c 18 Num. in Edit 6.55 Epistle of Innocent the first to Alexander wherein he declares that the Cyprians are not wise according to the Faith unless they subject themselves to the Patriarch of Antioch it was decreed that what the Patriarch of Antioch attempted was praeter-canonical and therefore the Holy and Universal Synod declares that all Letters brought by him against the Cyprians were void So in the 178 Canon of the Code of the Universal Church d Et Tom. 2. Ephesin Append. 1. cap 4. In the Council of Chalcedon Act. 18. the Legats of Leo the first contradicted the Priviledges of the Constantinopolitan Patriarch but because they were according to the Canon of the fifty Holy Fathers assembled at Constantinople Leo 1. withstanding it was Synodically defined for the Patriarch of Constantinople These out of the Acts of the four general Councils which a Can. sicut Dist 16. Gregory receives as the four Books of the Holy Evangel yea as Cardinal Deus-dedit i. e. God-gave observeth in his Collection of Canons there was an ancient form of the Popes Oath which is yet extant b Can. sicut Dist 16. wherein hee sweareth that he will observe the four Councils to a title out of which the most learned c In Consult Venet Leschasserius wittily infers That the Pope of Rome cannot by right contend that hee is above those Canons of the Councils unless hee arrogate to himself a power above the four Evangels Agreeable to this oath of the Pope is the ancient Profession of d Can. Cont. Statut 5. q. 5. Pope Zozimus The Authority of this See cannot ordain or change any thing against the decrees of the Fathers And e Ibidem Canon sunt quidam Pope Urban Where the Holy Fathers have judicially defined any thing there the Pope of Rome ought not to give a new Law but to the hazard of life and blood confirm rather what is published The f Can. 8. Ephesine Council expresly orders that every single Church of the Provinces should have its rights preserved Hence arise the Appeals ab abusu and exceptions against the new Oecumenical commands So the Gallick Bishops under Ludovicus Pius except formally in these words against certain new Laws That they will obey them unless the Authority of the ancient Canons order otherwise And g Tract de Libert Eccles Leschasserius hath another honest note concerning the Gallick Nation That it was the usual manner of the Gallick Church to profess That shee acknowledged not the Pope of Rome but legitimately and canonically Which is the restriction of the Universal Church as hee there learnedly proveth Hence the African Fathers in a h Cap. 105. Synod under Boniface and Coelestine refuse to obey the commands of those Popes because they found it ordained by no Synod of the Fathers that any such thing should bee done And that I may pass by Hincmarus in i Tom. 10. Anno 878. num 30. Baronius who saith Hee receives the decrees of the Popes approved by Holy Councils and Gerbertus afterward called a Eod. Tom. Anno 992. N. 42. Sylvester the second accepting the decrees of the Apostolical See with this clause so they bee not dissonant from these Canons Illustrious was the testimony of St. Ignatius the Constantinopolitan and so of the whole Church approving his fact even to this day in b Tom. 10. Anno 818. N. 48. Baronius For he passed by with a deaf ear the Pope excommunicating him unless within thirty daies he recalled his Priests out of Bulgaria And Baronius doth not think Ignatius excommunicate for that command not fulfilled because hee defended the right of his Church as hee was bound by oath on the hazard of life eternal Therefore of greater authority is a Canon granting priviledge to the Church of Constantinople than a command of the Pope even Baronius being Judge See the very learned Collections of Vigorius Comment in Reipub. Synodal p. 26 46 22. And because Hincmarus a most constant Defender of the Canons is bitterly taxed by Baronius Dunallius and many more Neotericks I would have the Reader take notice that hee is praised by c Ad An. 109. N. 42. Baronius Tom. 2. as a man very famous for learning and piety Look Cassand lib. De Officio pii viri They which make the Pope of Rome little less than God and exalt his authority not onely above the whole Church but above the Divine Scripture it self and constitute his decree equal to the Divine Oracles yea the infallible Rule of Faith I see no reason why you may not call them Pseudo-Catholicks and Papists b That the withdrawing from the Ecclesiastical Magistracy of the Roman Church is deservedly reputed Schismatical I will confirm by the testimonies of Cassander and the Arch-Bishop of Spalato yet writing in England which may seem to arise rather from the desert of the thing than their blind affection toward the Roman Church Cassander saith thus in Tract De Officio pii viri Very many of them who have assumed their name from the Evangel despise utterly that party which hath retained the ancient name of Catholicks and the Roman Church and fly off from all communion with it nor do they account it a member of the same body but abominate it as the very body of Satan and Antichrist This I know truly and lament and do not see how they that are such can be exempted from the imputation of Schism And hee observeth that Luther himself at first confessed as much yea and afterward when made more fierce by the Popes Bull hee did not deny that the Roman Church wherein