Author of the Commentary on the Psalms attributed to S. Jerom does not consist in her Walls but in the truth of her Tenets She is where the true Faith is For as to the other it is but fifteen or twenty years since the walls of these Churches were in the power of Hereticks They possess'd all these Churches which you see But the Church was where the True Faith was As the Author of the Prejudices has not scrupled sometimes to make use of the Testimonies of our own Authors when he thought he could draw any advantage from them he will not it may be take it ill if I oppose to him also upon the subject about which we now dispute the Testimony of two men famous in the Roman communion and who well deserve to be heard the one is Driedo whom Bellarmine calls a most learned man and the other is Bellarmine himself both very great defenders of the Church of Rome See here therefore what Cardinal Bellarmine hath wrote in the name of both in his Controversies of the Church We must note sayes he according to the Doctrine of Driedo that it is not necessary that the Catholick Church should have that extension in all places all at once or in the same time that is to say that there should be the faithful in all Provinces and that it is enough if that be successively done From whence it follows that when there should remain but one Province alone that should retain the true Faith this Province would not fail to be truly and properly called the Catholick Church provided that we see clearly that it is the same Church which sometimes or at divers times is found spread over all the world Could any one have more clearly contradicted the Author of the Prejudices He would that this visible extension through all Nations should be a perpetual mark of the True Church and these here say that it is sufficient that it is sometimes and even in divers times successively he would that this extension should be the mark of the Church for all following Ages and these here maintain that it is not necessary He would that this reasoning should be alwayes just your society is shut up in a small part of the world Therefore it is not the Church and these here say that when there should remain but one only Province that should retain the true faith this Province would not cease to be properly and truly called the Catholick Church But it may be that Bellarmine had not observed that his opinion and Driedo's favoured the Donatists and that it was contrary to the doctrine of S. Augustine This may be so in effect not only because a man in writing may not have all things in view but because also at the bottom the sentiment of these Doctors is very remote from that of the Donatists and that it does not encounter that of S. Augustine It is yet true that Bellarmine saw that they could make that Objection which he has prevented and answered this I say to the end the Author of the Prejudices may see that this which he has treated of as an Argument and as a convincing Argument for which he has made two Chapters Bellarmine has look'd on as a very trivial objection which he proposes and resolves in a few words They will say sayes he that this is to fall into the Error of Petilianus and the Donatists who maintain'd that in truth the Church had been spread over all the world but that it was afterwards lost in all the Provinces and remain'd no where but in Africa which S. Augustine disputes against I answer that the Error of the Donatists consisted in two things the first that they would have it that the Church should be in Africa only in a time wherein it manifestly increased throughout all the world the second in that they could not connect their Church of Africa with that which had before been spread through all the world for in that Church there they had alwayes good and bad as S. Augustine proves whereas they would compose theirs of the righteous only This Answer of Bellarmine overthrows all the pretensions of the Author of the Prejudices for it establishes these following Propositions 1. That Visible Extension is not a mark of the true Church but in a certain time that is to say when we see it manifestly increase throughout all the world from whence it follows that this mark is vain at other times 2. That the Argument of S. Augustine concludes only for the time then being by reason of that manifest fruitfulness from whence it follows that it is very impertinent that the Author of the Prejudices goes to apply it to these last Ages wherein we maintain the field of the Church has been fruitful only in Errors and Superstitions 3. That if the Donatists had accused all the world to have fallen into Heresie and if they had said by consequence that it was not the time of fruitfulness for the Church it had been in vain for S. Augustine to alledge to them the visible extension of his Church to exempt himself from entring into the discussion of that accusation from whence it follows that it is also in vain that the Author of the Prejudices propounds the visible extension of his since we say that it is fallen into fundamental errors 4. That the Argument of S. Augustine concluded because the Donatists agreed that his communion was Orthodox from whence it follows that that of the Author of the Prejudices concludes nothing since we question that Orthodoxy of his Church 5. That by consequence visible extension is not a mark that can make us know which is the True Church when the dispute is between two Societies contesting that Orthodoxy between themselves but at farthest only when the dispute is between two Societies that mutually own one another to be Orthodox from whence it follows that the Author of the Prejudices makes use of this mark to no purpose since our chief question is to know whether the Church of Rome is Orthodox or no. All these consequences which flow naturally from the answer of Bellarmine contradict the Argument of the Author of the Prejudices and it concerns him to see after what manner he can decline the Authority of this Cardinal But some will say lastly It may be Bellarmine was deceived and that he had not well understood the state of the question which was between S. Augustine and the Donatists nor well comprehended the true Hypothesis of that Father I confess that this may be but it may be also that he did well understand it and that the misconstruing should be on the side of the Author of the Prejudices This is that which must be further cleared and for this effect we must note a thing that the Author of the Prejudices seems not to have comprized which is that if the Donatists had accused the Society of S. Augustine of Heresie S.
