perturbarent quia tunc Concilii Sententia esset potiùs attendenda This Pope you see acknowledg'd that in things concerning the Catholick Faith the Pope being of one opinion and the Council of another that of the Council was to be chosen Now this were ridiculous if the Pope were Infallible in Decisions touching Faith since there is no opinion which we ought to prefer before a man that is Infallible And therefore Pope Eugenius what-ever he pretended to place himself above all Councils durst never arrogate that of Infallibility Dionysius Rikel Carthusian term'd the Extatick or Illuminated Doctor as having through all his Works joyn'd an illuminated and inflamed Piety with his profound skill in Divinity in his Treatise of the Authority of the Pope and Councils having in several passages spoken highly of that of the Pope does notwithstanding acknowledge that in Council one cannot dispute the having this advantage above the Pope That a Council cannot erre in matters which pertain to Faith and good manners and that the Pope may erre there The power of a Council saies he is in this greater then the Pope's that Iesus Christ has promis'd to his Church or the Council which is her Representative an infallible direction and divine assistance which shall never fail So as a Council can neither erre in matters of Faith nor in what regards good manners forasmuch as it is immediately led by the Holy Spirit in the Determination of these things And therefore the Pope himself is in these things to adhere to the Churche's Determination that is to the Decrees of the Council as to an Oracle and regulation of the Holy Ghost whereas the Pope being obnoxious to erre in points of Faith good manners and other matters necessary to Salvation methinks men should not acquiesce in his judgement as the onely certain opinion because he is not an infallible rule nor yet a foundation so establish'd but that it may deviate from the Truth This holy Monk saies the same thing in a Sermon upon S. Hilarie and excepting onely those Authors who are notoriously ingag'd in the Interests of the Roman Court all the knowing Divines of that Age spake the same Language I observe onely Pope Adrian the VIth who having taught the same Doctrine before he was exalted to the Pontificate did not onely not retract it afterwards but caus'd his Works to be printed at Rome in which we may yet reade these words namely in his fourth Book of Sentences If by the Roman Church saies he you understand him who is the Head of it 't is certain pray mark the term that this Head of the Roman Church viz. the Pope may erre even in things appertaining to Faith by defending an Heresie by his Determination or Decretal Si per Ecclesiam Romanam intelligatur Caput ejus certum est quòd possit errare etiam in iis quae tangunt Fidem Haeresin per suam Determinationem aut Decretalem asserendo See what this holy and knowing man has written being then a private person and what it was he so approv'd when he was Pope so little did his Advancement blind him as it has done many others or make him forget what he ow'd to Truth to gratifie his new Dignity with advantages which he believed Iesus Christ never imparted to him It is not here necessary to alledge the Parisian Doctors opinions so well known to the World and to the Iesuites themselves who term the opinion against Infallibility Sententia Parisiensium but we must not omit the sense of the whole Faculty in a Body in this celebrious Declaration of the Faith which she made by order of Francis the I st and which was afterwards verified in Parliament so as in France it held a particular force of a Law and a publick Ordinance Having therefore receiv'd a command of the King to reduce into Articles the principal Points of Faith attacqu'd by Hereticks she declares That General Councils cannot erre in Points of Faith and regulation of good manners Certum est Concilium Generale legitimè congregatum universalem Ecclesiam repraesentans in Fide morum determinationibus errare non posse But for the Pope see what she saies of it all It is no less certain that there is one Sovereign Bishop by divine right in the Militant Church to which all Christians ought to submit and who has likewise power to conferre Indulgences Nec minùs certum est unum esse jure Divino Pontificem in Ecclesia Militante cui omnes Christiani parere tenentur qui quidem potestatem habet Indulgentias conferendi This different manner of speaking of Councils and the Pope in two Articles which immediately follow attributing Infallibility to the Council and none to the Pope sufficiently states the different sentiments which these Doctors had both of Councils and Popes upon this subject For I think not my self oblig'd to refute the extravagancies of a certain Writer of these times who pretends to prove by the Obedience which these Doctors teach is due to the Pope as if by that we acknowledg'd his Infallibility By the same argument he may prove that not onely all Bishops in particular but that all Abbots and Abbesses Priors Prioresses are infallible because they are promis'd obedience But he should have learn'd that in promising obedience to the Pope men are so far from acknowledging an entire submission of belief to his Decisions that the Divines say expresly and amongst others Mons. Duval Summo Pontifici parendum esse sive errare possit sive non Which signifies but this That men should not Dogmatize the contrary to what he has decided and with this caution yet nisi Error sit intolerabilis as Gerson affirms Such as has been the common sentiment of our Parisian Divines till Mons. Duval who would have introduc'd Opinions into the Sorbon totally repugnant to these ancient Maxims But as 't is customary with those who engage in quarrells against what is universally receiv'd it has hitherto been with much wariness For he did in that manner assert the Pope to be infallible in matter of Faith that in the same breath he likewise taught 't was no matter of Faith to believe it Non est de fide Summum Pontificem esse infallibilem He holds moreover that the Opinion of his not being infallible is neither rash nor erroneous Non est erroneum neque temerarium temeritate opinionis dicere Summum Pontificem in decernendo errare posse And speaking concerning the Decision of a Pope against a Doctor of Paris he saies That this Definition of Sixtus the IVth is not of Faith but onely very certain because saies he the Definitions of the Sovereign Bishops have not the certitude of the Catholick Faith till they be first received by the Universal Church or a General Council And thus whatever the Doctor 's design be and those of his gang to advance the Authority of the Pope they have been yet oblig'd to acknowledge that a Divine