the Roman Pontifie swayed was the true Church of Christ although hee proclaimed the Governours of it as the Pope Cardinals c. not Members but Tyrants and Enemies of the Church For be it that the Pope is the Antichrist who Paul teacheth is to sit in the true Temple and true Church of God yet wee must abide in the true Church that the evil Pastour may be cast out of it for by our departure from the Church hee shall not the sooner be put out of doors Beside know That it is one thing to recede from communion with the Pope another from communion with the Church for in case of Heresie declared the Canons perswade and command both to adhere to her Canons and to separate ones-self from every Bishop that teacheth amiss To this purpose may be read the Canons of the Universal Church the third Canon of the Ephesine Council Wee command those Clerks who either have or do disunite by no means to obey their Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor at all in any manner to bee subject unto them And Can. 1. A Metropolitane being an Heretick can do nothing against the Bishops of his Province And Synod Constant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can. 13. They that separate themselves from communion with their Prelate being condemned for Heresie by the Holy Fathers or Synods
Select Discourses concerning 1. Councils the Pope Schism 2. The Priviledges of the Isle of Great Britain 3. The Popes Primacy and the Supream Power of Kings both in Temporals and also Spirituals accordingly as they put on the quality of Temporals and are means for the hindring or procuring the safety of the Republick By F. Barnes of the Order of St. Benedict LONDON Printed by R. I. 1661. TO THE READER Friend I Was put upon the inquiry after the Manuscript of this moderate Romanist our Country-man F. Barnes by the double * Posit 4. reference Dr. Basier makes to it in his Marginal Annotations With some difficulty I at last recovered a Copy of it the same as I remember the Doctour himself used at the composure of his Diatribe which then was with much secrecy conveyed from hand to hand none of us daring to own the having it upon apprehension of some question or inconvenience from the Popes Nuncio in Paris the Authour himself being under his Holinesse's high displeasure and as was said and still is in the severe Discipline of the Inquisition for it Though I presume they will not hold their hand from chastising him nor with-hold a censure from any other of their own communion yet I see no reason why they should so much as blame us for improving our advantage by such ingenuous means as a meer Collection of what hath passed the Press in their publick Writings which might have been made by any man that had leisure and curiosity enough for the search Beside those two Chapters the Doctor sends us to I have excerpd a third which I found significant unto our purpose The benefit that may arrive to you by all is this From the first a satisfaction in or encouragement to your Communion with that Church which subjects her self to the spiritual Authority of Councils and Bishops and Priests those Powers at first ordained by God and continued by a succession uninterrupted among all regular and Catholick Christians in the World By the second are asserted to you those Priviledges of the Britannick Church so as you will be obliged to justifie her yea though a Romanist in the exemption she pretends to from the Pope's Jurisdiction with whom yet she denies not but that Christian-Communion might be held and why it is not you will understand from the Confessions of his own party From the third you will collect the reason why the Oath of Supremacy is imposed upon you and know your indispensable obligation to it no spiritual person upon earth having power to absolve you from it My indeavours were not wanting though successeless on the other side to get a Transcript of that Chapter in Mr. Justell's work of which the Doctour had great expectation as you may read in my Letter which I communicated that you might know the first occasion given of his writing the Diatribe touching the Liberty of our Church The Reverend person who was pleased to take the trouble of it a long time cherished my hopes relying upon his own interest in and some promise I think from Mr. Justell's Son who is possessed of the Books and Papers his Father writ and some say of the learned abilities by which he did At length I was remitted to the Book it self said to be in the Press from which the sheets that were for my purpose could not be spared Whether that reference were a mistake or delusion I cannot tell nor shall make my self so much concerned in it as to inquire being more certainly now inform'd that the foresaid Book is some enlargement upon the Councils Mr. Chr. Justell long since published and that hee hath left his Geographia Sacro-Politica not half finished which so imperfect the learned Gentleman his Son thinks not fit to print so that I beleeve wee are to hope for little help from that hand If what you here have be not sufficient God be thanked the Church of England wants not men highly qualified to accomplish what ere it was Mr. Justell designed in her behalf from whom it may be lookt for when they see cause to intend it In the mean time accept with gratitude what is already done and be instructed by it a Dieu Yours RI. WATSON CHAP. I. Concerning Councils