Sentence and the Imperial Edict the people would have believed that it had been only made to overthrow the Truth of the Gospel and to maintain and defend their evils abuses and impieties That it was very well done of Adrian to acknowledge the disorders of the Court of Rome and that they earnestly intreated him for the glory of God for the salvation of souls and for the peace and tranquillity of the publick seriously to put his hand to reform them That they intreated him also to allow that the first fruits of Benefices which they had given to the Popes for them to employ against the Turks and which his Predecessors had turned aside to other uses should for the time to come be remitted into the publick Treasure of the Empire to be made use of according to their natural appointment And as for the remedies which he required of them to put a stop to the course of the Lutheran error that they saw none more proper than spedily to call a free and Christian Council in some Town of Germany wherein it might be allowed to every one as well of the Clergy as of the Laity to speak freely notwithstanding all Oaths and contrary Obligations and to take counsel together for that which they should judge to be good for the glory of God for the salvation of Souls and the advantage of the Christian Commonwealth That notwithstanding they would hinder Luther and his followers from writing any more and they would give order that the Preachers should teach nothing but the true pure and sincere Gospel according to the Doctrine and explication received and approved in the Christian Church This Answer extreamly displeased the Popes Nuntio he would not that they should speak of a free Council for it seemed to him he said That by that proposition they would give Laws to the Pope He approved yet less that they should touch upon the troubles of Germany and the abuses of the Court of Rome he required nothing but fire and sword against the Lutherans Therefore he gave them his reply in writing in which he insisted that the Sentence of Pope Leo and the Imperial Edict of Wormes which Ordained that they should overthrow all the followers of Luther should be executed according to their form and tenour without any diminution And as to the demand of a Council he said that they should have made it in terms more respectful which should have given no grounds of jealousie to the Pope and that by those clauses that the Council should be free and that men should be absolv'd from their Oaths they seem'd to go about to bind the hands of his Holiness The Princes would notwithstanding have nothing chang'd in their deliberation which they caused to be drawn up in the form of an Imperial Edict and sent their Grievances to the Pope to the number of a hundred Articles which they called Centum gravamina Raynaldus reckons up only seventy seven upon the testimony of Dolgastus However it were those Griefs explained one part of the disorders that reigned then in the Government of the Church and under which not only Germany but all the rest of the West groaned Thus it came to pass that the endeavours of the Court of Rome and its Partizans to raise a persecution against those who demanded a Reformation were to no purpose for that time But what they could not obtain at Nuremberg they obtained elsewhere for in that same year they caused two Augustin Monks accused of Lutheranism to be burn'd alive who suffer'd that punishment with an admirable constancy and at Anvers they made a Covent of the Augustine Friars be pull'd down to the ground the Prior of which named Henry Suphanus had before suffer'd death in the preceding year for the same cause Adrian enjoyed the Papacy but one year and eight months or thereabouts for he was raised to it as I have said the eighth of January 1522. and he dyed the thirteenth of September 1523. his Successor was Clement the Seventh This man marching after the steps of his Predecessors was not well setled in the Pontifical Chair before he turned all his thoughts against those whom they called Lutherans and to that effect having been advertis'd that the Princes of Germany had bound themselves to meet again at Nuremberg he sent thither Cardinal Campeius in the quality of his Legate Notwithstanding he wrote to the Emperour who was then in Spain earnestly soliciting him to employ his Authority to make the Edict of Wormes to be put in Execution in his Empire and to dispose the Princes to it His Legate being arrived at Nuremberg vehemently insisted upon the Extirpation of the Lutherans and he made for that purpose divers Orations in the Assembly But the Princes would not follow his violent courses they on the contrary obstinately demanded a free Council in Germany and ordained that each Prince and each State should while they waited for that Council call together within their Jurisdictions their Learned Wise and Pious men to examine the new Tenets of the Lutherans and to separate the good from the bad in them and to examine also the complaints of their Nation against the Court of Rome and its Clergy They added nevertheless that each one on his part should do what he could to make the Edict of Wormes to be executed and that in fine that to conclude something firm the States of the Empire should meet together within a certain time at Spire This Declaration which was afterwards drawn up and publish'd in the form of an Imperial Edict extreamly provok'd the Pope and all his creatures They complain'd of this that in expectation of a Council they would submit the matters of Religion to the judgement of a few Wise Learned and Pious persons saying that it was the means to spread abroad every where the poyson of Heresie for thus Raynaldus relates it They could not endure the proposition of a free Council but above all things they loudly cry'd out of this that under that pretence they would defer the execution of the Popes Sentence and the Edict of Wormes against the Lutherans whose blood and destruction they only demanded Clement made great complaints to the Emperour by the Letters which he sent him into Spain wherein to animate him the more he perswaded him that that was a manifest breach of his Authority and a formed design to withdraw themselves intirely from his obedience and as these solicitations were extreamly vehement and urgent they forced the Emperour to write into Germany to the Princes and to all the States of the Empire that it was his intention that they should punctually execute his Edict of Wormes that they should make that of Nuremberg void and forbad them to hold the Diet of Spire But before his Letters came to Germany the Legat Campeius had drawn off one part of the Roman Catholick Princes for the most part Ecclesiasticks and having made them to meet at Ratisbon under a pretence
