the Church instead of being governed is devoured by a Faction of Villains who eat the people of God like bread But say they you speak of abolishing the Primacy in the Church and nevertheless there is no Society no Families no Colledge but hath it Without it these Societies cannot subsist It is not so much the Primacy which I condemn as the Tyranny which hath been joined to it The Primacy of Place might yet be suffered although Jesus Christ hath not instituted it in the Church but that of Pope is a Primacy of Jurisdiction to which the Universal Church and the whole World is subject as they pretend I condemn the Primacy of a Bishop who is a Worldly Prince who hath more than Twenty Millions of Revâ—nue this Primacy which is the Cause of all the Disorders of the Church Whereas the end and ordinary use of Lawful Primacies is to maintain good Order in all Societies And I wish nothing more than to see re-established in the Church that Primacy which Jesus Christ hath there instituted viz. that of Councils and that they should be often assembled as they were in the Primitive Church for it is the want of these Councils which hath undone the Church We see in the Preface of the Eleventh Council of Toledo that the Fathers say That having wanted the Light of Councils for the space of Ten Years the whole World went astray and the Church fell into disorder and confusion How much more reason have we now to complain of that we who for above these Hundred Years have seen none and which is more can never hope to see a Lawful one whilst the Papacy shall subsist Substracta Luce Conciliorum integro decennie Matrem Omnium Errorum ignorantiam otiosas Mentes occupasse adeo ut Babylonicae Confusionis olla succensa purpuratae Meretricis incrementa Sacerdotes sequerentur quia Ecclesiastici Convenius non aderat Disciplina nec erat qui Errantium Corrigeret partes cum Sermo Divinus haberetur Extorris Is not this the cause of so many Superstitions of so many Heresies Schisms and Licentiousness which we see in the Clergy Is it not a ridiculous thing that no more Councils shall be called whilst we see the Monks both Capucins Carthusians and Jesuits often assemble their Congregations for the augmentation of their Societies It is no wonder if the Church daily runs to ruin whilst these Societies fortifie themselves Is it not clear as the day that if Provincial Synods were called every year National every three or four years as heretofore they were under our great Kings and Oecumenical Councils at least once in Ten years that Remedies would be found out for the Calamities of the Church Might not a Patriarch in every State aided by the Secular Power excute the Decrees of the Church with more facility less jealousie and more security for Religion and for the State than a forreign Ambitious and potent Prince who resolves to take no care for Religion but to model every thing to his own Interest If this Patriarch should neglect his Duty or carry it like a Master should not the Prince chastise him nor depose him Experience shews us that the Church never flourished but when she was Aristocratically governed and when there was no other Primacy in the Universal Church than that of Councils and all Primates and Patriarchs were subject to them But since the Patriarch of Rome hath had the sole disposing of Religion in the West we have seen nothing but Confusion Anarchy Schism Heresies Impiety Atheism Cruelty and Barbarity Ipsa Ecclesia Vnus est Princeps Vnitati fidelium non singulis haec Jurisdictio a Domino conceditur c. Quia Vnitas Ecclesiae multo major est atque perfectior quam Vnitas Vnius Regis aut Imperatoris terreni Thus did the Holy Council of Basil answer the false Reasons of Pope Eugenius his Orators who pretended That the Unity of the Church was preserved much better by a Pope than by the Council There are others who would have the Pope's Authority confin'd within the bounds which the Councils of Constance and of Basil had marked out for it but they never understood the Moral Impossibility that there is not only of making the Popes consent to it but suppose they were constrained to consent to these Rules for a season to make them observe them always or for any long time And Experience confirms what I say with reference even to these Councils which have put no stop at all to their career for they live in contempt as well of these as of all other Lawful Councils Have not they called others in Italy who have destroyed whatever these had established even to treat with the Name of Heresie this Holy Doctrine of the Superiority of the Council Have not the Popes been sufficiently Sacrilegious to raze out of the Roman Edition of General Councils the Council of Basil from among the Oecumenical Councils It is then impossible that with the Impiety and Ambition wherewith the Court of Rome is wholly made up and with the enormous power which the Popes at this time have which equals that of the greatest Kings that they should be reduced to submit themselves to the Council of Constance And even that would signifie nothing for this Council gives them too much Authority It gives them the power which belongs to the Emperors of assembling General Councils of presiding in them and concluding and of executing the Canons of Councils in regard of particular Churches and even of making Decrees during the Intervals of Synods and of being judged only by a General Council They ought then to be deprived of this temporal power the Cardinals to be abolished and the Monks to be Enfranchised and Released from the rash Vows they have made to the Popes the disposing of the Palls of Archbishops ought to be taken from him and the faculty of Investing Bishops and of dispencing with them for holding so many Benefices with all the other Simonical Traffick which will still renders him the Tyrant of the Church the Master of all States and the Devil the possessor of many souls It is much more easie to restore all at once the ancient Discipline I promote a Paradox but my reason is that there will never be a good change but it must happen after some strangely surprizing or if I may so say some violent manner such violence as forces its way into the Kingdom of Heaven Whilest we stand upon treating the Popes shall maintain themselves always with the times either by Intriegues or by some Devilish inventions the most zealous shall grow cold upon the business Ministers shall be corrupted either by money or by Cardinals Caps the Prince shall have other affairs found him to look after or shall be killed by the hand of some Monk or other All the Jesuits and the Monks shall be everlastingly for the Papacy whatever shew they at this time make Gerson somewhere says that there will never
plundering the Church they will perceive the Imposture and believe at length that the other Articles of Religion are no more Divine than that of the Papacy So that if it pleased God that this Tyranny were abolished in the Church this villainous Mask taken off from Religion it would be incomparably more loved and respected and the Impiety Ambition and Dissoluteness wherewith the Papacy hath infected all things would be banished from the Church and we should see all the Schismaticks and Hereticks range themselves under the Standard of the Church and even the Pagans and the other Infidels whose Princes are afraid of the Pride of Rome that would make them her Subjects and Tributaries and dispose of them and their States at her pleasure By this means all hopes would be taken away from the Hereticks of ever seeing the Catholick Religion ruined by it for I know their Ministers have from hence all their hopes and would be sorry to see the Papacy abolished without the Catholick Religion Wherefore it is absolutely necessary to fortifie the Catholicks against this danger and to teach them how to distinguish between the Wisdom of God which they ought always to stand firm to and the folly of men which they ought always to abhor and that this last whatever mixture it may seem to have with Truth by the art of men may never make them contemn the other and that the Truth may never make them receive the Inventions of humane Wisdom sharpened by Ambition and Avarice how specious soever they may appear I shall not be at all surprised if some men think I say too much and that there be many who will call me Extravagant for I know how gross and carnal Ideas they who read not the Scripture have of Religion having been one of that number who as well as others believed that the Church could not subsist without the Pope and that there ought to be a Universal and Visible Head of the whole Church But I shall have reason to think it very strange if people have not other Sentiments after the reading of this work All those who will penetrate and enter a little with me into the knowledg of the Disorders which that Authority causes among Christians will find that I have too much reason and that I speak with a great deal of Moderation if they have any zeal and love for the Church For my part I have been in three different tempers in regard of the Papacy When