the Pope Schism WEE must obey and submit our selves to Powers ordained by God for the Government of his Church such as are Councils a Bishops Priests to all which obedience prescribed by Canons is to be given so that wee may not gain-say their decrees or opinions canonically delivered for hee receiveth damnation to himself whosoever resisteth the Ordinance of God Roman 13. And as in the Republick it is Rebellion to oppose the command of the Civil Magistrate therefore because he is obnoxious to errour so is it not void of Schism in the Church to withdraw from the Ecclesiastical Magistrate under a pretence of errour b actual or possible it being not clearly proved in a legitimate sense Be it therefore that onely the written Word of God is of necessity infallible and that Bishops and Councils may erre yet until their errour may be convinced in judgement they must be obeyed for avoiding of Schism no less than the Civil Magistrate unconvicted of errour yea obedience is yeelded him while hee errs Now of Catholick Tribunals a Council is supream unto which the Pope all Bishops and beside them all faithful people are obliged to resign themselves in things spiritual yea if the Pope should pertinaciously withstand a decree of Faith in an Oecumenick Council hee would be presumed an Heretick and separation from him as from an Heretick may be made without the character of Schism by denying him obedience fellowship and communion especially after the declaration of the Church according to prescript and Rule of the Canons Paralipomena a SEE my Tractate concerning the Supremacy of Councils wherein I have proved out of the Scriptures and perpetual practice of the Church that Popes are subject to the Canons That the Deacons of Rome preferring themselves before Priests against the eighteenth Canon of the Council of Nice the Pope seeing and consenting St. Hierom Epist 85. ad Evagr. calls men without sense or reason Why saith hee do yee alledge to mee the custome of one City why vindicate you a small number of which this pride is sprung against the Laws of the Church Augustin in Q. Vet. Nov. Test q. 10. styles the same Deacons somewhat immodest in that they live neither by Law Custome nor Example but because they are Ministers of the Roman Church think themselves more venerable than any other In the second Synod Flavianus being excommunicated by the Bishop of Rome as the a Lib. 10. cap. 10. Tripartite history shews is restored against his will by the first Synod as appears by a Synodal Epistle in b Lib. 5. cap. 9. Theodoret according to the Prescript of the Nicene Law and Decision as the Canon requires In the third general Synod notwithstanding the
that is hee preaching Heresie publickly they shall not onely not be subject to Canonical punishment before a hearing in the Synod having separated themselves from communion with him who is called their Bishop but shall be accounted worthy of the honour meet for Orthodox persons for they have not condemned their Bishops but their Pseudo-Episcopal teachers nor have they rent by Schism the union of the Church but have endeavoured to free the Church from Schisms and Divisions The same speaks the single Canon of the Carthaginian Synod under Cyprian which is extant in Balsamon and Zonaras joyned to the Synod of Carthage Videatur Canon 6. 9 32 33. Laodicenus 9. Canon P. Timothei Alexandrini CHAP. 2. Concerning the Priviledges OF THE Isle of Great Britain WHat some have writ is truly to be lamented That the Kings of Great Britain are Feudataries of the See Apostolick and consequently subject to the Holy Pope as Monarch independent on the Canons as well in Temporals as Spirituals whereby they have too much exasperated them and alienated them from their Obedience to His Holiness and Roman-Catholick Communion It were here to be wished that the Holy Pope would yeeld somewhat to the publick peace and safety of Great Britain and be content that the most Serene King and Kingdome of Great Britain might be admitted to the Communion of the Holy Roman Church without any actual dependance on the Sovereignty of the Holy Pope until at least in a full and free Council a remedy might be gotten for this mis-fortune Now I shall assign a threefold Theological Foundation out of which with submission to better judgement appears that such a Council is probable and convenient to be assembled A The first is a grievous fear which the wiser Politicians conceive as affairs stand in Britain from an actual subjection to be yeelded to the See Apostolick and truly who would not fear to be subject unto him that if you displease him can in a little half hours space take away Kingdome and Life and Reputation and is able to arm his Catholick Subjects against him The second foundation is because adhering to the decrees of the Councils of Constance and Basil which have declared them to bee accounted Hereticks who maintain B That the Pope is not subject to General Councils it seems in practice the modern Popes are to be accounted C Hereticks especially since they pertinaciously defend the Heresie which the said Fathers condemned by censures of the Bull in Coena Which I speak not to raise a controversie against His Holiness but humbly to insinuate a probable foundation of pacifying so illustrious a Kingdome and aggregating it to the Catholick Church The third is because by the Ephesine Canon the ancient