holy communion of the whole catholike Church which they have wilfully insolently and most disdainfully rejected 12. The fourth and last difference which I now observe ariseth from the judgement of the Church concerning them both The former she is so farre from once thinking to have dyed in heresie or heretikes that shee most gladly testifieth her selfe not onely to hold them in her communion but to esteeme and honour them as glorious Saints of the Church Papias the author of that opinion a Saint Irene Iustine and Cyprian both Saints and Martyrs On the parties which hold the latter error she hath passed a contrary doome for by decreeing the Cathedrall sentence of Vigilius to be hereticall and accursing all who defend it she hath clearely judged and declared all who defend the Popes infallibilitie in defining causes of faith to bee heretikes dying so to die heretikes yea convicted heretikes anathematized by the judgement of the catholike Church and so pronounced to die out of the peace and communion of the catholike Church 13. I have stayed the longer in dissolving this doubt partly for that it is very obvious in this cause and yet as to me it seemed not very easie but specially that hereby I might open another errour in the Constitution of Vigilius who from the example of those Millenarie Fathers one of which to wit Nepos he expresly mentioneth would conclude That none at all though dying in heresie may after their death be condemned seeing Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria though he condemned the bookes and errour of Nepos yet Nepos himselfe hee did not injure nor condemne propter hoc maxime quia jam defunctus fuerat for this reason especially because Nepos was dead But by that which now at large I have declared it appeareth that Vigilius was twice mistaken in this matter for neither did Nepos die in a formall heresie but in an errour onely at that time to which he did not pertinaciously adhere though Prateolus and after him the Cardinall upon what reason I know not but sure none that is good reckons Nepos with Tertullian as one excluded from the ranke and order of catholikes neither did Dionysius or the Church for that reason at all which Vigilius fancieth much lesse for that especially forbeare to condemne Nepos because he was dead for then they would not have condemned Valentinus Basilides Cerinthus who also were dead when the Church condemned them but because they judged Nepos as well as Irene Iustine and the rest to have dyed though in an error yet in the unity peace and communion of the Church And this the words of Dionysius not rightly alleaged by Vigilius and no better translated by Christopherson doe import For Dionysius said not that hee therefore reverenced Nepos quia jam defunctus fuerat as the one nor quia ex hac vita migravit as the other readeth them that is because he was dead for upon that reason the holy Bishops should have reverenced also Simon Magus Cerinthus and other heretickes who were then dead but because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Musculus very rightly translateth thus I much reverence him as one qui jam ad quietem praecessit who is gone before mee unto rest that is because hee so dyed that his death was a passage to rest even to that rest of which the scripture saith using the same words they rest from their labour to that rest unto which himselfe hoped to follow Nepos for that Nepos is gone before to this rest therefore did Dionysius reverence him So both the assertion of Vigilius which from Dionysius he would prove is untrue that none who are dead may bee condemned and yet the saying of Dionysius is true that such as goe to rest or dye in the peace of the Church ought not to bee condemned 14. After this which the Cardinall hath said in generall concerning such as dye in the peace of the Church hee addeth one thing in particular concerning Theodorus of Mopsvestia by way of application of that generall position unto him saying that Vigilius was therefore very slacke to condemne him because hee would not condemne those quos scisset in catholica communione defunctos whom he knew to have died in the catholike communion of the Church So the cardinall tells us that Vigilius knew and therefore that it is not onely true but certaine that Theodorus dyed in the catholike communion 15. What thinke you doth the cardinall gaine by pleading thus for Theodorus a condemned heretike Truly for his paines herein the holy Councell payes him soundly for first in plaine termes it calls him a lyar and a slanderer yea a slanderer of the whole Church and if this be not enough it denounceth an Anathema unto him for so saying Cursed bee hee that curseth not Theodorus how much more cursed then is he who acquits Theodorus from that curse who makes Theodorus blessed for blessed are all they that dye in the peace and holy communion of the Church and that Theodorus so dyed the Cardinall for a certainty doth assure us for Vigilius knew that he so dyed 16. But what Church I pray you is that in the communion whereof the Cardinall assures us Theodorus to have dyed you may bee sure it is their Romane for in the Cardinalls idiome that 's not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Church but it s the one and onely Church In the communion then of their Romane church even in the communion with the Cardinall himselfe dyed Theodorus Now its certaine he died not in the communion of the Church which was in the fift generall Councell for they utterly disclaim him accurse him and call them lyars and slanderers that say hee dyed in their communion Againe its certaine that the Church of that fift Councell was of the same communion with the whole Catholike and Apostolike Church themselves professing to hold the same faith and communion with all former holy generall Councells and Catholikes and all succeeding catholikes by approving it professing the same faith and communion with it Seeing then Theodorus dyed not in the communion of this Church which is the true and truly catholike Church and yet dyed as the Cardinall assures you in the communion of their Romane church it doth clearly and certainly hence ensue that their Romane church is neither the true catholike neither hath full communion with the true catholike Church 17. Lastly seeing Theodorus as the Cardinall tells us died in the peace and communion of their Church and Theodorus was most certainly an heretike condemned by the catholike Church declared by the same Church to bee accursed that is separated from God nay to be a very Devill as the holy Councell proclaimed him Their Romane church must needes bee at peace and of the same communion with condemned heretikes with Anius Nestorius Eutiches Eunomius none of them all can bee worse then as Theodorus was condemned heretikes by the judgement
