Provincial Synod However the constant Appeal now is from the Sentiments of Private Men and particular Synods to the Definitions of General Councils which are appealed to with as much confidence as if not one of them had ever been suspected or called in question but were all of undoubted Authority whereas there is indeed nothing more suspected than the credit of most of them and the chief Tenets of Popery will be found to have but little Authority from General Councils The Worship of Images will stand in great need of the second Council of Nice and Transubstantiation Auricular Confession c. will want support from the fourth of the Lateran and in short it will be almost as difficult to defend the Councils brought to authorize them as to defend the Doctrines themselves I think I have made it evident that this Argument from the Authority of Councils will be as unsuccessfull as all other Arguments have hitherto proved for it is a vain thing to attempt by any means the Defence of a Cause which will not be defended But in my Opinion the famous Mr. Schelstrate has gone the farthest towards the finding out an Expedient which may be of equal force in all Controversies For in the year MDCLXXXV he put out a Book intituled Dissertatio Apologetica de Disciplina Arcani against Ernestus Tentzelius a Lutheran Divine in defence of his Commentaries upon the second Canon of the Council of Antioch In this Book he shews that the Church concealed her Doctrines a long time and that the stream of Tradition like some Rivers ran for a great way under ground till at last it broke out and discovered it self in this Age or that Council If you enquire why we reade nothing of Transubstantiation in Ancient Authours The Answer is very easie and ready Disciplina Arcani p. 150 151. Why the Fathers did not assert the Worship of Images Disciplina Arcani p. 124. Why the Doctrine of the Trinity was not clearly taught before the Council of Nice Disciplina Arcani p. 10 17. Why we have no Accounts of the Seven Sacraments before the seventh Century Disciplina Arcani p. 104 106. Why the Writings of St. Denys the Areopagite lay so long concealed Disciplina Arcani p. 120. And so for any Novelty else Disciplina Arcani still returns upon you and it is so great a Charm that some would be almost afraid of it for it has a strange faculty of making every thing look aged that it can but come near This Disciplina Arcani is an occult Quality to salve all Difficulties by and say what you will prove what you will these two Emphatical Words shall bear down all before them And I am persuaded the following Considerations will stand out against any Attack but that of Disciplina Arcani A TABLE of the CONTENTS PART I. § THE False Dealing that has been used in publishing the Councils Page 1. § I. In putting out those which are forged ibid. § II. In suppressing those which are genuine 3. § III. In depraving those which are genuine which they have not wholly suppressed 5. 1. By Corrupting all the later Editions ibid. 2. By their Indices Expurgatorii ibid. 3. Instances of this in the four first General Councils 6. 4. Instances in the Councils of Basil and Trent 8. PART II. § I. PApists not agreed about the Number of General Councils 10. § II. Nor about their Authority the fifth Canon of the second General Council at Constantinople and the twenty eighth of the fourth General Council at Chalcedon have been thrown aside 12. § III. The fifth General Council at Constantinople was opposed by Pope Vigilius § IV. The sixth General Council contradicted as entirely forged or at least much corrupted 13. § V. The Council in Trullo is disputed about 14. § VI. 1. The second Council of Nice can scarcely be defended as general ibid. 2. The History of the Council 15. 3. Opposed by the Council of Frankford 17. 4. This farther proved 18. 5 6. The Objections against the Can. of the Council of Frankford which condemned Images answered 20 21 22. 7. The Council of Nice was not received for at least one Age in the Eastern or Western Churches 23. § VII 1. Papists cannot agree which is the eighth General Council 25. 2. The Pope's Legates were at the Council which restored Photius ibid. 3. And his Restoration was in effect approved on for some time after 26. 4. Though all is deny'd since with execrable Calumnies against Photius 27. 5. Which are sufficiently taken off by P. Nicholas and his Legates carriages and by Photius 's own Letters 28. 6. This is farther cleared 33. 7. It is no ways likely that Photius corrupted P. John the Eighth's Ep. Commonitorium in favour of himself 34. 8. Conclusion 35. § VIII Small proofs that the three first Councils of the Lateran were general 36. § IX 1. The fourth Lateran Council thought general by the Church of Rome 37. 2. Its Decrees in point of Doctrine 38. 3. in point of Discipline ibid. 4. Yet it lay unregarded for three hundred years 39. 5. Nothing decreed in this Council 40. 6 7. Papists shuffle about its Authority 42 43. § X. 1. The first Council of Lyons not thought general at first 46. 2. Omitted in the Venice Edition 47. 3. Its Decrees not much valued in France ibid. § XI Nothing in the second Council of Lyons to make it general 48. § XII The Council of Vienne was called onely upon a particular occasion 49. § XIII 1. Of the Council of Constance 50. 2. That Council above a Pope 51. 3. Not allowed by Martin the Fifth chosen by that Council 52. § XIV 1 2. Quarrels between Eugenius and the Council of Basil 53 54. 3. The Acts of this Council were ratified by Eugenius 54. § XV. 1. Causes of citing the Council of Florence 56. 2. The Gallican Church disown the principal Decree of this Council 57. § XVI 1. The French own the second Council of Pisa against the Fifth of the Lateran 58. 2. Though for politick Reasons Francis the First with his Clergy allowed the Fifth Lateran ibid. 3. And three years after they renounce it 59. 4. Even the highest Opposers of the Gallican Privileges speak doubtfully of it 60. 5. And it was onely a meeting of Sixty most Italian Bishops ibid. § XVII 1. The Council of Trent may be suspected by their own Concessions ibid. 2. Its Decrees about Discipline not received in France ib. 3. Which yet ought to be if it were received as general 61. 4. So that on both hands the Authority of the Council of Trent is rejected 62. § XVIII Modern Papists not agreed what Authority to give to Councils ibid. § XIX English Papists differ from all others in this Matter 63. § XX. Jesuits make the Pope infallible in Matters of Fact 64. § XXI 1. Herein contradicted by the French Clergy ibid. 2. Who in their Assembly censure the Arch-bishop of Gran for
