more or lesse current in the opinion of their Clergie whose judgements depended wholly on the Bishop of Rome who afforded his approbation to their illegitimate Titles out of no weaker Reason of State than they at first desired it Laying up with all diligence their Petitions and his Grants to remain as Precedents for their posterite to be guided by Therefore it is no wonder why these Tyrants Usurpers should strengthen the power of the Pope since the foundation of their own was laid upon the exorbitant excesse of that of Rome which is so improved as the Emperour hath for many ages received his Crowne from their Successors to whom his Predecessors had formerly given the Miter The cloud of Ignorance that did then cover the face of the world was a great help to keep their jugling undiscovered For that little Learning extant in those times was wholly included in the Monasticall Clergie the Laity being intent upupon nothing but Wars and Pleasure so as they had opportunity to make all Books and Records speak in their favour which being Manuscrips so but in few hands it was no hard matter to corrupt them Besides being prohibited Marriage they did neither respect nor acknowledge other Posterity or Alliance than those to succeed in the same places of whom they had so religious a care as they thought none merited well of the Church that did not leave them endowed with more Power and Immunities then they found them Making it an Article of the faith they owed to their Profession to suppresse the Laity advance the Clergie And if this was the End they esteemed no Means ill conducing to it Thus by Time the Indulgency of good and Necessity of wicked and illegitimate Princes they freed their whole Society from the Jurisdiction of the temporall Magistrate not suffering them to be liable to any punishments but those eternall such as their own superiours shall think fit to lay upon them seldome suitable to the fault unlesse in case of Schisme from their generall Tenents in this their Jealousie no lesse than prudence makes them very severe Now having purchased Ease Honour and Impunity such as were Poore Guilty or Ambitious besides Younger Brothers and those in Debt entered their Fellowship which freed them from present want and feare of punishment for former Offences how capitall soever And these being for the most part of the best naturall abilities soon learned the skill so to work on the consciences of Dying people and those affrighted with their sins that the Church was left Heire of the best part of Christendome And taking encouragement from the blinde Zeale then raigning which till Printing had opened a way to Knowledge rendred all things possible unto them they did not onely make use of such profitable Errors as their fore fathers left them but brought in new ones of their own contriving gilding them with the spendid titles of things necessary of religious use Amongst which were Images brought in at first only to encourage others to imitate their constancy whom they saw painted with the manner of Death they had been put to by the Persecuters of those Times Of the Crosse wore anciently only for a Cognisance they have made a Tutelary God looking no higher in their Extremities The blessed Saints were scandalized with the Worship given to them their Reliques whom in a full imitation of the Heathen they made Protectors of their Cattell and smaller Pleasures as Hawking Hunting c. And because the Bible did not in their opinions afford a store sufficient for all uses they have added a number more as may be found in the Legend To the Monks and all sorts of Friars the Popes have successively given immense Priviledges and Indulgences wisely considering they gain them victories without the Sword are a strong faithfull Militia fed paid by the respective Princes of Christendome who though they know they depend on a Forraigne Power yet few dared to explode them so sharp and terrible was their fear of the Knife and more deeply wounding dart of Excommunication And because in case all Kings should have joyned it might have gone hard with his Holinesse be kept them employed abroad at the Holy War or at Enmity one with another or at least at Unity with himselfe by maintaining their usurped Titles or dispēsing with their Incestuous or Adulterous Marriages But finding in these latter dayes Knowledge hath exposed him to a Reformation and that Princes would no longer make the vindication of his Temporalities or what under the notion of Spirituals he is pleased to call His a matter of Religion and not daring to alter any thing formerly admitted by his Predecessors for fear of falling under this undeniable Conclusion That he which hath erred in one thing may in more He most politickly call'd in the Inquisition which turneth no less to the profit of the Secular Prince who hath all he dislikes condemned by an Authority uncapable as well of Envy as Revenge than the Preservation of the Ecclesiasticks and his Holinesse's power from falling under ordinary Dispute which Policy he borrowed of his younger Brother Mahumet whose errors remain to this day in Credit because it is death to question the Truth of them No man can say the Pope imitates Peter except in denying his Master who following the example of Christ did in humility wash his Companion 's feet which this doth in jest during the holy Week as they call it but suffers his owne to be in earnest kiss'd by Kings Emperours It is true he styles himselfe the Servant of Servants but is content to be worshipped under the title of Lord of Lords Nay some of his Flatterers have given him the name of a God yet with Paul Barnabas he doth not rend his Cloathes saying He is a man subject to infirmities as others are but rather seekes to seem worthy of this Title by proclaiming to the world That he cannot erre a power God hath wholly reserved to himselfe or if communicated which I will not now dispute it is onely to the Church in generall when in his feare they shall meet to determine matters of Religion Which is so contrary to the nature of his Greatnesse that no sound is so terrible to him as that of a General Council a thing this Age cannot hope to see free intire by reason of the contrary Interests of Princes who together with Religion mingle their covetous and ambitious Pretences For if such interruptions had not been so undecent a proceeding should never have taken place as was in the Council of Trent where the Emperor suffered the Pope to be Party Judge the Bishops bereft of all power either to propose or determin Nor were the Plaintiffs admitted to more favour or liberty of Disputation than to remain quiet heare themselves condemned so as in conclusion though this Synod was desired only to abate the power reform the abuses of the