from their predecessors the old Donatists Quod volumus sanctum est Not Emperours not Bishops none might controule him or say unto him Domine cur ita facis The Bishops were tyed to him by an oath to defend the Papacy that is his usurped authority and defend it contra omnes homines against all that should wag their tongues against it The Emperours and Kings saw how Hildebrand had used and in most indigne manner misused Henry the 4. how Alexander the third had insolently trodden on the necke of Fredericke what could they nay what durst they doe but either willingly stoop and prostrate themselves or else be forced to lye downe at the Popes feet and say unto him Tread on us O thou Lion of the Tribe of Iudah and according as it is written Set thy foot super Aspidem Basiliscum Could there possibly be any freedome or order in such Synods where the onely meanes of preserving freedome and order was banished Might not the Pope in such Councels doe and decree whatsoever either himselfe his will or faction would suggest unto him Say they had neither swords nor clubs nor other like instruments of violence in those Synods they needed none of them This Papall presidency was in stead of them all It was like the club of Hercules the very shaking of it was able and did affright all that none no not Emperours durst deale against it The removing of the Imperiall presidency made such a calme in their Synods that without resistance without any need of other further violence the Pope might oversway whatsoever he desired 31. And truly it may bee easily observed by such as attentively reade the Ecclesiasticall stories that together with the standing or fall of the Empire either the ancient faith or heresies prevailed in the Church So long as the Emperour being Christian retained his dignity and Imperiall authority no heresie could long take place but was by the Synodall judgement of Oecumenicall Councels maturely suppressed the faction of no Bishop no not of the Pope being able to prevaile against that soveraigne remedy But when once Gregorie the second Zachary and their succeeding Popes to Leo the third had by most admirable and unexplicable fraud subtilty clipt the wings and cut the sinewes of the Easterne Empire themselves first seizing upon the greatest part of Italy by the meanes of Pipin and then erecting a new Empire in the West the Imperiall authority being thus infringed the Easterne Emperour not daring the Westerne in regard of the late curtesie received from the Pope being not willing and neither of them both being able now to match and justle with the Pope this which was the great let and impediment to the Popes faction and the discovering of the man of sinne being now removed there was no meanes to keepe out of the Church the heresies which the Pope affected then the Cataracts of heresies being set open and the depths of the earth nay of the infernall pit being burst up heresies rusht in and came with a strong hand into the Church and those hereticall doctrines which in six hundred yeares and more could never get head passing as doubtfull and private opinions among a few and falling but as a few little drops of raine grew now unto such an height and outrage that they became the publike and decreed doctrines in the Westerne Church The Pope once having found his strength in the cause of Images wherein the first triall was made thereof no fancie nor dotage was so absurd for which he could not after that command when he listed the judgement of a generall Councell Transubstantiation Proper Sacrifice the Idoll of the Masse to which not Moloch nor Baal is to be compared their Purgatorian fire their five new-found proper Sacraments condignity of workes yea Supererogation and an armie of like heresies assayled and prevailed against the truth The Imperiall authority being laid in the dust and trampled under the sole of the Popes foot no meanes was left to restraine his enormous designes or hinder him in Councels to doe and define even what he listed And as the Imperiall authority which he so long time had oppressed is in any kingdome more or lesse restored and freed from his vassalage the other heresies which arose from the ruine and decay thereof are more or lesse expurged out of that Kingdome and the ancient truth restored therein Yea and still though but by insensible degrees shall hee and his authority wast and consume till not onely all the ten hornes of the Beast that is all the Kings whose authority he hath usurped and used as his hornes to push at Gods Saints shall hate the Whore that Romish Babylon and make her desolate and naked and burne her with fire but till himselfe also being despised and contemned of his owne lovers shall together with his adherents be utterly abolished and cast into that Lake of Gods wrath 32. You see now how unlawfull those Synods are by reason of the defect of Imperiall presidency you will perhaps demand whether by the want thereof there happened any particular disorder in them or ought contrary to freedome and synodall order whereunto I might in a word answer that there neither was nor could there bee ought at all done in any of those ten Synods with freedome and synodall order For though otherwise their proceedings had beene never so milde temperate and equall yet even for that one defect of Imperiall presidency and excludng the same whatsoever they did was disorderly and they all nothing but synods of disorder But yet for further satisfaction of that question let us omitting all the rest consider among very many some few particulars concerning their youngest and dearest baby of Trent was that equall dealing in Paul the 3. at the beginning of his Trent assembly to conspire and take secret counsell with the Emperour to make warre against the Protestants and root them out of the world The Italian Franciscan in his Sermon before Ferdinand stirring up both him and others to this butchery Exere vires tuas plucke up your spirit and strength and root out that pestiferous kinde of men nefas enim est for it is unlawfull to suffer them any longer to looke upon the light neither say that you will doe it it must be done even now at this present and without any delay Thus did he give the watchword and sound an alarme to their intended Massacre whereupon there ensued bellum cruentum calamitosum a bloody and cruell warre against the Protestants concerning which divers of the Princes of Germanie said in their Letters to the Emperour Wee shall so answer that every man may understand both that injury is done to us and that you doe undertake this warre Romani Antichristi impij Concilij Tridentini impulsu at the instigation of the Romane Antichrist and the impious Councell at Trent that the doctrine of the Gospell and the
to be received in both kinds he then would receive it not in both but in one kind onely Blessed Luther it was never thy meaning either to receive it onely in one or to deny it to be necessary for Gods Church and people to receive it in both kindes Thou knewest right well that Bibite ex hoc omnes was Christs owne ordinance with which none might dispense Thou for defence of this truth among many was set up as a signe of contradiction unto them and as a marke at which they directed all their darts of malicious and malignant reproaches Farre was it from thee to relent one hare-bredth in this truth But whereas they taught the use of the Cup to be indifferent and arbitrarie such as the Church that is the Pope might either allow or take away as he should thinke fit upon this supposall and no otherwise didst thou in thine ardent zeale to Christ and detestation of Antichrist say that were the use of both or one kinde onely a thing indeed indifferent as they taught it to be if the Pope as Pope should command the receiving in both kindes thou wouldst not then receive it so lest whilst thou might seeme to obey Christ commanding that but yet upon their supposall as a thing indifferent thou shouldest certainly performe obedience to Antichrist by his authoritie limiting and restraining that indifferency unto both kindes as now by his authority hee restraines it unto one The summe is this To doe any act whether in it selfe good or indifferent but commanded to be done by the Pope as Pope to pray to preach to receive the Sacraments yea but to lift your eyes or hold up your finger or say your Pater