THE Pernicious Consequences OF THE New Heresie of the Iesuites AGAINST The KING and the STATE By an Advocate of Parliament LONDON Printed by I. Flesher for Richard Royston Bookseller to His most Sacred MAJESTY 1666. THE Dedicatory Preface My LORD THE title your Honour has 〈◊〉 these ensuing Papers and to the Person who makes them English defends him from being thought presumptuous that now they are publish'd and come abroad in the World They wear this Cypher in front as a Periapta or Amulet to protect him from all malevolent Influenences And he had need have a seven-fold Buckler that has to doe with an Host against whose assaults and stratagems even Kings themselves are not safe from danger The Pens and Tongues of their sworn Adversaries have sharpned the Swords and Poniards to say nothing of the Knives the Poison and the Gun-powder which have so often been prepared for their destruction Much of this is indeed stifly deny'd but is 't not then a wonder if the Villanies are so detested there should be found so few of the Party who renounce it in their Writings I speak not here of the Jesuites alone but as our Author has well observ'd of their other Church-men too who would certainly more decry it were there not some other Mysterie in it which we understand not and they artificially conceal when one poor Widdrington and some few others 'till of late the Jansenists have been charg'd with no less Crime then Heresie for disowning their pernicious Doctrines Nay it has gained that Ascendent in France a Country where these Holy Fathers have stood so long on their good behaviour that they have even dar'd to justifie the Excommunication of one of their Kings in the King 's own Printing-house at his own Palace proper cost and charges and under his very nose prevailing with his facility by an unbeard-of and unparallel'd insolence not to mention here Coriolanus's Abridgment so destructive to the Gallican Liberty and other their late practices sufficiently detected and perstringed by the Author of this ingenuous Piece Methinks it were impossible that Princes who either lov'd their People or the glory of the Crown should truckle under such Impostors to gratifie a sort of Phanaticks thirsting after their bloud and ruine to subject it to a forein and unreasonable pretence by the wild and novel interpretation of I know not what Infallibility which even those of their own Party deride them for who have but a grain of Sobriety But what may not they pretend to who can create new Symbols and Articles of Faith with an unerring Faculty as well as Confidence which can make men believe 't is for the Interest of Religion how flagitious soever their designs and practices are 'T is but calling for the Chair and his Holiness dubbs himself Infallible and that sufficiently to consecrate the most nefarious and prodigious of Doctrines and I doubt not but when the Devil himself tempts men to the most detestable Treasons he gilds it also with this Religious Bait. We have had ample testimony of this even in Those who amongst our selves had sucked in the Principles of that Roman Wolf and which puts me in mind of what that Hypocrite Rouse a Partizan of the late Rebellion and long Parliament reply'd to a seduced but worthy Person when near the Catastrophe of our Liberties he was one day press'd with an evident conviction by what unjust waies they had pursu'd the Destruction of that Glorious and Excellent PRINCE who fell into their Snares That indeed he could not altogether excuse the procedure but this he knew there lay Honesty in the bottom of it Papa post mutare Regna uni auferre atque alteri conferre tanquam summus Princeps Spiritualis si id sit necessarium ad animarum salutem say the Roman Champions And would not one swear the men were Confederates and understood one another whose actions and replies are so near of kindred Santarel the Jesuite gives for one of the Reasons why the Pope might depose Kings Because their Persons were burthensome to the State Compare this with the very expression and words of our late Republicarians And again That they have their Authority not from God but the Civil Law onely and ex arbitrio Populi as Creswell words it Nay that Kings may be deposed by their Subjects for sundry Causes a Nolumus hunc regnare is sufficient The whole Council of Trent free'd Subjects from their Obedience So did the Rump-Parliament What an harmony of Confessions is bere I 'le be bold to affirm there were never any two Doctrines more conformable then that of the Fathers as they will be called forsooth and that of these Novellists who have so improv'd the Zeal of their Predecessors as if the Aphorisms of Emanuel Sà Bellarmine and Mariana were not the suggestion of a Diabolical but the Dictates of the sacred Spirit And who of either Sect can have the forehead to deny this that shall but look into their Writings or Practices and the solemnity of their several Approbators and Apologists A man needs but to turn over the Persecution of Monsieur Arnald to find how these poor men are treated that but offer at the vindication of the Sovereignty of Kings I appeal to the horrid Murther committed on those Sacred Heads by Clement Chastel Ravillac c. if after those crimson Tragedies they had not each of them more then one Compurgator The Mariana's Veruna's Guignard's in our Milton's our Goodwin's and our Ascham's another spawn of these holy Cleremontanians The thunder of Paul the III d against Henry the VIIIth even before his more signal Defection and that he but at first scrupl'd the Supremacy may be parallel'd with their branding our most Religious of Kings as inclining to Popery who died to defend the most Orthodox Faith in the World The Bull of Pius Quintus against Queen Elizabeth is notorious as well as the Catastrophe of those who plotted against her Royal Successor by the instigation of Clement the VIIIth and what hand they may have had in fomenting our late Disorders both in Church and State from 37 to 60 let the World judge when they seriously reflect upon what Principles the Brethren proceeded and what were the Consequences since nothing save Hell and Rome could have inspired so horrid a Rebellion But to number the Heads and Authors of this holy Fraud begun by Mahomet Phocas and Boniface the III d almost Contemporaries to shew that Turcism Universality and King-killing are of an Age we may hear it justified as well as practised out of their own Mouths and Writings after a Thousand years that all the World had condemn'd it not as a Probable but Infallible Doctrine if but the Catalogue of their Citations would consist with the limits of a Preface since our Author might have fill'd another Volume with their Names and Numbers onely Alvarez Ariana Augustine Triumphus Azoride Baronius Becanus Bellarmine Bonarsius Bozius
Subjects and Primitive Example had been so positively describ'd and secur'd by that admirable Institution of Christianity that all who profess themselves of that Belief Disciples of that Religion and who pretend so much to extraordinary Illumination from the fatal examples of the Event of all Rebellions since the very first defection of Lucifer to this period of ours should be sufficiently convinc'd of their duty to Kings as God's Vice-gerents on Earth and of that irrefragable Truth That those who resist shall receive to themselves Damnation But since a sort of Monsters there are who neither believe Moses nor the Prophets no nor God himself who rose from the dead to assert and plant the Doctrine of Obedience to the Civil Magistrate by the Preaching of his holy Apostles and their Successors till of late what moral Confidence can a Prince repose in the Pretences of any who are thus sworn and addicted to their Tenents I speak here as to the Jesuites in particular and to those who of late lay at his Majestie 's feet out of that Religiouâ— pretence the Tenderness of Conscience without ever shewing either Religion or Conscience in any their Actions or Writings hitherto relating purely to his Majestie 's Interest the Church of England or her Friends whiles the years of her most barbarous Persecution continu'd but which if they had done I would here turn Apologist in their Cause and plead it with affection But say those of the Church of Rome what is the Disloyalty you lay to our charge Name us the Persons and produce the Instances The Answer is short That whiles the Doctrine of Deposing Kings whatever is pretended remembring that of Charles the Vth