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 y Alexander Imperatori jussit ut se humi prosterneret et Imperatoris collum pede comprimens ait Scriptum est Super Aspidem et Basiliscum ambulabis Naucl. an 1177 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 z Ab an 730. ad an 800. 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 a 2 Thess 2.8 and consume till not onely all the ten b Apoc. 17.12.16 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 excluding 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 c Cum Conciliū jam haberi inciperet Imperator et Pontifex clanculum unâ de armis ad Protestantes domandos suscipiendis concilium inter se inierunt Gen. Exam. Trident. Conc. sess 3. nu 5 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 d Ioh. Sleid. Comment lib. 16. an 1545. Thus did he give the watchword and sound an alarme to their intended Massacre whereupon there ensued bellum e Gent. loc cit nu 6. 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
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 c Nemo potest subesse Christo communicare eli Ecclesia qui non subest Pontisici Rom. Bell. lib. de Eccl. milit ca. 5. Schisma est quando unum membrum nō vult esse subillo capite quare tollit unitatem essentialem atque Ecclesiā ipsam Schismaticus igitur non est de Ecclesia Ibid. similia habent alij who consent not with them they will have no peace no cōmunion with any who will not adore this Romish Calfe of the supreme infallible authoritie of their vice-god So the former notwithstāding 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 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 d Natalis beati Papiae Martyr Rom. Feb. 22. the author of that opinion a Saint Irene e Passio Irenei Episcopi Martyris Mart. in martij 24 Menol. Graec. in Aug. 23. 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 f Vig. Const loc cit nu 178. 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 g Prateolum Nepotem recenset inter haereticos tum in Indice tum in libro ipso in suo Elench verbo Nepos Et ait cum suisse authorē Epicurcae illius opinionis in verbo Chiliastae and after him the Cardinall h Mittimus Tertullianum Nepotem extra classem haereticorum vagantes Bar. Not. in Martyr Feb. 22. 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 i Iustin in Edicto § Quod autem 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 k Apud Euseb lib. 7. Eccl. hist ca. 19. 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 l Vigilius nor quia ex hac vita migravit as the other m Christopher in sua translatione 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 n Apoc. 14.13 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 o Bar. an 553. nu 49. 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
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 o Epist ad Crestum apud Euseb lib. 10. ca. 5. 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 h Lib. de unit Eccl. ca. 4. Stapleton rightly observes i Lib. 6. doct princ ca. 7. §. Istud Tota ratio Schismatis the very essence of a Schisme consists in the separating from the Church I say from the true orthodoxall Church for as Saint Augustine in the same place reacheth whosoever dissents from the Scriptures and so from the true faith though they be spred throughout the whole world k Lib. 10. ca. 7. §. Nempe yet such are not in the sound Church much lesse are they the Church And therefore from them be they never so many never so eminent one may and must separate himselfe But if any sever himselfe from the orthodoxall Church or to speake in Stapletons words si renuit operari in ratione fidei ut pars ecclesiae catholicae if he will not cooperate or joyne together in maintaining the faith as a member of the Catholike or orthodoxall Church Schismaticus hoc ipso est hee is for this very cause a Schismatike 37. Apply now this to Vigilius and the fift generall Councell and the case will be cleare The onely cause of separation on the Councels part was for that Vigilius with all his adherents were Heretikes convicted condemned and accursed for such by that true sentence and judgement of the fift generall Councell which was consonant both to Scriptures Fathers and the foure former generall Councels and approved by all succeeding generall Councels Popes and Bishops that is by the judgement of the whole Catholike Church for more then fifteene hundreth yeares together A cause not onely most just but commanded by the holy Apostle l Tit. 3.10 Shun him that is an hereticke after once or twice admonition much more after publike conviction and condemnation by the upright judgement of the whole Catholike Church On the other side Vigilius and his Faction separated themselves from the Councell and all that tooke part with it for this onely reason because they were Catholikes because they embraced and constantly defended the Catholike faith because he wold not cooperate as Stapleton speaketh with them to maintaine the true Catholike faith and so on their part there was that which essentially made them Schismatickes Baronius