Universal Pastor and some also that are proper to the Roman Bishop First of all then we think most B. Father according to what Aristotle says in his Politicks that as in every other Commonwealth so in the Ecclesiastic Government of the Church of Christ it should be esteemed the principal Law of All that Laws should be observed as much as is possible and that it be not lawful to Dispense with the Laws but for a Cause urgent and necessary For no Custom introduced into a Commonwealth can be more pernicious than inobservance of Laws which our Ancestors thought were religiously to be kept and doubted not to call their Authority Venerable and Divine All these things you know Most Excellent Pope you have read them long since in the Philosophers and Divines But one thing there is of moment next to this or rather of far greater consequence as we think that it is not lawful for the Pope who is Christ's Vicar to make any Gain to himself of the use of the Keys of the power of the Keys we say which Christ hath committed to him For this is the Commandment of Christ Freely ye have received Freely give These things being in the first place provided for since your Holiness has the care of Christ's Church upon you so that it may be furnished with divers Ministers by whom that trust is to be discharged and that these are all the Clergy to whom Divine Service is committed the Presbyters especially and those of them chiefly that have the care of Souls and above all the Bishops it follows that in order to a right Proceeding in this Government the first care that is to be taken is that these Ministers be such that are fit for the Duties of their Function And here the first Abuse in this kind is that in the Ordination of Clerks especially of Presbyters no manner of care and diligence is used but every where the most uneducated Youths of the vilest Parentage set out with nothing but evil Manners are admitted to Holy Orders even to Priesthood it self thô that be the Character which expresseth Christ more than all others From hence grow innumerable Scandals from hence comes the Contempt of the Ecclesiastic Order and hence it is that the reverence of God's Worship is not only diminished but well nigh extinguished We think therefore the best way would be for your Holiness to appoint two or three Prelates of Learning and Probity to look after this matter who should govern the Ordinations of Clergy-men and then to enjoyn all Bishops under the Penalty of Censures to take the like care in their Diocesses Nor should your Holiness suffer any to be Ordained but by his own Bishop or with the License of his Bishop or such as are Deputed in the City And every Bishop should provide a Master
he cannot do well and as he ought if as a Shepherd he dwells not with his Sheep besides Holy Father the example of this custom does a world of mischief For how can this Holy See guide others and correct their Abuses if she suffers such Abuses in her principle Members For we do not think that because they are Cardinals it should be more lawful for them to transgress the Laws but that they should least of all presume to do it since their lives are to be a Law to others nor are they to be like the Pharisees who said but did not but to our Saviour Christ who began to do and then to teach And besides this Licentiousness being the fewel of Avarice the use of it is prejudicial to the Counsels they take in Church Affairs Moreover for the obtaining of Bishopricks Cardinals do court Kings and Princes their dependence upon whom afterwards hinders them from speaking their minds freely at least if they were bold and willing enough to speak yet they would easily be perverted into a wrong judgment by affection and interest We could wish therefore that this custom were broken and that all the Cardinals might have an equal Revenue which would maintain them handsomly according to their Dignity which provision we think might easily be made if we would be willing to serve Mammon no longer and would serve none but Christ. These things being set right which refer to the appointment of your Ministers who are as it were the Instruments for the right performing of God's Worship and the well ordering of the People in a Christian Life We must now come to those things which relate to the Government of Christian People As to which matter most holy Father there is an Abuse in the first place to be corrected and the greatest care is to be taken that Bishops especially no nor Curates be absent from their Churches and Parishes unless for a weighty cause but keep their Residence but especially the Bishops since they are the Husbands of the Church committed to their care For we appeal to God that no sight can be more lamentable to a Christian man going through Christendom than this solitude of the Churches Almost all the Pastors are withdrawn from their Flocks which are almost every-where entrusted with Hirelings There ought therefore to be a great Penalty upon Bishops above all and likewise upon Curates who are absent from their Flocks and who ought not onely to be censured but not so much as receive the Revenues of the Church unless for some short time the Bishops obtain leave of absence from your Holiness and the Curates from their Bishops Let some of the Laws and Decrees of Councils in this matter be read whereby it is provided that a Bishop