I first knew what it was I did nothing but sigh like another Heraclitus and afflict my self with grief for the Disorders that shook my Faith After this I fell into another frame wherein like Democritus I did nothing but laugh at the folly and vanity of men who under pretence of Religion suffer'd themselves to be so imposed upon Since that as my Understanding encreased I again fell into the Condition of Heraclitus being more perswaded than I was of the Truths of Religion and bearing a greater part in the calamities of the Church and in the salvation of my neighbour than before I did and this it was that moved me to put these my thoughts in writing So go the thoughts of men succeeding one another pro or con according as they are more enlightned Here I think it proper to represent by what Degrees I came to know the Imposture It is now more than 30. years since I was first at Rome There I began to perceive that there was nothing at all in what people had made me believe of the Pope and Cardinals I did never believe that every thing that was told me of them was true for people would have perswaded me that the Pope received news every 24. hours from Paradise and that he sent whomsoever he pleased to Heaven or Hell. But what I believed of him was his great Sanctity Infallibility and Impeccability in every thing he said as indeed it seems necessary it should be so if it be true that Christ hath given him the Employ that he pretends to a vast and almost infinite Knowledge a perfect abstraction from all frail and earthly things with a continual application for the salvation of all mankind And I believed as much in proportion of the Cardinals I found that to be very true which Tacitus says Major e longinquo Reverentia You must not come near a thing to have a value for it I had the leisure to consider the Maxims and Conduct of these people which I soon found to be contrary to all the Ideas I had formed to my self of them and I wanted but very little of running stark mad I was as full of indignation against those who gave me these impressions as against those who scandalized me I saw nothing throughout but an horrible Licentiousness both in the Court and in the Town without any appearance of the true Worship of God as I had observed in many honest people of France I heard of nothing any where but Horrors and Abominations of all kinds comparing this with the Sentiments that had been instilled into me in France I often cried out O quantum est in Rebus Inane O how the World is abused The mind of man is but vanity and I wished with all my heart that our poor French-men had but seen it that so they might be undeceived The greatest part of the men here pass half the day in the Churches to hear the Musick and the other half among the Curtesans and that was it which they at first commended to me the fine Churches and the fine Curtesans This Nation as well as the Spaniards hath found the secret of Associating their Devotion with a habit of the most enormous vices In one hand they shall hold a long Bead-roll and stick a Dagger into a mans body with the other or else commit the most horrible Impurities nor is there any justice for this nor for Sodomy which is more common there than simple Fornication in our Country nor for poysoning And from all these things the Cardinals and Court of Rome are no more free than others For the Popes their Age ordinarily frees them from these things I reasoned oftentimes thus with my self Is it possible that this here should be the man whom they call His Holiness who gives Pardons and Indulgences to others and who Canonizes Saints Is it possible that these should be the men and this the Court that gives Laws for Religion to the whole Earth I confess that my Respect for Religion sensibly diminished every day that I was tempted to believe that the Christian Religion was made only for them and that I doubted of its Divinity seeing and hearing nothing but inconceivable Dissoluteness every where even in the very Cloisters an Ambition and an excessive Vanity in all the Prelates who were promoted for no other merit than that of a Machiavillian Policy wherein the Disciples out-do their Master I knew not where I was Sometimes I cast my eye upon a person of
of their ingenuity in Defence of the Popes Authority and that I saw not well what Advantage they could draw from the Infallibility of the Church which they maintained with so much ardor that doubled my attention to sound the depth of the matter and I found that by the help of this Infallibility they would conceal every thing so as to save the Popes Authority and all the Temporal Advantages which flow from it and I made no further doubt of it when I saw they applied it particularly to the Clergy excluding all the people and many men to the Pope alone excluding all other Bishops Since these Discoveries I have always held it as a Maxim wherein I have never been deceived which is That when any practice or Custom in the Church brings profit or honour to the Ecclesiasticks I presently suspect and examine it At length having a long time reflected upon all the abuses of this Papal Authority and having observed the Deplorable condition to which it hath reduced the Christian Religion as well without as within the Church and seeing it was that which having driven the Greeks and Protestants out of the Church is still the cause why they return not again unto its Communion and that it even draws strange Persecutions upon the Church from these scattered sheep by reason of the attempts of the Court of Rome and its favourers I at last resolved to publish this little Treatise to disabuse mankind in respect of the unjust and criminal Devotion which they have for the Papacy and also to purge the Church of it as well as of all other vices and misfortunes it hath there caused being perswaded that an Infallible fruit of this Reformation would be the Conversion of the Greeks Protestants Pagans Jews and Mahometans not to mention the Honour it would do to all the Catholick Princes whose Majesty and Greatness are vilified by this shameful subjection to and dependance on the Popes which make them to be despised by other Princes who have freed themselves from their Tyranny A Senator of Sweden told me one day a very good saying of Tacitus to this purpose Viri muliebria patiuntur Men act the parts of women which is as much as to say they are the Catamites of the Popes However since it is in their power to treat those as Hereticks and Enemies of the Church who oppose their Ambition and Interest I prepare my self against it and that doth not at all discourage me It is more Honourable to be hated by such people than loved Illi maledicent at tu Domine Benedices I know the Reader will in this Work of mine presently look after the Caracters of either Jansenist Calvinist or Lutheran or lastly of a man who could not be promoted to Benefices and many times he will think he hath found me As for Benefices I might perhaps have had one if I had had a mind to it but by the Grace of God I will have none nor have I need of any nor was I ever designed for it The Jansenists are as yet too much Papists to speak ill of the Papacy As for the Calvinists and Lutherans I wish they could be brought to own the opinions which I do and which I have no mind to betray in this my Book It is true they have both written often against this power but not with design that the Catholick Religion should be the better for it to which this Work wholly tends Whatever men will judg I think I ought not to renounce any truth because the Hereticks know it nor to put my eyes out rather than see the Injustice of the Papacy because the Hereticks see it If I had not here drawn the Picture of the Jesuits Religion it may be those they call the Jansenists would have suspected them to have been the authors of it as the present times go and for the Calvinists I am sure that in many places they will say that I do but gild over the Pill that they may the more easily swallow down the poyson as some people have said of the Book of Mr. de Condom they may judg of it what they please I have followed the sentiments which the reading of the Holy Scripture hath inspired me with and in which I am confirmed the more by reading the Fathers and the Ecclesiastical History and by making reflection upon all that I have seen in foreign Countries and upon what I see every day here If the Romanists hear this Work spoken of they will say without doubt as heretofore at the Council of Trent when Mr. de Faber made Remonstrances on the Kings behalf concerning the disorders of the Church Gallus Cantat they cried I have no better answer than what he made them Vtinam ad Galli cantum Petrus resipisceret let them come and renounce the Dominion and Tyranny they exercise over the Church and over the World and let our Bishops for time to come behave themselves like worthy Successors of this Apostle This Work shall be divided into Three Parts which will contain so many Chapters In the first I shall prove that the Papacy hath no foundation in the Word of God and shall shew