noster or your Ave Maria or weare a bead a modell a lace or my garment white or blacke or use any crossing either at Baptisme or any other time to do any one of these or any the like eo nomine because the Pope as Pope teacheth that they are to be done or commands the doing of them is in very deed a yeelding one selfe to be a vassall of Antichrist a receiving the marke of the beast and a vertuall or implicit deniall of the faith in Christ. So extremly venemous is that poison which lyeth in the root of that fundamentall heresie which they have laid as the very rocke and Foundation of their faith 34. Hitherto we have examined the former position of Baronius which concerned Heresie His other concerning Schisme is this That they who dissented from Pope Vigilius when hee decreed that the Three Chapters ought to be defended were Schismatikes A most strange assertion that the whole Catholike Church should bee schismaticall for they all dissented from Vigilius in this cause that Catholikes should all at once become Schismatikes yea and that also for the very defence of the Catholike faith I oppose to this another and true assertion That not onely Pope Vigilius when he defended the Three Chapters and forsooke communion with the condemners of them was a Schismatike himselfe and chiefe of the Schisme but that all who as yet defend Vigilius that is who maintaine the Popes Cathedrall infallibility in causes of faith and forsake communion with those that condemne it that those all are and that for this very cause Schismatikes and the Pope the ringleader in the Schisme 35. For the manifesting whereof certaine it is that after Pope Vigilius had so solemnly and judicially by his Apostolicall authority defined that the Three Chapters ought to be defended there was a great rent and Schisme in the Church either part separating it selfe from the other and forsaking communion with the other First the holy Councell and they who tooke part with it anathematized the defenders of those Chapters thereby as themselves expound it declaring their opposites to be separated from God and therefore from the society of the church of God On the other side Pope Vigilius they who were on his part were so averse from the others that they would rather endure disgrace yea banishment as Baronius sheweth thē communicate with their opposites But I shal not need to stay in proving that there was a rent and schisme at this time betweene the defenders condemners of those chapters Baronius professeth it saying The whole Church was then schismate dilacerata torn asunder by a schisme Againe After the end of the Councell there arose a greater war then was before Catholikes so he falsly calls both parts being then divided among themselves some adhaering to the Councell others holding with Vigilius and his Constitution Againe Many relying upon the authority of Vigilius did not receive the fift Synod atque à contraria illis sentientibus sese diviserunt and separated or divided themselves frō those who thought the contrary Such were the Italian Africane Illirian other neighbour Bishops So Baronius truly professing a schisme to have bin then in the Church and Pope Vigilius to have beene the leader of the one part 36. But whether of these two parts were Schismatickes As the name of heresie though it bee common to any opinion whereof one makes choice whether it be true or false in which sense Constantine the great called the true faith Catholicam sanctissimam haeresim yet in the ordinarie use it is now applied only to the choice of such opinions as are repugnāt to the faith So the name of Schisme though it import any scissure or renting of one from another yet now by the vulgar use of Divines it is appropriated onely to such a rent or division as is made for an unjust cause and from those to whom hee or they who are separated ought to unite themselves hold communion with them This whosoever doe whether they bee moe or fewer then those from whom they separate themselves they are truly and properly to bee termed Schismatikes and factious For it is neither multitude nor paucitie nor the holding with or against any visible head or governour whatsoever nor the bare act of separating ones selfe from others but only the cause for which the separation is made which maketh a Schisme or faction and truly denounceth one to be factious or a Schismatike If Elijah separate himselfe from the foure hundreth Baalites and the whole kingdome of Israel because they are Idolaters and they sever themselves from him because he wil not worship Baal as they did If the three children for the like cause separate themselves from all the Idolatrous Babylonians in separation they are both like but in the cause being most unlike the Baalites onely and not Elijah and the Babylonians only and not the three children are Schismatikes Now because every one is bound to unite himselfe to the Catholike and orthodoxall Church and hold communion with them in faith hence it is that as out of Austine Stapleton rightly observes Tota ratio Schismatis the very essence of a Schisme consists in the separating from the
this minde were hereticall and heretikes then most certainly Vigilius who writ this Epistle with the like obstinate and pertinacious minde must needs bee judged to be rebellious against the Church and as heretically affected in minde as Arius or Eutyches himselfe Pride and insolency is so farre from excluding an hereticall minde as Bellarmine would here perswade that it is even an individuall companion yea essentiall unto it None can possibly have an hereticall but â—o nomine he hath an ambitious heart the pride whereof causeth him to condemne the just sentence of the Catholike Church and prefer before it his owne fancy and opinion 39. You see now how inconsequent both these reasons of the Cardinals are seeing Vigilius might bee hereticall in heart though both his writings were secret and his minde ambitious Let us yet a little further debate this matter with the Cardinall Say you that Vigilius did not write this hereticall Epistle ex animo or from his heart I pray you when looked your Cardinalship into the heart of Vigilius how know you that he was not an heretike in heart when he was so hereticall in profession or how know you of S. Hildebrand of Boniface 8. or of any of all the Popes that lived since their times that they were not heretikes and plaine Infidels in heart when their words were Catholike I would gladly for my learning be informed how Bellarmine or the most acute Lynceus of them all do or can know otherwise than by their outward professions what any of all the Popes beleeved and thought in their heart What Innocent the third when he decreed the doctrine of Transubstantiation what Leo the tenth when he condemned Luther or what Paul Iulius and Pius the fourth when they confirmed their Trent Councell How know you that in their hearts they beleeved those doctrines or that they did not dissemble and faine as you say Vigilius did What can you say for Pius the fourth which may not be sayd for Vigilius also Doth Pius say he did before and now doth thinke as the Trent masters doe Pope Vigilius sayth the like and most plainly Eam fidem quam tenetis that faith which you Anthimus Severus and Theodosius doe hold I signifie unto you that I have held and that I doe now hold the same Doth Pius call the Trent Fathers his beloved brethren in Christ so doth Vigilius call those hereticall Bishops his beloved brethren in Christ nay in Liberatus he calls them even Christs Doth Pope Pius professe an unity betwixt himselfe and them all making