Vocem esse Jacobi manus autem Esau abetted by so many late Decrees of Popes remains uncondemn'd there is reason sufficient for Princes to be jealous of favouring a Party who suck in those Principles with their Milk as many of them at least as are Alumni of the Jesuites and who by the Papists own acknowledgment are not worthy to be consider'd no not as to Exemption from the most rigorous of our Laws against them 'T is the same Author who frankly confesseth that F. Parsons did most deservedly draw it upon that whole Order by his continual and intolerable Practices against the Crown'd heads of this Nation from whence he inferrs that neither can his Majestie be safe for reasons unanswerable to any that shall take the pains but to survey their Tenents and the voluntary Obligation into which they have precipitated themselves Slaves to the Pope as they are and to that Theological Bawd the Doctrine of Probability But would they now cut off this Objection at once and give just satisfaction to the Charge as most assured I am divers of his Majestie 's loyal Subjects of their persuasion in many other things earnestly contend for though with the sacrifice of that whole pragmatical Order which thus has set the World in Combustion let them and the intire Party subscribe to all Doctrines which deny the Pope's authority of Deposing Kings and releasing Subjects from their Oaths of Allegiance and let the Pope himself approve it and cause an Index expurgatorius to be made of all those Authors we have enumerated and the Books that more lately maintain and favour it since even all this were little enough to secure his Majestie from too just apprehension whiles that sacrilegious Thesis asserting the Pope's Dominion over Temporals and Infallibility even extra Generale Concilium is yet publickly cherish'd which enables him to rescind all this in a moment and Absolve to morrow what he Obliges to day and make that to pass for the undoubted Word of God which is in truth the very Doctrine of Devils For if as a most pious and learned Prelate of our Church has explain'd it truly and ex animo they are otherwise affected they should doe well to unsay what hath been said and declare themselves by publick Authority against such Doctrines and say whether or no their Determinations shall be de Fide If they be then all those famous Catholick Doctors Tho. Aquinas Bellarmine Creswel Mariana Emanuel SÃ c. are Hereticks and their Canons teach Heresie and many of their Popes to be condemned as Heretical for practising and teaching Deposition of Princes by an Authority usurped against and in prejudice of the Christian Faith But if their Answers be not de Fide then they had as good say nothing for the danger is not at all decreased because if there be Doctors on both sides by their own assertion they may without sin follow either but yet more safely if they follow the most receiv'd and the most authoriz'd And whither this Rule will lead them I will be judged by any man that hath consider'd the Premisses Briefly either this thing must remain in the same state it is and our Princes be still expos'd to so extreme hazards or else let his Holiness seat himself in his Chair condemn these Doctrines vow against their future Practice limit his Ordo ad spiritualia contain himself within the limits of Causes directly and merely Ecclesiastical disclaim all power so much as indirect over Princes Temporals and all this with an intent to oblige all Christendom Which when I see done I shall be most ready to believe that nothing in Popery doth either directly or by necessary consequence destroy Loyalty to our lawfull Prince but not till then having so much evidence to the contrary Thus far this reverend Prelate And that this is likewise the sense and as I affirmed earnest desire of all the honest men of the Romish Church is most convincingly as well as boldly and loyally asserted by that learned Remonstrant R. Carron whose Vindication of what I here produce against the Jesuites and other Popish Errors that zizania as he truly styles it of Infallibility c. the subject of the ensuing Treatise I find publish'd since this Preface was finish'd and I heartily wish it may produce an Effect sutable to the attempt of that candid and ingenuous Person that so though we have many other failings to charge them withall they may yet lessen by degrees and as God shall please to enlighten them till we come to a perfect and consummate Reconciliation In the mean time with what forehead my Lord can this Faction cry out against us as cruel or at our Sanctions as unjust whilst his Sacred Majestie has a faculty commensurate to his Piety and a Prerogative which can gratifie his merciful nature without reversing what his Predecessors have enacted who reign'd in such prosperity not so much because they executed the Penalties as for that they had the power to doe it and did use it prudently and I confess I was infinitely pleas'd to find it avow'd by a Romanist that they were themselves the occasion of those Sanguinary laws as they would brand them and to justifie them too as the forecited Author
it expedient when they become negligent of their duties when they are incapable to govern and their persons burthensome to their Kingdoms He adds That the Apostles were not subject to the secular Princes but de facto onely not de jure and in summe that since the Pontifical Majesty had been establish'd all other Potentates were become but his Vassals So soon as ever this Book appear'd in France the Sorbon knowing that the Doctrine was invented and publish'd for the universal destruction of Civil Polity and particularly the Monarchy of France which was at that time governed by the most Christian most clement and just King Lewis the XIIIth that in treading the steps of their Ancestors she might testifie her zeal and affection as well towards this Religious Prince as towards the whole most Christian Kingdom and at the same time satisfie that which all honest men requir'd of her resolv'd to examine the two Chapters of this Book of Santarel 30 and 31 where this matter was treated of And on the 1 of April 1626. having first heard the Deputies report and consider'd the several Opinions of all the Doctors she condemn'd the Positions being the common Opinion of the Iesuites for a novel false and erroneous Doctrine repugnant to the Word of God and that renders odious the dignity of the Pope opens a gap to all Schism derogates from the Supreme Authority of Kings which depends on God alone disturbs the publick tranquillity tends to the ruine of Kingdoms States and Republicks debauches Subjects from that Obedience and Submission due to their Sovereigns inciting them to Factions Rebellions Seditions in summe to commit Parricides against the persons of their natural Princes This Censure approved by the whole Body of the University of Paris and the rest of the Universitics of France was authoriz'd also by a famous Decree of Parliament of the 13. March 1626. which declared the Propositions contain'd in this Book of Santarel false scandalous and seditious as tending to the subversion of Sovereign Powers ordain'd and establish'd by God and to the stirring up of Subjects against their Princes withdrawing their Obedience inducing them to attempt against their Persons and States disturbing of the publick peace and order'd that the Book should be torn and burnt and that the Iesuites should be oblig'd to disavow and detest it and to approve the Censure of the Sorbon This vigorous resistence of the Parliament and Sorbon has of late render'd the Iesuites a little more reserv'd in