shall not be absent from his Church above three Lord's Days It is also an Abuse that so many of the most Reverend Cardinals are absent from this Court and do not so much as in part do any thing of that Office which belongs to a Cardinal We think indeed that 't is expedient for some few Cardinals to live in their Provinces since thy are as it were the Root of the Papacy that by shooting out its strings abroad in the Christian World contains the People in their Obedience to the Roman See. But yet we think it were very much for the Interest of your Holiness to recal them though not perhaps every one to their Residence in this Court For besides that by this means they would execute the proper Office of Cardinals the State and Retinue of your Court would be provided for and the want of those many Bishops would be supplied who ought to leave the Court and return to their Churches Another great Abuse and by no means to be endured since 't is a scandal to all Christian People arises from the hindrances and restraints that are upon Bishops in the Governing of their Flocks and chiefly in the punishing and correcting of wicked persons For first there are ill men and especially Clergy-men who by many ways exempt themselves from the Jurisdiction of their Ordinary But then if they are not exempt they betake themselves easily to the Penitentiary or to the Datary where they presenly find a way to protect their Impunity and which is still worse by giving of Money This scandal most holy Father does so disturb Christian People that 't is not to be expressed We beseech your Holiness by the Bloud of Christ wherewith he hath Redeemed his Church having washed the same in his Bloud that these foul blemishes be taken away Let these mischiefs be removed to which if in any Republick or Kingdom allowance were given it would in a little time fall head-long into ruine and would not by any means be able to subsist long And yet we think it is lawful for us so that we have the doing of it our selves to see these Monsters brought into the Common-wealth of Christendom In the Orders of the Religious there is another Abuse to be corrected that many of them are so degenerate that they are grown scandalous and their examples pernicious to the Seculars We think the Conventual Orders are to be abolished not by doing to any man that injury of Dispossessing him but by forbidding them to admit any more For thus without wronging any one they would soon be worn out and good Religious might be substituted instead of them but at present it were best that all Children who are not yet professed should be taken from their Monasteries We think also that as to the Preachers and Confessors that are sent out by the Fryers there is need of Animadversion and Amendment that great care should be taken by their Chief that they be fitly qualified and then that they be presented to the Bishops to whom chiefly the Church is intrusted to be examined by them or by fit persons and that without their consent they be not admitted to the exercise of those Offices We have already said most holy Father that it is by no means lawful to make any Gain by the use of the Keys in which matter the Words of Christ stand firm and sure Freely ye have received freely give This does not onely belong to your Holiness to take notice of but to all who share in this power and therefore we desire that it may be observed by your Legates and Nuntio's For as the custom which has much prevailed dishonours this See and makes the People clamorous so the contrary would be exceedingly for the Ornament of the one and for the Edification of the other Christian People are disturbed by another Abuse which concerns Nuns that are under the care of the Conventual Fryers where in most Monasteries publick Sacriledges are committed to the intolerable scandal of the Citizens Let your Holiness deprive the Conventuals of this care and give it to the Ordinaries or to others as you shall see cause The publick Schools are most perniciously abused especially in Italy where
spreading any farther althô it has got too far already which in truth can never enough be lamented For 't is no trifle that is under debate but the safety and welfare of your whole State and of Us who are all your Creatures and Members is now at stake For in the days of the Apostles to tell you the truth but you must be silent and for several years after them there was no mention made of either Pope or Cardinal there were none of these large Revenues belonging to Bishops and Priests no sumptuous Temples were raised there were no Monasteries Priors or Abbots much less any of these Doctrines these Laws these Constitutions nor this Soveraignty which we now exercise over People and Nations But the Ministers of all Churches as well that of Rome as others were willingly obedient to Kings Princes and Governours Let your Holiness therefore judge how hard it would go with us if by ill Destiny we should again be reduced to the Primitive Poverty and Humility again subjected to the wretched Servitude of being under the Command of others This is therefore as we said before a matter of the highest moment Moreover this in our judgment is the onely way of avoiding this grievous danger We find upon full examination of the matter that the Glory Authority and Power of the Church first arose when shrewd discreet active Bishops