the Month of February 1559. to 〈◊〉 to put an end to the differences of Religion by the way 〈◊〉 Council the Protestants had declared to him as they had 〈…〉 that they could have no hopes of any accommodation 〈…〉 of a Council of the Popes That they would submit 〈…〉 a free General and Christian Council not called by 〈…〉 the Emperour and Christian Kings where the 〈…〉 his place not as President and Master but as a Party and submit himself to the judgement of the Council That for that effect it was necessary that the Pope should release them of the Oath by which he held all the Prelates bound to his See to the end that the Prelates and Divines there might give their opinion freely and that all should be judg'd there by the Word of God alone and not by the Roman Constitutions and their pretended Traditions That it was just that their Divines should be heard and that they might declare their opinion in the decision of those differences and by consequence all the Acts and all the Decrees made at Trent remaining as not made that they should treat the things anew That with these conditions they consented with all their hearts and submitted themselves to a Council but not otherwise So that the Emperour seeing well that the Pope and his Court would never agree to those conditions nor consent to any Council at least unless they should be Masters of it further confirmed the Treaty of Passaw and setled the peace of Germany about the matter of Religion leaving to every one the liberty of his conscience This mortally wounded the Pope but elsewhere he comforted himself with hearing that his solicitations with the other Princes to continue the rooting out of the Hereticks by Fire and Sword and every where all the rigours of punishments had a very great effect in France in Spain and in the Low-Countreys Henry the Second dyed the third of June of the same year 1559. The Pope dyed also quickly after to wit the eighteenth of August of the same year His last words were to recommend to the Cardinals the holy Office of the Inquisition for so he called it assuring them that it was the only Pillar of the See of Rome His Memory was very much detested by all the people who immediately after his death burn'd the new Prison of the Inquisition which he had caused to be built broke his Statues and overthrew his Coat of Arms throughout all the City of Rome Pius the Fourth succeeded him and it was under him that the Council of Trent was consummated He followed intirely the Spirit of his Predecessor for he presently moved the Duke of Savoy to turn his Arms against his Subjects of the Valleys of Piedmont to reduce them by force to the obedience of his See and because that in France they had resolved to call a National Council to labour by this means to put a stop to the course of the Reformation against which the fires and punishments practised till that time had done nothing he oppos'd himself vehemently to it and sent to King Francis the Second an express Nuntio to disswade him from that National Council and to exhort him to follow the way of the punishments that he had before practis'd and that of his Arms if it were necessary till it should be provided for by a General Council offering him for that purpose to assist him with all his power and to cause the King of Spain and the Princes of Italy to assist him also The Nuntio faithfully acquitted himself of his charge but the King did yet persist in the design of a National Council and it was resolved in his Council that they should seek for the means to call it in case the Pope should not speedily call a General one This was the resolution of an Assembly held at Fountainbleau in the Month of August 1560. which no wayes pleased the Pope for he saw well that this National Council was a very bad example for Germany where till then his Predecessors had hindred it So that seeing no very good means to ward off that blow and apprehending that other Nations would do the same things he suddenly took up a resolution to assemble his Council at Trent But besides that reason of National Councils which he apprehended he was further carried out to it by divers other motives for he saw that the Reformed Religion had spread it self abroad every where In Spain the Inquisitions were taken up only with condemning and burning them and they had alwayes some new matter for the exercise of their cruelties It was the same in the Low-Countreys England had wholly thrown off the yoke of Rome and embraced the Reformation Scotland had done it as much All Prussia and Livonia had done the same In France the number of the Protestants was very much increased and they had the liberty of their consciences granted them The Duke of Savoy could not compass his design with all his Forces in the sole Valleys of Piedmont Besides that which remain'd fix'd to the interests of the Pope was very much discontented with the conduct of his Court the greatest part of his Catholicks had acknowledged the necessity of a Reformation and they made Harangues about it in the publick assemblies The Princes themselves who the most supported the See of Rome every day encroached upon his Authority and gave him trouble enough He resolv'd with himself therefore to assemble his Council but at the same time also he made it his design to manage it so well that the success should be advantageous for himself To this effect he published his Bull bearing this with it that he took off the suspension that had been made and called it to Trent on Easter day in the year 1563. He sent thither five Legates to preside in his place and after divers delayes in fine the Council was opened by his Order the eighteenth of January 1562. and matters were treated there afterwards after the same manner which they had been treated in before under Paul the Third and under Julius that is to say that the Pope reigned there absolutely and nothing was done there but according to his will His See was exalted there more than before the disorders of the Government of the Church were rather confirmed than corrected there and the Errors and Superstitions and Worship set up by men instead of being reformed were on the contrary established there and passed in the force of a perpetual and indispensable Law Such was the success of this Assembly It would be too long here to relate exactly that which passed there Any may read with pleasure and with profit all the particularities in some of the famous Historians of those times It shall suffice me for the present to say that after the manner that the Popes took there for the governing that Council we ought not to think it strange if they obtain'd their ends and if they alwayes turn'd things to which side