producing to the world this pernicious Doctrine But as they never abandon what they have once undertaken they have invented a way of establishing it after a more dextrous but more dangerous manner for daring no more to propose it grossly and in terminis they work more subtily to introduce the Principles on which it depends by necessary consequence wisely judging that if once by their artifice they can but deceive the vigilancy of our Magistrates and the Sorbon they shall easily make the People swallow it when-ever they please and that as a Truth indubitable which they will shew by a necessary consequence from what they have already made pass for a most Catholick Verity This is that which the Iesuites have done in maintaining that famous Thesis of the 12 December 1661 as a Catholick Truth repugnant to the Greek Heresie concerning the Primacy of the Pope namely That Jesus Christ hath given to all Popes whenever they shall speak è Cathedra the same Infallibility himself had as well in matters of Right as in those of Fact And that we might not imagine there were any great mystery in this condition When they should speak out of their Chair Cùm loquerentur ex Cathedra they expresly declare that this Condition does not concern the Pope's speaking in the head of a General Council And in proposing for example for one Constitution made ex Cathedra the two Constitutions on the Five Propositions they give us clearly to understand that they do not pretend that to the end the Pope should speak from his Chair it were necessary for him to assemble so much as a Council of the Bishops of his Province as the other Popes did or that he should consult the College of Cardinals as they have since done enterprising nothing how inconsiderable soever but by the advice of their Brethren De consilio Fratrum but that 't is sufficient for him to speak in his Bulls or from the Constitutions and Decrees which use to be pasted up on the Gates of S. Peter and in Campo de Fiori this being the onely solemnity which at Rome they pretend does render them sufficiently authentick and that without so much as thinking it necessary they should be receiv'd and publish'd in the Provinces See now to what a height the Iesuites pretensions are come All that the Popes say in their Bulls and Constitutions as well on matters and questions of Fact as those of Right is to be look'd on as indubitably true as if Iesus Christ had himself avow'd it the Pope's Infallibility being still the same according to their reckoning on these occasions and incounters as that of the Son of God himself Now how little so ever one knows of the Fundamentals of Santarellism that is to say of the Doctrine which affirms the Pope has power to depose Kings it must needs be acknowledged that it is establish'd by this Thesis of the Iesuites and that it is after a sort made more pernicious and criminal then ever it has hitherto been For the defenders of this Doctrine so prejudicial to Kings were contented to establish this temporal power in Popes by shewing that they themselves did attribute it to themselves by several Bulls and Decrees and that so we were bound to believe them as being infallible in matters concerning Faith But there was none of them that yet durst deny but that Popes might fail and be mistaken in the exercise of this power because none of them did ever think them infallible in Questions which concern'd the Fact whereas the Iesuites now presume on both They render Popes absolutely Masters of Kings in attributing to them who by so many Bulls have defin'd their Superiority over the Temporalty of Kings the very same Infallibility with Iesus Christ even in matters of Right so as they leave a King whom a Pope had deposed no place of appeal or so much as to complain that the Pope might be mistaken in the matter of Fact upon which they had judged him worthy of so severe a punishment since by this new Doctrine of the College of Clermont he is equally infallible whether he judge in general that he has this power to depose Kings which is the Question de jure or in particular that such a King merits to be so us'd which is the Question de facto We must therefore clear these two points One that the Infallibility of the Pope in matters of Right is according to the Iesuites the establishment of his Power
mere impertinent Fable without any foundation since the Spaniards having neither render'd nor given the Kingdom of Navarre to the race of Albret they could never appose any caution or condition either in rendring or bestowing it Thirdly The Spaniards themselves could never yet produce any Treaty of Alliance between the Kings of Arragon and those of Navarre where this Condition was appos'd though besides all this it be beyond the power of Kings to annex any such Condition since they are not so Masters of their Kingdoms as to transfer them to any others then those who are their legitimate Successors Fourthly In fine 't is plainly false that ever Iohn d' Albret broke any Alliance with Ferdinand but on the contrary Ferdinand it was who invaded Navarre in the month of Iuly Anno 1512 and who made himself master of Pampelona the capital City of that State before there were any French in Navarre which compell'd Iohn d' Albret to throw himself into the arms of Lewis the XIIth with whom he was before but in ill intelligence to endeavour to maintain himself against this unjust Usurper who four months before this Treaty of Iohn d' Albret with Lewis had obtain'd a Bull of Excommunication of the Pope against the King of Navarre as falsly representing that being joyn'd with the King of France excommunicated by the holy See he deny'd the English free passage to enter into Guienne It is therefore evident that it is onely this pretended Power which the Flatterers of the Pope have of late Ages attributed to him to dispossess Kings and make Donations of their Kingdoms to him that can obtain them which has cost our Kings the Kingdom of Navarre since Ferdinand had but this pretence onely to invade it and all that the Spaniards would add to it since was never so much as in their heads because it was out of all probability And it is still true that this right is annex'd by all those who defend it to this Infallibility We see likewise that ever since this Popes have alwaies favour'd the Usurpation of Navarre as a mark of the Power which they pretend to have for the deposing of Kings This is evident by their shunning as much as possible the qualifying our King with the Title of the King of Navarre as in the Bulls of Barberin's Legation 1625 wherein the King being but simply styl'd King of France it was ordain'd by Parliament that it should be declar'd by the Pope that the quality of the King of Navarre had been omitted by inadvertency in the said Bulls and that till that were rectified the Arrest of Verification should not be delivered and the Bulls continue without execution in France But what they could not then obtain by the wise resistence of the Parliament they have now found an Expedient to obtain by the credit which the Iesuites have at Court for finding they had there wrought so great an aversion against the Iansenists that there was nothing more desir'd then their condemnation they believ'd they could make it be purchased with the loss of the Quality of King of Navarre nor were they at all mistaken in their expectation For Pope Innocent the Xth address'd his Bull to the King by a Breve wherein he onely styles him King of France and all who lov'd the State saw with grief that they receiv'd this Breve so injurious to the King with open arms You see how well the