began to preside over it who used their opportunities to obtain from the Emperours that they would by their Authority and Power Establish the Primacy and Supreme Power over other Churches in this See. And this Pope Boniface the 3d amongst others is said to have received from the Emperour Phocas We observed likewise that the Affairs of the Church began more and more to flourish every day when Cardinals were created the number of Bishops was encreased and so many and so goodly Orders of Monks and Nuns were first founded Nor can we doubt but those Popes Cardinals Bishops Monks and Nuns have by their Cunning their Inventions Rites and Ceremonies turn'd away the Church from that ancient Doctrine which kept her so poor and humble and have by these Arts procured her Favour and Authority We ought therefore to take the same measures to preserve her in that State to which they have raised her That is all kind of application and wit is to be imploy'd the number of Cardinals Bishops Monks and Nuns is to be encreased and to speak particularly your Holiness is in the first place to take this course France Italy and Spain notwithstanding the Lutherans boast that the greatest part of Europe is in their Interest are content with your Empire the last of which does most Religiously observe all your Laws and Constitutions does not change or innovate in any thing And as for that Nation you need not be sollicitous for you can find but few amongst the Spaniards who have not an abhorrence for the Doctrine of Luther But if there are any Hereticks amongst them they are such as rather deny that the Messiah is yet come or that mens Souls are immortal than question the Power of your Holiness But without doubt this Heresie of theirs seems to Us more sufferable than that of Luther and the reason is plain for these Marani thô they believe nothing of Christ or a future State are yet wont to hold their tongues or at most laugh amongst themselves and in the mean time are not at all wanting in their Duty to the Roman Church But the Lutherans do not behave themselves thus they openly dissent from Us and endeavour what they can to weaken and ruine our whole State. France and Italy seem plainly to affect Innovations and most of these Nations according to the Copy that Germany has set them are ready to lay hold on the next occasion to fall off from Us Moreover there are many eminent Cities in those two Provinces who have no Bishop of their own but are subject to the Bishops of the greater and most powerful Cities Now your Holiness should choose out about a hundred of these and create so many new Bishops to govern them Then add fifty more to the present number of Cardinals and out of all these Bishops I say and Cardinals as well old as new select thirty or forty of the most subtile and most versed in Courts and Business who are skilful in the Cannon and Civil Laws Keep these about your Person let these be your Counfellors and Ministers in your most weighty Affairs and private concerns And send all the rest as well those Bishops that are Cardinals as others into their respective Diocess and order them to entertain the People with Plays Shows and all manner of Diversions And let them present themselves to the People both in the Church and riding frequently about the City in as much pomp and splendor as they do at Rome So will it come to pass that the common People who admire these Pomps and Ceremonies and are wont to make much Money where there are many rich men will at last be brought over either by Courtesie or their own advantage to favour your side And we need not fear for the future what Luther Brentius Melancthon or that late Heretick Vergerius shall Write Oh! how much did it concern Us that he should not have escap't from Us but have here been either clapt into Prison or thrown into Tiber For he who was brought up in your publick and private Affairs is acquainted with a great deal of our concerns and of all our Councils But your Holiness has long hands and in your great Wisdom will find a Remedy for this Evil for it is and ever will be lawful to take all ways to free our selves from the Snares of our Enemies nor did we think fit to name those men but for a very good reason a word to the Wise Then let your Holiness take care that these Cardinals and Bishops that reside in their Diocess bestow Benefices on the Children of their Citizens for this is an admirable and ready way to keep their minds steady in the Faith. And we know many of your Subjects who would long ago have embraced Luther's Doctrine but for this one reason that either they themselves or their Brothers or their Sons enjoyed some Ecclesiastical Preferment Nor would it be amiss to send a great many of those Priests that they call Chietini and Paulini into France and Italy For to say the truth these common Priests and Monks do really abuse the Mass too much which they say with little or no Devotion chopping it up in haste and making a publick Sale of it Besides they live such dissolute profligate lives that men deservedly give no longer credit to them nor suffer themselves to be perswaded though our Sophisters take great pains about it that a wicked debauched Fellow can draw Christ out of Heaven to the Altar free Souls from Purgatory and obtain Forgiveness of Sins both to themselves and others and all this by the
