one day to Father 〈…〉 Maldonatus that in very truth theâ— Church had formerly beene in such â—ermes that shee had had necessitie â—hat Religious men should come into the World to helpe her to re-establish Ecclesiasticall discipline but now said hee when all goes so well we have no more neede thereof and therefore let them suffer vs euery one to follow his occupation I would to God hee had said true and that the World were in so present state as that Religious men had no more to doe but to say their prayers Alas and what could we desire more then this But in conscience my Lords are wee now growne to be in such case as this and is France so well sanctified both in City and Country 6. The wish of a certaine worthy Prelate of this Kingdome is much more worth the making hee useth these very words and for all kindes of reason his testimony is worthy to bee received both with affection and with honour hee beeing such as hee is leading such a life as all the World doth know and admire Lord how happy a thing it is when the Ecclesiasticall men who are of the Clergy and when the men of Religious Orders be in good accord and maintaine good intelligence for the seruice of those soules which haue cost the Sonne of God so much blood When these Hurs and Iosuahs hold up the arme of these Moses that is to say of the ordinary Pastors to whom the government of soules committed to their charge doth belong How great benedictions grow from this holy vnaminity and correspondâ—nce But on the other side what confusion springeth forth when they who both by their Character of Priest hood and by a Reguler life ought to be in Order doe encounter and oppose one another For if the salt be unsavory with what shall any thing be seasoned If Order be disordred by what meanes shall the extreame corruptions of disorder be remoued If the rule be not streight with what shall one be able to measure the dimensions of any building O how truly doth the poore Church indure by these debates other manner of torments then Rebecca suffered by the combate of her Children I confesse it carrieth difficulty with it for two men to runne in a Tilt-yard at the same time and in the same way against one another without justling but that againe grows very easie when there is a partition which cutteth the length of the carrier in the middle and in the same manner is it easie for divers to labour in the same Vine-yard without contestation where the businesse is so great and the labourers so few euery one seeking not his owne interests there but the interest of Iesus Christ provided alwaies that they passe not the limits which the Sonne of God hath prescribed c. And a little after hee sayth thus The Church which is the seamlesse Coat not of Ioseph but of Iesus Christ is torne by these Schismes nothing indeede beeing so contrary to it as internall divisions which doe afflict it more then externall hereresie c. 7. That the first honours be rendred to my Lords the Bishops and the second to the Pastors and Parsons or Curats of Churches is out of all dispute Let them be great in dignitie and eminency let them commaund let them governe let them triumph They shall never be either so great or so holy but that all good Religious men will wish that they may be so more and more and that they may see them also many St. Charleses That which Religious men desire is neither greatnesse nor honour nor revenew nor precedence nor any thing which carrieth lustre and noyse with it That which they desire is but to sweat blood and water to labour day and night to serue and comfort the whole World to Preach to take Confessions to visite Hospitals and Prisons and must this be for troubling the Hierarchy The Orientall Church is so far off from euer having had this beleefe that even in these dayes they scarce make any Patriarke Arch-bishop or Bishop but such as are Religious of the Order of Saint Basil And still this Hierarchy of the Church must needs haue a head who may gouerne and range it as is fit Since therefore fiftie Popes without interruption one after an other haue sent these Regulars in ayde and succor of the Hierarchy who will presume to say that so many Popes and after them so many Cardinalls and great Prelates haue troubled the Order of the Church together with so many Kings who haue desired them sent for them honoured them and who would needes appoint by their expresse commandements that they should haue imployment in their Dominions and in fine who haue served themselues of them in their owne soules 8. A very learned Doctor in Paris hath obserued in the relation which hee makes of those Hierarchies of Heauen to those on earth that the Prelates or Gouernors of Religious men are as the Principalities of Heaven in the Hierarchy of the Church on earth Is this to trouble the Order of the Church and to bring in coniusion The Cardinals sayth hee answerâ— to the Seraphins the Bishops to the Cherubins the Parsons and Curates to the Arch-angels the Abbots and Superiours of Regular men to the Principalities c. If now wee should examine this businesse by the fruite which both the one and the other doe produce in the Church there would bee much to be sayd