Roman Court knows how to profit on occasions and take her advantage she never lets any escape which she does not manage with a singular address But this Breve will one day prove one of its most memorable examples since under colour of ruining the poor Iansenists she has open'd a gap to establish two of the most considerable points of her Grandeur and which have indeed been the most contested in France The one is That the Pope alone may decide Poins of Faith with an infallible Authority the other That he may give Kingdoms away at pleasure as Iulius the II d gave that of Navarre to the Spaniards By all these proofs 't is evident that the Superiority of Popes above Kings in Temporals is an inseparable Position of Infallibility as to the pretence of all those Theologues who are married to the Interest of the Court of Rome especially the Iesuites 'T is also clear that the subtilty of those who have made as if they would separate them hath so little basis that it were an unworthy and dangerous prevarication in those who are oblig'd to maintain the Supreme Authority of their Prince but to reduce the Right of Kings which is certain and indubitable to so shallow and trifling a defence So as the onely means of hindring the establishment of this pernicious Consequence is to stop that so dangerous a Principle and above all not to permit the Iesuites the impudence of making it an Article of Faith and the carrying it even beyond all sorts of bounds and to an Infallibility in Questions de facto which is in summe to have given the fatal blow to the ruine of the Royal Throne This is easie to prove For Popes being once establish'd superiour to Temporal Princes in Temporals as we have shew'd they cannot fail of obtaining if once we allow them infallible in Questions de jure what defence remains there to a Prince against the stratagems of this Power but the pretence of its being possibly miss-inform'd and that it was mistaken in the grounds on which it proceeded to despoil him of his State But what means is there of opposing that pretence against a person who shall be in possession of the same Infallibility with Iesus Christ in matter of Fact What Christian is there who should dare oppose to Iesus Christ that he is mistaken and what were there more easie for a Pope then to ruine this defence since for that he had onely to declare by a Bull that he has well examin'd the Prince's Cause and that he deserves to be Excommunicated and Depos'd to oblige all the World to believe that he did merit it indeed Nor let any pretend that 't is not in these kinds of Facts that Popes are infallible For both the Principles and Reasons of the Iesuites tend to it And the benefit of the Church which is the sole foundation of this Imagination will rather incline to believe that God is bound to make the Popes as infallible in affairs so important as the subversion of Kingdoms the consequences whereof are so terrible to Religion it self as in the judgments which they make whether there are or are not Errours in a particular Book which is of it self but of very little consequence Now if the Iesuites without any reason and from an humane apprehension and fear should except these Facts they would not in the least diminish of the pernicious subjects of their Doctrine because the spirits of those who are once imbu'd with their Opinions would easily break through these weak restraints in
which they made believe they would keep them and maugre these groundless exceptions carry their corrupt principles to all their natural consequences So as there is nothing able to oppose the funest effects of this Doctrine which subjects Kings to a forein Power whiles they permit this double Infallibility of Fact and Right to subsist from which 't is impossible to divorce it I very well know that there are some who seek several pretexts to charm the vigilance of Kings and their Ministers that so they may not perceive how this Doctrine of Infallibility is prejudicial to States One of these Pretences is the affirming that this Infallibility relates to Faith and Doctrine onely which are things Spiritual and that have nothing of common with the Temporals of Kings and the rights of their Crowns But there is nothing more unreasonable then this adulterate Colour For 't is true that indeed this temporal is not of Faith it self nor is the Doctrine the immediate Object of Infallibility But one cannot without Heresie deny that it may not be the subject and matter of Faith since 't is an Article of Faith establish'd both by Gospel and the Apostles that we ought to pay Tribute to Caesar which is a temporal thing and that we owe Obedience to Temporal Princes not onely to escape the punishment which they may inflict on us if we transgress but because we are in Conscience also oblig'd to it Non solùm propter iram sed etiam propter Conscientiam So as to persuade Kings that their Temporal is so far remote from Faith that it can be no matter of Faith is to dissolve and break the most sacred bond which unites their Subjects to their Empire to wit that of Conscience and Religion Faith is in it self a thing intirely spiritual and divine but that does no way hinder things humane and temporal from being very often both the subject and matter of it Warre is a secular thing yet 't is matter of Faith to know whether a Christian Prince may make warre And the Anabaptists erre in matter of Faith when they maintain that it is unlawful The power which Magistrates have to put Malefactors to death is a temporal thing and yet it belongs to Faith to decide whether Iesus Chirst has left this power to Christians or no and the same Anabaptists who deny it are esteem'd Hereticks by the Church Usury is a temporal thing yet is it matter of Faith to resolve whether or no it be a sin In like manner the Power of Kings is temporal but it concerns Faith to determine whether the power of the Keyes which Iesus Christ has given to S. Peter does extend to the breaking of that Obligation and Tie which Subjects have to their Sovereign by absolving them from their Oaths of Allegiance It concerns the interpretation of the words of I. Christ and by consequent has relation to Faith It imports the extent of the power that Iesus Christ has given the Pope as his Vicar which we can know nothing of but by divine revelation preserv'd in the Scriptures and by Tradition and by consequence it is matter of Faith It is no way then to be doubted but the Question whether the Pope have any right to punish Princes with temporal pains and to devest them of their States by virtue of that Authority pretended to be given to S. Peter is no concernment of Faith and therefore 't is in earnest a mere mockery to persuade Kings that the Pope's Infallibility does not extend to them whenas in truth there are none whom it so nearly concerns as they since Popes having so often decided this Right to be theirs if once the people be suffered to hold them infallible as to what they determin touching Faith none can hinder them from acknowledging also that they do not erre in their explication of the words of the Gospel touching the Primacy of S. Peter as of an Empire and Monarchy which extends it self even over the Temporals of Kings But besides this the question is not of what the thing is in truth but what 't is in the opinion of the Iesuites and that the strive to infuse into the World seeing from thence it is the ill effects proceed which this unlucky Doctrine may produce Errour and Superstition being infinitely more capable then either Truth or Religion to engage an abus'd people to Insurrections and disorders