in his Church for the instruction of the inferiour Orders of the Clergy in good Learning and good Manners as the Law requires Another Abuse of a most grievous Nature is in the Collation of Ecclesiastical Benefices especially with Cure of Souls and above all of Bishopricks the manner having been that good Provision is made for those who have the Benefices but for the Flock of Christ and the Church none at all In bestowing therefore these Benefices with care and chiefly Bishopricks it is highly requisite that they be conferred upon good and learned men who are able by themselves to discharge the Duties belonging thereto and who withal are most likely to be resident for which reason a Benefice in Spain or Britain is not to be given to an Italian nor the like which Rule is to be observed both in Collations when a Vacancy happens by the Decease of the Incumbent and in Cessions too whereas now no regard is had to any thing else but the will and advantage of him that resigns We think therefore it would be very well if one or more honest men were appointed to govern this Business Another Abuse is when Benefices are conferred or resigned to others that Pensions are to be paid out of the Revenues nay and sometimes he that resigns reserves all the Profits to himself In which matter it is to be observed that Pensions ought not to be allotted upon any other account but as certain Alms which should go for pious uses and for the relief of the Poor For the Revenues are annexed to the Benefice as the Body to the Mind so that of their own nature they belong to him that has the Benefice that according to his Rank he may live honestly upon them and be able to bear the charge of Divine Service and to repair the Church and the Houses belonging to it and that he should spend what remains in pious uses For this is the natural employment of such Revenues But as in the Course of Nature some things are done otherwise then according to Common Rules and besides the Inclination of Universal Nature So as to the Pope who is the Universal Dispenser of Ecclesiastical Benefices if he sees that the Portion of the Priests which ought to be laid out in pious uses or some part thereof may be employed for some particular good uses that it would be most expedient it should be so he may without doubt provide accordingly He may therefore very lawfully set a Portion upon a Benefice for the relief of an indigent Person especially a Clergy-man that he may be able to live in some measure according to his Order But 't is a great Abuse that all the fruits should be reserved and that wholly taken away which is to serve for the maintenance of Divine Service and the support of the Incumbent and that Pensions should be given to rich Clergy-men who can live conveniently enough upon the Revenues which they have is surely a great Abuse also and both of them are to be removed There is another Abuse also in the changing of Benefices upon Contracts that are all of them Simonical and in which no regard is had to any thing but gain Another Abuse to be taken away altogether has prevailed in this Court by the knavery of certain persons that are shrewd in their way For whereas the Law provides that Benefices cannot be given away by Will because they are not the Testators but the Church's Fee and that the Church's Patrimony should be continued as a common provision in the behalf of all good men but never grow into a private Estate No little pains have been taken in which more of Worldly Wisdom than Christian Honesty is to be seen to find out divers tricks for the eluding of the Law. For Bishopricks and other Benefices are resigned first with a condition of resuming them to which is added a reservation to Collate the Benefices belonging to them with another reservation to Administer and Govern And so here comes to be a Bishop who has not so much as one Right of a Bishop while the other is no Bishop at all who claims all the Right belonging to one Your Holiness may see to what a pass things are brought by the flattery of making every thing lawful that is resolved to be done For we would fain know what this is but to make a private Inheritance of a Benefice Another cheat besides this is invented that Bishops upon their Petition have Co-adjutors granted to them not so well qualified as themselves so that unless a man be resolved to shut his Eyes he must needs see that the Co-adjutor is by this trick made Heir to the Bishoprick Again it is an ancient Law established by Clement that the Sons of Priests should not succeed their Fathers in their Benefices and this least the common Patrimony of the Church should become a private Estate But as we hear this venerable Law is dispensed with and we must not conceal what every prudent person will by himself discern to be a great truth that no one thing hath raised more of that Envy against the Clergy from whence so many Seditions have already happened and more are at hand than this turning of Ecclesiastical Profits and Revenues from being a common to a private thing All men had some hope before this but now they are reduced to despair and sharpen their Tongues against this holy See. It is another Abuse that Benefices are disposed in Reversion and occasion is given to the Expectant to desire another mans death and to be glad when he hears of it By which means also when a Vacancy happens they that deserve best