main and we must take part and leave part as the Popes have thought fit but there is a third sort so abominable that they are utterly condemned § II. I shall examin what agreement there is amongst Papists concerning the Authority of the several approved General Councils The second Gen. Council at Constantinop circa A.D. CCCLXXXI secundum Richer part 1. c. 5. p. 169. And here we need not go far The second General Council it self as was before observed has not escaped For Baronius An. CCCLXXXI says that the fifth Canon of that Council was not received by the Church of Rome and he suspects it is forged Bellarmin says it was not consented to by the Pope ſ Lib. 2. de Rom. Pontif. c. 18. and therefore void so says Albertus Pighius t In Diatriba de Conc. 6 7. p. 279. and Coriolanus v In Summa Concil The four reasons which Baronius brings to invalidate its Authority Binius has transcribed into his Notes which Labbé and Cossartius have printed in their Edition without the least censure or animadversion but in the margin over against the Canon add a Note of their own referring to some Epistles of Leo which are quoted by Baronius to disprove its Authority Now the onely fault they can find with this Canon is that it makes the Bishop of C. P. next Primate to the Bishop of Rome for this reason because that City was new Rome which would make the Pope's power and greatness depend upon the Preheminence that the City of Rome held in the Empire not upon any Divine Right And for no better reason they reject the twenty eighth Canon of Chalcedon The fourth Gen. Council at Chalced. circa An. D. CCCCLI Richer part 1. c. 8. p. 333. and would undoubtedly have rejected all the Canons of the first four General Councils if they had stood in the way of the Pope's Authority For the fifth Canon of C. P. is in all Copies and there is no more cause to suspect it than any other Canon of the Council The twenty eighth of Chalcedon with those that follow it is wanting indeed in some Copies but this as well as that of C. P. must be owned by all in the Church of Rome that hold a Council above the Pope for if the major part of the Church is of sufficient Authority to make them so these Canons are as authentick as any in all the Volumes of Councils * Du Pin dissert 1. p. 57. For the honour and jurisdiction of the Patriarch of C. P. is founded upon the Laws of the Empire and the consent of the universal Church The fifth General Council held at C. P. An. Do. DLIII and these Canons have generally been so far owned as to be inserted into the Books of Canons § III. The fifth General Council held under the Emperour Justinian about the middle of the sixth Century was opposed by Pope Vigilius x Baluz Nova Collect. Conc. Tom. 1. col 1546. to the utmost till he was forced to submit and retract his Heresie to recover himself from Banishment From whence a Query will arise How a Papist can be better assured that this Council is true than that it is false or Whether a Council can be first false and then without the least alteration in its Doctrine Infallible or How long time a Pope's Sentence must be past before its Effect of Infallibility be produced Whether one Pope may not retract another's Sentence as well as the same Pope his own And if so Whether Innocent the Eleventh for instance may not retract the Sentence of Pius the Fourth and so vacate the Council of Trent § IV. Albertus Pighius wrote a Book y Diatriba de Conc. 6 7. on purpose to prove the sixth and seventh Councils both forged The sixth Gen. Council held at C. P. circa An. Do. DCLXXXI vel ut alii putant DCLXX. Richer Hist Conc. Hist Gen. p. 1. c. 10. p. 525. The seventh was then newly published but from what Copy or upon what Authority he says was unknown Franciscus Turrianus undertook their defence Bellarmin is for compounding the business and is inclined z De Rom. Pontif. l. 4. c. 11. to think that many Forgeries may indeed be crept in Binius follows him onely he is more positive as his manner is to give us something that is his own Labbé and Cossartius let his Notes pass without censure All the stir is that the sixth Council condemned Pope Honorius for a Heretick and the seventh approves the Sentence and several times anathematizeth him whom these men would willingly acquit though there be as much evidence for it as can well be for any matter of Fact. The Anathema against him was solemnly pronounced every year till of late on the Festival of St. Leo the Second and every Pope anathematized him in the Profession of Faith which he made at his Consecration and sent it to the other Bishops a Garnerli Liber Diurnus in Professione Fides secundâ dissert in eandem Launoil Epist part 5. ep 2. p. 12. c. The Arguments of Baronius to prove the sixth Council corrupted are now laughed at b Du Pin dissert 5. p. 350. though F. Combesis c New Heresie of the Jesuites p. 91. was violently treated by Raynaud a Jesuite not long ago in a most malitious Satyr against the whole Dominican Order onely because he had exposed Baronius on this subject But Garnerius endeavours to palliate the matter by saying He was condemned onely for favouring Hereticks and conniving at them Natales Alex. formally proves d Sec. 7. that he spake like a Heretick and acted like a Heretick and communicated with Hereticks and yet at the same time proves he was no Heretick So impossible is it for Popes to be Hereticks For any other Bishop had certainly been an Heretick though he had done but half so much But Du Pin e Dissert 5. p. 349. has confuted all this Sophistry and so 't is to be hoped that now these Councils may be genuine in France where Honorius is an Heretick or at least anathematized for a Favourer of Hereticks but of what credit they are at Rome as to this Point is easie to be imagined He will scarce pass for a true Catholick there who had not rather part with two Councils than one Pope § V. But here we must not omit the Dispute betwixt the Greeks and the Latins concerning the Council in Trullo Synodus Quinisexta in Trullo circiter An. Dom. DCLXXXI secundum Labbé in Tom. Conc. called Synodus Quinisexta because it was a kind of Supplement to the fifth and sixth Councils The Greeks maintain against the Latins that this Council was General they alledge that the Pope's Legates were present and subscribed its Canons which the Pope himself indeed afterwards refused to doe but the Council styles it self General and if want of the Pope's approbation could
gainsay Which made the Authour of the e Mabillon ibid. p. 27. Annales Berliniani observe that the eighth Synod had defined concerning Images contrary to what the Orthodox had defined before For the controversie about Images was again under debate at C. P. when Nicholas the First f Nichol. I. Epist Conc. vol. 8. sent his Legate thither and their chief business was to decide it for they were to act nothing in the cause of Photius but onely to enquire how things had been managed Afterwards under Adrian the Second DCCCLXX while the eighth General Council was sitting there appears to have been another Synod opposing the worship of Images which they anathematize and it was one part of their business to establish that worship * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Conc. Tom. 8. col 1360. So that this Council of Nice was received neither in the East nor in the West during one Century after it was held Nay it has been lately shewn that till the fifteenth Century the veneration of Images was rejected by the most eminent persons of the Western Church g Fallibility of the Church of Rome demonstrated from the second Council of Nice c. 4. sess 6. Afterwards Images and the Council of Nice had a blessed time of it and the People grew fond of these which they call Laymens Books when their Priests could scarce reade any other And though it may well be expected that the extravagance of this dotage should be much abated since the Reformation especially in France where Popery is new modelled and refined to that degree yet even there sober men complain and lament but cannot remedy the excess of it in our days †Mabil ib. p. 28. Richer Hist Gen. Conc. Lib. 1. cap. 11. § 13. The eighth Gen. Council or the fourth C. of C. P. An. DCCCLXX The Dates of thse 3 Councils are according to Labbe's Edition VII 1. There are