but this would bee odious It is better that you be pleased to imploy your memories upon that which hath beene sayd already and to retaine that in your minds which was delivered by two Holy Prelates speaking in these wordes Petri Successor pia prouidet saluti S. Coâ— l. c. animarum in nullo praejudicat authoritati Pontificum tanquam ornans non deornans Ecclesiasâ—â—um Hierarchiam dum mittit Religiosos Vnde Sanctus Gregorious ecce mundus Sacerdotibus S. Greg. in Past. plenus est tamen in Dei messe rarus operarius inuentiur This great Pope and this great Cardinall when they speake these wordesâ— do they thinke they trouble the Hierarchy of the Church 9. If these Regulars did intrudâ— themselues and as Tertullian saythâ— Si quis missus est a seipso If they made hauocke where they goe and disturbed the Order of the Church iâ— would indeede be inexcuseable and punishable But beeing inspired by Almighty God authorised by Councells sent by Popes approoved by the Bishops of all times and of all Countries in the World hauing biâ— in possession of so many ages and succeeding their predecessours who haue lost their liues in cultiuating the Vine-yard of Iesus Christ Alas shall this be called a trouble to the Hierarchy of the Church Hierarchicha opera non peragunt authoritate sua sed Ordinariorum potissimê summi pontificis 〈…〉 l. c. Saith this great Cardinall cujus dispositionis authoritas positiua â—urae transcendit For these are his very words 10. It is
for-sooth they make a mortall sinne that they exalt themselues aboue Bishops that they forsake the care of Parishes and draw all to themselues that they abuse their Priviledges and become insolent and too independant vppon their Ordinaries that they despise Ecclesiasticall Parsons and Curats whom they vndermine that they follow not the Maximes of the Country and the Priviledges of the Gallian Church that they fill the best Chayres of the Kingdome and in fine that they make themselues petty Kings Having thus made up this Picture and given such a colouring to it as is used by the great Bassaw who ordinarily makes all his full of night and deepe shadowes and darkenesse having I say framed the face of this businesse after this manner they put men then into an Alarum they cry out and Preach yea and excommunicate in many places they print Bookes and they doe wonders What say they is it fit that men band themselues thus against Bishops is it fit to put the Church in Scisme that poore Religious men should be so full of obstinacy and ambition that without punishment they should bring confusion unto that order which hath beene established by our Predecessours and a World of such discourses as these which are received and beleeved as Oracles and indubitable truths I wil therfore say with Tertullian to such as shall haue figured or rather dis-figured us in this fashion before the eyes of my Lords the Prelates that first they should in earnest striue to know whether that be true or no whether or no we adore this Orient Sun and this interest of our owne and whether our designes and pretences aime at that For otherwaies it is to frame an ougly thing at pleasure and it is like setting up a Quintaine or some man of wood so to learne to make thrusts of the Launce and of language at it when yet in the meane time all this is done with disadvantage to the service and glory of God Wee men should first seeke to know whether indeede it bee the Arke of truth or else the Chest or Coffer of our owne interest which wee adore and then afterward they might cry out at ease and without danger of errour My Lords in such a businesse as this a man may eyther seeke the sole Glorie of GOD and the good of soules which are bathed in the blood of Iesus Christ who is the true Bishop and Pastor of our soules or else hee may follow a passion being over-cast and gilt with a shewe of zeale and set foorth with the apparant ornaments of vertue or else in fine hee may giue himselfe way to bee perswaded to certayne things which hee takes indeede to be very true though yet in very truth they be not so Of you my Lords I beleeue that it is the first consideration which puts you on or at the most that it is the first and the third you having perhaps given beleefe to so many discourses where with men may haue desired to flatter you and perhaps to worke and make deepe impressions upon your minds But yet withall I beseech you suffer me to tell you that which generally is in the beleefe of men namely that many who are not Bishops haue suffered themselues to be transported into the second errour and haue taken passion interest and jealousie for direct inspirations but verily I am in feare least God should say Non mittebam Prophetas Ier. 22. ipsi currebant non loquebar ad eos ipsi prophetabant Now therefore to discerne who is inspired by God and who is put on by an Episcopall and Apostolicall spirit and who on the other side is posessed by passion I know not how it may be done more Divinely then by the mouth of God and by the mouth of three of the greatest personages who haue ever beene in this World and who all three were Pastors according to the verie heart and gust of God The first is