in saying that those who then dissented from Vigilius were Schismatickes speakes sutably to all his former assertions For in saying this he in effect saith that Catholikes to avoid a Schisme should have turned Heretickes should have embraced Nestorianisme and so have renounced and condemned the whole Catholike faith as Vigilius then did Had they so done they should have been no Schismatikes with Baronius But now for not condemning the Catholike faith with Vigilius they must all be condemned by the Cardinall for Schismatickes 38. For the very same reason the whole present Romane Church are Schismatickes at this day and not the Reformed Churches from whom they separate themselves For the cause of separation on their part is the same for which Vigilius and his schismaticall faction separated themselves from the fift Councell and the Catholikes of those times who all tooke part with it even because wee refuse to embrace the Popes Cathedrall sentence in causes of faith as the fift Councell refused that of Vigilius The cause on our part is the same which the fift Councell then had for that they defend the Popes hereticall constitution nay not onely that of Vigilius which yet were cause enough but many other like unto that and especially that one of Leo the tenth with his Laterane Councell wherby Supremacie and with it Infallibilitie of judgement is given unto the Pope in all his decrees of faith In which one Cathedrall decree condemned for hereticall by the fift Councell and constant judgement both of precedent and subsequent Councells as before we have declared not onely innumerable heresies such as none yet doth dreame of are included but by the venom and poyson of that one fundamētall heresie not only all the other doctrines are corrupted but the very foundation of faith is utterly overthrowne Let them boast of multitudes and universalitie never so much which at this day is but a vaine brag say they were far more even foure hundreth to one Luther or the whole kingdome of Babilon to the two witnesses of God yet seeing it is the cause which makes a schismaticke the cause of separation on their part is most unjust but on ours most warrantable holy for that they will not cooperate with us in upholding the ancient and Catholike faith that especially of the fift Councell condemning and accursing the Cathedrall sentence of Pope Vigilius as hereticall all that defend it as Heretickes it evidently followeth that they
the See S. Peters Chaire had beene too hot for him Vigilius wisely considered that it was no lesse art to keepe than to get the See he knowing that without deepe dissimulation and without faining himselfe a Catholike he could not possibly hold it much lesse could he effect that which he purposed and had both promised and sworne to performe and therefore by his private letter assuring Anthimus Severus Theodosius and Theodora of his hearty and serious intent to joyne with them and when time served to worke his feat by his other publike and orthodoxall letters to Iustinian Theodora and Mennas hee did but cast a mist before their eyes that they should not spy his heresie and under that visor of a Catholike he did labour to undermine the whole Catholike faith And thus much in his private letter he signifieth to Anthimus and the rest warning them first q Oportet ut haec quae scribo nullus agnescat Epist Vig apud Lib. of secresie lest if his powder-plot should be discovered as indeed most happily it was the sudden blow should not hit the Councell of Chalcedon and next that besides their secresie they should dissemble also no lesse than hee did they should still seeme r Sed magis suspectum me ante alios habeat sapientia vestra ut facilius possim quae caepi operari et perficere Ib. to suspect and bee jealous of him as of their onely enemy that their feare might make Catholikes secure of him and of that sudden blow which in a moment by the publishing of his Apostolike Edict for the adnulling of the Councell of Chalcedon he meant to give 36. But Bellarmine ſ Bell. lib. 4. de Pont. ca. 10. § Sciendum for all this will prove by two reasons that Vigilius was not in heart t Non fuit animo haereticus Ibid. an heretike nor did ex animo write this Epistle The former is because non palà m in ea condemnavit Catholicam fidem sed occultè he did not openly and publikely but onely in secret and closely condemne the Catholike faith for hee writes therein Vt sint omnia occulta usque ad tempus that they should keepe all private untill a fitter time Condemne then he did the Catholike faith but not ex animo because hee did secretly condemne it Ex studio occultandi saith Gretzer u Gret loc cit by his desire of concealing it Bellarmine collecteth this that Vigilius did not seriously and from his heart but dissemblingly write that impious Epistle As if one may not doe the same thing ex animo and seriously and yet doe it secretly What thinkes he of Iudas his plotting to betray Christ was close and secret his owne fellow Apostles knew not of it but sayd Master is it I his friendly conversing with Christ sitting