no fewer than four Councils which lay claim to the title of the eighth General Council and the Pope was present either in person or by his Legates in them all Three of these were held at C. P. The first DCCCLXI in which Ignatius Patriarch of C. P. was deposed the next DCCCLXX in which he was restored and Photius deposed the third DCCCLXXIX when after the death of Ignatius Photius was again placed in that See. The fourth * Vid. Not. ad Conc. C.P. IV. col 1491. Conc. vol. VIII which goes under the name of the eighth General Council is that of Florence of which I shall forbear to speak till we come to it in order 2. The Council of C. P. which condemned Photius is esteemed the eighth General Council by the Latins generally and that which restored him by the Greeks by Zonaras Balsamon Psellus Nilus c. Marcus Ephesinus h Sess VI. in principio in the Council of Florence maintains in the name of the whole Greek Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Marc. Ephes in Conc. Flor. Ses 6. col 87. Conc. vol. 13. that the Council of C. P. which restored Photius had nulled the Council which the Latins call'd the eighth General Council in which Ignatius was restored and Photius deposed and that this Council was confirmed by John the Eighth and that in the same Synod it was determined that the addition of Filióque should be taken out of the Creed and therefore from that time in the Great Church at C. P. they used he says to denounce Anathema to whatever had been written or spoken against the holy Patriarchs Photius and Ignatius To this the Cardinal Julian with whom Marcus Ephesinus had the Dispute could find nothing to reply for which he is very much blamed by another Cardinal who never was at such a loss but he always had something to say I mean Baronius 'T is plain the Bishop of Rhodes who in the next Session undertook to answer Marcus Ephesinus knew very little of the matter for he pretends to speak onely upon Probabilities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I say that this does not by any means seem probable He objects that the Pope nor his Legates did not preside in Photius's Council as if the Greeks had ever thought that necessary he makes no exceptions against any particulars in the Acts of the Synod as not authentick but would prove in general that there never was such a Synod because the Pope nor his Legates did not preside in it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ib. col 127. for if they had argues he there would have been some remembrance of that Synod in the Latin Church whereas the Epistles and Commonitorium of John the Eighth shew that there was such a Synod and that his Legates did preside in it and Baronius proves that his Legates for their compliance were excommunicated at their return to Rome 3. Nor is it a Pretence of the Greeks onely that this styled the fourth Council of C.P. wherein Photius was condemned is vacated but the Epistles of Pope John the Eighth to this very purpose are cited by Ivo Carnutensis i Parti 4. cap. 76 77. in his Collection of Decrees The Constantinopolitan Synod which was made against Photius is to be rejected Constantinopolitanam Synodum eam quae contra Photium facta est non esse recipiendam Joannes VIII Patriarchae Photino Illam quae contra Photium facta est Constantinopolitanam Synodum irritam fecimus omnino delevimus tum propter alia tum quoniam Adrianus Papa non subscripsit in ea De eodem Joannes Apocrisiariis suis Dicetis quod illas Synodos quae contra Phorium sub Adriano Papa Romae vel Constantinopoli sunt facta cassamus de numero sanctarum Synodorum delemus John the Eighth to Photinus the Patriarch We have vacated and entirely abolished the Constantinopolitan Synod which was made against Photius as well for other reasons as because Pope Adrian did not subscribe in it Of the same thing John to his Apocrisiarii Ye shall say that we vacate and dash out of the number of the holy Synods all those Synods which were held against Photius under Pope Adrian at Rome or at Constantinople The same Authour in his Prologue or Preface quotes another of Pope John's Epistles at large written to the Eastern Churches wherein he tells them that they had been too hasty in restoring Photius without his knowledge but for all that he was well enough contented and brings several arguments to shew that Photius might be restored notwithstanding any sentence which had passed upon him He there compares Photius's cafe not with that of the Donatists but of St. Athanasius St. Cyril and Polichronius of St. Chrysostome and Flavianus and then concludes that if the Donatists who had been cast out of the Church by a General Council Nullâ—s excuset pro Synodis contra eum peractis nullus sanctorum Praedecessorum meorum Nicolai Adriani sententias contra eutn causetur De ipso enim
more easie than answering but he gives this very good reason for what he says because at this rate the Precept concerning Auricular confession would not be valid nor Transubstantiation de Fide no nor the Procession nor the opposite Articles to the errours of Joachim and so the Schoolmen in their Writings and the Inquisitors in punishing Hereticks had been all to blame Widrington replies that the Practice of the Church and the inserting these Canons into the Body of the Canon Law by Gregory the Ninth was sufficient to give Authority to them But this is to bring us back again from a Council to the Pope and from him to send us to the Church diffusive to inquire into her Faith and Practice and so we are disappointed of the vast hopes conceived from so numerous an Assembly But if these things had then been of known Practice and undoubted Truth how came they not immediately to be consented to in Council how came they to seem grievous and burthensome to the Bishops there was not Transubstantiation one of those Grievances the Deposing Doctrine another Auricular Confession a third and might not many more Grievances be mentioned Well but the Procession of the Holy Ghost and the true notion of the Trinity must be called in question if we reject this Council by no means because this had been explained in other Councils as far as was necessary and the Greek and Latin Manuscripts of Cossartius leave out the Procession so that that was it seems but in some Copies and cannot be proved from this Council But all these Doctrines says Widrington a Ibid. p. 12. have been received and embraced by the Catholick Church and from thence derive their Authority This we deny neither the Deposing Doctrine as Widrington himself confesses and maintains nor Transubstantiation nor Auricular Confession was ever received by the Catholick Church But the truth is he was forced to say something he was loth to deny the Authority of a Council now generally received by the Church of Rome he rather chose to evade the third Canon as well as he could nor durst he either in his Answer to Lessius b Discuss ib. p. 22. or in his last Rejoinder to Fitzherbert c Rejoynder cap. 9. disown the Council but after he has raised all the Objections he was able professes at last that as for his own part he receives it The same Objections have been lately renewed by Father Walsh yet still he too does not profess to disown the Authority of the Council 7. But Cossartius produceth a Greek Translation of this Council which he says is of the same Antiquity with the Council it self and he is positive that the very sight of this is enough to convince all men the