one body of the Church Pope Vigilius doth the like and he doth it more significantly We sayth he preach this same doctrine that you doe Vt anima una sit cor unum in Deo so that there is in you and mee but one soule and one heart in God How can any speech be cordiall if this testifying himselfe to be one soule and one heart with them doe not come à fibris but onely à labris Doth Pope Pius approve the doctrine of the Trent conspirators So doth Pope Vigilius the doctrine of those Eutychean heretikes Doth Pius condemne and anathematize Lutherans Calvinists and all who thinke or teach otherwise than himselfe and his Trent Conventicle taught or beleeved so doth Pope Vigilius condemne and anathematize all who deny two natures in Christ all who beleeve otherwise than himselfe and his Eutychean fellow heretikes did In all these there is as much to be sayd for Pope Vigilius as for Pope Pius and if you please to adde that one other agreement also as of Vigilius it is sayd that they knew crudelitatem fidei so may it in like manner bee truly sayd of Pope Pius that this did manifest unto all men crudelitatem fidei the cruelty of his and his Trent Councels faith If by these outward acts the Cardinall can know Pius the fourth to have ex animo condemned their Trent heresies why can he not by the like outward acts know Vigilius to have ex animo condemned the Catholike faith If Vigilius for all these outward acts and so many testimonies and evidences of a willing minde did dissemble and thinke in his heart otherwise than he writ how will or can the Cardinall prove unto us that Pius the 4. and the whole Councell of Trent did not dissemble and both write and speake otherwise than they thought in heart Hath the Cardinall some windowes to pry into the secrets of the heart of Pius the fourth and the Trent Councell which are dammed up that he cannot see into the brest of Vigilius If Pope Pius upon his word and writing be to be credited much more is Pope Vigilius seeing he did not only by words and writing teach this hereticall doctrine but which Pius did not he bound himselfe by a sacred oath that hee would teach the same And which is yet a farre greater evidence Vigilius after this did teach the like hereticall doctrine to overthrow the same Councell of Chalcedon in the cause of the Three Chapters which hee did so unfainedly and so cordially that for teaching the same he incurred the just indignation of the Emperour the curse of the holy generall Councell the publike hatred of all Catholikes and if wee may beleeve Baronius even exile and persecution also Why might not the same Vigilius from his heart teach Eutycheanisme as well as Nestorianisme The faces of those two heresies looke contrary wayes indeed but their tayles like Sampsons Foxes are joyned together to undermine the Catholike faith and the holy Councell of Chalcedon Hee who once is proved to be treacherous in this sort and to doe this once from his heart semper praesumitur is alwayes to bee presumed treacherous in the same kinde Hee who did this in the Three Chapters would have done it in Eutycheanisme his heart his desire his purpose at both times was the same the odds was accidental in the oportunity which served better in the one than in the other what need they excuse his teaching Eutycheanisme to have been only labiall when it is cleare his teaching of Nestorianisme was cordiall If they cannot excuse Pope Vigilius for teaching Nestorianisme from his heart which cannot possibly be done what need they be so nice in denying his teaching of Eutycheanisme to have come from the same heart his fault in them both being alike one answer will alike serve for them both 44. But what thinke you meant the Cardinall so to busie himselfe and bee so curious about the heart and secret minde of Vigilius what though hee did not in heart yet exteriori professione by his hereticall writing by his outward confession by that Vigilius condemned the Catholike faith as the Cardinall acknowledgeth it is the Popes outward profession not his inward cogitation by which wee prove his Chayre to bee fallible what have wee nay what hath the Cardinall or any of them all to doe with Vigilius intent or inward thoughts leave those to his Tribunall
all subsequent generall Councels unto Leo the tenth decreeing this cathedrall sentence of Pope Vigilius to bee hereticall whence it doth clearly ensue that as the former who were ready to embrace the truth had it beene manifested unto them erred not of pertinacy but as Austen saith of humane infirmitie so the latter who reject the truth being manifested unto them and withstand the knowne judgement of the whole catholike Church even that judgement which is testified by all those witnesses to be consonant to the Scriptures and Apostolicall doctrine can no way be excused from most wilfull and pertinacious obstinacy seeing they adhere to that opinion which themselves or their particular church hath chosen though they see and know the same to be repugnant to Scripture the consenting judgement of all generall and holy Councels that is of the whole catholike Church So the errour of the former though it was in a point of faith yet was but materially to be called heresie as being a doctrine repugnant to faith yet being not joyned in them with pertinacie which is essentially as Canus sheweth required in an heretike could neither make nor denominate them to be heretikes The errour of the latter is not onely an errour in a point of faith but is formally to bee called heresie such as being both a doctrine repugnant to faith and being in them joyned with pertinacy doth both make and truly denominate them who so erre to be heretikes and shew them to hold it heretically not onely as an errour but as a most proper heresie 9. The second difference is in the manner of their errour The former held their opinions as probable collections not as undoubted doctrines of saith and so long as those errours were so held the Church suspended her judgement both concerning the doctrines and the persons And this was at least untill the time of Ierome touching the millenary opinion for he mentioning the same saith thus Haec licet non sequamur tamen damnare non possumus quia multi Ecclesiasticorum virorum martyrum ista dixerunt These things concerning the raigne of Christ for one thousand yeares upon earth in a terrestriall but yet a golden Ierusalem although we doe not our selves follow yet wee cannot condemne them because many of the Ecclesiasticall writers and Martyrs have said the same whereby it is evident that in Ieromes time nothing was defined herein by the Church for then Ierome might and would constantly have condemned that errour by the warrant of the Churches authoritie which then hee held to bee a probable and disputable matter In which regard also Austen calleth it a tolerable opinion and such as himselfe had sometimes held if the delights of the Saints in that time be supposed to be spirituall Baronius tels us how rightly I will not now examine that when Apollinarius renewed this opinion and urged it ut dogma Catholicum no longer as a matter of probabilitie but as a Catholike doctrine of faith It was then condemned by Pope Damasus about the time of Ierome and so being condemned by the Church it was ever after that held for an heresie and the defenders of it for heretikes 10. Did Baronius and the rest of the Romane Church in like sort as those millenary Fathers commend their Popes infallibility no otherwise then as a probable a topicall or disputable matter the like favourable censure would not be denyed unto them