Moses that father of the people of God and as it were their Bishop under whom Iosua was placed It hapned therefore that one Eldad and Medad who being a part from the multitude of the Iewes and some will say perhaps that this is a figure of Religious men beganne to prophecy amongst the people that is to say to instruct and Preach to them This newes was quickely carried by a young man to Iosua who being inflamed with a zeale which was not altogether so very pure ranne with speede to Moses and being desirous to use double diligence in giuing proofe of his fidelity said somewhat which pleased not Moses in any sort who was a man all full of the Spirit of God But let us heare his Wordes Statim Iosue filius Nun minister Mosi electus è pluribus Domine mi Moses prohibe illos At ille quid inquit aemularis pro me quis tribuat mihi vt omnis populus Num. 11. 29 Prophetet det eis dominus Spiritum suum What is that which this holy man means to say this Idea of the Pastors of the people of God I had rather make it be spoken by the mouth of a Pope which was more worth then gold But first you may obserue in passing by that insteed of Prohibe illos the Caldean version sayth Mitte eos in carcerem for this declareth yet better the boyling heart of Ioshua and the excesse of his too hote zeale But now let us heare what the Pope saith Pia Pastorum mens Lib. 22 mor. cap. 24. saith St. Gregory quia non propriam gloriam sed authoris quaerit ab omnibus vult adjuuari quod agit fidelis namque Predicator optat si fieri valeat vt veritatem quam solus loqui non sufficit ora cunctorum sonent Vnde cum Iosue duobus in castris remanentibus atque prophetantibus vellet obsistere recté per Mòsen dicitur Quid aemularis pro me c. Prophetare quippe omnes voluit qui bonum quod habuit alijs non inuidit Will you therefore see this ill zeale and how Moses speaketh of this emulation Here it is Domine mi prohibe illos And will you see the true Spirit of God and the pure zeale of his service and of the good of soules Behold also here it is Quiâ— mihi tribuat ut omnes c. The second instance is more eminent and it is Iesus Christ who is speaking and we must adore his Words Thus stood the case As he was going to Capernaâ—um Markc 9. the Apostles busied themselues about debating who was to be the greatest man amongst them Deere Lord what a kinde of discourse was this for the Apostles to make But being ariued at their lodging Christ our Lord demaunded of them what discourse they had held uppon the way to which they all helde their peace and were infallibly ashamed of their having so impertinently debated about the poynt of precedence And our deare Lord instructed them sweetly and taught them that true greatnesse is
which you haue to â—ake be set downe and infallibly â—hey shall be remedied without noise â—ithout dispute and without scanâ—all Might I be so bold as to aske â—hether they who giue you these imâ—ressions against vs be impeccable or â—o whether they commit any â—aults whether euer they fall into â—ny indiscretion If they confesse â—ot themselues like other men If â—hen you shall haue taken all the â—eligious away they of whom you â—eane to serue your selues shall not â—rop downe from heauen and be â—onfirmed in grace without so much â—s tripping at any time whether â—hey and you shall neuer be in any difference with one another notwithstanding rhat Saint Peter and Saint Paul had disputes betweene themselues and two Angels are found in Daniel to haue fought with one another more then twenty dayes Haue you no feare my Lords of the passage of that old Roman Exurgenâ— Tacit magis alij homines quam alij mores and that other Refodeo Antigonum and can you ever hope to meete with a whole commonalty yea or even with any one single man in whom in fine you finde nothing to be wished otherwaies and who may commit some indiscretion doe you judge of a whole bodie by some one part which is out of joynt and of a whole Order by one indiscreete man oâ— for some simple thing which perhaps hee may haue done without malice and with great innocency Diâ— Christ our Lord excommunicate all his Apostles because one of theâ— Iohn 6. was a Divell For so hee was named by Christ himselfe And doe you beleeue that of all those Oblati of St. Charles of whom you spoake but now no one did ever commit any fault If this be so shewe us our abuses if wee give you not contentment if wee alleadge not reasons which are to be of full weight and worthy of beeing receiued if wee doe nto produce as many Authenticall Bulls as can be desired wee shall at least bee ready to submit our selues to all kinde of satisfaction and to liue and dye at your feete and under those just lawes which you shal bee pleased to prescribe But first we must haue three words and they are these To Vnderstand to Consider and to Iudge And to keepe your selues from prejudging and to make supposition of nothing which may not be solidly averred and that after the parties be heard by word of mouth for otherwise there will never bee aâ— ende Onely you wil bee pleased to consider things maturely for you cannot condemne us without fault but by condemning Popes Councels Kings Cardinalls and the