Decrees are Genuine this Translation shewing the agreement between the Greeks and the Latins for that the Decrees which were made by the unanimous consent of all might be by all observed they were turned into the Greek Language for the use and benefit of those who did not understand the Latin. The Greek he confesses is in many places barbarous and his Manuscripts in some places imperfect and therefore in those places he was forc't to give us onely the Latin leaving void spaces in the opposite Column where the Greek was defective but here I observe that the whole first Chapter is not extant in the Greek Copy nor does it appear by any vacancies left in the Print that the Manuscript was imperfect but that the whole Chapter was omitted by the Greek Translatour and so if this Manuscript prove any thing it proves that the Greek Church did not concurr with the Latin in the Article of Transubstantiation for this being the first time that ever that Doctrine was asserted in a General Council certainly the Greeks would never have omitted to translate so material a Passage of the Council wherein this is contained if they had agreed to it All that part of the third Chapter which concerns the Deposing Doctrine is likewise wanting in the Greek but here he tells us is a leaf of the Manuscript wanting both in the Greek and the Latin 't were to be wished we could know how it came to be wanting but however this serves to confirm to us that nothing is deficient in the first Chapter but that the Manuscript is entire though the whole Chapter be onely in Latin and so the Doctrine of Transubstantiation had the ill luck to be left out in the Translation of the first Council in which it ever was defined for which no other reason can be given if this Manuscript be Authentick but that the major part of the Church i. e. all the East and four Patriarchs of five rejected it The Translatour often mistakes the Latin and quite alters the sense and in the second Chapter where the Catholick Doctrine concerning the blessed Trinity is explained the Particle non is omitted in the Latin and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek a small mistake in a matter of Faith but such a mistake as could not easily escape in both Languages or if it did must needs give a very exact and faithfull account of what was defined in the Council This and other gross faults do not make much for the credit of this Manuscript nor engage us necessarily to believe upon its sole Authority that the Greek Church received the fourth Lateran Council or indeed that it was ever received at all till of late years which many learned men in the Church of Rome have been so sensible of that they have never alledged its Authority but when they had nothing else to alledge For neither the more ancient of our Modern Divines says Widrington d Last Rejoynder c. 9. who are vehement maintainers of the Popes power to depose Princes as Victoria Corduba Sanders and others nor Cardinal Bellarmin himself in his Controversies did make any great reckoning of the Decree of this great Council This was Bellarmin's last Refuge when he was beaten off from his other Arguments by Barclay and though he urges it with great confidence and earnestness yet if he had much relied upon its Authority he would have used it before for if the Council be General the Argument is unanswerable and infallible in their account whatever disguises may be put upon it The opposers of this Lateran Council farther add e Widrington ib. p. 20. that the Council of Constance meant not this Council but that of Lateran under Alexander the Third and that the Council of Trent spoke according to the common opinion that is in plain terms the Council of Trent was mistaken and that in a matter of no small consequence for if one General Council tell the world that another is General which really is not so what assurance can men have of any Council that it is General or what Errours may not a General Council by this means lead men into What they answer to the Testimony of the Council held at
tells l Ibid. p. 466. Panormitan That it was falsly asserted by Panormitan that they had more Bishops of their side Minùs etiam verè dictum à Panormitano plures habere Episcopos suarum partium cùm illi ipsi quos asseclas habet longè aliter inter privatos parietes cum familiaribus quà m in publico Sessionum Actionum Theatro loqui dicere soleant se libertate dicendae sententiae non pollere à principibus suis praepediri metu amittendorum Temporalium when even those who openly declare for them talk quite otherwise in private Houses amongst their Friends than when they speak in the Theatre of the Sessions and Actions of the Council and they used to say that they had not liberty to give their opinion and that they were kept in by their own Princes for fear of losing their Temporalities He means the Bishops of Italy and Arragon for all the rest were for the Decree of the three Verities m Sess 39. as they are termed of Catholick Faith whereby 't is pronounced Heresie to maintain the Pope's Authority above that of a General Council The Council of Basil proceed to the Election of a new Pope and make choice of Felix the Fifth though he soon after resigned upon the valuable consideration of being made Dean of the College of Cardinals and perpetual Legate of the Apostolick See for all Germany § 15. Council of Florence An. Dom. MCCCCXXXVIII Secundum Labbé 1. By this means Eugenius the Fourth was at liberty to call the Council of Florence and to carry all things at his pleasure in it Thither the Greeks are invited to enslave themselves to the Pope rather than to the Turk and by pawning their Consciences to save their Bodies and Estates The business had been in agitation under Martin the Fifth who sent his Nuncio to Constantinople to prepare matters and he bespeaks the Greek Emperour and the Patriarch in a very n Sanctissimus Beatissimus qui habet Coeleste arbitrium qui est Dominus in Terris Successor Petri Christus Domini Dominus Vniversi Regum Pater Orbis Lumen summus Pontifex Papa Martinus Divinâ Providentiâ Papa Quintus mandat mihi Magistro Antonio Massano c. Acta Conc. Senens ap Richer L. 3. p. 289. magnificent style The most Holy and Blessed who has the disposal of Heaven who is Lord on Earth the Successour of S. Peter the Christ of the Lord the Lord of the Universe the Father of Kings the Light of the World the Chief Priest P. Martin by Divine Providence the Fifth commands me Mr. Anthony Massanus c. This Nuncio when he has done his Preamble and wiped his mouth tells the Emperour that his Embassadours at Rome o Ibid. had desired an Union of the Greek and Latin Churches but the Emperour in return says that his Embassadours went beyond their Commission if ever they proposed a Union with the Roman Church in general terms but that which they had in command was onely thus much to procure a General Council after the order and manner of the seven Holy General Councils and then the Holy Ghost would confirm it and establish it into a peace In the time of Eugenius the Fourth the Greeks came p Hist Conc. Florent Concil Vol. 13. and were pressed by importunity and subtilty and wrought upon by convenient management to consent to more than ever they designed or than their Church would afterwards own Bessarion Archbishop of Nice and Isidore Archbishop of Thessalonica for their good services were created Cardinals but not a Greek would ever own this Council except