more nefarious Now the Iesuites as we have already seen maintain that this Infallibility of the Pope reaches even to the making their Sovereignty over Princes an Article of Faith It is of Faith say Bellarmine and Lessius that the Pope may depose Kings because Pope Gregory the VIIth has decided it and that the Decision of a Pope is a point of Faith It were to take away all humane Reason to hinder men from thus arguing and by consequent to sleep on the point of a Precipice to suffer the Doctrine of Infallibility to creep into a State from whence it is impossible but the other must needs spring For having once permitted the people to be season'd with this Opinion and that they are but accustom'd to receive all that Popes pretend in their Bulls as well concerning matters of Right as of Fact as if Iesus Christ himself had pronounc'd it if a Pope please to apply the Infallibility acknowledg'd to be in him for the determining as they have frequently done that by virtue of the power which Iesus Christ has given him to bind and loose whatsoever is on Earth he has power to depose Kings and absolve their Subjects from their Fidelity and that such a King merits to be depos'd it is not to be thought 't will prove so easie a matter to defend ones self from these Fulminations by altering the minds of the people in a moment and persuading them that he whom they took to be then so infallible is now no such thing or is not at least in that matter that is to say that he is infallible when what he affirms does not concern us but ceases to be so when it imports us he should not be so This were to make an ill estimate of the mindes of men and of the force which custome has over them to suffer one's self to be dazzled with these vain confidences Those Opinions which do by little and little establish their authority in the minds of men are weak and tender in their infancy and beginning nor is it then so difficult a matter to extirpate them but when once time has rooted and confirm'd them they get dominion of Reason and discover a tyrannous look against which it dares not so much as lift up its eyes Capable they are to precipitate it into all manner of excess and make men violate the rules of very Nature and the most sacred obligations of civil Society especially when they happen to be Opinions which possess the spirit by the way of Religion For men being once persuaded and with reason that they
who should doubt or not believe what has not been decided but by a Pope should neither be accus'd of Errour or Temerity provided he did not contradict the Pope publickly and with Scandal Behold here the very first breach which has been made at least in the Sorbon against its ancient Doctrine But in the mean time this has not hinder'd those very Persons who incourag'd this Doctor and that were ingag'd by Interest with the Court of Rome to reject this personal Infallibility of the Pope whenever they had any regard of their reputation amongst learned men This is evident by Cardinal Perron who in his Reply to the King of Great Britain l. 6. p. 1083. expresly acknowledges that the onely expedient to determine Disputes of Religion with a certainty of Faith is by a General Council Were the Service saies he taken away from the Original Tongue and transferr'd into another all means of celebrating universal Councils and having any certitude or assurance of matters of Faith would cease For there being no certitude of the genuine sense of Scripture by our particular Interpretation since no Interpretation of Scripture is of private inspiration and we having no way left us of resolution with certitude of Faith in debates which rise about Religion upon the meaning of Scripture besides the voice of the Church speaking in General Councils evident it is that whatever it be which takes away from the Church the means of holding General Councils takes away from it all means of deciding the Disputes of Christian Religion with certitude of Faith Cardinal de Richelieu in his Book of Controversies which has been approv'd by the late Mons. Lescot Bishop of Chartres and divers other Divines exceedingly devoted to the Court of Rome acknowledges the same thing Lib. 3. c. 5. p. 424. Since there is saies he no Oecumenical Council which injoyns the use of the Images of the Divine Persons it is evident that 't is no Article of Faith supposing that for the Principle That onely General Councils can frame Articles of Faith Thus we see that the Doctrine of Infallibility which had been promoted by Mons. Duval with some kind of fear and reserve was abandon'd by the most knowing persons of the Church and chiefly by those who defended it against the Hereticks because they would not engage the cause of the Catholick Religion in defence of an Opinion so insupportable and therefore the Favourites of the Roman Court were then contented that this Opinion should pass for problematick onely Whence it came to pass that Mons. Duval who had but just propos'd it in this manner was all his life in so great esteem at Rome that he was look'd upon there as the person in the world who had render'd the greatest services to the holy See and that all the Nuns had order not to doe any thing here without his advice But finding this tentative succeed so happily and that the Iesuites having gain'd the Catholick Universities had fill'd all mens thoughts with this infinite power of the Pope which was highly advantagious to them for the withdrawing of them from the Jurisdiction of the Bishops they no longer remain'd in this moderation They pretended that it was not enough for the French to permit them to say the Pope was infallible but so order'd the matter that no man was suffered to acknowledge him for less They were contented that Mons. Duval should say that it was no matter of Faith to believe the Pope infallible because this reserve was necessary at that point of time for the currenter passage of the Doctrine but having first begun to distribute it in this manner they did not long rest there the design is to make men believe that the Doctrine of the Faculty of Paris opposite to this Infallibility which in Mons. Duval's daies was neither an Errour nor any rash Opinion is since that time though the Church never thought of any change become a manifest Heresie This is what the Iesuites have exceedingly farther'd For 't is about 5 or 6 years past that Father Theophile Raynaud a Iesuite of Lions publish'd a Book with this Title 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ipse dixit to shew not onely that the Pope is infallible but that it is matter of Faith that he is so and by consequent those that doubt of it Hereticks and he treats Mons. Duval very ill in his Book whom in contempt he calls a certain Doctor for his caution in not so openly venting this false Doctrine as a new Article of Faith And because they saw this enterprise of theirs was not punished as it deserv'd growing daily more insolent they proceeded to that extravagant impiety of their Theses of the College de Clermont which is now the object of the indignation of all France daring publickly to maintain even in the midst of Paris it self and in face of the Parliament That the Catholick Truth which opposes the Heresie of the Greeks concerning the Pope's Primacy is That Jesus Christ has given to all Popes the very same Infallibility which himself had not onely in Questions de Jure but in those also de Facto By this 't is visible to what their boldness may aspire if not timely prevented and repress'd and what progress these monstrous Opinions are like to make to the total destruction of the