greater part of my Lords the Prelates of France your Predecessours whom you arraigne in arraigning us 8. Three great Arch-bishops all yet aliue and the chiefe of this Kingdome haue told mee more theâ— once that they haue never derived more honour and service from any then from Religious men A hundred Bishops haue sayd as much and I will make it good that there is no man who serveth and honoreth my Lords the Prelates with a better heart and with lesse interest then good Religious men doe nor who would imploy their liues and their heads more frankly for the service of God and of my Lords the Bishops â—f there were neede Never sayth S. â—ugustine did I see better people â—hen those who persever in Religious â—rders and neuer worse then those â—ho depart from thence Serue your â—lues of the former and leaue the â—tter since you haue so great assuâ—nce from so great a Bishop for â—ey being so good how can they be 〈◊〉 wicked as to disesteeme the Preâ—tes whom all the world doth eâ—eeme so much If Religious men doe wel why do â—ou put your selues in paine If they â—o ill command their Superiours to â—ke order with them and if they do â—t content you with reasons which â—e full of life and strength and in â—e if they doe not their duty but â—at they tollerate others faults vse â—u that power which God and the â—ouncell giueth you and when this â—albe done where is that contempt Conc. 〈◊〉 Sess 21. 〈…〉 and diminution of your authoritiesâ— 9. If you find that it be a chargâ— of conscience to you that they takâ— Confessions at Easter I say if it bâ— but for that I wil easily deliver youâ— the scruple for I will shew you by aâ— by that there is no conscience 〈◊〉 this I say none at all and perhapâ— there is more obligation of conscâ—ence not to hinder it as I shall shâ— in the due place It is said in diviâ—ty that if a man hath two or thrâ— good Authors for an opinion 〈◊〉 may follow it with a good consâ—ence and without any feare at 〈◊〉 Now they will alledge you mâ— then twelue Popes more then a hâ—dreth Prelats more then two hundreth Authors to shew that 〈◊〉 both may and ought to be doneâ— good conscience and that perhâ— otherwise one may do more 〈◊〉 then good to soules And therefâ— by this occasion nothing at all of 〈◊〉 authority of my Lords the Prelates do perish nor of the right of the Pastors and Parsons and Curats nor euen of their profit And wherein is then the contempt 10. But some man preacheth too licentiously and words fall impertinently from him to the scandall of Bishops This indeede is without all excuse stoppe you therefore his mouth take his Pulpit from him get his Superiour to send him from thence let his indiscreet zeale be punished there is nothing so reasonable as this For if there be any thing in Prelats to be wished otherwise it is not in publicke that we must proclaime it and so begin to mangle the reputation of my Lords the Prelats Their name and their life also ought to be as the Sunne which is euer crowned with beames and glory and a man must neuer be so aduenturous as to interpose the Moone of any passion or indiscretion to eclipse these faire lights of the world It is not euery bodies casâ— to say as Saint Bernard did long agoe Clauditis nobis ora vtinam Ep. 42. ad Hon. Archl. oculos claudatis c. Some one will haue giuen himselfe leaue and will haue spoken indiscreetly and fifty others will haue esteemed it to bee their tryumph to speake well of you Alas must so many honest men suffer for the indiscretion of some one and must the head be cut off because the little toe is not right 11. But perhaps you would faine see if the Blessed Sacrament bee well and decently conserved and kept iâ— there be nothing in it but that doe but vouchsafe one day to goe thither to say Masse and giue the Communion and you shall see all at your case if it be upon some other motiue that serues for the glory of God since Popes Councels Canons Custome and possession do so oppose it Good God how many great and holy Preâ—ates who are gone before you did â—eaue the world as they found it They â—ived and
of one of them at least who dyed miserably In fine you shall haue in Saint Thomas all those very arguments which are brought against us at this day with the angelicall and most solid answeres of this Oracle who at his returne to Paris did publikely make good all his Doctrine and answered all them who went to assault him with their Canon shot and with arguments which they conceived to bee omnipotent But there hapned an accident which discovered that spirit well whereby they were animated who banded themselues against these For uppon a certaine Palme-Sunday when Saint Thomas Preached publikely in the Vniversity and spake like an Angell behold a strange and very unworthy case which hapned For a certaine silly fellow called Iuliot a Picard who appeared about the middle of the Sermon and opening a great paper wherein was contayned a list of injurious speeches against the great man and a thousand outragious slanders against his holy Order After I say that hee vomited out all this he concluded thus with a loud voyce How now my maisters can you be content after all this to heare the Sermon of