those few that were present at it and subscribed it being over-ruled by more persuasive kind of Arguments than any Marcus Ephesius and his party could produce I shall enter into no long story of this Council 't is sufficient that it contradicts the Councils of Constance and Basil in the point of the Pope's Supremacy and that it was its main business and design to contradict them Bellarmin Possevin Binius Duval c. maintain that the Decrees of the Council of Constance and Basil are nulled by a contrary Decree at Florence though Bellarmin and Duvall as Richerius observes q Lib. 3. c. 7. § 4. retract what they have said and contradict themselves yet still they exclaim against all that adhere to the Decrees of these two Councils as Schismaticks and Hereticks though sometimes in a fit of good nature they would fain offer something in their excuse Duvall r Ibid. p. 639. makes no more account of the Council of Basil than of the second of Ephesus but Bellarmin * Vid. Bellarm de Concil lib. 2. c. 13 17. allows it to have been lawfull till the Deposition of Eugenius though he advised ſ Ibid. p. 669. that this Council should be left out of the Roman Edition as spurious 2. 'T is pretended of late that the Council of Florence does not set up the Pope above a General Council t Launoy Epist Part. 3. ad Thom. Rulland though the same Authour tells us that the Cardinal of Lorrain understood it otherwise in his Commonitorium to Pope Pius the Fourth v Id. apud F. Walsh ' s Letter to the Bishop of Lincoln p. 282. For the Cardinal in the name of the whole French Clergy alledges this as the reason why the Councils of Constance and Basil are received in France but that of Florence rejected as neither Legal nor General because in France 't is held that the Pope is subject to a General Council and those who teach otherwise are accounted Hereticks and he moreover affirms that the French would sooner lose their lives than depart from this Doctrine and admit of the Titles bestowed upon the Pope in the Council of Florence And this is enough to ruine for ever the credit of the Council of Florence with sober men whatever fine expositions may be now put upon it by some that the whole French Nation declared against it as neither Legal nor General § XVI The fifth Council of Lateran An. Dom. MDXII The second Council of Pisa MDXI. 1. The last Council of Lateran is yet rather more obnoxious than that of Florence For the second Council of Pisa was owned and desended as General by the French and the Sorbon deputed three of their Body * Richer Hist Con. Gen. Lib. 4. Part. 1. c. 2. p. 167. to write against Cajetan on the point viz. Almain Major and another whose Book Richerius saw in Manuscript besides the learned Discourse of Philippus Decius which Richerius gives at large This second Council held at Pisa was called by the Emperour and the King of France and by the Pope himself as far as the obligation of his most solemn Promise and Oath could contribute towards it but the Pope would be held by no such Ties The Council charge him with Perjury the Pope tells them they are a company of
in an Exception to reserve the Liberties of the Gallican Church entire And in the e Id. p. 348. Low Countries when Margaret Dutchess of Parma then Governess there required the Magistrates of every Province to make search whether any thing in the Decrees of the Council of Trent were contrary to the Rights of his Catholick Majesty or to the ancient customs of their Countrey they animadverted upon several Chapters particularly upon C. 5. Sess 24. which the French likewise particularly except against and they said it was an Innovation and the King might insist upon his Ancient Right 3. I think nothing can be a greater Evidence that this Council was not General than the opposition of National Churches in behalf of their particular Privileges in points of Reformation for a General Council may undoubtedly prescribe to particular Churches in matters of Discipline as the first General Councils did and oblige them to a compliance for the peace and benefit of the whole and the Council must be judge what is most conducing to that end To deny this Authority to a General Council is plainly to lay its Authority quite aside and to receive onely as much of it as particular Churches shall think fit for it were an extravagant thing to demand absolute obedience and submission in matters of Faith when points of Discipline are insisted upon against the express Decrees of the Council a Council may err in Doctrine but if it have any Authority this must extend at least to points of Discipline which are in themselves indifferent and may be altered as it shall seem most conducing to the good of the whole Church * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb de Vita Constantini lib. 3. cap. 20. Constantine after the Council of Nice not onely determined the Controversie against Arius but the time of keeping of Easter and other things of Order and Discipline to which all Churches submitted whatever eager Debates they had had amongst themselves before The erecting the Churches of Constantinople and Jerusalem into Patriarchates and the settling of Church-Government was performed in the four first General Councils yet nothing was objected against the Authority of Councils in such Affairs nor did the Churches placed under the Patriarchates of Jerusalem and Constantinople insist upon their particular Privileges onely the Church of Rome was unwilling to have Constantinople equalled to her self and therefore made a troublesome but fruitless opposition in the Council of Chalcedon 4. But if at this day the Church of France be so jealous of her Privileges in matters of Discipline we have much more reason to be carefull of the Privileges of our common Christianity in matters of Faith if she insist that her Bishops have Authority to decide the Causae Majores i. e. all Debates arising whether in matters of Faith or Discipline according to the Decrees of General Councils how can it be denied us to defend the Ancient Faith according to General Councils truly such if they reject the Decrees of Reformation how shall we subscribe Pope Pius's Creed nay how shall they subscribe it not by virtue of any obligation from this Church but because they otherwise think the Articles of it True and for the contrary reason we cannot subscribe them because we think them false so that the Authority of the Council of Trent is really laid aside on both hands and the merits of the cause must be the onely thing in Debate For to say that a General Council properly speaking cannot abridge a particular Church of her Privileges is to say that a particular Church is above a General Council or at least exempt from its Jurisdiction This is well enough understood at Rome where Gerbais's Book in defence of the Gallican Privileges is condemned § XVIII I have done now with their Councils and have shewn how far Papists themselves have been from thinking them infallible or from acknowledging most of them to be General whatever credit they may have gained by the ignorance and superstition of latter Ages when every Assembly of Bishops greater than ordinary was esteemed a General Council and every General Council voted it self infallible For 't is certain that in the most ignorant Ages they first fansied themselves infallible and then took the liberty to say and doe what they thought fit and so imposed many superstitious conceits and gainfull