but that they also notwithstanding that error in faith might die in the communion of the Church But when Pope Vigilius published his Apostolicall Constitution as a doctrine with such necessitie to be received of all that none either by word or writing might contradict the same when the chiefe Pillers of their Church urge the Popes Cathedrall definitions in causes of faith for such as wherein nullo casu errare potest he can by no possibilitie bee deceived or teach amisse when they urge this not onely as Apollinarius did the other ut dogma Catholicum as a doctrine of faith but as the foundation of all the doctrines of faith It was high time for the Catholike Church as soone as they espied this to creepe into the hearts of men to give some soveraigne antidote against such poyson and to prevent that deluge of heresies which they knew if this Cataract were set open would at once rush in and overwhelme the Church of God And therefore the fift generall and holy Councell to preserve for ever the faith of the Church against this heresie did not onely condemne it decreeing the Apostolicall and cathedrall sentence of Pope Vigilius to be hereticall but decreed all the defenders of it to be accursed and separated from God and Gods Church so that whosoever after this sentence and decree of the holy Synod approved by the whole Catholike Church shall defend the Popes Cathedrall judgements as infallible and dye in that opinion they are so farre from dying as Papias and Irene did in the peace of the Church that by the whole catholike Church they are declared and decreed to dye out of the peace and communion of the whole catholike Church 11. A third dissimilitude ariseth from the persons who erre The former for all their errour held fast the unity with the Church even with those who contradicted and coÌ„demned their errours and we doubt not but that was verified of very many of them which Austen affirmeth of Cyprian that they kept this unitie of the Church humiliter fideliter fortiter ad martyrij usque coronam kept it with humility with fidelitie with constancy even to the crowne of martyrdome By reason of which their charity they were not onely fast linked and as I may say glued to the communion of the Church both in their life and death but all their other errours as Austen â—aith became veniall unto them for charity covereth a multitude of sinnes The latter are so unlike to these that with their errour and even by it they have made an eternall breach and separation of themselves from the Catholike Church even from all who consent unto or approve this fift generall Councell for having by their Laterane decree erected and set up in the Romane Capitol this pontificall supremacy and infallibilitie they now account all but Schismatickes who consent not with them they will have no peace no coÌ„munion with any who will not adore this Romish Calfe of the supreme infallible authoritie of their vice-god So the former notwithstaÌ„ding their error died in the peace of that Church to which by most ardent affection they were conjoyned The latter dying in this their errour whereby they cut off and quite dis-joyne themselves from the union of all who approve the decree of the fift Councell and those are the whole catholike Church of all ages though they dye in the very armes and bosome of the Queene of Babylon cannot chuse but die out of the blessed peace and
doth Foelix Rusticus and Reparatus intimating thereby that Vigilius dyed in the confession and defence of the Three Chapters and therefore hee could not condemne him but yet because he was not constant in that profession he would not commend him 36. Yea but Liberatus by saying he was afflicted by that heresie plane alludit ad ejus exilium he doth plainly allude to the banishment of Vigilius Plainly Phy on such a Plain-lie out of a Cardinals mouth he doth not so much as obscurely not under a cloud or mist not any way allude unto it nor intimate or insinuate ought tending thereunto nor could hee indeed seeing as we have before declared that banishment of Vigilius is nothing else but a fiction partly of Anastasius partly of Baronius and Liberatus was no Prophet that hee could allude to their idle dreams But if he allude not to his banishment why then saith he that Vigilius was afflicted by that heresie as if there were no afflictions in the world but banishment what ere hee meant he meant not that And truly whatsoever calamities or afflictions either of body or minde befell Vigilius after he had once consented to the Emperors Edict to the condemning of the Three Chapters which in Liberatus account was heresie and because it was as hee thought contrary to the Councell of Chalcedon even the heresie of the Eutycheans all those did Liberatus impute to that his revolt from the faith and to that Eutychean heresie which he then embraced as Liberatus judged Now there are two or three evident matters which were great afflictions to Vigilius and may well bee intended by Liberatus 37. The first was the generall dislike which the Italian Africane and other Westerne Bishops took against him as soone as they knew that he had consented to the Emperours Edict they writ against him as one who denyed the faith and condemned the Councell of Chalcedon they censured judged and accursed him by their Synodall sentence they contemned him as a temporizer as one who to please the Emperour betrayed the faith This was no doubt no small affliction to Vigilius to bee disgraced contemned and accursed by his owne friends to whom by so many bands of duty and love he was so nearly conjoyned and this lay upon his stomacke for five or sixe yeares together even from his first comming almost to Constantinople to the time of the Councell 38. His second affliction followed upon his change in the time of the Councell for though hee then by defending the Three Chapters and publishing his Apostolicall Constitution for defence of them hoped to recover the love and good opinion of the Westerne Churches yet hee exceedingly failed of that hope Now hee was in farre worse case than before On one side he incurred the Emperours just indignation and made himselfe obnoxious to deprivation banishment death or whatsoever punishments may bee inflicted on pertinacious and hereticall oppugners of the faith which although the Emperour in his lenity did not nor would inflict upon him yet what a griefe is it to have all those punishments hanging like Damocles sword over his head and sure to fall upon him if the Emperour at any time listed to breake or cut the haire What comfort could he have who held not onely his dignitie but his liberty yea his very life at the will and pleasure of another On another side he had incurred the heavie and just censure of the holy generall Councell and of all Catholikes being by them adjudged and accursed for an heretike On a third side the Westerne Churches and the defenders of the Three Chapters were so farre from honouring him as he expected that they also for all that held him for no other than an unconstant and wavering person one that turned his faith with every winde and weather So whereas at the first hee was beloved and honoured of the Westerne Churches while hee defended the Three Chapters as they did and after that was beloved and honoured of the Emperour and Easterne Churches while hee with them condemned the Three Chapters when now againe he returned to defend them hee was contemned both of the one sort and the other they all now esteemed no better of him than a very Wethercocke Now whether this to see himselfe forsaken and contemned by