Liberties of the Gallican Church so precious to our Ancestors unless we be more vigilant in stopping its carreer And in earnest it is very hard it should not be so if we but consider a little those three Expedients which the abettors of the Court of Rome make use of to establish their Maxims The First is the Company of Iesuites spread over the face of the Universe and got to be Masters of the greatest part of the Colleges so as all the World being imbu'd with these Principles from their infancie as 't were Opinions not advantageous to the Church but the Court Politick of Rome they are receiv'd with respect as if they constituted a part of our Religion so as it is quite against the hair of any other because the Iesuites accustom those who have once plac'd their belief in them to look upon men as persons suspected of their Faith who in this are not of their opinion There is the hands of many persons a Treatise of the late Father Eustachius Gault a very knowing and pious Father de l' Oratoire nominated by the late King for Bishop of Marseilles wherein he mentions how dangerous it is for this very reason lest all the Colleges should in time and by degrees fall into the hands of the Iesuites The Second means is the care they take concerning Books blasting all that they find containing any thing of the ancient Maxims of the School of Paris suppressing them all that they can or at least so ordering the matter as to retrench whatever is not in their favour as they have done by a large Discourse of Guicciardin treating of the politick Incroachment of the
to Excommunicate or deprive them of their Kingdoms What occasion had Iean d' Albret given that for all this was despoil'd of his Estate Really one cannot offer a greater injury either to the Church or Pope himself then this attributing of so odious a power to him And the Church will have reason to say to these preposterous defenders of her Interests as Iacob said to his Children Simeon and Levi upon the Sack of Sichem Turbâstis me odiosam fecistis me Chananaeis Pherezaeis habitatoribus terrae hujus You have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the Land Besides in celebrating the first Advent of the Son of God himself she testifies that all the Kings of the Earth and even the most fierce of Tyrants had no reason to have been jealous of the coming of this new King for that he who gives to his the Kingdom of Heaven ravishes not from Princes the Kingdoms of the Earth Non eripit mortalia Qui Regna dat coelestia But our Popes take it for an honour done them when men attribute to them praises quite contrary to what the Church gives Iesus Christ and Kings are in danger of their Empires since they can take from Princes both their States and Kingdoms But doubtless when they shall have consider'd how unfortunate these pretences have prov'd to them and how odious they still are they will easily themselves acknowledge the truth of these excellent words which the Advocate general Mons. du Mesnil has in those Memoirs of his upon the procedures of Rome against the Queen of Navarre inserted amongst the Liberties of the Gallican Church Whilest the Popes of Rome pursu'd the footsteps of Charity and Christian Humility confining their power to the Spiritual Government establish'd by God in his Gospel without arrogating to themselves a magisterial temporal or worldly Dominion so long they received universal reverence and sincere obedience from all men But no sooner did they or any of them exalt themselves by assuming an Authority not onely as Peers but Superiours to Kings but they became in danger of losing their own Authority and that too which they would have usurped from others and have created trouble both to the Kingdom of God and of his Church Certainly those Popes who shall but consider these Christian and pious Reasons will never suffer themselves to be surpris'd with the Flatteries of those about them and will understand that 't is not the Interest of the Holy See which these Sycophants look after but their particular profit Nor do they alwaies dissemble their low and unworthy pretences nor are they afraid sometimes to sooth the Pope as one would do the Turk or great Mogul by those profusions of mony which he spends on his Courtiers Let the Italians saies that Italian Carrerius lift up their heads above all Nations of the Earth for that singular grace and favour which God has done them in bestowing on them a spiritual Prince namely the Bishop of Rome who has chased great Kings and mighty Emperours from their Thrones to set others in their places to whom so many potent Kingdoms pay'd tribute so long as never any thing has been seen like it and who divides such riches amongst those of his Court as never any King or Emperour hath done before But these so lofty Elogies in the eyes of these base and interested spirits appear but Sacrilegious to those who truely honour the grandeur of the Spiritual Authority of the Pope It is the very same in the matter of Infallibility the politick Theologues thinking to procure a great advantage to the Pope by publishing this Doctrine never considering that on one side they put a very great obstacle to the re-uniting of Hereticks who are more scandaliz'd with this pretension then with all those Points of our Faith in which we disagree and on the other that by this Doctrine they make the Pope in danger to deceive himself and expose the Church to Schisms and Divisions For 't is this pretence of Infallibility which may induce Popes to neglect to take the legitimate and ordinary waies of deciding Points of Faith who by the consent even of Cardinal Bellarmine himself ought to assemble Councils and there onely regularly examine Controversies of Religion which they will hardly ever be brought to doe so long as they are persuaded that they are Infallible without obligation to any other forms Nor let them alledge how great an advantage it is the having an infallible Authority in the Church to which there is so easie an access as if the verity of things depended upon their commodiousness Were this so we must also conclude that Popes are impeccable too at least in the Government of the Church for who would question but that were likewise very commodious for hindring the Damnation of so many persons by these unlawful Dispensations which persuade them that what-ever the Pope permits is as truely lawful as if God himself had said it whereas really there is nothing more true then what an Ancient has affirm'd namely That the greatest part of Dispensations are nothing else but a more easie descent into Hell with the Pope's permission Facilis descensus ad inferos cum bona venia Papae But as this Impeccability would be exceedingly advantagious if indeed God had bestow'd it upon Popes so on the contrary there can nothing be more pernicious then the Flattery of those who goe about to attribute it to him since it the more imboldens them blindly to pursue their own Passions without fearing to offend God And this is what those Cardinals and Prelates chosen by Paul the III d for the Reformation of the Church affirm'd really to have succeeded by means of some Persons who would needs persuade some Popes that their Wills were a sufficient Rule for their Actions whence it follow'd that what they pleas'd was lawful and hence say they have as from a source and spring flow'd such an infinity of abuses and intestine maladies as have reduc'd the Church to such a condition as her recovery seems in a manner to be desperate We may affirm the same of Infallibility It would be an extraordinary Priviledge but the Scripture having assur'd us that Every man is a Lier unless some Authority not inferiour to it have exempted us from that Rule 't is a great unhappiness to believe one's self Infallible because there is nothing that we are more propense to then the falling into Errour by presuming we cannot erre And on the other side it may truly be said that the likeliest means of rendring Popes infallible were to persuade them that they are not so to the end a holy fear may alwaies preserve them in an humble and salutary diffidence of their own sense and incline them to a diligent research of those waies and expedients which God has established to assure them of his divine Truths Paris the 1. of February 1662. FINIS An ADVERTISEMENT upon the following