so wicked a man and of a Doctor who teacheth so abhominable errors And you brother Thomas what doe you answere to this Now the people was confounded to see the vnspeakeable modesty of Saint Thomas who harkened to all that poysoned Discourse with so profound humility and with a silence so full of modestie and holy mortification that they esteemed him as a Saint of Heaven for hee did never so much as answere any one word But the people calling up their spirits and considering the insolency of this bold meane fellow did that which you may read if it please you in the story for I will not loade this paper with it nor yet importune you But so it is that the Auditors did that which perhaps you your selues wold haue done if you had beene at that Sermon and the King caused him and those maisters of Arte to bee punished who had made him commit that base tricke so full of insolency and scandall Now all those good Religious seeing themselues opprest on all sides and that the earth and this World fayled them they had recourse to Heaven and to the holy mother of God who appeared to Saint Thomas and made him see these Words written in letters of Gold Liberavit vos Deus abinimicis vestris de manu omnium qui oderunt vos In a word in the yeare of our Lord 1259. all this tempest broake up and those holy men remained in peace But I dare not forbeare to tell you that all this storme grew not into that heigth but by reason of a certaine rage and a strong passion of a Prelate who had seene a Nephew of his enter into the Order of Saint Dominicke and had never beene able to draw him thence Alas a little winde doth sometimes stirre up great stormes uppon the Sea of this World and how many things do men ill vnder colour of good if they take not heed 28. Methinkes you doe yet desire at my hands the Theses which Saint Thomas defended publikely in this matter and the Propositions which hee maintayned against all them who disputed thereof which was the cause why all the World yeelded to the truth and which calmed this tempest which was so blacke and so terrible that it was likely to swallow up these two Orders I wil obay and giue you here the chiefe points therof and I will draw them out of his booke and doe you but see if they be not the very same of these dayes 1. Cum misit Deus Apostolos 12. Opusc 15. c. 4. 72. Discipulos dedit illis facultatem alios mittendi sicut fecit Sanctus Paulus 1 Cor. 4. 2. Multo melius potest Papa Episcopus delegare alios mittere in vineam Domini quam Parochus 3. Minores Angeli in caelesti Hierarchia mitti possunt a superioribus eadem plane opera exercâ—nt ideoque dicuntur Seraphin Cherubin quia eorum opera exercent sic in Hierarchia Ecclesiastica 4. Papa non destruit Ecclesiasticam Hierarchiam cum mittit Monachos ad praedicandum quod enim potest inferior ut Curatus concedere committendo curam alicui hoc potest ejus superior ut Episcopus Papa 5. Papa in hoc non facit contra decreta Canorum nec contra statuta Sanctorum quod si daretur eum facere contra verba statutorum certum est eum servare intentionem statuentium quae est vtilitas Ecclesiae 6. Quae sunt de jure positiuo relicta sunt sub Papae dispensatione ut est hoc de quo quaeritur nempe mittere Monachos ad Praedicationes Confessiones audiendas 7. Quisquis Papae vel Episcopo suo vel alicui ejus vicem habenti confessus est ille confessus est proprio Sacerdoti 8. Cum Episcopus subditum Sacerdotis absoluit perse vel per alium cui commisit tum Sacerdos Parochialis itâ debet se reputare cognoscere eum ac si sibi confessus esset Nam cognoscere potest aliquem aut ex propria Confessione aut ex sententia superioris an sit dignus communione 9. Licet concedatur posse aliquod malum oriri ex hoc quod aliquis non confitetur Parocho suo tamen multo plura majora mala nascuntur si quis cogatur necessario illi confiteri vt patet experientia 10. Quicquid Sancti Doctores Canones videntur dicere de Monachis quorum Officium esse dicitur magis plangere quam docere hoc dicitur de Monachis illis qui nec Sacerdotes erant neque Diaconi sed solitarij Heremitae non de ijs qui ad hoc vocati sunt qui non ex propria authoritate id faciunt sed ex commissione Praelatorum 11. Etiamsi daretur duos tantum Ordines a Domino esse institutos qui possent propria authoritate praedicare c. posset tamen Ecclesia tertium statuere Ordinem qui posset propria authoritate praedicare multum magis eorum quiex commissione sicut in Primitiua Ecclesia fuerunt tantum duo Ordines sacri scilicet Presbiteri Deaconi tamen postea Ecclesia minores Ordines statuit 12. Quidam a Confessione desisterent nisi possint alijs quam suis Sacerdotibus confiteri propter multas causas 13. Ex communi consuetudine Orientalis Ecclesiae omnes fere Monachis confitentur 14. Quidam novellum sibi statuentes errorem in tantam prorumpunt audaciam vt asserant non posse per Episcopos Religiosis praedicta committi absque voluntate Parochi quod pernicio sius est non posse hoc asserunt concedi per Privilegium sedis Apostolicae 15. Optimè ait S. Dion Eccl. Hier. c. 6. summus Sacerdos per suos ministros aut Sacerdotes purgans aut illuminans ipse dicitur purgare illuminare ergo Episcopus eodem modo qui autem