all both friends and foes both Catholikes and heretikes whether this might not bee a corrasive to his heart let any man duly consider with himselfe Adde to these that corporeall anguish which caused his death hee if wee may trust Anastasius afflictus calculi dolorem habens mortuus est being afflicted and vexed with paine of the stone or as by Liberatus it may bee thought by some more grievous disease of his body dyed in great affliction When there were so many afflictions lying at the heart of Vigilius all which Liberatus imputeth to his consenting to the Emperours Edict and condemning of the Three Chapters which he as the rest of the defenders of them called heresie was not the Cardinall thinke you in some extasie of his wit when he thought that the affliction of Vigilius must needs bee his owne fictitious banishment and that Liberatus doth plainly allude therunto 39. Thus all the reasons of Baronius being manie wayes and manifestly declared to bee ineffectuall to prove that last and Baronian change in Vigilius after the end of the Synod we may now safely conclude that as Vigilius after his Apostolicall Constitution in defence of the Three Chapters once published made at no time after that any publike judiciall or Pontificall Decree to reverse and adnul the same but that still stood in full power and strength untill the death of Vigilius so neither did hee ever after that time declare so much as a private dislike thereof or a personall consent to the fift Councell which had decreed the contrary but pertinaciously persisting in that sentence he both lived and dyed an hereticall defender of those Three Chapters At the first he was hereticall in defending them against the Emperours Edict at the last he was not onely hereticall but a condemned heretike in defending them against the judiciall sentence of the holy generall Councell In the middle time he had a fit of professing the truth but that was only in shew and in appearance that so he might temporize with the Emperour in heart hee was as when the time of tryall came he demonstrated himselfe an oppugner of the truth both against the Imperiall Edict and Synodall judgement And therefore as wee found him at the first an heretike so for all which Baronius hath said or could say to the contrary we must leave him for a condemned heretike even such a one as not only defended but by his Cathedrall and Apostolicall sentence defined heresie to be the Catholike faith And thus much bee spoken of the Cardinals third principall Exception or troupe of evasions marching under that Act of Vigilius which by his manifold changing in this cause of faith you
avouch that it had beene much better that the Church had remained without these controversies about the three Chapters nec unquam de his aliquis habitus esset sermo and that there had never beene one word spoken of them Thus Baronius 2. What thinke you moved the Cardinall to have such an immortall hatred to this cause as to wish the condemning buriall and utter extinguishing of those controversies What more hurt did this to the Church than the question about 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or about the opinion of Eutiches Very great calamity saith Baronius insued upon this controversie both in the East and West True it did so and so there did and far greater and longer about the controversie of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and more againe than that upon the question whether the Gospell or Paganisme should prevaile and yet by moving those controversies was the faith propagated the truth of Christ spred abroad the blood of Martyrs was made the seed of the Gospell No affliction calamity or persecution is a just cause either to wish that there had never beene any such controversie or to forsake the truth of God when the controversie is moved It was an excellent saying of the Aegyptian Bishops in the Councell of Chalcedon Christianus neminem timet a Christian feareth no mortall man si homines timerentur martyres non essent if men should be feared there would be no Martyrs But the truth is it was not as Baronius fancieth the controversie it selfe nor the disputing and debating thereof that caused so great calamities in the East and West that is non causa pro causa the peevishnesse and perversenesse of wicked men maintaining heresies and oppugning the truth that was the true cause thereof The controversie it selfe if you well marke it was very beneficiall to the Church Oportet haereses esse there must be heresies among you that they which are approved might bee knowne Every heresie is a probation and tryall of mens love to God and his truth whether they esteeme it more than their honours pleasures and their owne wilfull conceits and the greater the heresie is and the further it spreads it is still a greater tryall Heretikes saith S. Austen doe much profit the Church though they be out of the Church not by teaching the truth which they doe not know but by stirring up those who are more carnall Catholikes to seeke and those who are more spirituall to defend and manifest the truth This triall and probation of men if I mistake not was never so great in any controversie or question as in this of the three Chapters First it sifted and tryed Vigilius to the full and tryed him to be a wether-cocke in faith an heretike and a defender of heresies even by his Apostolicall authority Next it sifted out divers notable conclusions as first that which I think was never before that tryed that not onely the Pope but the Apostolike See also to wit the Romane Church and with it the Westerne Churches all at once adhered to heresie and forsooke the truth and that even after it was decreed and judged by the generall approved Councell and so it proved both Pope and Romane Church to be properly hereticall the Easterne Churches constantly upholding the truth at that time it shewed that the Catholike faith was tied neither to the Chair nor Church of Rome Another conclusion then tryed was that either persons or Churches may not onely dissent from the Pope and the Romane Church and that in a cause of faith judicially defined by the Pope with a Synod but may renounce communion with them and yet remaine Catholikes and in the unity of the Catholike Church the Pope the Westerne Church and all that adheered unto them being then by forsaking the Catholike faith Heretikes and by forsaking the unity of the Church Schismatikes 3. Neither onely was this controversie a triall to them in that age a tryall of their faith love to God charity to the Church obedience to the Emperour but it is as great a triall even in these our dayes and ever since that doctrine of the Popes infallibility in causes of faith hath beene defined and condemned By this controversie most happly decided by the generall Councell all that hold the Popes definitions of faith to be infallible that is all that are Papists or members of the present Church of Rome they are all hereby tryed to defend this Apostolicall Constitution of Vigilius that is to maintaine all the blasphemies of the Nestorians to deny the Catholike faith the doctrine of the Apostles of the primative Church of the fift generall Councell so to be not only heretikes but convicted anathematized and cōdemned heretikes by the judgement of a generall approved Councell and so by the consenting judgement of the Catholike Church Further yet there is a tryall of them whether upon that ground or foundation of the Popes infallibility they will build up and maintaine any other doctrine or position of faith or religion if they doe as