priviledges of Churches ought to be conserved yea if ravished away by force to be recovered Now the Isle of Britain in times past hath enjoyed the Cyprian priviledge that it should be subject to the Law of no D Patriarch although this priviledge was heretofore abolished by the tumults and violence of wars yet whereas in the time of Henry the eighth it hath been recalled by the consent of the whole Kingdome and since that time peaceably prescribed it seems that for peace-sake it ought to be retained without the loss of Catholicism or the brand of any Schism so that in other things the Kingdome conform it self to the Universal Canons and Customes of the Catholick Church These things I humbly suggest to His Holiness ready to bee corrected by Him if in any particular I have erred from the truth Paralipomena A SEarch the resolution of the a Bochel in Decret dict 1. Gal. l. 5. Tit. 5. Cap. 5. ss 3. Gallican Church in the Council of Tours 1510. under Lewis 12. where the question is put Whether for notorious hatred and unjust assault it be lawful for a Prince to withdraw himself from the obedience of the Pope attending so long until the Pope have stirred up other Princes and Communities yea and hath attempted to compel them to invade the Countries and Dominions of the said Prince It was concluded by the Council That the Prince may substract himself from the obedience of such a Pope and withdraw for the maintenance and defence only of his temporal rights And Gerson b Tract de Auferibilitate Papae ab Ecclesia Consid 14. excellently If there be any one who would convert his Presidence and Papal dignity into an instrument of wickedness and destruction of some part of the Church in Temporals or Spirituals and that there appear no other sufficient remedy but by withdrawing himself from such a raging and self-abusing Pope and this for a time until the Church or a Council shall provide This shall be lawful yet so as that a certain pious necessity urgeth to do it The same hee asserteth in the question Whether in controversies of Faith it be lawful to appeal from the Pope where hee saith The like substractions were approved by the holy Council of Constance and that so was practised in the council of Pisa from which the c In Ep. apud Nyem lib. 3. c. 34. Cardinal of Liege writing saith that what was just before affirmed by Gerson is most assured and alledgeth for himself Augustin Ambrose Bede and others And Gerson saith that this Proposition of Petrus de Luna That it is never lawful to make a substraction from the true Pope was reputed Heretical in the Council of Constance Now whether the causes of substraction in the Kingdome of Great Britain are sufficient is not a matter of Faith but Fact wherein wee must stand to the reasons and authority of the more wise and skilful persons For the Prelates of the Church when the question is concerning the admission of penitents to the Communion and Sacraments of the Church ought not especially in matters of fact to be so tenacious of their own opinion Let them beware lightly to condemn of mortal sin when as in the practick for a strong reason or authority the opinion of the penitent might be probable Unto which the practick being laid down by reason of some circumstance or the possession of some other Confessours ought to conform themselves in their own opinion For surely they are not alwaies obliged to follow the safer opinion if it bee the more rigid if they follow one that is safe it is enough but if the opinion of the Penitent be not accounted very safe let Confessours consider whether they may leave him in ignorance with discharge of their trust In doubtful cases Confessours ought to follow the more favourable opinion for their penitents sake a In Sum. De Sacr. poenit ca. 26. num 8. So Henriques a Divine of the Society of Jesus out of Navarre Sylvester and Cordubensis whom hee cites and followeth I suppose it to bee accounted an opinion not onely probable but certain among Writers who favour the party of the B Holy Pope C That that Faith is to be
of Bede and Polydore Virgil confesseth That Britain had publickly received the whole Evangile not onely in the time of Marcus Antoninus Verus under King Lucius but asserts also out of b Lib. de excid Britan. Gildas from the beginning of the Gospel Out of Polydore Virgil That the Britains had received the Religion of Christ from Blessed Joseph of Arimathea See thereupon c In Desens Hist Britan. Bilsius and d In 6. primi secul cap 1. Harpsfield With Gildas not onely Tertullian giveth suffrage but also e Hom. 4. in Ezechiel Origen yea and f In secunda Apol. contra Arian St. Athanasius glorieth That Bishops passed out of Britain to the Council of Sardis wherein Athanasius's absolution was obtained And in his Epistle to Jovinian then Emperour which is extant in g Cap. 42. Nicephorus Calixtus's tenth Book of Ecclesiastical History he proves that hee communicates with the Catholicks diffused through the world and among others with the Spanish Britannick and Gallick Churches which hee saith by common consent receive the Catholick Faith of Athanasius Hierom in his 85th Epistle Both Gaule and Britain adore one Christ observe one Rule of Truth The same thing teacheth a In Orat. contr Gent. Chrysostome And that Catholick Bishops came from Britain to the Council of Ariminum is manifest out of Severus Sulpitius Theodoret b In