DISCOURSE IT has been long said that in the precedent Discourse there have been laid the grounds of pernicious Consequences c. that divers things have been taken out of the Notes upon the Pope's Infallibility formerly made by the same Author But since there has been nothing alledg'd against what was solidly discussed in these Notes touching the Authority of the Councils of Constance and Basil it is thought pertinent to adde it here A REFUTATION OF Certain Cavils with which some Theologues endeavour to elude the Authority of the Councils of CONSTANCE and BASIL THE Sense of the Church upon the point of Infallibility did never more perspicuously appear then in the times of the Councils of Constance and Basil so venerably esteem'd by all France 'T is well known that the Doctrine of the Superiority of a Council above the Pope does necessarily destroy his pretended Infallibility because all Authority which is inferiour seeing it may be corrected 't is impossible it should be infallible since an Authority that is infallible cannot be corrected It follows then of necessity that if the Pope be inferiour to a Council he is not infallible All Divines are agreed upon this consequence and there is none who maintain the Infallibility of the Pope but they likewise maintain that he is superiour to a Council Moreover if Popes be inferiour to Councils it follows clearly that they are not onely fallible but it is also as evident that they have actually erred seeing Leo the Xth has defin'd the contrary in the Council of Lateran It is therefore certain that the Superiority of a Council above a Pope does by necessary consequence involve his Fallibility Now this Superiority was clearly decided in the 4th Session of the Council of Constance where the Council declares Concilium Generale habere à Christo immediatam Authoritatem cui omnes obedire tenentur etiam si Papalis dignitatis existat And thus the Fallibility of the Pope was defin'd by this Decree The novel defenders of the Superiority of Popes above Councils exceedingly torture themselves about this Decree of the Council of Constance For they cannot deny but that Pope Martin the Vth elected by this Council did confirm it in all things which had relation to Faith Now the Authority of General Councils is matter of Faith which forces them thus to precipitate themselves upon Solutions so ridiculously weak that it is strange any Divines should be found who durst propose them In the first place they affirm that the Council of Constance is approv'd by Martin the Vth in his quae Conciliariter gesta sunt but that this Decree was not made Conciliariter because say they it was made without Examen and therefore was not approved 'T is easie to see how dangerous an Answer this is since if men be once permitted to distinguish in Councils after this manner between Decrees examin'd and not examin'd the way is open to weaken all their Authority For how many matters are there which having been very well examin'd before Councils have been call'd have no need of being re-examin'd for a long time after whilst all Prelates and Divines remain agreed concerning them But there is no necessity of insisting upon this since this Solution is founded onely upon manifest Falsities there being in the world nothing more untrue then the pretence of those Authors that the Decrees of the 4th and 5th Session about the Superiority of Councils were not of the number of those things which were decreed Conciliariter For 't is remarkable that the order of the Council of Constance was first to propose and examine matters in the particular Congregations of the principal Nations of Christendom and then they were said to have been decreed Nationaliter After that they were propos'd again in the publick Sessions and when they were concluded there then they were pronounc'd to have been determined Conciliariter Whereas that which had onely been decreed by the Nations and not in the publick and general Session of the Council was never said to be determin'd Conciliariter but Nationaliter onely This is the true explication of these two words as appears by the place it self which these Authors would pervert For they have not any thing to alledge on this subject save what we reade in the conclusion of the Council which was in the 45th Session A Cardinal having said according to the custom Domini ite in pace and a Dominican gotten up into the Pulpit to preach the Embassadors of the King of Poland and Duke of Lithuania asked the Pope in the name of their Masters That before the Council were dissolv'd he should cause to be condemn'd in a publick Session or else declare for condemn'd the Book of a certain Frier one John Falkenberg which notoriously maintain'd divers horrible Errours and Heresies and which had already been lawfully condemn'd for heretical by the Deputies as to what concern'd the Faith and which had likewise been concluded by all the Nations of the Council and by the College of Cardinals That unless this were consented to they did protest denial of Iustice in the name of their Masters and would appeal to the next Council Which being done the Acts added Our holy Father the Pope replying said That he would inviolably hold and observe all and every the things which had been determin'd concluded and decreed in matters of Faith by the present Council Conciliarly and that he would never in any kind contradict it That so he approved and did ratifie all that had thus Conciliarly been done and no otherwise whatsoever Dixit respondendo ad praedicta Quòd omnia singula determinata conclusa decreta in materiis Fidei per praesens Concilium Conciliariter tenere inviolabiliter observare volebat nunquam contraire quoquo modo Ipsáque sic Conciliariter facta approbat ratificat non aliter nec alio modo See here the onely foundation of Cajetan's distinction and the sole reason which he alledges to pretend that Pope Martin the Vth did not approve the Decrees touching the Superiority of Councils as not done Conciliariter But by the very same he evidently approves that he has approv'd them since the Pope includes in his Approbation whatsoever had been determin'd Conciliariter and excludes but what having been concluded by the Nations had onely been determin'd Nationaliter and not Conciliariter forasmuch as it was not propos'd in the publick and general Sessions of the Council so as had been the condemnation of Falkenberg's Book which he refus'd to ratifie for reasons not known to us Now it is evident and no waies doubtful but the Decrees touching a Council's Superiority were first examin'd and concluded by the Nations and afterwards establish'd and determin'd in two publick and general Sessions of the Council that is to say in the 4th and 5th where 't is noted that these Decrees were first of all deliberated and concluded by all the Nations Certa Capitula per modum Constitutionum