the vanity folly of those arguments which they pretend to draw from the Gospel In the second I shall make it appear that the Primitive Church never knew it and that in the darkest Ages there were ever some who opposed it and I shall confute many human reasons which for want of the Scripture and of the Fathers are made use of for its defence And in the third and last I shall examine all the pretended advantages which this Authority procures to the Church or to States and I shall shew that 't is so far from bringing any real good to the Church or to Catholick States that it is the cause of the Desolations of the Church and of the greatest part of the Disorders among all Christians of Ignorance Heresies Schisms and Irreligion that reign No man ought to be surprised that I conceal who I am in so perverse an age as we live in where Truth and Honesty as well as those who profess it are exposed to cruel Persecutions and wherein I shall have as many mortal enemies as there are worldly Catholicks and Papists and people in possession of Benefices without mentioning the Monks I have no reason to flatter my self with any great success this Book may have by reason of the extream disorder and irreligion of the Age and I do it more to discharge my self of the load lying upon me and for the consolation of my own mind than for any other thing as heretofore Petrarch said upon a like occasion Haec scribo non tam ùt saeculo meo prosim cujus tam desperata miseria est quam ut me conceptis onerem Animum scriptis soler I write these things not so much to profit the age I live in whose misery is so desperate as to unburthen my self of my own thoughts
and to refresh my spirit with writing I have written for my self Haec mihi cecini Musis si nemo Alius Audierit I have sung these things to my self and the Muses tho no body else should hear them Sure and Honest Means TO CONVERT ALL HERETICKS CHAP. I. That the Papacy hath no Divine Title The vanity and nullity of those which it draws from the Gospel WHosoever shall read the New Testament will there find that Jesus Christ alone is established as Head of the Church and that it is not said of any other that she should be his Body or Believers his Members that belonging to none but Jesus Christ who is also the only Spouse of the Church which would be adulterous should she submit to another and this other could not be but an evil person and a reprobate since that in taking the quality of Spouse of the Church he must renounce that of Son of the Church and so could not have God for his Father according to the Maxim That he who hath not the Church for his Mother hath not God for his Father Now no one person can be the Head the Spouse and Son of the Church at the same time Nevertheless it is certain that the Popes do assume these Titles to themselves by a vanity which exceeds all folly and without being able to produce any reason for it Divine or Humane But let us see what they say to maintain their pretensions They say that among the Jews one man only viz. Aaron had the conduct of Divine Service and was Head of the Levites and that by consequence there ought to be in the Christian Church an Authority like unto this Established over the whole Church and that the Bishops of Rome perform the Functions of this charge Whereupon there are many things to be said First of all it was not difficult for Aaron to acquit himself of this in so little a State as Judea and in one only City of this State which was Jerusalem and in one only Tâ—mple of that City for it was not allowed to perform Divine Service nor to Sacrifice elsewhere whereas Christianity is at this time spread over the whole world and therefore one single person only cannot perform these Functions every where It is as if a man should say that because France is well governed by one King he might as well govern all the States of the habitable Earth and yet it would be much more easie for him to do it than for one Bishop to govern the whole Church because as it is well known the Ecclesiastical Ministry cannot inflict Corporal punishments upon Delinquents as the Civil Government may and does Besides Aaron was no way the Figure of the Bishops of Rome for then the Type would have been more excellent than the Original but he was the Figure of our Great and Soveraign High Priest Jesus Christ. Furthermore Aaron was not the Monarch of the Levites but as the Doge is at Venice for according to all the Talmudists he was subject to the Jurisdiction of the Great Sanhedrim and to their Censure whereas the Popes pretend to be not only the Monarchs of the whole Earth but particularly of all the Clergy And besides all this there was an express institution of God for this charge and for the person of Aaron and of his Successors Whereas there is nothing like it for the Papacy nor for the persons of those who exercise it We see in the Old Testament the Institution of Aaron's Charge with many Ceremonies for his Installment and for his anointing many Ordinances for the Exercise of this Charge and for the Succession many Chapters which speak of the Subordination of Priests and Levites But on the contrary we find not one word in the Gospel of this pretended charge of Universal Head of the Church of Vicar-General of Jesus Christ and Successor of St. Peter nor any thing that hath any relation to it and yet it ought to have been there clear and evident since that this Ministry was to be of an extent a thousand times greater and the thing in it self is prodigious and appears quite contrary to the nature of the Messias his Kingdom and to the Gospel We see several Orders of Ministers of the Gospel there often spoken of but not one word that can any ways relate to the Pope when surely that was the place to have spoken of it especially if it be necessary to Salvation to be subject to him as they would have it and if he hath the power as they would perswade us as well over the Temporality as the Spirituality of the whole world St. Paul who without question was of as great ability as the Pope was not of these peoples humour who pretend to govern the whole Church since he who had not the thousandth part of Christians to take care of as the Pope would have according to their supposition declares that no Mortal man was sufficient to perform every thing that was necessary to be done in it and that he was himself overwhelmed with the care he took for all the Churches Nor had St. Peter the courage of our good Popes who believe themselves capable of governing the whole Church and they might do it without difficulty after the method they take since he agreed with St. Paul that St. Paul should go toward the Gentiles and he towards the Jews and so they parted the Ministry between them At least the Popes after Aarons example ought to meddle only in Ecclesiastical and not in Secular affairs as they do pretending to Lord it over the whole world for we see that Aaron applied himself only to the Functions of his Charge and that in things Temporal and Civil he was subject to Moses and left the Absolute direction of them to him Instead of imitating Aaron the Head of the Levites in his Modesty the Popes pretend to be Lords not only of the Temporality but of the Spirituality of all the States of the world and will in this be Vicars of Jesus Christ tho he declared that his Kingdom was not of this world tho he taught his Disciples that he among them who would be the first should be the last though he fled away when they would have made him a King tho he payed Tribute to the Princes of the world when he was himself Lord both of Heaven and Earth tho he expresly forbad his Disciples to bear rule over any one whatsoever The Popes notwithstanding this will govern and pretend that our Saviour did amiss when he spoke thus and that they know better than he how to improve the rights of his Prerogative For my part I believe that such a King as Jesus Christ who holds the Earth in his hand according to the Prophet's expression who upholds all things by the power of his word as St. Paul says who knows the hearts of all men and governs the motions of all the creatures who is Almighty who knows and sees