Chron. Hierome Ruffinus Socrates Zozomen c In 15. Primi seculi cited by Harpsfield That the Britannick Church kept this Communion and unity of Rule with the Gallicane to the coming of St. Augustin into England and afterward I have proved in a large Tractate concerning the Primacy of Councils and it appears out of the first book of the History of the English Nation d Cap. 20. Hist 6 prim sec Harpsfield and other English Writers That the Gallick Church sent into Britain St. German and Lupus before the coming of Augustin into England to succour the Britannick Church And e Lib. 3. cap. 7. Bede relates That Aegilbert a Gallick Bishop resided no small time in Ireland being imployed in reading upon the Scripture Moreover it appears out of f Hist lib. 4. Bede g Hist 7. Seculi cap. 36. Harpsfield Surius and others That Hilda the Nunne of Calice was sent into England by St. Aidan and had communicated with the Britannick Church But on the other side presently when as she lived in the Monastery at Calice That St. Malo Brendan Samson Polensis about the year 550. communicated with the Gallick and Aremorick Churches moreover with the Britannick and Irish as appears out of h C. 26.27 Hist Harpsfield among other things Argentraus and such like Writers And that St. Turseus did the same Ceadde Fislan Vetan Eustathius Disciple of St. Columban Disigod Fridegund Cedwall King Oswald Wigbert Fiakre Willebrod Columban who communicated with both Church the Britannick and Gallick The Britannick Church therefore in the time of St. Augustin the Apostle as they call him of England was Catholick and consequently the Scotick or Irish for it is evident out of a L. 2. c. 4. Hist Bede That the Irish whom they call'd Scots lead the like course of life and profession and afterward The Scots differed nothing in conversion from the Britains Now it appears out of b L. 1. Hist c. 7. Bede in the place last cited and otherwise as also c Hist l. 3. Henry of Huntington That neither Britains nor Scots would communicate with the English and their Bishop Augustin more than with Pagans as Huntington speaks and the reason was because Augustin seemed to deal with them uncanonically by constraining them to receive him for their Arch-Bishop and to submit themselves to the mandates of Foreigners when as the ancient manners of their Church required that they should act all things Synodically among themselves as in their Ordinations of Bishops so in other affairs of the Church their words out of d L. 2. Eccles Hist c. 2. Bede are Because they cannot without the consent and license of their Clergy so assembled renounce their ancient manners when as this appears to be against the sixth Nicene Canon which commands ancient manners to be kept and the eighth of the Ephesine Council which will not have the rights of Churches taken away and if they be taken away even by what Patriarch soever his fact is declared void and command is given him that hee restore the Province which hee hath made his own In the mean time what are the manners of the Britannick Church appears out of c L. 3. c. 3. Bede St. Oswald the King an observer of the Scotick and Britannick communion desiring to have a Bishop by whose learning and Ministry hee might be ruled the English Nation sent unto the Ancients of the Scots they begin to hold a great Treaty in Council what should bee done They decree Aidan worthy of the Episcopate and so ordaining him send him to preach Which custome continued a long time in Ireland as appears out of Sylvester Girald and the Topographie of Ireland a Dist 3. c. â—7 In Ireland the Bishops only consecrated one another to the time of Eugenius the 3d. wherein Papirio was sent Legate to constitute Arch-Bishops there And both in b Lib. 3. Huntington and c L. 2. Hist Bede it is manifest that the Scots and Britains act all their businesses by common consent As evident it is out of Baronius at the year 1089. In the end of that year Lanfrank Arch-Bishop of Canterbury relates in an Epistle to Serdalnac King of Ireland That the customes of the Kingdome were that Bishops might be consecrated by one Bishop Yea that the Britannick Churches were Catholick in the Judgement of Augustin himself with whom they would not communicate appears out of d L. 2. Hist c. 2. Bede for Augustin offers the Bishops of Britain his communion if they would conform themselves to the Roman Church in the ceremonies of Baptism and observation of Easter which shew that the Britains agree with Augustin in matters of Faith About this by the way mark a lapse of Bede for in his Book concerning the sixth Age Anno Mundi 4585. hee writes That the Scots were Quartodecimans and yet e L. 3. c. 4. Bede saith That they celebrated Easter on the Lords day on which it is manifest Anatolius Patriarch of Constantinople celebrated it who is asserted to have delivered to them his use The ancient manners of Britain were abrogated more by the force and power of the English Saxons then Synodical consent which those most holy men Colman and his fellows seeing had rather desert their Bishop and Monasteries than their ancient manners of living as a L. 3. cap. 16. Bede relates Since these things had been so the three States of England willing to retrive the ancient Rites of the Kingdome taken away more by force and power than by Canon by concession of the