Court of Rome it was managed by them with so much Policy that it did rather much strengthen confirm the exorbitant power of that See The greatest things in dispute between Papist and Protestant are matters concerning Profit or Honour which may satisfy any not delighted with blindnesse that they were brought in by the diligence of the Priests taking advantage from the ignorance of preceding Ages From all which I may conclude that such amongst them as are wise conversant in history acquainted with the present practise of the Court of Rome are souly to be suspected of Atheisme because Conscience can never be perswaded against a convincing experience which is also made good by the irreligious Italians from whom comes this Proverb The neerer the Church the farther from God For such abhor Religion because they see the Pope makes but a politick robe of it taking the liberty himselfe to put it on or off as becomes his occasions A DISCOURSE UPON THE ELECTION OF POPE LEO the XI IN the Negotiations of Cardinall Peron may be found a perfect Journall of so much of the Election of Leo the Eleventh as was possible to bee knowne by one side to which Discours I shall refer all those that do believe the Pope can be the true Successor of Peter It being incongruous both to Prudence Religion to imagine the Holy Ghost should mingle Interests with the ambitious ends of Princes who shun no impious means to make him succeed that is thought the truest friend to their Occasions I know it is not onely in the power but the practise of God to raise his ends out of ill means Yet it were presumption in men to shape out his work though he be able to fit our endeavours to his own Honour But the Court of Rome seeks to make the people believe that notwithstanding these Considerations after the Masse of the HolyGhost is said he is as really present in the Conclave as he was with the eleven Disciples when they chose a Successor to Judas who betrayed Christ In which they acknowledge themselves either Atheists or presumptuous fighters against God For if the Choice be his how dare they interpole their mediation or hope the French or Spanish Factions can possibly prevail one side ever interrupting because both cannot be pleased They have of late been made sometimes by the other which must conclude the Holy Spirit subservient to humane Endeavours or no more friend to this Choice than to that of the Grand Seignior Here you may see how they labour to hire or force the HolyGhost to fix upon sōe such subject as may be most auspicious to the prevalent Party who is invoked out of Ceremony leaving the rest to be hewed out by themselves Before these Monarchs grew so potent the troubles in the Conclave were rather more than lesse For the Cardinalls made Elections so tedious by their towsing that sometimes the Romans sometimes other Princes forced them to resolve And to avoid such constraint they did often pitch upon Impotent men such as for Age or Weakness were not likely to hold out long as this Leo who died in few weks after his assumption during whose time the Pretenders are at leisure to concoct their Designes better which is ordinarily done by Bribes or in case they prevaile not by Poyson nay the Devill is not left unsought to So as Balzac saith None on this side the Alpes labour more to look well than some of them to seem-sickly and weake hoping by that means to obtain the Chaire which is able of a gouty Cardinall to make a sound Pope In antient time the Bishops of Rome were chosen by the Parish Priests of that City And how since Cardinals came in is no more known though not antient thā the date of many Novelties that have most shamefully been imposed upō the Church Yet to this day no Ecclesiasticall Cardinall for they have others but retains among his titles the name of one of the Parish Churches in Rome though he be ordinarily called by his own name or else some other Bishoprick or Dignity he hath in Cōmendā By the institutions of a former Pope which for shame they dare not revoke all his Actions that gets into the Chaire by Simony are null Now what are all these sinister Endeavours but so many severall sorts of Simony If Simon Magus had attempted by Policy mediation of Friends or Flattery to have obtained the Gift of the HolyGhost should his fault have been lesse or not rather greater Money being the richest offer he could make and most suitable to the Apostles wants which he saw others indued with the same Spirit daily cast at their feet And if this be granted when had the Church a Head able to utter any thing but Falshoods or Nullities All Popes having for many yeares entered at one of these Gates In Civil Kingdoms the Crowne is to be obeyed without questioning how the Wearer came by it but to tie the Ecclesiasticall power to these conditions were to binde the Holy Ghost to the Popes Chaire The Bishop of Rome layes an absolute claim to an unerring Spirit but is not able to demonstrate the time when he had it If it were alwaies the Errors found inherent in the persons were uncapable of blame or retraction Yet out of this Cloud of uncertainety say they the Holy Ghost dictates onely to his Church such as deny it are Hereticks If at any time he hath the Spirit of infallibility it is perhaps at his first entrance into the Chaire as Saul had a greater measure upon his new anointing than in all his Raign besides yet in the Election of this Leo the XI of the House of Medici and before his Assumption known by the Title of Cardinall of Florence appeares no such matter which would not have been omitted by the penner of the passages of their Conclave being an eye witnesse a Cardinall who doth pride himselfe much in his fortune the policy both he the French Party had used in his advance But it may be Paul the Fifth who succeeded this Leo had it when he made so great a present to the Devill as at once to excommunicate the whole State of Venice with all the territories belonging unto it But this was afterwards condemned by himselfe as rash inconsiderate terms most unbefitting a thing done by God And wise men may here justly take occasion to conclude that no Pope doth think or ever thought he had a power of not erring For if such a Spirit were an usuall companion of that See Paul the Fifth would have expected the operation of it and not have troubled a State to so little purpose without the assistance at least of a Revelation He that desires to be informed of the Illnesse of Modern Popes may be abundantly satisfied if he Consult Historians who are not dumb in declaring the faults of the Court of Rome The truth is were it not for the strict or