we say that it was owing to the eagerness of his temper which being not always well regulated made him commit greater faults than any others of the Apostlâ—s except the perfidious Judas which made him be called Satan by his good Master which none of the other were We ought also to attribute to this temper the blow he gave Malchus with the Sword as well as that warmth that made him promise wonders of Fidelity to his Master and induced him to accompany him to the Emperors Court where he denied his Saviour So that it is with very little reason that they make an argument of this to prove his Royalty in the Church In Spain where the most Honourable walk the last they will not fail to alledg places where St. Peter is named last as in the passage where it is said I am the Disciples of Paul and I of Apollos and I of Caephas who is Peter For I remember that at Paris where they understand Divinity a little better than in Spain a good Bishop and an Abbot did maintain to me that the passage where it is said that James Peter and John are esteemed Pillars of the Church I having alledged against them another where he is named the first they maintained to me I say that this passage confirmed that which they alledged and proved very well the Primacy of St. Peter For said the Bishop when three persons of worth are walking together they always put the most Honourable in the middle This is according to the common saying That a Lawyer well paid shall always find the cause of his Client good His Benefices made him see clear in this passage There are three other passages which the greatest part of our Doctors produce against our Adversaries with a little more colour which are Thou art Peter c. I will give thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven c. Feed my sheep Which passages we shall examine one after another to see if St. Peter had any priviledg above the other Apostles they say that in the first of these passages Jesus Christ doth establish the Church found it and built it upon St. Peter I do not deny but that St. Peter was one of the Pillars of the Church because he is so called as well as James and John. Nor can it be denied but that he was and is one of the foundations of the Church since that he is not excepted out of the number of the Twelve who in Scripture are called the Foundations of the New Jerusalem But I maintain that the Church is no more founded upon him than upon St. Paul and the other Apostles I would fain have these Gentlemen tell me upon whom the Church was founded before St. Peter and why the Church changed its foundation and upon whom Peter himself was founded It was without doubt upon Jesus Christ upon the Rock which is the Christ. And it is without all question that St. Peter and we ought to have no other foundation than that which St. Paul had who says That no man can lay any other foundation than that which is laid which is Jesus Christ. Also we see in this passage that it is upon the Rock upon the Rock of Ages that our Saviour builds his Church and not upon St. Peter The Holy Ghost would have changed neither name nor person if he would have had us to have believed this of St. Peter He would not have said Super hanc Petram sed super te Petrum Vpon this Rock but upon thee Peter To the end that no difficulty may remain we must observe what goes before and what follows after Jesus Christ had demanded of all the Apostles together whom they thought he was Peter either as the eldest or most zealous answers for all and says to him Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God. Whereupon Jesus Christ says to him Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church c. It is evident that as our Saviour's discourse was directed to all and that Peter answered for all the following part of our Saviours Discourse was directed also to them all and related no more to Peter than to any other particular Apostle And men must have lost their understandings to think that Jesus Christ in this place founded his Church upon Peter whom in the same Chapter he calls Satan What Foundation would the Church have had and what would have become of her when he deni'd his Saviour It must then necessarily be acknowledged that it is not the visible Church that is here spoken of which they pretend St. Peter to be the Head of But the Invisible the Society of the Faithful and the Elect. For the Gates of Hell would have prevailed against the Church not only when St. Peter denied his Master since that the foundation being run to decay that which is built upon it falls to ruin But since that time have they not very often prevailed against this Church which they would have the Bishops of Rome the pretended Successors of St. Peter to be the Heads of For Example when according to the Fathers the whole World was Arian the Bishops of Rome and all their Flock and so many other times as the Popes have been Magicians Sodomites Atheists Hereticks c. And what would have become of the Church in the time of that great Schism that succeeded Gregory the Ninth which lasted fifty years when the French would not have an Italian Pope nor the Italians a French one and many Princes would have neither one nor other to whom at length Charles the Sixth joined himself for three years and the Kingdom of France was very well contented without a Pope and many other Princes for a longer season And what shall we say of that great Schism which the Popes made and caused with the Greek Church by cutting them off out of Devilish pride from the Communion of the Church because they would not submit to their yoke but demanded the observation of the Canons What shall we say also of that great Apostacy that happened about 130 or 140 years since or thereabout when so many States separated themselves from the Church by reason of the Impiety and Tyranny of the Popes Doth not all this prove that Hell hath prevailed against this exterior and visible Church which the Popes govern and whereof St. Peter according to them was the Head It is then the Invisible Church which is here spoken of the Society of the Faithful the Heavenly Jerusalem whereof Jesus Christ is the principal Corner-stone upon which St. Peter himself saith believers are built as living stones He says not it is on himself that they are built but on the contrary he pretends himself as well as others to be one of these living stones which are built upon the Corner-stone which is Christ. It is then upon the Rock confessed by Simon Peter or upon his Confession that the Church is founded on that which he declared
relates In the year 654 the Emperor Constantine bound the Pope Martin in Chains and sent him away in Exile to Chersona where he died In the year 963 the Emperor Otbo deposed Pope John the 12 th In the the year 1007 Henry the Second deposed Three Popes Benet the Ninth Sylvester the Third and Gregory the Sixth We see by the Authentick of Justinian that the Popes paid to the Emperors as to their Soveraigns Twenty Pounds of Gold for their Investiture And Pope Adrian himself and also Leo the Eighth do confess that the Emperor Charlemayne had the Authority of Electing Popes Why is it not so now It is because the Popes have by a thousand Cheats ruined the Roman Emperors and are become more mighty then they as well by the desolation of the Empire which they have rent in pieces as by the Conquests which they have made in Italy and by the Usurpations which they yet make upon what remains to the Emperor in debauching part of his Subjects who swear Fidelity and Obedience to them even against the Emperor himself and by holding in Captivity their Consciences by means of the Monks to make them do what they please in favour of the Pope not to mention how they drain his Country as well as others trafficking with Princes and their Subjects in almost the same manner as is usual with some people of the Indâ—es to whom they give Pins and pieces of Glass for their Pearls and Gold. After this manner they draw to them all our Substance and we are at least as simple as these poor people Some body in Tacitus complains That the Money went out of Rome for Diamonds and that â—trangers and Enemies made advantage by it Pecuniae nostrae lapidum causa ad Exteras Hostiles Gentes transeunt We have now so much more reason to make this Complaint as Diamonds are better worth than Bulls and Dispensations of our Most Holy Father the Pope Bonifâ—ce the Third as I have already said having been made Universal Head of the Church by Phocas this power increased prodigiously in a little time This good Pope presently called together some Ecclesiasticks of his Faction in a Synod who confirmed to him the Title of Head of the Church After him his Successors taking advantage of the weakness of the Greek Emperors and of the distractions of Italy they established and augmented their Authority more and more and the Exarchat of Ravenna having been ruined by the Lombards the Spiritual Power of that City fell as a prey into the hands of the Bishops of Rome who seeing none in Italy but the Lombards who could disturb him plaid a cunning trick to draw to them out of France Pepin Son of Charles Martel it was by sending him Letters brought from Heaven to the Holy Father which promised Pepin an assured Victory over the Lombards Pepin gave credit to this Letter came and defeated the Lombards pursuant to which His Holiness Pope Zachary the worthy Successor of Boniface the Third very honestly dispenced with Pepin's Oath of Allegiance which he owed to King Chilperic and crowned him King of France and at the same time dispenced with all the French for their Obedience due to their lawful Prince Pepin then in acknowledgment of this gave them the Exarchat of Ravenna with many Cities and Priviledges reserving to himself only the Soveraignty and the Right of Electing Popes which as History testifieth his Successors enjoyed long after him Nor had any of their Bishops any need of Bulls or to pay Tribute to the Popes being elected by the Clergy and the People invested by the