received for Catholick so as the opposite is heretical and they accused of Heresie that defend the same which is delivered as such by the definition of an Oecumenick Council approved by an undoubted Pope But when as b De Locis l. 5. c. 4. Conclus 3. Canus c Lib. 4. De Rom. Pontif. cap. 2. Bellarmine c. do every where confess But when as the d Sess 4. 5. Council of Constance approved by the * Sess 16. Bull of Martin 5. and e Sess 2. that of Basil confirmed for legitimate by the Bull of Eugenius determine the Pope to be under an Oecumenick Council it is at least probable that the opposite to it is Heresie Chronicon Chronicorum the work of a learned nameless Writer in the time of Eugenius the fourth and one that favoured him writes That Eugenius by Apostolick Letters approved their decrees So likewise Platina in Eugenius and it is a matter very well known to him that reads the Bulls The University of Paris in an appeal against Leo the tenth saith That the condemnation of the Council of Basil is against the Catholick Faith f T. 2. Comment de Gest Concil Basil 9. Aeneas Sylvius reports That an Almoner to the King of Arragon a Bishop of Eureux an Abbot of Virgiliac and a Bishop of Lubec when they perceived their hour of death to approach having called many grave men to them in the very presence of Christs body which they were presently to receive and before whose Tribunal within few hours to appear spake thus All you who are present pray yee God that hee would convert them who acknowledge Gabriel for the Holy Pope because in that state they cannot be saved professing in their own behalf That they died in the Faith of the Council of Basil Lewis Cardinal of Arles a man famous for learning and miracles calls Eugenius a Devastatour of the Church and those that adhere to him men departing from the truth of the Faith And on the contrary hee saith Those that adhere to the Council of Basil will not refuse to dye for the truth of the Faith and traditions of the Holy Fathers Aeneas Sylvius in the same place calls the Anti-Synodal sentence The Eugenian Heresie The Council of Pisa among these in Bochellus calls Cajetans little Book concerning the Authority of the Pope because it is against the Councils of Constance Basil and Pisa and against John Gerson the best defender of the Church suspected and full of injuries and Cajetan for it is termed a bold and dangerous man And the most learned man Vigorius witnesseth That in the Pragmatical Sanction of Charls the seventh the Decrees of the Council of Basil were received with the consent of all the Orders of France the Gallican Church and Universities Moreover Pius the second in Bulla retract witnesseth That honour is given to the Council of Basil by men almost of all Nations so that Vigorius truly related in the cited place That it was pronounced by the best Lawyers whom hee quotes an arrogant and sacrilegious thing to demur at the things approved by the Council of D Constance or the Conciliary authority it self See the Speech of St. Robert of Lincoln in Westminster Matth. Paris 1253. Polychronicon Fabian and Harpsfield who thinks it would be the greatest sort of pertinacy in the holy Pontifies to compel men by censures and excommunications to embrace those things which are bad and which fight against faith and good manners But the Bull in Coena forbidding appeals to General Councils under pain of excommunication doth in effect forbid them to be above the Pope for as the Lawyers teach It were open iniquity and against the Law of Nature to prohibit an appeal unto him who is acknowledged to be Superiour Hee therefore that will seem holily to take away Appeals to Councils by censures potentially takes away their Supremacy and highest power over the Popes These are the words of Westminster relating to the year 1254. under Henry the third Hee grievously reproves as well the Friars Preachers as the Minours saying That therefore their order is constituted in voluntary poverty that they might more freely rebuke great ones for their errour But in that they do not reprehend the sins of great persons hee said They were manifest Hereticks and added Heresie is an opinion chosen by humane sense contrary to Holy Scripture openly taught obstinately defended But to give cure of souls to a little childe is the opinion of a certain Prelate chosen by humane sense for carnal reason or through rashness and it is contrary to Holy Scripture which prohibits Pastours to be made who are not meet to drive away the Wolves And it is openly taught because it is manifestly carried in sealed or embossed Paper Chartâ sigillatâ vel bullata And it is obstinately defended because if any one would contradict it and doth not contradict it hee sinneth and seems to be a favourer of errour according to that of Gregory Hee wants not a scruple of close co-partnership who ceaseth to oppose a manifest wickedness These things hee spake upon occasion of the Popes Letters appointing to have somewhat done which seemed unjust for a Bishop of the Church and dissonant from reason The Judgement of Westminster concerning St. Robert is of this sort This Robert having a good zeal unto the Lord and his neighbour although hee vexed much his Canonicks and darted lightning terribly against the Religious of both Sexes yet I confidently averre That his vertues have pleased God more than his excesses have displeased him which now is manifest by the miracles shining forth at his