Projects on the world for infallible Truths It now remains onely to consider whether we can meet with any better satisfaction from the consent of the present Roman Church and to enquire whether there be any expedient to reconcile these differences concerning the Authority of their several Councils But here we are so far at a loss that we find them in nothing more disagreeing than in the very Fundamental Point upon which all the Authority of Councils depends and so disagreeing in this they must be at an eternal disagreement concerning the Councils themselves For some making the Pope above a General Council others a General Council above the Pope and a third sort making them co-ordinate those that place infallibility in the Pope alone have little reason to regard a Council and those that place it in a Council alone do upon occasion as little respect the Pope or judge of General Councils by Bellarmin's Rule and seek no farther than for the Pope's confirmation but those that think it is in neither separately can acquiesce in the Determinations neither of Pope nor Council unless they both concur unanimously in their Determinations and whoever make the Church diffusive to be the Judge of what Councils are General and what are not so are still at a wider difference from all the rest § XIX Our English Papists seem generally to be of the last Opinion placing the Authority of the Church in the Agreement of the Pope with a General Council but making the Authority of General Councils to depend upon the Reception of the Church diffusive hereby placing the Authority Executively onely in General Councils confirmed by the Pope but fundamentally and radically in the Church upon whose Approbation all depends but by Church they understand onely the governing part of it and such as would have had a right to vote if they had been assembled in Council This is the Doctrine advanced in the Book so much valued by our English Papists The Guide in Controversies and because this way has most Artifice and Amusement in it they are willing to put the issue here though most of their Priests must needs have great Prejudices against it from a foreign Education For the French are of the second opinion and the Pope with all his Adherents of the first How well the Guide's Hypothesis has been accepted abroad I am not able to say but it will be best guessed at by the contest that has been about the two other opinions whether the Parties seem inclinable to admit of the Guide as a Reconciler § XX. The Jesuites are for no less than a Personal
subreptum est illis nullus contra eum subscriptiones vestras occasionem Schismat is habeat omnia enim ut infecta irrita facimus c. Ivo Carnut Prolog p. 5. had yet been received into Communion by another Council much more ought men of an orthodox Faith and an unblamable life not to be condemned but restored to their former dignity which must suppose Photius to be a man of an orthodox Faith and an unblameable Life or else we must suppose his Argument nothing to the purpose But he proceeds to say that his Predecessours Nicholas and Adrian had been imposed upon and that all that had been done against Photius was to be accounted as if it had been never done Nor doth this depend upon Ivo's Authority onely but the second Canon of the Council which restored Photius is inserted by Gratian as a Canon of the eighth General Council for which he is severely handled by Baronius though others of the Roman k Rader apud Binium Conc. Vol. 8. Col. 1496. Communion have been wavering as to this matter and have written uncertainly and confusedly about it and Innocent the Third l Lib. 1. tit 9. c. 11. himself quotes the same second Canon in his Epistles 4. Baronius notwithstanding Raderus and Possevin whose Arguments Binius has collected in his Notes and generally the whole Roman Church are for maintaining the Authority of this fourth Council of C. P. and this is the last of the eight General Councils which every Pope is sworn to at his Consecration m Vid. II. Profess fid apud Garnerium in Diurne They argue that the Acts of that Council which restored Photius are corrupted which is a sure Argument when there is nothing else to say Well but they prove it from John's Epistles which are quite another thing in the Vatican MSS. than they are in these Acts but how does it appear that these Epistles are more authentick than the Acts why because these have been abused by Photius and how does that appear because Photius was a Villain as he was indeed one of the greatest Monsters of impiety that ever lived if all be true that his Enemies relate of him They say that his Mother when she went with child of him dreamt that she should bring forth a Serpent which with his noisome Breath should infect the whole East and many holy Men foretold the same thing in plainer language to her that she should be delivered of one who would be the ruine of the Church this troubled her so much that she often endeavoured to destroy her self rather than that such a Brat should ever be born into the World but her Husband prevented the design and she was at last persuaded by devout People about her to submit to the Providence of God so she was prevailed with to live and to her great sorrow was Mother of a Son who outwent all these Prophecies For the Legend must not end here He was an Impostour and used Enchantments he got Ignatius removed out of his Patriarchate and himself placed in his room he bad defiance to Popes and when they excommunicated him to be even with them he excommunicated them again when they deposed him he deposed them and never was behind-hand with them in any kind offices and this is thought to have been his greatest crime though besides n Bin. Not. ad Con. IV. C. P. ex Possevin Rader c. Col. 1498 c. he held that a man has two souls while his enemies acted as if they thought men to have none The Popes it seems had every one a touch at him in their turn for he was condemned by nine Popes and was under Excommunication XLV years o Conc. Tom. 8. col 1423. which is somewhat longer I think than F. Widrington or F. Walsh All this to be sure made him an abominable Schismatick p Ibid. Col. 1108. a Fornicator a Parricide a notorious Liar another Maximus q Ibid. Col. 1098. Cynicus another Dioscorus another Judas Antichrist r Anastas Praef. ibid. Col. 967. To speak all in a word he was a very Devil 5. After this heavy charge what wickedness can be imagined that will not be believed of Photius 'T is none of my business at present to make his defence which would be now the more difficult to be done because all f Vid. Can. 6. Col. 1101 1130 1354. the Acts and Writings for his Justification were sought out and burnt in this fourth Council of C. P. 