are excluded besides the Law Suits that are hereby caused All this we think ought to be mended By the same craft a farther Abuse is introduced For whereas some Benefices are by Law Incompatible and are so called our Ancestours intending to admonish us by the signification of the word that they ought not to be confered upon one person this too is now dispensed with and not onely two but more of these Benefices and which is worst of all Bishopricks are enjoyed by the same man Which custom brought in by Covetuousness we think ought to be turned out again especially as to a plurality of Bishopricks What shall we say to the union of Benefices for a mans Life to avoid the incompatibility of them under this colour is not this a meer fraud upon the Law Another Abuse has prevailed that Bishopricks not one only but more are collated upon the most Reverend Cardinals or given them in Commendam which we most blessed Father believe to be no slight grievance in the Church of God in as much as first of all the Office of a Cardinal and that of a Bishop are incompatible in the same person For the Cardinals province is to assist your Holiness in the Government of the Catholic Church But that of a Bishop is to feed his Flock which
many Professors of Philosophy teach that which is wicked Yea in Churches themselves there are most ungodly Disputes and if any of them are pious for the matter yet Divine things are handled very irreverently as to the manner and that before the People Therefore where there are publick Schools the Bishops should be required to admonish the Readers not to teach Impiety to young Men but to shew the weakness of natural light in questions concerning God concerning the lateness or the eternity of the World and the like and to direct them to pious Belief And as no publick Disputations about such Questions should be permitted so neither concerning matters of Divinity which by this means would lose very much the esteem and reverence of the People Those things should be disputed privately and other Questions in Natural Philosophy chosen for publick disputations Which caution is to be given to all other Bishops especially of the greater Cities where such Disputations use to be held The same care is to be taken about the Printing of Books and all Princes are to be Written to not to suffer any sort of Books whatsoever without farther examination to be Printed in their Territories The care of which thing should likewise be given to the Ordinaries And because Erasmus's Colloquies are now-a-days wont to be read to Children in Grammar Schools in which there are many things apt to dispose uneducated minds to Impiety therefore the reading of those Colloquies and the like in such places ought to be prohibited Now besides these things which refer to the appointing of your Ministers in this care of the whole Church and then in the Administration and Government thereof your Holiness may please to take notice that there are other Abuses introduced likewise The first concerns Apostate Fryars or Religious who notwithstanding their solemn Vow draw back from the Religion of their Order and obtain leave not to wear the Habit of it No not the least appearance thereof but onely some handsome Habit of a Clergy-man We say nothing now of Lucre for we noted at first that Merchandise was not to be made of the Power of the Keys received from Christ We now say that this kind of Dispensation is not to be used For the Habit is the sign of the Profession to which these Apostates ought to be held nor has the Bishop power in this case so true it is that this Liberty ought not to be given to these men Neither when they have broken away from their Vow to God should they be suffered to enjoy Benefices or Cures There is another Abuse in the Collectors for the Holy Ghost for St. Anthony and others of this kind which put Cheats upon Rustics and simple People and intangle them in a world of Superstition These Collectors we think ought to be taken away Another Abuse there is in dispensing with a Person in Holy Orders to Marry which is not to be allowed to any unless it be for the preservation of human Race in any Nation where the Cause is weighty and of publick concern This is especially to be observed in these times in which this Liberty is violently contended for by the Lutherans We conceive it also to be an Abuse to dispense with the Marriage of those that are in the Second Degree of Consanguinity or Affinity unless it be for a weighty reason Nor should Dispensations be granted without other Degrees but where the Cause is honest and still without Mony unless the Parties were married before in which case it is lawful to impose a pecuniary Punishment in order to Absolution from Sin already committed and to convert it to pious uses such as your Holiness promotes For as where there is no Sin in the use of the Keys to be done away no Mony can be demanded so where Absolution from Sin is desired a pecuniary Mulct may be laid and designed for pious uses In the Absolution of a Simoniacal Person there is another Abuse and 't is a dismal thing to consider that this Plague reigns in the Church to that degree that some are not afraid to be guilty of Simony and to go presently for Absolution The truth is they buy their Absolution and so they keep the Benefice they bought before We do not say that your Holiness wants