tomb And that although our Lord the Pope being very much moved at deeds and words of that sort determined to precipitate him into confusion that hee might become an astonishment and an Example of trembling to the whole world yet at length being mollified by better counsel permitted him to passe away without taking any notice of it lest he might seem to raise a greater tumult hereupon Thus hee See the Authors before cited I think I shall do what will bee acceptable to such as are studious of Antiquity if I here briefly transcribe out of my Tractate some few things by which it may appear that the Britains and Scots whom wee call Irish before the coming of Augustin into England were Catholicks and enjoyed the same Priviledges in the Western Church as wherewith the Cyprians were honoured in the Eastern Gildas the Wise writeth That Britain almost from the age of the Apostles had Bishops who communicated with the rest of the world in a Pacificis formatis Pacifique and formed letters even from the beginning of the Gospel Tertullian in his Book against the Jews Num. 43. of Pamelius's Edition after hee hath reckoned up all the Catholick Churches throughout the world adds And the Britains holds inaccessible to the Romans are subdued to the yoak of Christ And Pamelius upon the said place out
whence hee likewise hath breath And chap. 35. I subject the Emperour onely to God And chap. 34. Lord under God or representative of God Dominus vice Dei And to Scapula chap. 2. Hee is man next to God less than onely God greater than all while less than God alone This he Concerning this let the Disputation at large bee viewed in the Author of the d 3. Par. De Pot. Pontif. pag. 416. q. 3. Apologie for Andrew Dunal wherein the Parliamentary Custome in France is defended against the 25th Section of the third Canon in the Council of Trent according to the sense of Dunallius who argues out of e Rom. 13. Act. 25. Paul and f Chrys in 13. Rom. Chrysostom And the Gloss also maintains That Clerks and Monks are subjected to the commands of secular Princes and to be governed by their Laws so far as they pertain to the common society of living in a Kingdome that most of all cherisheth peace and tranquillity which cannot but oblige Clerks so that necessarily they ought to obey them their Clericate notwithstanding And by what right hee saith that concerning the Ecclesiastick and spiritual personages of Clerks hee ought to aver the same concerning their corporeal actions yea their sacred and spiritual And this Doctrine as at large is proved in the said Apology both Chrysostome and the Gloss assert in the cited places Beside the reasons which are brought by a L. 5. De Rom. Pontif. Bellarmin out of Scriptures and Fathers to prove That sometimes the temporal Power is subjected to the Ecclesiastick in order to a spiritual end prove also That the Ecclesiastick is subjected to the Temporal in order to a Temporal end as often as it may hinder or conduce necessarily unto it b L. 1. c. 3. contr Parmenian Augustin also expresly inculcates this Doctrine and calls them most unskilful people that contradict it c In Tract de Jurisd Imperat. Occam in his cases of Matrimony speaks thus To say That Spiritual causes no way pertain to a faithful Emperour is judged erroneous by some and hee saith The Spirituals about which precisely the Episcopal Power is conversant are the Spirituals which are delivered onely in the Divine Scriptures and which are no way common to the faithful and unfaithful And d Dialog cap. 99. otherwhere hee saith It is evident That they who perturb the peace of the Church ought to bee suppressed by secular Powers And herein the e Cap. 15. q. 5. c. Princeps Gloss is of the same sense with Occam The same hath f C. 3. q. 1.2 quale Pope Pelagius And g P. De potest Pap. c. 14. Joan. Parisiens When the Pope in Spirituals as the Simonaick collation of Benefices by evil teaching c. scandalizeth the Church nor is there any other remedy the Emperour being required ought to proceed against the Pope And the h Sess 2. Council of Basil yeelds a jurisdiction of punishing contemners of the Canons by the secular Magistrate i Par. 3. q. 3. De Pot. Pap. Dunallius saith That it is offensive unto Kings to say A Clerk that is a Parricide Sorcerer Traitour one that lyeth in wait for the life of his Prince cannot be punished by a secular Judge And these things are not to be maintained in France The Gloss on Rom. 13. citeth Hierome upon Jeremiah k Vid. Rhemens de Pot. Reg. cap. 7. l In 9. Abus Cyprian saith That Princes ought to defend their Churches even against the abuses of Prelates Pope Sylvester the fifth teacheth it after Innocentius And m Lib 2. de Concil cap. 19. ult Paludan Tract de Pot. Pap. Turrecremat l. 3. de Eccles 106. Jacobat l. 8. A 3. n. 6 Hostiens Antonin quos citat Dâ—â—al par â— 9 11. p. 8 5. Cajetan opusc de Pap concil c. 2â— Symmach de Haeret c. 3. ss 3. Et c. 44. ss 31. Panormitan in c. sicut debuit jurando Bellarmin The Pope destroying the Church may be resisted by force and arms And Sayr the same in Thesaur l. 12. cap. 8. n. 8. Joan. Parisiens l. citat cap. 14. Ecclesiasticks that are incorrigibly delinquent in spirituals may be corrected by calling the secular arm in assistance unto the Law which hee saith Chiefly takes place in France the reason is this The act of sin belongs to the vice that commands it if therefore