'T is sufficient for me to observe that Pope Nicholas at first interposed as an Indifferent Arbitrator between him and Ignatius which sure he would never have done if Photius had been guilty of so notorious Crimes he was mainly concerned that himself had not been consulted as for any thing else 't is not easie to observe which side he most inclined to He writes to Photius and tells him he is glad to understand that he is orthodox but is sorry he should from a Laick immediately become a Bishop without passing through the inferiour Orders and this is the onely exception against him His Legates so far approve Photius's Cause that they communicate with him and condemn Ignatius for which indeed they were excommunicated when they came home because the Pope said they had gone beyond their Commission whether this were onely a pretence or that they had really exceeded their Orders In his Epistles to the Emperour as well as to Photius the Pope finds no other fault but that of a Laick he ought not to have been made Patriarch though there had been so late an Example of this in Tarasius besides Saint Ambrose and Nectarius So that the plain truth is Pope Nicholas would have the whole matter reserved to his own decision and he should be the Patriarch whom Nicholas would appoint To say that Photius t Praef. ad Syn. 8. init usurped upon Ignatius is but a Cavil for Ignatius had served John so before as Anastasius confesses and Nicholas v Nich. Ep. 5. does not deny it onely he again urges that himself ought to judge between them In his Epist to Bardas * Ep. 12. he compliments him highly telling him he was exceedingly troubled that a man of his extraordinary character for vertue and piety should be concerned for Photius which sufficiently overthrows the slander that the deposition of Ignatius was procured because he would not approve the Incest of Bardas but excommunicated him for it Pope Nicholas is not consistent with himself in the account he gives of the behaviour of his Legates in this affair sometimes he writes that they informed him * Ep. 6. that they were under restraint and were told of very hard usage designed them but this was onely Rumour in another Epistle he writes that they had been bribed to communicate with Photius and to depose Ignatius but that they both denyed they had done any such thing till at last Zacharias confessed
that he had communicated with Photius and had deposed Ignatius but not a Syllable of any Bribe mentioned Rhadoaldus y Epist 7. Col. 289. 10. Col. 355. the other Legate stood out still and would not confess nor would by any means be persuaded to abide his Tryal but fled for it notwithstanding all the kind words and promises of fair dealing the Pope could give him though in the thirteenth Epistle they are said both to confess the Fact z Col. 381. and afterwards Rhadoaldus flies So little is there to be relied upon in the Invectives against Photius This is certain not a Act. 1 2 3. a Bishop was suffered to sit in the Council called to depose him till he had first subscribed a Writing sent thither from the Pope wherein they denounced Anathema to Photius and condemned his Councils and owned those against him then it can be no wonder if they libel him in the most bitter manner calling him by all the ill names they could think of and treat him in such Terms as could not become them to use whatever he might deserve that nothing might be wanting to the keenness of their malice they made Iambicks upon him which Anastasius has taken care to translate but the Greeks were ashamed of them for their Copy tells us they were ill Verses and so it has omitted them but Anastasius b Act. 7. in sin had no such nice Stomach he knew no distinction of good or bad so they were but against Photius At the end of the ninth Action the Greeks it seems were not so witty in their own malice but Anastasius has supplyed that defect and added some Rhimes of his own I mention this the rather for the honour and antiquity of this way of confutation because a late Authour has turned all the Papists Arguments and all their Railery too into Rhime In Conclusion c Nicetas in vita Ignat. ap Labbé Conc. Tom. 8. the Fathers subscribe his Deposition not with Ink but with Wine consecrated in the Sacrament which is a surer sign of the hatred they bare to Photius than of their belief of Transubstantiation for what malice could transport men to so extravagant Impiety as to profane our Lord 's own bloud to such a use What the Proceedings of this Council were may be sufficiently understood from this which has been but intimated out of it and I need not refer to the account Photius gives but to the Acts themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Phot. Epist 118. And if hitherto they were not daring enough yet it was an unexampled thing to change the Ambassadours and Servants of impious Saracens into High-Priests and to give them the precedency of Patriarchs and to set them up as Heads of their wonderfull Assembly to observe their heat and fury against him He complains of great terrour and violence used in the Synod and that certain Embassadours from the Saracens were received there and took their places as Patriarchs of the East And there is still exstant d Philippi Cyprii Chron. Eccles Graec. cum Com. Henr. Hilarii p. 137. an Epistle of Elias Patriarch of Jerusalem which confirms the Truth of what Photius says in this matter He makes frequent Complaints in his Epistles of the hardships and miseries which himself and his Party endured and declares how unwillingly he entred upon the Patriarchate and professes that if it had been in his own Power he would sooner have chosen to dye than to venture on so high and difficult a station and was now ready to resign and he makes these complaints not to any friend at a distance from Court or who could be a stranger to his Affairs but to Bardas the man who is said to have conspired with him to get Ignatius deposed if that were true what need could he have to make such pressing solicitations to one so deeply engaged in his Interest and how ridiculous would such Protestations be could he be so forsaken of all modesty and common sense as to tell the very man e Epist 3. 6. who contrived the whole business with him how great a force and reluctancy he had upon himself in consenting to be made Patriarch Theophanes f Epist 83. his Deacon and Prothonotary was put to the Torture that by any means he might be compelled to accuse Photius which he afterwards lamented and besought his pardon Photius g Epist 174. gives a large description of his miseries in an Epistle which he wrote to the Bishops while he was in Banishment And all this he suffered for his Loyalty h Zonar Annal Leo Grammat Chronograph to his Prince for he was deposed because he refused to receive Basilius to Communion after he had murthered Michael the Emperour Whoever considers his unshaken Loyalty and reads his Writings will not easily believe that he could be so notorious a Villain as he is represented but if so much wickedness could meet in one man in one Bishop yet how improbable is it that the whole Greek Church should respect and reverence this Bishop as a Saint or that Pope John the Eighth after his cause had been so narrowly examined and his Enemies had said and done their utmost should yet think him a man of an orthodox Faith and an unblameable Life and compare him to St. Athanasius St. Cyrill and St. Chrysostome But he had discovered that his Predecessours had been imposed upon or that something more severe must be said of them and so are all those imposed upon or would impose upon others who give us so monstrous a Character of so excellent a Man. He is charged with having corrupted the Acts of the Councils which restored him and particularly those passages which import that this fourth Council of C. P. was cancelled by that But is it a sure proof of Corruption and Forgery if Copies differ as the Greek and Latin Copies often do The next Question will be where the Forgery lies and who is to be taxed with it To go no farther the Version of Anastasius and the Greek Original of this fourth Council of C. P. differ very much for besides other Variations there are twenty seven Canons in the Latin and but fourteen in the Greek yet both of them must pass for authentick enough though the seventeenth of the additional Canons will give the French some pains to reconcile it to the practice of their Church For it appoints that all Metropolitans shall meet in Council at the summons of their Patriarch notwithstanding any prohibition from the secular Magistrate and that Princes should not be present in any but General Councils both which are contrary to the Practice of the French Church For their Princes are wont to be present in their National and Provincial Synods and their Bishops if they be detained by command from the King think that a sufficient excuse for absenting themselves from any Synod their Patriarch shall call them to Two eminent