power to forgive that Punishment which is by positive Law appointed for this Crime but that you ought not by any means to do it that so horrible a Wickedness may be more effectually suppressed then which there is none that breeds more Mischief and Scandal Neither is Liberty to be given to Clergy-men unless for an urgent Cause to dispose of the Goods of the Church by Will least that which is for the relief of the Poor be converted to private Pleasure and the luxury of Building But neither are faculties to receive Confessions with the use of a portable Altar easily to be granted for thus Ecclesiastical Affairs grow cheap and that Sacrament also which is the principal of all the rest Nor are Indulgences to be given above once a Year in every greater City Nor ought a Commutation of Vows to be lightly yielded to but where the Good is equivalent and will bear it out It has been a Custom also to change the Wills of Testators who have left a certain Sum of Money for pious and charitable purposes which by the Authority of your Holiness is transferred to the Heir or the Legatee under pretence of their Poverty c. and this is gain'd by Mony too Surely unless a great change happens in the Estate of the Heir by the Death of the Testator so that the Testator himself in all likelihood if he had foreseen that change would also have changed his Will it is an impious thing to depart from the last Will and Testament of the Dead Of filthy lucre we have spoken so often that we must mention it no more And thus according to our capacity having summarily described all those things which belong to the Duty of the Supreme Bishop of the Catholic Church it remains that we say something of that which belongs to the Roman Bishop This City of Rome is both the Mother of the Church and the Mistress of other Churches wherefore the Worship of God and purity of Manners should flourish there most of all But yet Holy Father all Strangers are scandalized when they go into St. Peter's Church and see what slovenly ignorant Priests say Mass there so habited and cloathed that they could not appear cleanly in a nasty House This is so mighty an offence to All that the most Reverend the Arch-presbiter and the Poenitentiary are to take care of this Thing and remove the Scandal And the like order is to be taken in other Churches Nay in this City Whores walk about as if they were goodly Matrons or they ride upon Mules and are at Noon-day followed up and down by men of the best account in the Families of Cardinals and by Clergy-men We
see no such degeneracy in any other City but in this which is to be an example to all others These Whores live in splendid Houses 'T is a filthy Abuse and ought to be mended In this City also Malice and Animosity reigns amongst private Citizens to bring whom to a right understanding and to make them Friends is a main part of the Bishop Wherefore some of the Cardinals who are fittest for this Service should be appointed to take up Quarrels and to reconcile the Citizens to one another There are Hospitals Pupils and Widows in this City the principal care of which belongs to the Bishop and Prince Wherefore your Holiness may please to take a fit care about all this by some Cardinals that are Men of Probity Now these are the things Most Holy Father which we for the present have brought together as our Capacity would permit that as to us it seems needful they may be Corrected But you in your Goodness and Wisdom will make a more perfect judgment of every thing We indeed thô we have not answered the greatness of the Concern which is too hard for us yet at least have satisfied our own Consciences and cannot but conceive great hope that under your Government we may see the Church of God purged fair as a Dove at Harmony with it self and united into one Body to the never dying Honour of your Name You have taken to your self the Name of of Paul we hope you will imitate the Charity of Paul who was a Chosen Vessel to carry the Name of Christ amongst the Gentiles We hope that you are chosen to restore the Name of Christ forgotten by the Nations and even by us of the Clergy that hereafter it may live in our Hearts and appear in our Actions to heal our Diseases to reduce the Flock of Christ into one Sheep-fold to remove from us that Indignation and Vengeance of God which we deserve which is now ready to fall upon us which now hangs over our Heads The Names of the Cardinals c. Gaspar Card. Contarene Joh. Peter Card. Theatine afterwards Paul IV. James Card. Sodelet Reginald Pole Card. of England Frederic Archbishop of Brundusium Joh. Matthew Gibet Bishop of Verona Gregory Cortese Abbat of St. George at Venice Fryar Thomas Master of the Sacred Palace THE ADVICE Given by some Bishops Assembled at BONONIA TO Pope Julius III. Concerning the Way to Establish the Roman Church Most Holy Father YOUR Legat at Bononia has given Us to understand that 't is your pleasure That We the Bishops lately Assembled in this City by your Command should three by three separately consult about the most effectual means of Establishing and Advaneing the Apostolic See which is at present so much troubled assaulted and weakned by the Perfidious Lutherans And that we should deliver in Writing our Opinions of this matter that your Holiness may compare them together and deliberate with your self about them as you desire We therefore