at table and kissing was open and publike yet his outward courtesie even his kisse was dissembled and trecherous his malice treason and murderous affection which were secret and covered under those outward shewes of love were true and serious The Powder-plotters dealt closely and secretly all underboord their pretended subjection was open and yet the treason was serious their obedience but fained Bellarmine was but a meere novice in the Romane Court when hee writ this and imagined that Popes doe not seriously that which they doe secretly 37. His other reason x Bell. ubi supra to prove that Vigilius was not in heart hereticall when he writ this Epistle is because he writ it not with an hereticall minde sed propter cupiditatem praesidendi but in an ambitious desire of presidency What I pray you Is an hereticall and ambitious minde incompatible doth ambition exclude heresie or in ambition for one to teach heresie doth that hinder him from being in heart an heretike Scarce was there any Heresiarch whom ambition hath not inflamed and who in ambition layd not the foundation of his heresie Valentinus sayth Tertullian y Tert. cont Valent ca. 4. hoped for but missed a Bishopricke in revenge thereof he kindled his heresie and set fire in that Church wherein himselfe could not be governour When Marcion sayth Epiphanius z Epiph. har 42 got not the presidency he invented his heresie and puft up with pride sayd Ego findam Ecclesiam I le rend usunder your Church When Aerius b Epiph. haer 75. missed the Bishopricke which Eustathius obtained in his ambitious pride he devised his heresie that a Presbyter was all one with a Bishop Heare Cardinall Bellarmines c Bell. lib. de not Eccl. ca. 13. owne words All Arch-heretickes have one common vice and that is pride they spring up in divers places but pride is the mother of them all If Vigilius was no heretike in heart because he was ambitious neither was Nestorius nor Arius nor Aerius nor Montanus nor Valentinus by Bellarmines divinity heretikes because they were all ambitious If they notwithstanding their ambition were as certainly they were Arch-heretikes and taught their heresies with hereticall minds then not onely the Cardinals reason is inconsequent and ridiculous but Vigilius for all his ambition may not onely write that Epistle with an hereticall minde but be even an Heresiarch or rather a Pope heretike 38. Againe did he not write this with an hereticall minde why did not the Cardinall expresse what that hereticall minde is which was now wanting in Vigilius An hereticall minde is no other but a minde pertinaciously and obstinately addicted to heresie It was heresie doubtlesse which he writ in teaching with Eutyches but one nature to be in Christ That he writ this obstinately is cleare seeing he writ it against the knowne judgement of the holy Councell of Chalcedon that is of the Catholike Church which none can doe but even thereby he shewes an obstinate and pertinacious minde rebellious against the Church If this be not no hereticke in the world ever had an hereticall minde If Arius Nestorius and Eutyches when they writ or taught their doctrines with 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 eo 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
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 p Quod haeresis esse sine pertinacia nequeat non est difficile ostendere cōmuni omnium Theologorum sententia c. Canus lib. 12. Loc. Theol. ca. 9. § Quod. 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 faith and so long as those errours were so held the Church suspended q Sancta Ecclesia aliquandiu de ea re supersedit judiciumque suspendit Bar. notis in Martyr in Febr. 22. voce Papiae 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 r Hier. in cap. 19. Ieremia thus Haec licet non sequantur 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 s Hieronimi tempore nihil adhuc ab Ecclesia de eâ re fuit definitum Bar. notis in Martyr loc cit 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 t Quae opinio esset utcunque tolerabilis si c. Aug lib. 20. de Civit. Dei. ca 7. opinion and such as himselfe had sometimes held if the delights of the Saints in that time be supposed to be spirituall Baronius tels u Bar. an 118. nu 2. et an 373. nu 14 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 x Statuimus nulli licere quicquam contrarium his conscribere vel proferre Vig. Const in fine 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 y Bell. lib. 4. de Pōt ca. 3. et Gretz def ca. 2. lib. 1. de Pont. pa. 652. et alij 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 z Cyprianus ita dixit quid ei videretur ut in pace unitatis esse volucrit etiam cum eis qui de hac re diversa sentirent Aug. lib. 2. de baptis ca. 1 fast the unity with the Church even with those who contradicted and cōdemned their errours and we doubt not but that was verified of very many of them which Austen a Lib. 1. de baptis ca. 18. 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 b Charitate praesenti quaedam veritates venialiter non habentur Aug. ibid. saith became veniall unto them for