Prince who alone assembled Councils and made Regulations in Ecclesiastical things And when the Popes encroached farther than they had to do we see that the Churches of Germany and of France had yet courage enough to oppose their Enterprises And we find that in the year 991. the Councâ—â— assembled at Reimes under Hugh Capet deposed one Arnoulph Arch-bishop of Rheimes in spite of the Pope and when he complained of it they asked him for what â—eason they should prefer his Apostleship before others Vt sciamus intelligamus cur inter caeteros Apostolatum vestrum praeferre debeamus And in the 28 th Chapter of the same Council What would Laws signifie if all were to be governed by one Man's Humour In the greatest prosperity of Rome when it was the Seat of the Empire and Bishops were men of Merit the Gelasiuses the Gregories and the Leoes the Afrâ—cans would not give them the Priviledge of Appeals how much less ought we to do it now Compare our times with theirs It is true that notwithstanding the Protestations which were every where made against the Ambition of the Bishops of Rome yet they still gained ground and at length having gotten either by some trick or by open violence not only the Exarchat of Ravenna but Benevento and Ferrara and what they call the Patrimony of St. Peter having made themselves absolute Masters of the Town of Rome they were no longer afraid to declare open War against the Emperours And this it was which made Guicciardin say in two places Jam ita se gerunt ut Authoritatis pontiâ—iciae videatur Leges dare potius quam accipere Terrorem armoâ—um Coelestium in res caducas vertunt Tandem non erga Deum Homines Charitas sed Exercitus sed bella in Christianos horum Curae Ludicra jam per multos annos beliorum Authores incendiorum Faces c. Now they behave themselves as though it were a part of the Popes Authority to give Laws not to receive them They turn the Terror of Heavenly Weapons on Worldly Affairs now not love to God and Man but Armies and Wars against Christians are their care and sport For many years they have been Authors of Wars c. Aventin gives us an account of a Letter which the Empâ—ror Barberossa wrote in the year 1150. to the Princes of Germany which saith expresly That the Popes being increased in Wealth and Dignity by means of him and his Predecessors apply themselves with all diligence to dethrone Kings and Princes and cannot suffer an Equal That they were busied both Night and Day not so much to destroy him as the Sacred Empire After they had oppressed the Head of it they affect not only Domination but Divinity it self and will not be feared and adored less than God And that the Christian Religion hath no greater Enemies than they But he who of all the Popes gave the most mortal blow to the Church and to the Authority of Christian Princes was Gregory the Seventh and that by three Devilish means First of all by Deposing the Emperor Henry the Fourth which caused the ruin of the Western Empire for since that time it hath been torn into many little States and weak Principalities which the Popes have played with at their pleasure as well in Germâ—ny as in Italy Only our Country
means strengthned I acknowledg that Preachers do instruct the people That to make themselves acceptable unto God and to have a share in the Kingdom of Heaven they must refrain from these evil Passions and they build this Obligation upon the Precepts of the Gospel but men acting exceedingly more by the hope and fear of present good or evil than of that which is future the efficacy of all the loveliness of a God who gave this Precept of the hope of Paradice and fear of Hell becomes extreamly weakened in them by the ill Example of those who by their Habit and Condition seem and ought to make profession of a Life more pure and disengaged from the Interests of this World. For altho they embrace not formally this Opinion That there is neither God nor Heaven nor Hell and that on the contrary they hold these Doctrines to be very true yet nevertheless this ill Example makes them act as if they did wholly reject them this damnable Example having so mortal a poison in it that it makes them believe that their Teachers being able men would themselves live conformable to these Instructions if they thought them Divine and they themselves leading not this life 't is probable that they do not believe what they preach and teach The Scripture also in many places highly enveigheth against Pastors of an ill Life the disorder of their manners being a stumbling-block to those whom they have the care of But tho the Irregularities of Pastors did not make so ill an impression upon the minds of the people whilst persons who desire to be saved and are humbled when they perceive within themselves a repugnancy to follow those ways which the Gospel hath marked out hear speak of able men and of almost whole Orders whom for instance the Gospel enjoyns to be charitable know that no more is employed that way than what remains to him who spares no cost to appear Great and to keep up his Port according to the Custom of the World and other such like Interpretations of all the Precepts of Jesus Christ do not they find themselves inclined to embrace these Explications thereby satisfying their desires and thinking to quiet their Consciences Those who favour the Papacy shall tell you That the Pope is so far from ordering such pernicious Maxims to be taught that he doth abhor them and wish with all his heart that they would teach and promote contrary ones Besides that many Popes have themselves entertained ill Opinions I will grant it for the present but the Pope who pretendeth to be the only Head of the Church and that it belongs to him alone to judge absolutely of Eâ—clesiastical things and persons not reproving them nay oftentimes shutting the mouths of those who would oppose them who sow and spread abroad such dangerous Maxims doth uphold these pernicious Opinâ—ons which we have the greater reason to believe because he withdraws the Monks and many of the Clergy from the Jurisdiction of the Bishops If it be said That he cannot silence them by reason of their too great Authority it is then manifest that the Papacy such as it is doth suffer the ill Example and these pernicious Opinions and is not able to hinder them unless it be in matters of very small importance And thus far it is an Obstacle unto Piety since no body can apply a Remedy whilst the Pope shall be acknowledged the Head and Master of the Church The Second Argument which sheweth That the Papacy is an Obstacle unto true Virtue is that it makes use of such practices as promote a false and only seeming instead of true Piety Some Catholicks do teach That Contrition is necessary to make Confession valid But this Doctrine is not much followed That which hath the Vogue and reigns most in the World is that Attrition is sufficient which is only a simple Sorrow for having sinned and that too occasioned but by the fear of Hell. The people who are instructed in this Opinion believe readily that it is an easie matter to be justified before God and so think that after having sinned a great while they shall at their Death receive Absolution of their sins by saying a Peccavi For what man is there who is not afraid of being Damned The great multitude of Plenary Indulgences and others which are as common as Water doth also marvellously contribute to the casting men into Impenitence and to make them at the same time believe that their Consciences are in safety under pretence of observing those Exercises which pass for Pious tho they are not so I could produce many other Reasons to demonstrate the Truth of what I say but let these suffice The Pope pretending to be the only Soveraign Judge of Religion not silencing these false and pernicious Teachers nay not being able to do it if he would Is not then the Papacy an Obstacle unto true Piety since it introduces a false one in its place There are good people among the Catholicks I confess but the Papacy contributes nothing to that On the contrary those who believe and live well it is God and not the Pope who is the Author of their Piety as well as of their Profession which is rather destroyed than maintained by the usual Pride and Impiety of the Popes from whence it comes that no man now a days believes but what he will so that the whole World is full of Deists Socinians Libertines and impious persons But they say That at least the Papacy doth maintain the External Vnity and that is a great Advantage Yet I deny that For what does it contribute to this outward Unity But besides that it serves only to cheat the World whilst there is no inward Unity If they mean the Unity in Ceremonies First of all this would be no great matter for Ceremonies make not the Essence of Religion but are only the out-side of it and besides they are very different according to the several Countries and the Popes are not the Authors of them If they were it were enough to condemn them Besides all this there are fewer Sects and Factions less Divisions and by consequence more Unity among the Greeks who have many Patriarchs than among us I acknowledge indeed that it is rather Ignorance that unites them than Reason or Piety Bâ—t they tell us that the Popes spare nothing for the Conversion of the Greeks and Protestants they bestow on them both Money and Benefices To that may be added That they have not spared even the Blood of Hereticks for their Conversion as History informs us But if it be their Conversion which they do heartily desire why do not they renounce the Authority which they have usurped in the Church and in the World Why do not they re-establish things in a Christian manner in the same State they were in in the days of the Apostles and of the Primitive Church Why do not they condemn the Blasphemies which are spoken in favour of