the three Bishops whose Names are to this thô neither our Prudence Learning or Experience in business does avail much will yet in obedience to your Will distinctly declare our Opinions with such submission that yet all shall be referr'd to the Judgment of your Holiness But in the first place with all Reverence imaginable We would admonish your Holiness to take care least the same thing happen to this our Advice which we remember lately happen'd in another Case when some Cardinals with Select Bishops Nine in all consulted about this very thing viz. The Way of Reforming the Church and presented a Paper in which they offer'd their Opinions For the things there that ought to have been suppressed and concealed presently stole abroad and were scatter'd and dispersed even as far as Germany and so all our Counsels were discover'd and laid open to our Enemies the Lutherans And these things were of wonderful advantage to them in the opposition they made against Us and 't is incredible what hatred of Us they raised by the Books they published upon those Advices Affirming that We our selves confess there are many Errours and Abuses in the Church which We are so far from being willing to correct our selves that we do not stick to defend and maintain them by force and persecute with the utmost rigour any one that dares but to open his Lips about the necessary Amendment of them The divulging that Council most holy Father believe Us was a great disadvantage to our Affairs God forgive him by whose fault or negligence it hapned But truly there ought to be all care and diligence used that this our Advice never come abroad otherwise we shall add affliction to affliction and heap evil upon evil for We strike at things of the highest concern and freely without any respect of Persons we fall directly on the main cause first shew the Disease and then offer a convenient Remedy But these we say are to be kept as Secrets When we had well and long considered what was the State of this weighty Controversie recollecting all things from the beginning for we should always run back to the first principles we at last found it to be this The Lutherans hold and confess all the Articles of the Apostles Creed that of Nice and Athanasius This is very certain for we ought not to deny especially amongst our selves what we all know to be so true And these Lutherans refuse to admit of any other Doctrine but that alone of which the Prophets Christ and his Apostles were Authors and wish likewise that all men would be content with those few things that were observed in the Apostles time or immediately after and would imitate the Primitive Churches nor think of receiving any Traditions which it is not apparent as the light were delivered and instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ and his Apostles Thus do our Adversaries judge but indeed they judge ill We on the other hand following the Opinion of your Holiness would have all Traditions Constitutions Rules and Ceremonies which have hitherto been brought into the Church by the Fathers Councils or any Private Man with a good intention believed and received as Doctrine necessary to Salvation But particularly as to Tradition we believe as an Article of Faith what the Council of Trent lawfully Assembled with the Holy Ghost has Decreed in the 3d Session viz. That our Lord Jesus Christ and his Apostles delivered more Precepts relating both to Manners and Faith by word of Mouth than are in the Scriptures and that these without Writing were handed down to Us And although we can't prove this clearly for amongst our selves we plainly acknowledge that we have no proofs but some sort of conjectures to make out what we teach concerning Tradition yet we confess this to be true because the Roman Church maintains it This in short is the hinge on which the whole Controversie turns hence these Tumults and Contentions proceed But we ought to venture all to keep their Doctrine from
Works Done. Therefore these new Priests the Chietini because they say Mass slower and with greater gravity take no Hire but are content with their Meat and Cloathing and in the course of their lives carry a greater shew of goodness will restore Mass to its Primitive Authority and recover its Reputation You should likewise make it your business to get new Orders of Monks founded every-where for they believe us do great service in the establishment of your Dominion For you may consider how they have encreased it by the Confessions Preaching and Worship which they have brought into the Church Besides we are taught this by long experience that the Sect of the Lutherans has been less able to intrude it self there where there is the greatest numbers of Monks especially Dominicans and Franciscans who have ever stoutly maintained your and overthrown the Adversaries Doctrine Likewise give Orders to the Cardinals and Bishops who Reside as well as to the Priests and Monks that they institute new Fraternities as they call 'em in honour of this and that Saint For our Brother Thomas Stella or Todeschin boasts that he contributed much to the Establishment and Enlarging of your Empire by Preaching the people in many parts of Italy into a zeal for these Fraternities especially that of Corpus Christi Moreover let them make Supplications with the greatest show and pomp imaginable Let them cause new