glory Both of them receive an infinity of glory but in that infinitie the weight is unequall and the one receives but as the pennie the other as the pound or talent of that glory Both of them blessed in the Kingdome of God but the former not blessed onely but crowned with blessednesse the later blessed but not crowned neither with the Aureall Crowne of Martyrs nor with the Lawrell garland of Confessors yet still whether coronati or non coronati as they both dye in the profession of the Catholike faith so are they both rewarded with eternall glory for profession of the Catholike faith As for heretikes such as die in heresie and out of the Catholike faith they are to be sorted with neither of these they have another and a quite different ranke Classis or Predicament of their owne They may not have that honour done unto them as to be called non coronati which implies that they have a part in felicity but not the Crowne As the Church doth justly anathematize and accurse such so are they to be ranked in the order of those to whom Christ shall say m Mat. 25.41 Goe yee cursed The Apostle n Gal. 5.19 20. reckoning heresies with Idolatry witchcraft adultery and the like of which he saith that they which doe them shall not inherite the Kingdome of God 35. Hence now it doth clearly appeare that Liberatus in saying that Vigilius dyed Non coronatus cannot intend as the Cardinall most ignorantly collecteth that Vigilius returned from the defence of the three Chapters to condemne the same for that being in Liberatus judgment a revolt from the truth hee thereby had by Liberatus beene accounted an heretike and to dye in heresie and so had beene in the ranke of those who are Damnati but Liberatus in saying he dyed non coronatus doth directly teach that he dyed in defence of those Three Chapters which with Liberatus is the Catholike faith from which hee had lapsed and revolted before but seeing at the time of the Councell hee returned againe to that opinion and therein dyed hee was saved in Liberatus judgement but not crowned By his penitence and returning to the defence of those Chapters he got glory but because he had so grievously lapsed before hee lost the crowne of glory And this also is the reason why Victor Bishop of Tunen mentioneth the death of Vigilius in such a naked o Vigilius Romanus in insula Sicilia moritur Vict. in Chron. an 16. post Cons Bas manner neither disgracing him as a Prevaricator as hee doth Firmus p Firmus donis Principis corruptus assensum praebuit sed in navi morte turpissima perijt Vict. ibid. an 11. post Cons Bas Primasius q Primasius à Catholicis pro praevaricatore condemnatus insâ—lici morte extinguitur Ib. and Pelagius r A praevaricatoribus ordinatur Ibid. an 17. post Cons Bas nor honouring him as a Martyr or Confessor as he doth Foelix Rusticus and Reparatus Å¿ Reparatus exilio apud Euchaidam gloriosa confessione transiit ad dominum Vict. an 22. post Cons Bas 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 t Bar. an 554. nu 5. 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
intends such a calamity as hapned before the condemning of the three Chapters but after the condemning of the Acephali Now it is certaine by the Acts of the fift Councell and by the Emperours testimony that as the Easterne Bishops so also Vigilius presently after he came to Constantinople consented to condemne the three Chapters yea condemned them by a Pontificall decree and judgement and continued in that minde till the time of the fift Councell at which time by the general Synod they were also condemned Gregory then should have spoken against himselfe had hee meant Vigilius and his comming to Constantinople in saying that after the sentence of Vigilius against Theodora the City was besieged and taken as it was once againe indeed taken by Totilas p Proc. lib. eodē 3. an 15. belli Goth. pa. 394. in the 23. yeare of Iustinus for his adversaries to whom he writ being defenders of the three Chapters would have replyed against him that this calamity befell them from the very same cause seeing both the Easterne Bishops and the Pope consented in that doctrine of condemning of the three Chapters Thus it appeareth not by surmises and conjectures but by certaine and evident proofe that the text of Gregory is corrupted or else that Gregory himselfe was mistaken therein which in a matter so neare his dayes wee may not thinke and so that it was not Vigilius but Agapetus whom Gregory intended to denounce that sentence against the Acephali or Theodora of which Baronius maketh such boast and commends with such great ostentation that thereby he might make the Empresse who was a condemner of the three Chapters more odious and strengthen that fiction and fabulous tale of Anastasius that Vigilius contended with Iustinian and Theodora about Anthimus CAP. XXII How Baronius declameth against the cause it selfe of the Three Chapters and a refutation thereof 1. BAronius not content to wrecke his spite upon the Emperour and Empresse in such uncivill manner as you have