who seldom finde their abilities represented in their Issue yet he left three such Sons as did not give his enemies occasion to upbraid his memory with them For the Reall Presence maintained by him in the Sacrament it doth not so much condemn his Judgement in this as it justifies his Integrity in all the rest He being as resolute to vindicate what he thought true against the perswasions of his Friends as he was against the threats and promises of his Enemies For if any by-respect could have warped him it would have been a desire to appease the hot Dispute the retention of this error raised in his Own Party wholly of his judgment but in this particular in which Zwinglius and the Helvetian Church did oppose him And if this be not enough to wash him clean from the imputation of Self-ends and Covetousnesse the Proverb used in Germany may That Poore Luther made many rich As he was protected from a number of apparent mischiefs so the same had freed him from many hidden in respect of the eyes of the world it being impossible that he who had gall'd so many Grandees should not have Revenge laid in wait for him in every corner Experience proving that Kings themselves can scarce whisper against the Court of Rome but the Knife is ready to give them a finall Answer His Death was with as little Molestation as his Life was full For being call'd to the County of Mansfield the place of his birth to determine a Case in controversy between two Princes of that Family he died there in the sixty third year of his Age Had the Apostles nay our Saviour himselfe been alive and maintained what Luther did they had been persecuted by the Clergie Therefore the Crucifying of Christ is no prodigy in Nature but daily practis'd among men For he that can find the heart to stigmatize and whip his Brother for an Error meerely in Judgment would never have spared Peter or Paul coming with no more visible Authority then they had But this is not the way to suppresse an Heresy since most are jealous of that opinion which useth the Sword for her Defence Truth having been long since determined to be most strong And where Oppression is there for the most part she is supposed to be This shews as little Discretion as Charity in such as persecute those that may be in the Right or if not shall by this means be kept the longer in the Wrong If a Horse starts the more he is beaten the harder he is kept in the way but let him stand have leisure to consider what he blanched at he will perceive it is a Block so go on Yet it is neither cruelty nor imprudēce to restrain such furious Spirits as they do Dogs that will bawl fly at all they do not know But I should be utterly against burning their Books in publick if they have once gained the light which onely adds to their price saves them a labour because if the State did not put them in credit by their notice they would perhaps after a while for shame burn them themselves The Whip reforms not so much as he that endures it but is taken as a triumph by the Faction increasing their animosity if not their number So that in effect it proves a punishment to none but the honest and tender-hearted of the people who cannot choose but be scandalized to see the Image of God defaced by cutting Eaves and slitting Noses c. And this raiseth a strong suspition that the Hand of Justice would not lie so heavy onely on the preciser fide but that something inclines it that may at last turne to the subversion of the most moderate part The Dutch though they tolerate all Religions Tenents yet none increased to their prejudice till they strove to suppresse the Arminians who are in tast as like the Papists as Scallions are to Onions all the difference is that the latter is the stronger Yet since they have let them alone this Opinion is observed to be lesse numerously attended Had the Pope seasonably reformed the Error Luther discovered so apparently in the publication of Indulgences and rewarded him a Bishoprick for his Learning and Zeale let him afterwards have said what he pleased it would have been looked upon by the people as of no credit who like nothing so well as what goeth crosse to the grain of Authority The Lord Treasurer Cecil having been unsufferably abused by Libels sent for the Poet and after he had ratled him soundly began to take notice of the poor fellowes good parts saying It might be vexatious poverty compelled him to make use of false though common Rumours given out by such as hated all in Authority To ease which he gave him 20 pieces promising to take the first opportunity to advance him This favour most contrary to his expectation who would willingly have given one ear to have saved the other did so worke with him and the rest of the Pasquillers of the time that till the Treasurers death none used the like Invectives Bancroft Archbishop of Canterbury used the like demeanour towards some Gentlemen that had laid the imputation of Sodomy to his Charge c. Clemency seldome causeth repentance in an established Kingdome or if it proves a fault it is easily mended Whereas Cruelty can never be recalled raising a far greater Party out of a thirst of Revenge than ever yet could be mustred up from the hope of Impunity Therefore to conclude since Luther alone had the power to do so much let us not be thus severe against others that having their zeal kindled though perhaps at the wrong end run madding through the world but rather pity them if they be in an errour Because they something resemble the first Messengers of Truth FINIS