Statues and Images to be made burn Lamps and Candles before them and use all sorts of Instruments and Organs in their Temples these are the things I say with which the people are chiefly delighted and for whose sake they have almost forgot that Doctrine which was so destructive and pernicious to us Nor are these which we have mentioned the only things to be observed but the most Reverend the Cardinals and Bishops ought likewise to be mindful of this That they themselves sing Mass with the greatest Pomp and Magnificence they can possibly and also Consecrate Fonts Give Orders Purifie Churches Altars and Burying Places Christen Bells Veil Nuns in the Eyes of the people and in the sight of all the Congregation For the vulgar are given to admire and to be amused with these things in the Contemplation of which their minds are as it were so intangled in a snare that they have no relish for any other food or any inclination to any other Doctrine As indeed to say the truth they were designed for that purpose And really in our judgment these things should be augmented and multiplied for if the introducing and appointing those few which we have now mentioned were of such use to the settlement of your Kingdom of what advantage would it be were there some new ones added For example That threefold Oyl for the Crismes and for the sick is Consecrated every year upon Maunday Thursday and that by one Bishop together with Twelve Priests with that thrice Repeated Adoration and Salutation with those Exorcisms with those breathings upon it and with that rich Balm which is usual Let your Holiness appoint that the Consecration be not performed under five Salutations and Twenty Priests Command likewise that some other precious Liquor besides Balm such as Manna be added because we find it Rain'd that in the Wilderness which therefore deservedly ought to take place amongst our Ceremonies Likewise as often as the Water of Baptism is Consecrated it is customary to put Salt and Oyl into it and to dip the Paschal Taper thrice in it and to divide it into four parts Order that moreover they mingle some Vinegar with it for that was given Christ to drink on the Cross and therefore that ought to be of some use amongst the Ceremonies Also in the Dedication of Churches the Bishops are wont to draw all the Letters of the Latin and Greek Alphabet with their Crosier in the dust Command them to write the Hebrew Letters too if they know them though that does not signifie much for they do not understand Greek and hardly Latin and yet they can write it and 't is the same thing as if they knew them for the reason of Christs Crucifixon was written on the Cross in those Three Languages Latin Greek and Hebrew And whereas the Bishops only Anoint the Palms of the Priests Hands Order them to Anoint both the Palms and Backs of their Hands as well as their Head and whole Face For if that little Oyl has so much Virtue to sanctify them surely a greater quantity of Oyl will have more virtue for that purpose Lastly when Bells are Christen'd they make a Perfume of Frankincense and other Incense appoint that Musk and Amber be mixt with it to raise and increase the Religion of the thing and the wonder of the people Once more when any Bishop sets himself to officiate in any Divine Service with Pomp and Solemnity he ought to have many Ornaments to distinguish him from ordinary Priests such as to omit the rest the Bones and Reliques of some Dead Man which he usually wears at his Breast set in Gold in the Form of a Cross Do you command him to hang a whole naked Leg Arm or Head of some Saint about his Neck by a good thick Cord for that will contribute very much to the encrease of the Religions Astonishment of all that see it The truth is these Ceremonies were all invented and continued by Popes you therefore that are Pope may if you please augment them Nay rather indeed for that Purpose and Design which we mentioned ought to do it Besides we would advise that your Heliness should lay your Commands on those Cardinals and Bishops that happen to reside in their Diocess that they take care to have Logick Sophistry and the Art of the School-men Metaphisicks the Decretals Sextus the Clementines the Extravagants and the Rules of Chancery publickly Taught and Read in their Cities It had been well if Men had ever applyed themselves industriously to the Reading such sort of Books for then our Affairs had never been in so bad a posture as they are but despising this sort of Learning they began to employ themselves in learning Greek and Hebrew and in a little time to examine the Translation of the Bible by the true Original and to study Divinity and the Antient Fathers of the Church and hence sprung all the Misfortunes we lye under therefore you must endeavour that setting these Studies aside Men should again fall to the Study of the Schoolmen and of your Canon-Law by which 't is manifest the study of Divinity was in a manner overwhelm'd and buried But let your Holiness use caution in this For we mentioned before only the Decretals and Sextus and the Clementines and the Extravagants and not that which is called the Decretum which ought not to seem strange For 't is a pernicious Book and lessens your Authority extreamly although it seems in some places to enlarge it For amongst other things in several places it denies That the Pope can add