indeed every point of the Romish faith and Religion relyeth upon that they are againe hereby tryed to be hereticall not onely in the foundation but in every position and doctrine of their faith and religion which relyes upon that foundation 4. This was it which netled Baronius and extorted from him those earnest and affectionate wishes that this controversie had never beene heard of nor mentioned in the world he saw what a tryall was like to be made by it of men of doctrines of Churches of the Pope himselfe and their whole Romish Church and seeing that tryall he never ceased to say that it had beene much better that this controversie had never beene moved nor spoken of for so they had avoided this most notable triall Blessed be God for that it pleased him in the infinite depth of his unspeakable wisedome to cause this controversie to be ventilated and discussed to the utmost that among many other tryals this might be one of the Antichristian Synagogue to try them even untill the very destruction of Antichrist It is for heretikes whose errors and obstinacy is tryed and discovered to the world it is for them I say to wish that the controversies about Arianisme Nestorianisme Eutycheanisme and the like had never beene moved they had scaped the just censures and anathemaes by that meanes But Catholikes have cause to rejoyce and triumph in such controversies by which both the truth which they maintaine is made more resplendent and victorious themselves and their faith tryed to be like refined gold the Church thereby is quieted the truth propagated heresies confounded and the glory of Almighty God much more magnified and praysed CAP. XXIII How Baronius revileth both the Imperiall Edict of Iustinian and Theodorus B. of Caesarea and a refutation of the same 1. SEeing now notwithstanding the wishing of Baronius this controversie could not be buried it ought him and all ill-willers
that since then strenuè atque impigrè laboravit that he laboured stoutly and diligently for the Catholike faith To which purpose he againe saith Post restitutam Ecclesiae pacem after the peace and unity of the Church Theodoret by all Catholikes was knowne to bee orthodoxall and to communicate with those that were orthodoxall Which orthodoxy of faith saith hee those Epistles of his doe so abundantly testifie that by them plus satis abstersit he hath too much wiped away purged and abolished all the blots and blemishes which he had contracted by his acquaintance with Nestorius Thus Baronius denying Theodoret at any time after the union made to have beene hereticall or a favourer of Nestorius and then undoubtedly this Epistle which both is hereticall and wherein such entire love and affection is expressed to Nestorius and which is recorded to have beene written after the time of the union can be none of Theodorets but must be rejected for an imposture a forgery 6. Doe you not verily beleeve the Cardinall had sent his wit out of the Country when hee writ that whole part of his Annals which concernes these three Chapters A little before he professeth this to be truly the Epistle of Theodoret and now hee will prove that it was not that it could not possible be the Epistle of Theodoret. Yea which is no lesse worthy of observing hee before not onely allowed this Epistle with the inscription wherein it was sayd that it was writ to Nestorius after the union to be Theodorets but he further sayth that Theodoret seemes to have beene of this minde which is noted in this Epistle etiam post concordiam even after the agreement union and concord made with Cyrill seeing Theodoret so obstinately professeth in his letters that hee would never assent to the sentence against Nestorius Sicque certum est aliquandiu perseverasse and so it is certaine that Theodoret continued some while after the union with an angry minde against Cyrill But now hee will prove the quite contrary that Theodoret for a certainty writ no such things nor had any fellowship with Nestorius after the union So both it is certaine that Theodoret writ this and yet it is certaine he writ it not certaine that hee writ it after the union and yet certaine that he writ it not after the union That is to speake plainly it is certaine the Cardinall demonstrates himselfe and his Annals to be false untrue and ridiculous repugnant both to the truth and to his owne writings 7. This might suffice to oppose against whatsoever Baronius can produce If he prove by any testimony this Epistle not to be Theodorets I on the contrary will prove it to bee Theodorets by the Cardinals owne testimony If he prove by any reason Theodoret after the union not to have favoured Nestorius and his heresie I on the contrary will prove that after the union hee favoured Nestorius by a stronger reason even by the Cardinals owne confession If hee bring Theodoret I bring Baronius and so I might Par pari referre quod male mordeat hominem But besides this confession of Baronius which disproves whatsoever he can prove against us in this matter I will adde somewhat concerning those Epistles of Theodoret on which hee much relyeth Those Epistles comming out of the Vaticane the very Mint-house of forgery are in truth nothing else but counterfeits as hereafter I purpose more fully to demonstrate for this time I will onely mention that which most concernes this present cause out of those Epistles which the Cardinall most urgeth and those are his Epistles to Dioscorus to Pope Leo specially seeing that to Dioscorus as the Cardinall tels us declareth the faith of Theodoret to bee such and so orthodoxal that it is enough ad abstergendum suspitionem to wipe away all suspition of heresie wherewith by reason of some counterfeit writings in the Synod I thinke he meanes the fift Councell hee was blamed And indeed in those Epistles there is a plain condemning of the heresies of Nestorius but first those Epist. were writ long after the union and so cannot helpe the Cardinall at all in this point and if they had beene writ presently upon that union yet those not to bee truely Theodorets divers circumstances doe make evident In the Epistle to Dioscorus Theodoret is made to relate how long before that time hee had beene a Bishop and where hee had preached The yeares of his Bishopricke he reckons to bee twenty six all which time he continued a Preacher at Antioch Whence Baronius observeth Theodoretum Episcopum publicum semper egisse Cathechistam Antiochiae that Theodoret being a Bishop was continually the publike Catechist at Antioch during that time of three Patriarchs Theodatus Iohn and Domnus And at least it might bee supposed that hee was a Preacher or as the Cardinall cals him a Catechiser in that City before hee was Bishop another of those Epistles that ad Nonium wil assure us the contrary for there Theodoret saith of himselfe I stayed in a Monastery quousque Episcopus factus till I was made a Bishop And Baronius further explanes this saying creatus Episcopus after Theodoret was made and ordained Bishop he was held at Antioch to be the preacher there first by Theodatus then by Iohn his successor Theodoret goes on to set forth his owne orthodoxy and praise saying that though hee so long continued a preacher at Antioch yet in all those yeares neither any of the Bishops nor any of the Clergy did reprove his doctrine or sayings which hee explanes in that other Epistle to Pope Leo saying thus Whereas I have beene a Bishop these sixe and twenty yeares yet in all this time non subij quantumvis levem reprehensionem I have not beene so much as lightly reproved for my doctrine but by the favor of God I have delivered more than 1000 or as Baronius corrects it more than ten thousand soules from Marcionisme Arianisme Eunomianisme so that in eight hundred Parishes so many are in my Diocesse of Cyrus there hath not remained no not one weede but my flocke is free from all hereticall errour Thus hee in that Epistle Which his orthodoxy hee yet more fully declares in another Epistle Looke on my writings both before and since the holy Ephesine Councell in singulis quae edidimus operibus Ecclesiae sanus sensus mens mihi conspicitur in all and every one of my writings the doctrine of the Church and my sound opinion is conspicuous And againe in that to Nomus speaking of the same his integrity of faith in all these five and twenty yeares saith he Nec à quoquam accusatus nec quenquam accusavi Neither have I beene accused of any man neither have I accused any Thus is Theodoret made to write in those Epistles 8. Let us omit the vanity and folly of the forgerer who reports this as an