lenitatem datam Ipsi Dii lenes sunt talibus If thou canst teach me better if not remember Gentleness was given thee for this very purpose The Gods themselves are gentle to such If the Christian Religion did establish the Inquisition if she justified the Perfidiousness and Inhumanities which the Court of Rome and Hereticks commit every day upon the account of Religion I should make no difficulty to declare it an abominable Religion and that we ought not to be of it one moment longer and if People went to Heaven by such ways as these I should be soon of the Americans mind who said they would not go to the same Paradise whither the Spaniards went nor would I go to the Paradise of the Popes and the Inquisitors I do maintain that the Popes have ruined the Church in those Countries where their Inquisition hath been set up more than all the Heresies in the World together ever could have done We need not but consider the good Effects which it hath had in those Countries where in truth there is no Religion at least Christianity scarce there to be found and how should it with that Ignorance which the Inquisition brings along with it which hath produced nothing but Superstition Impiety Hypocrisy dissembling of Opinions a thousand Cruelties and Treacheries and all sorts of abominable Vices which are scarce known but in Countries of the Inquisition And where we find them in other Countries they have been brought thither from Rome by those that were devoted to the Papacy through the too great Commerce which Princes suffer with Rome The Hereticks may well say that they are obliged to the Inquisition that Holland is no longer Catholick If the Inquisiâ—ion be advantagious to Christianity Why do the most Christian Nations of Europe the best regulated both in their Religion and their Manners detest it Compare the French Nation Germany Flanders and Poland with the other Slaves to the Inquisition and you will say that the latter are not worthy of the Name of Christians in comparison of the former And for the Hereticks I esteem and Heretick that is an honest Man and that fears God a hundred times more than a Catholick who lives disorderly or that knows not what Religion is I know no worse Heresy than to be without the knowledg of God and how can He be known where the Holy Scripture is not allowed to be read where the Clergy are wholly lost in most abominable Vices and know nothing at all where it is Crime enough to be burnt to discourse about Religion where Mens Minds are filled with a thousand Fooleries that have no relation at all to Piety Set a Spaniard or an Italian who hath gotten a little Sense to discourse on Jesus Christ and he shall not fail to tell you that Jesus Christ was a great Politician Christo era Grande Politico because he sees that his Vicar under the pretence of Religion hath made so great Conquests and subdued all Catholick Princes to himself This is the Idea which they have of Jesus Christ and which they form to themselves upon what they see in the Court of Rome and in the present State of the Church for as for the Holy Scripture they know less of it than of the Alcoran And their Divines teach them that the Church is the most happy Body Politick upon Earth Corpo Politico il piu felice che sia in terra as Cardinal Palavicini says And the same Cardinal says in another place that Jesus Christ would have his Church governed as great Polititians govern their States and that he came down from Heaven upon Earth to make her happy as well in this World as in the other by heaping upon her Honours Riches and Pleasures secondo la carne according to the Flesh. And of the Papacy in particular he says that it is the abundant Source of Temporal Felicity Il Principiato Apostolico fonte d'utilita Temporale secondo la carne in quel modo chi e piu conforme etiandio all humana felicita The Apostolick Primacy is the Fountain of Temporal Profit and in such a manner as is most conducing to Human Felicity Nor do the Portuguees understand things better they are more than half Jews and yet know not what either Judaism or Christianity is There are a great many of them who look for a sort of a Messias who by his great Conquests ought to make them Masters of the World this is one of their Kings named Sebastian whom they have made a Saint he was killed in the Battel of Alcazar going to assist one Moorish King against another and because his Body was not found after the Battel they pretend that he is not dead but that he roams up and down the World and that he will return suddenly again to conquer all the habitable Earth and make it subject to the Portugal Nation This is the Faith of the Christians in that Country and they learn it insensibly of the Jews It is not long since a Man might have borrowed a considerable Sum of Mony in Portugal payable at the return of St. Sebastian That which doth produce this horrible Ignorance among these People is not only that they read not the Holy Scriptures but because the Inquisition suffers there no Religion but its own for by this means there is no body who can accuse either the Inhumanity of the Inquisition or the Vices and Incapacities of the Clergy If some other Sect had liberty among them the Contradiction of this Sect would oblige them to study and to instruct themselves which would make the Study of Divinity and other Sciences flourish among them and seeing every Man would have as many Censurers of his Religion and of his Manners as there were Men of contrary Opinions this would make Men take care of their Behaviour that their Lives might be more conformable to true Christianity Wickedness would be greatly abated Men would be ashamed of those horrible Crimes which the Italians now make their diversion there would be much more knowledg of God more Industry and Perfection in the World. I know that this is not at all agreeable to the Humour of the Popes and their Clergy who make their Markets better by Ignorance and the Inquisition I know by my own Experience and what I have heard say by many good People in England that the expulsion of Catholicks would destroy amongst them all Devotion and Religion because they would have no Adversaries to awaken them and to oblige them to take care of themselves their Ministers would become ignorant and debauched and so proportionably the People But say they the Inquisition doth prohibit all ill Books you must know too that the Word of God is of the number of these ill Books that are prohibited and that there are many other Books forbidden which have not only no ill in them but which are very excellent only because they are contrary to the Ambition of the Court
of Rome and that there is an infinite number of abominable ones allowed of which are fit for nothing but to be burnt as well as their Authors By this same Principle they have razed out of the Bookes of the Fathers those Passages which were not for their purpose They yet insist for the justifying of the Inquisition That the diversity of Religion is the Cause of Civil Wars in a Nation But what Mischief doth not the Inquisition do All Princes in whose Countries it is are Slaves to it It is true that among them there are no Civil Wars for Religion but it is as true that they must absolutely depend upon the Court of Rome otherwise if they pretend to examine their Orders the Popes shall use them like Dogs How many times hath the Republick of Venice been like to be destroyed by these People only because they had a mind to keep some Liberty to themselves and not to suffer certain Excesses of their Tyranny And yet do they every day insult and attempt against all the Rights which God and Nature have given them It is furthermore said in favour of the Papacy That the World is greatly obliged to it for all the different Orders of Monks and of Nuns which are a great Ornament and Advantage to the Church It is true that the Popes have instituted almost all of them and that it is no fault of theirs that there are not twenty times as many especially in the States of other Princes for by this means they erect Imperium in Imperio their own Empire in the Dominions of another thereby gaining to themselves so many Subjects in all Catholick Countries who are at all times ready to do any thing for their Service Now since there is nothing in it but this all these Institutions of so many Sects