Prelates of that Church de Marca and Bosquet have endeavoured to explain this Canon so as to justifie their own Doctrine and Practice but Christianus Lupus was so little satisfied with the attempt that he exclaimes against it as becoming rather Eusebius of Nicomedia or Acacius of Caesarea than Bishops of the Gallican Church and whereas they alledge the Authority of Hincmare of Rhemes he plainly says that they might as well have alledged Luther's testimony against the Council of Trent Natalis Alex. interposes to mediate the business and would willingly make up the Debate with what success let Lupus's Party judge But still these Canons must be all acknowledged authentick though they are not in the Greek but if the Greek differ from the Latin in any thing material that goes in the least against the Church of Rome loud Outcries are presently made of Falshood and Forgery For the Charge here seems to lye not against Photius alone but against all the Greeks in general even from the second to the eighth General Council So Anastasius i Praef. in Conc. C.P. IV. col 972. complains that they had falsified the second the third the fourth the sixth the seventh General Councils and he suspects that they might use the same fraud as to the eighth Nay they did so The sly Greeks k Anastas not ad Action 1. col 989. stole away the Subscriptions which they had made in the beginning of this Council and though they restored them after they were discovered Omne quod ad laudem Serenissimi nostri Caesaris sancctissimus Dominus Hadrianus in Epistola sui decessoris Arsenlo Episcopo imminente adjecerat c. Guilielmus quidam alter Bibliothecarius continuator Anastasii in Adrian II. p. 389. yet at the end of the Council they had shewn them such another trick if Anastasius had not been too cunning for them They had already taken out some expressions which Adrian the Second foisted into an Epistle of his Predecessour and so they had robbed the Western Emperour of all the fine things which the present Pope had made his Predecessour say of him but Anastasius who with another as cunning as himself by great Providence as 't was thought was there found out the wrong done the Emperour and great Clamours were raised about it nor would the Legates at last subscribe otherwise than conditionally Vsque ad voluntatem ejusdem eximii Praesulis l Anastasii Continuat in Adrian II. p. 339. As far as it was the desire of that worthy Prelate which may convince us what a noise has used to be made of Forgery against the Greeks of whatever Party for Basilius and Ignatius we see are not exempted the whole Greek Church of all Ages is accused of these fraudulent Practices which assures us that there have been such Practices on one side and which side the fraud lyes may easily be determined if we consider that the passages pretended to have been forged were received by all other Churches and are not now denyed to be genuine by the most learned men in the Church of Rome as has been shewn T is no new thing to hear of Complaints of Forgery when any thing goes against the Church of Rome and Photius is not the first man that has been blackned to make the Charge find a more easie belief 6. Well! But Photius has before been guilty of making alterations in an Epist of Pope Nicholas m Epist 6 10. as that Pope complains Very likely and that he might be sure not to be discovered it was sent n Ibid. back again falsified to the Pope with the Acts of Photius's Council This is such an odd kind of Cheat that it lays one thing to his charge which his worst enemies never durst brand him with and is so great an Instance of Folly that it ruines all the rest of the Character they have been pleased to bestow upon him for it is acknowledged on all hands that he was peculiarly eminent for his Learning and for that which his Enemies call subtilty and his Friends wisedom That John the eighth did consent that Photius should be Patriarch is not denyed nor that he sent his Legates with Instructions for that purpose as both his Epistles and his Commonitorium certifie So far no Forgery is pretended but they say John never consented to the abrogating of the fourth Council of C. P. and that if the Legates consented to any such thing they went beyond their Commission but they rather incline to think that though the Legates were guilty of too much connivance and so betrayed the Trust reposed in them yet the Acts of the Council that restored Photius are falsified as the Epistles of John the eighth are in all those passages which speak any thing in derogation to this fourth Council of C. P. 7. But first it is certain that the restoring of Photius and the owning him not onely for a Patriarch but even for a Bishop onely is so far a derogation to this Council which fourth Canon decrees that Photius is no Bishop and pronounceth all his Episcopal Acts void so that the Council which afterwards by the consent and approbation of John the eighth acknowledges Photius for a Bishop and a Patriarch too does most certainly declare this whole Canon null and bids fair towards the justifying all that is pretended to be forged in John's Epistles I cannot think the Alterations in these Epist by whomsoever they were made are so ancient as Photius's time perhaps they may be much later than Ivo Carnutensis but if they be of so ancient date and if it be true that this Pope afterwards recalled his approbation and renounced communion with Photius and anathematized him and his own Legates for no other reason but because he was laugh'd at for a Tame-man o Bin. Not. in vit Joh. Octavi Andr. Schot Praef. ad Photii Bibliothecam and in mockery called a Woman Pope Pope Joan instead of Pope John if he was so weak and unconstant so soon to contradict his own Epistles and his Commonitorium which are confessed to have been sent on purpose to restore Photius for no other reason but because he was upbraided with casting such a reflexion upon his two Predecessours Nicholas the First and Adrian the Second the sworn Enemies of Photius he might then be willing to have his Epistles so altered as to make him most consistent with his Predecessours and with himself But much more would he be inclined to be consenting to such an alteration if there were other motives more forcible for the Truth is Photius was the great Champion for the Liberties of the Greek Church and therefore he must be sure to enjoy no favour from the Church of Rome which began to be as angry with Ignatius when he shewed himself in the same cause For the first breach between the Greek and Latin Churches was occasioned by contentions about Jurisdiction though afterwards it spread it self farther