whose sacriledges cried unto heaven an usurper a violent invader an intruder of the Apostolike See a bastard and unlawfull Pope whom the true and lawfull Pope hath bound with eternall chaines against whom hee hath shot the dart of damnation and shewed to the whole world that he ascended into the throne ut lapsu graviore ruat that hee might have a greater and more shamefull fall that hee did not represent nor was the successor of Simon Peter but of Simon Magus and that hee is the Vicar not of Christ but of Antichrist an Idol even the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place and set up in the temple of God one rightly to bee called by no other name than a Wolfe a Thiefe a Robber a Pseudobishop and even Antichrist and which after all the rest is especially to bee remembred as the cloze of the Cardinals Description all this time Vigilius both was and was known to the Electors to be a very sound and true Catholike A true Catholike Such Catholikes indeed doth the Cardinall describe and commend unto the world a Catholike Schismatike a Catholike heretike a Catholike Antichrist a Catholike Devill If such were their Romane Catholikes and Catholike Popes in those ancient times O gracious God what manner of Catholike Popes are they in these ages Then and untill the yeare 600 was the golden age of the Church their Romane Bishops were then like the head of Nebuchadnezzers Image to the late and moderne Popes Vigilius a golden Bishop indeed to the brazen iron and clayish Popes of these later ages the basenesse of which no tongue or pen can expresse when the gold is so full of drosse when the heads which give life motion and beeing to all the rest are so full of abomination what manner of Catholikes thinke you are the armes the legs the feet and tailes of that their Babylonish Image which all must bee proportionable But let us returne to Vigilius whom I hope you will now confesse to be exactly and graphically described by the pensill of their owne Apelles 17. After his instalment wee are to come to his Acts and gests those I confesse are very few in number they are but two Anastasius a man slavishly addicted to the Papall See was the chiefe compiler of his life which had a man of integrity and indifferency writ it is not unlike but many other matters had bin recorded of Vigilius yet those two are very memorable and such as most nearely touch the Pōtifical office The former concerns the performāce of that promise which Vigilius made to Theodora that when he were Pope he would abolish the Councell of Chalcedon and restore Anthimus Severus and other Eutychean deposed Bishops of it Liberatus writes that Vigilius implens promissionem suam quam Augustae fecerat talem scripsit Epist. fufilling his promise wch he had made to the Empresse writ this Epistle Victor B. of Tunē sheweth also that Vigilius by the means of Antonia the wife of Bellisarius writ unto Theodosius of Alexandria Anthimus of Constantinople and Severus of Antioch a good while since condemned by the Apostolike See tanquam Catholicis as unto Catholikes signified that himselfe was of the same opinion concerning the faith with them The summe then of the Epistle of Pope Vigilius was to signifie to these hereticall and deposed Bishops that himselfe was an Eutychean as they were the Epistle it selfe set downe both in Liberatus and in Victor clearly testifieth the same for therein Vigilius writeth thus eam fidem quam tenetis Deo adjuvante tenuisse me tenere significo I signifie unto you that by Gods helpe I have held and doe now hold the same faith which you doe but the Pope adds one clause further for secresie wel worthy observing O portet ut haec quae scribo nullus agnoscat it is needfull that none know of these things which I write unto you but rather your wisedome must have me in suspition more than any other that so I may more easily effect and bring to passe those things which I have begun See you not here as in a glasse the deep hypocrisie and heresie of Vigilius with what subtilty and closenesse he labours to undermine the Councell of Chalcedon and the whole Catholike faith even then when hee would seeme to favour it and therefore wisheth the Eutycheans to speake of him as one who they suspected most of all to bee against them Liberatus adds that Vigilius under his Epistle writ a confession of his faith also in qua duas in Christo damnavit naturas wherein hee condemned the teaching of two natures in Christ and dissolving the Tome of Pope Leo hee said non duas Christi naturas confitemur we doe not acknowledge two natures in Christ but one Sonne one Christ one Lord composed of two natures to wit two before the adunation and againe qui dicit in Christo duas formas whosoever saith that there are two formes or natures in Christ either working according to his owne property and doth not confesse one person one essence anathema sit let such a man be accursed Could Arius Eutyches or any heretike in the world more plainly condemne and accurse the Councell of Nice of Ephesus of Chalcedon yea the whole Catholike Church and Catholike faith It is here a fine sport to see how the two Cardinals Baronius and Bellarmine how other pettifoggers such as Gretzer and Binius doe here bestirre themselves to quit Vigilius of this blemish and of the heresie and impiety taught in this Epistle First Vigilius writ not this Epistle it is but a counterfeit and forgery Next if hee did write it yet he did it while he was an usurper not when hee was the true and lawfull Pope Lastly hee did not hereby embrace heresie ex animo nor define it as Pope but onely by an exteriour act hee condemned the faith Thus they toile themselves to wash the Ethiopian and turne a Blackamore into a mike white Swanne 18. Truely I am exceeding loath now at the shutting up of this Treatise and after sounding of the retreat to enter into a new fresh conflict and prove Vigilius to have taught Eutycheanisme as before I have shewed that hee taught the quite contrarie heresie of Nestorianisme might I not say Spectatum satis donatum jam rude tandem Quaeritis hoc iterum antiquo me includere ludo I have not now the like vigor of minde at the putting off of the armour as at the first comming into the field and to say truth what courage can I or any have to fight against a foiled enemy which is but to cut off a dead mans head by proving him to bee an heretike who is not onely proved but by most ample judgment and sentence of the whole Catholike Church already condemned for an heretike yet because I have a desire to handle this whole argument concerning Vigilius if the reader bee not