of Monks ought to be suspected by us Besides it is not the Popes who have inspired these People with the thoughts of retreating and of Severity to themselves they knew only how to apply it to their own use and service The Inclination which these Men have to this sort of Humour and Life is well enough known and that in all times and in all Countries and in all Religions there have been great numbers of Men who have embraced this sort of Life pretending to live more austerely and to avoid the trouble of worldly Business affecting to be singular in their Clothes their Diet whipping themselves and other outward Mortifications of their Flesh. There were a great many of them among the Jews especially towards the latter end and when Religion fell most into decay we see by their Authors that besides the Pharisees there were the Essenes Dositheens and other Sects of Religious Jews There were many of them among the ancient Romans there is in Juvenal an admirable description of their Manners and Customs It is of them that he says Fronti nulla Fides and qui Curios simulant Bacchanalia vivunt he represents them with short Hair supercilio brevior coma and with all he says that they lived after a very licentious manner There are also many of them at this day among the Pagans there are great numbers of them to be found among the Mahometans Greeks Nestorians Eutychians Maronites Abyssins and Cophties The Popes then have made cunning use of the Humour of these People whom they have supported as far forth as they could and even canonized them to augment their own Power by the Credit which they gave to these People who became their Creatures and who for their parts served the Pope with all the Power and Credit they had People had them in great Veneration at Rome this Veneration spread it self every-where abroad so that the World did almost adore them every thing that they either said or did was as highly esteemed as what ever the Apostles themselves had said or done and as time served them when they had sufficiently tried the Credulity and Soâ—tishness of Mankind they came to that excess of Impiety and Impudence as to compare their Authors to our Lord Jesus nay to give them the Preheminence Read but the Life of St. Francis and a Book that was printed at Brussels in the Year 1630 with this Title Korte beschrijvinge van het Aerdâ—s-broederschap van de Koorde Saint Franciscus and so did other Orders speak as great things of their respective Founders People thought they could not obtain Salvation without the Monks they attribute particular Graces to their very Habits which the better to impose upon the World were of an extraordinary fashion Nay there was sometimes as much imputed to them as to the Blood of Christ it self whosoever took this Habit they said it was as much worth to him as a second Baptism when any body was sick they desired to die in this Habit. These were People who did more good than God commanded and we see that all these Impieties are yet vented by the Monks of our own time who pretend that they do more Good than is necessary for their own Salvation and that they can impart a share of their Merits and Works of Supererogation to whomsoever they please provided that they contribute somewhâ—t towards the maintenance of the Kitchin â—nd for that they have foâ—nd out the Invention of theâ—r Fraternities The Heads of these Sects as I have already said were very useful to the Popes and the Popes for their parts made them be esteemed by the People and at length by the Ignorance and Sloth of Princes they exempted them from the Obedience due to their Soveraigns to their Bishops and to the Law of God it self and so they acknowledg none but the Pope By little and little making a great noise like the blind Men at Paris many of these Sects got great Estates others loved rather to beg like those sturdy Vagrants who prefer a begging and a lazy Life before any other They who have any wit among them employ themselves in writing fabulous Legends of the Life of some or other of their Order and in composing a great many wicked Books about Religion They are all listed to the Pope who pays them in Pardons and Indulgences and in Reliques of which they make a good Market in Canonizing people of their own Order and in exempting them from the Laws of their Prince and of their Bishops so that there is Impunity for them for all sorts of Crimes they are only forced to go out of the Province where they committed the Disorder into another We may look upon every Convent of Monks as so many Garrisons which the Pope hath in all Catholick Cities to keep them under the Yoke of his Obedience and every different Order so many different Regiments clothed in different Fashions and wearing different Liveries who all live at the good Mans Expence but cost the Pope not a Farthing having found out many Secrets to pull off the Feathers without making the Fowl cry They are certainly of great use to the
Popes but I demand what Good they do us Are there not Clergy-men enough to perform the Service without them Are there not People enough to be maintained who are really poor without the begging Monks who are the most ridiculous and the most vicious Wretches upon Earth If they are necessary to the Church as some say how comes it to pass that in the Primitive Church where there was so much Piety there were none of them or at least very few and they too quite of a contrary Character to those now a days but that now in this languishing State of the Church every place swarms with them How comes it to pass that their numbers are much less in France Flanders Germany and Poland where Christianity flourishes a thousand times more than in Italy Spain and Portugal where it is almost extinguished For tho there be Canonizations and Beatifications oftentimes performed for People of these Countries it signifies nothing else but that the Pope hath finger'd their Mony or that these Saints were in their Life-time greatly devoted to the Holy See. This is done upon false-accounts given of the Lives of these Persons by some Monks of their Order and it is very easy to impose upon People in these Countries by reason of the extream Ignorance among them and of the Inquisition which would burn those who should dare to contradict it In France where People are much more understanding and where there is greater Liberty it is not so easy to impose upon and delude the World. Besides the Protestants would not fail to discover the Cheat and to lay it open from whence also it comes to pass that there are but very few Miracles wrought in France and fewer at Paris than in any other City in the Kingdom because People are not there so easy to be deceived I do maintain and every Man that hath observed it must agree with me that there is incomparably more Vertue and solid Piety in the honest People of the World than among the Monks Converse with them and you shall find nothing but Grimace and false appearances of a Devotion that signifies nothing a base Devotion that hath nothing of true Piety applying themselves to the outward parts of Religion neglecting or else not knowing the true form of Piety and upon this they are puffed up with a value of themselves they are presumptuous full of Contempt one of another ambitious worldly and voluptuous which we see in them where they have a little Liberty as in Spain Portugal and Italy there is nothing so unruly as their Behaviour their Lives are most licentious there is no Villany nor Abomination which they do not commit In France our own Country where they are Saints in comparison there is no roguish Story of a Debauchery and Villany but they are at one end of it Compare them with our Fathers of the Oratory who are Seculars and who yet trouble themselves with Secular Affairs less than they and for Knowledg for Humility Purity and lofty Sentiments of Religion there is as great a difference as can be between a worthy and a judicious Person and a superstitious soft-pated Fellow or rather between an honest Woman and a Whore. I acknowledg that here and there you may find a Man of a great worth among the Monks but it is one among ten thousand and he must have a great deal of Strength and Courage to keep himself innocent in these places where there is so much Corruption I believe that it is much more difficult to obtain Salvation there than in the World tho to those who have not narrowly enquired into their Lives it appears otherwise They among them who are ingenious do own it tho they are ordinarily Hypocrites and would deceive and make us believe that they all agree that Men must have extraordinary measures of Grace and would perswade the World that they themselves have them The most unsufferable of them as I have already said are the Mendicants those Pharisees who act wholly contrary to what St. Paul taught and practised who would have all Christians apply themselves to labour yet they pretend to be of a better sort than the others St. Paul whom St. Augustin calls the first of all Saints says in the 20 th Chapter of the Acts ver 33. that he had coveted no Mans