seene carpes in the next place at the very cause it selfe of the three Chapters What did Vigilius saith hee a Bar. an 547. nu 48. offend in appointing that men should be silent and say nothing untill the future Synod of this cause of the three Chapters which if it could have beene potius perpetuo erat silentio condemnanda sopienda sepelienda atque penitus extinguenda was rather to be condemned to perpetuall silence to be buried and utterly extinguished Againe b an 553. n. 237 I doe never feare to 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 abut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or about the opinion of Eutiches Very great calamity saith Baronius c Jbidem 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 d Act. 1. pa. 8. 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 e 1 Cor. 11.19 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 f Lib. de ver◠relig ca. 8. 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
the Country when hee writ that whole part of his Annals which concernes these three Chapters A little before he professeth y an 432. nu 80. 81. 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 z an eod nu 82 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 a Epistolas Theodoreti 157. numero Graecè scriptas continet codex Vaticanus c. Bar. an 430. nu 48. 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 b An. 444. nu 20. 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 c Epistola ad Leonem scripta erat post Ephesinum Latrocinium illud habitum an 449. altera ad Dioscorum scripta est an 444. ut ait Bar. illo an nu 18. at unio facta est an 432. Bar. illo an nu 72. 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 * Extat apud Bar. an 444. nu 21. 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 d Sex annos ibi ego docens tempore Theodosâ— alios tradecim annos tempore Johannis praeter haec jam septimus agitur annus quo Domnus sedet Epist Theod. apud Bar. an 444. nu 23. to bee twenty six all which time he continued a Preacher at Antioch Whence Baronius e Ibidem observeth Theodoretum Episcopum publicum semper egisse Catechistam 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 f Extat apud Bar. an 448. nu 12. et seq 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 g An. 423. nu 10. 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 h Epist ad Dioscorum apud Bar. an 444. nu that though hee so long continued a preacher at Antioch yet in all those yeares neither i Et usque hodiâ— cum tantum tempus praeterierit nullus neque Deo dilectorum Episcoporum neque pijssimoruÌ„ Cleâ—icorum ea quae à me dicta sunt reprehendit aliquando Ibid. any of the Bishops nor any of the Clergy did reprove his doctrine or sayings which hee explanes in that other Epistle k Epist Theod. 113. extat apud Bar. an 449. nu 115. 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 l An. 424. nu 19. 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 m Epist Theodoreti 81. ad Eusebium Ancyrae Episcopum apud Bar an 443. nu 1â— 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 n Theodor. Epist 81. apud Bar. an 448. nu 14. speaking of the same his integrity of faith in all these five and twenty yeares saith he Nec à quoquam
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 g Lib. ca. 22. writes that Vigilius implens promissionem suam quam Augustae fecerat talem scripsit Epist fufilling his promise which he had made to the Empresse writ this Epistle Victor B. of Tunē sheweth h Vict. in Chron. 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 Oportet 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 as much tyred as my selfe after conquest of the generall I will as Abner did play a little with these stragling Asaels in this point also or if you please to suffer me to give aime a while I will onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 commit the two Cardinals into the pit to fight it out and day the matter betwixt themselves 19. Commentitium est it is a forged Epistle saith Cardinall k Bar. an 538. nu 15. Baronius it is none of Vigilius writing I here one say so saith Cardinall Bellarmine l Bell. lib. 4. de Pont. ca. 10. but I say Vigilium scripsisse illam Epistolam damnasse Catholicam fidem that Vigilius did write that Epistle and condemne the Catholike faith Epistolam quidem scripsit nefariam truely he writ m Bell. ca. eod that nefarious Epistle unworthy of any Christian Here is worke indeed saying against saying Cardinall against Cardinall and whether Cardinall is the stronger let the spectators consider But the best sport is that whereas Cardinall Baronius n Nomine Vigilij ab aliquo Eutychiano esse suppositam eoque imperito ex pluribus colligi potest Bar. an 538 nu 19. tels us that this Epistle was written by some unskilfull Eutychean heretike and Cardinall o Bell. loc cit Bellarmine tels us that it was writ by Vigilius it followeth upon the two Cardinals sayings joyned together that Vigilius was both an heretike and an unskilfull Eutychean heretike 20. From their words let us come to their strokes and sad