Treason commands a spiritual act as for instance the administration of Sacraments the said administration will belong to Treason and put on a temporal respect or guise as it happened Anno 1034. in a Priest who by giving the communion killed Henry the seventh the Emperour as it is in Genebrard and Cario That administration commanded by that crime as such is a temporal thing and corrigible by the Civil Magistrate And so holds Widrington Apol. num 154 156. where hee will have the preaching of the Gospel for so much as it wickedly troubles the Common wealth capable of being punished by the Secular Judge a 3. par q. 3. p. 393. Dunallius out of b Cap. 27. Enchir. n. 70. Covar ruv. in pract q. 9. c. 31. Citat Johan Fabrum Aufrecium Guiel Benedict Tirraquel Videatur Bochellus l. 2. decr Eccles Gallic Tit. 15. cap. 146. Navarre saies That the custome of France to take cognizance of Ecclesiastick causes by seculars hath been time out of mind See the c Lib. 5. cap. 42. p. 122. Edit Paris Capitular of Charlemaigne where the Kings Judges punish Bishops and Priests d In Somnio c. 36. Philotheus Achillinus saith Kings so they be absolute enjoy the priviledges and right of Emperours in their Kingdomes But it appears out of e In Can. 38.14 Synodi Balsamon That Emperours in time past could 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 make Bishopricks anew and exercise whatsoever Ecclesiastick Oeconomie as seemed them good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Also upon the seventeenth Can. of the Council of Chalcedon and the sixteenth of the Council of Carthage The Kings therefore have prescribed authority in Spirituals by concession of the Church confirming these ancient pacifick uses See Justinians Code where are Imperial Laws concerning the Catholick Faith the holy Churches and their priviledges concerning Bishops Clerks Hospitals for Orphans Monks Places for Ascetick Discipline and their Priviledges f Lib. 4. Cod. de Causis matrimonialibus ex 14. Tit. Nomocanonis Photii not a Book of which but abounds with Imperial Laws concerning Sacred things While the Bishops of the second Synod were called to Rome a Sozom. cap. 12. lib. 7. Niceph. lib. 12. c. 15. Theodoret lib. 4. c. 8 9. Theodosius summons them to Constantinople In France from the beginning of Christianity received there the Kings took cognizance of Spiritual causes as appears out of the first b Et in Praefat. Et Lib. 2. Concil Can. 2.8 Et lib. 3. Can. 11 13 14 22 23 24 26. Council of Orleans under Clodoveus cap. 1. 2. and the second Council of Orleans under Childebert cap. 1 5 9 23. the fourth Council of Arles in Prolog under Charlemaigne the third of Toures the first of Mentz in Praefat. that of Rhemes under Charle maigne in Praefat. 51. the third of Cavaleon in Praefat. the first of Aix or Aquisgrane under Ludovicus Pius and Lotharius in their Epistles c. Flodoardus in the life of Hincmarus l. 3. c. 1. writes That Charles the Bald called a Synod at Beauvois concerning the affairs of the Church of Rhemes c Idem Binius Tom. 3. Concil pag. 344. Concilio Meldeasi cap. 78 79. Exempla Synodales Carolis Ealvi in Concilio Carissiaco Concil Pisteus 863. cap. 1. Wormacticas in init Tribuneus sub Arnuspho Impri Ep. Synodali Aurelian sub Roberâ—o 1017. Stampens Tempore sancti Bernardi idem docent Whence appears That the Kings of France acted in spiritual things according to the manner aforesaid Which Authority of theirs and prescribed Custome hath been translated to the Court of Parliament which began to bee steady or standing under Lewis the tenth as Gaguin l. 4. Nicol. Aegid in Hulmar Genebrard in Chron. l. 3. Anno 758. witness The Parliament alwaies observed for invioable Law the Capitularies of Charlemaigne in the second of which it is thus ordained Among Ecclesiasticks if a cause arise which belongeth either to the dishonour of the Kingdome or the common dammage permit it not long to bee concealed from us Wee ought to correct all these things and whatsoever is in these things which pertain to the peace and justice of our whole people and to the honour of our Kingdome and to the common utility The Ritual of the Consecration of the Kings of France in Bochellus d Lib. 5. Decret Tit. 2. renders the Kings Oath to bee To keep and defend the Canonical priviledge Law and Justice due unto the Churches The King is called by the Arch-Bishop crowning him a partaker of his Ministery Constantine excellently in Eusebius e L. 4. cap. 14. you are Bishops of what 's within and I of all without Caus 20 q. 5. Secular Princes have the pinnacles of their power within the Church I will conclude out of Parisiensis a most solid Divine f Tract de Potestate Papae cap. 21. That the spiritual Right of Collation c. may appertain to a Laike by Custome but hee saith That a spiritual is twofold one by causality whereby a spiritual grace is caused the other by concomitance and that by consequence or antecedence Now saith hee neither the first spiritual as the administration of Sacraments nor the right that follows upon it can appertain to a Laike but the antecedent right may well annexed to spiritual offices as Praesentation Collation especially by concession of the Church and by long Custome prescribed The King may acquire this right unto Himself because this is not repugnant to Him And here let mee end 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