Silver Gold or Apparel and that his Hands had ministred to his Necessities and to those who were with him and makes his Glory to consist in this that he had been a charge to no Man He I say orders all People to labour and repeats what our Saviour had said that it is better to give than to receive Yet our lazy Monks have at this day Maxims that are quite contrary They had rather have nothing at all of their own that they may eat the Bread out of poor Peoples Mouths upon whose Sweat and Blood they live and grow fat Of all the Monks that ever I yet heard of I have a value for no Order of them but those of La Trape by the account the World gives of them First they are all kept to work they trouble not themselves with Confessions no more than the first Monks in the Primitive Times They study they haunt neither Courts nor Cities they are not covetous of Legacies nor do they pry into Peoples Wills they are not Beggars they sell not holy things they live frugally upon a wholsom Diet to keep themselves in Health which makes their Minds more fit for the Service of God they are not desirous of News nor of the Secrets of Families to make advantage by it they read the word of God carefully making holy things their ordinary Entertainment and have no Commerce at all with Women Provided that this could continue without Vanity and without Discontent it is a School of Holiness For the others I find that instead of being advantagious to the Church they dishonour it and give the Protestants just reason to despise us With People that have any Understanding these Fellows Habits make so strongly against them that Men are apt to believe that there is both extravagancy and weakness of Mind in those that wear them these are marks of Distinction which shew them not to be French Men but that they belong to another Prince What good do these ridiculous Singularities do If this Habit be necessary to make a Man really better we ought all to take it if not they are to be laughed at thus that dress up themselves and so much the more when they think they merit by it These People ought all to be reduced to one and the same Habâ—t and this ridiculous variety of diverse Habits and monstrous Fashions ought to be taken away as well as the variety of Institutions that warâ—ant some to beg and allow others to be rich and to be continually â—eâ—ping up oâ— Wealth and others to eat and drink till they buâ—st It is reasonable that they should be well clothed and fed
obtain one by which the Author was forbidden to set foot again in France and the Sorbonne to receive him Scilicet sic Petrus sactitabat sic Paulus ludebat The Court of Rome as well as the Monks was mortally grieved that this new Gospel could not pass and had it not been for the University at Paris we should in all likelihood have never known what the Gospel of Jesus Christ was and the Monks would have been our Saviours I have heard say that in all the rich Convents there is a Father that keeps the Evidence-Office whose whole Employ it is to find out good Titles when they want them to joyn their Neighbours Field to their own and there is no harm in that because it is for the Church There are some of these Orders the Benedictines for example who have their Pensioners in the Parliament at Paris like the Excise-men in the Courts of Aydes to help them gain their Cause From whence come all the Enterprises which they daily make upon their Neighbours Goods stripping them as often as they can of them People of very good Credit and who know the thing very well have assured me that this one Oâ—der gave more than two hundred thousand Livers a Year in Pensions to divers Officers of Parliament judg then what Disorders that makes I know not why the Monks have not been kept to read the Holy Scriptures and to study Divinity and Morality rather than so many ridiculous ways of Mortifying themselves if they studied or worked hard they would need no other Mortification but they have invented whipping since they have left off working which is the most extravagant thing in the World. The reading of a Chapter of Scripture would be much better than that as an excellent Man said It is not the Severities of the Body nor the Agitations of the Mind but the good Motions of the Heart that are meritorious which shall be excited much sooner by Meditation of the Word of God than by all their Follies Wherefore I have reason to ask what the Monks are good for The poor Orders as they are also lazy are a burthen to the State they of them that are rich take no care of the poor and both the one and the other are unprofitable nay prejudicial both to Church and State they ought to do quite otherwise than to plunge themselves into Idleness so dangerous both for their Souls and Bodies and to be so chargeable to the Kingdom that keeps them and fats them up without receiving any Service from them they are good for none but themselves and the Popes whose Tyranny they support thus the Popes in maintaining them do good only to themselves when certainly the Monks at present might easily spare the Popes Wherefore I yet once more demand what Service the Popes do to the World As for the Nuns tho there be not by much so great Disorders amongst them as amongst the Monks because generally they have no share at all in the Affairs of a Civil Life yet I think I may safely say it That Fathers and Mothers who are desirous of their Childrens Salvation ought not to send them to such Houses and that there is more real Piety Chastity and Purity of Heart among Secular Women than among the Nuns by reason of the little Liberty that is given them All the good they can do there is by Force and by Constraint it is a place of Slavery and of Torment People imagine that in these Houses where they have so much time to employ in reading and instructing themselves they ought to be very knowing yet they are more ignorant and superstitious than Women that live abroad in the World. Their Abbesses are ordinarily chosen for their Quality not for their Merit and are either covetous or extravagant fantastical without Humanity for these poor young Women without Conduct and almost always without Piety I have known many of them in my time but never saw any that was worthy of this Employment but Madam de Fontevrault Daughter of King Henry the Fourth In those Houses where the Superiours of the Nuns are Elective or Triennial there are continual Factions and Intrigues that the Election may fall on her that every particular Woman likes It would be very well that these Elections were abolished provided that Persons of real worth were placed in their stead The number of these Nuns is also too great as well as of the Monks and they ought to be reduced so that those who remain should have 200 Livers a Year for their Subsistance and that the King should dispose of these places to whom he pleased for the succour of many Families and the over-plus of so many rich Convents Revenue might be employed in the building of many Hospitals Nor should any young Woman be admitted to take the Vail till 25 Years old for the Tyranny of Fathers and Mothers and the want of Consideration in young Girls throws a great many of them into Dispair They ought also to be allowed sometimes to go home to their Fathers and Mothers when their Health requires it and to refresh their Spirits which are sometimes over-born with Grief and Vexation either by the Tyranny of their Superiours or by their too long Confinement in this Prison without this a Convent is a perfect Shambles both for the Body and Soul. It must be acknowledged that this sort of Religâ—ous Life is unproportionable to the weakness both of our Bodies and Minds and is much less proper to produce true Piety than a Secular Life Thus the Popes are so far from being Serviceable to Mankind that they are matter of scandal to us and stumbling Blocks to turn us out of the true way of Salvation Of what use then are they to the World An Italian will tell me that they are serviceable to Italy by their inriching it But it is at the Expence of other Countries which do this Honour to Italy which having now lost its Temporal Empire hath by the Popes means raised a spiritual one to make amends for it but still this is at our Expence It is certain that all the Italians in general look upon themselves as having a share in the Glory of this Empire and pretend that they have more Wit and Merit than other Nations which they have in this respect subdued especially those of Rome who for this reason give themselves the liberty of speaking contemptibly of Catholick Princes whom they look upon as their Tributaries the very Coblers come in for their share and are mightily pleased that the Pope rules in all places And I have observed that they have more respect and value for those Princes that have shaken off the Popish Yoke as if it had been the Effect of their Courage nay for the very Strangers of those Countries as English Swedes and Danes This may seem strange for it is well known that otherwise they bitterly hate these Nations that no longer yeild them any thing You would say that