An Exact CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY AND FULL DISPLAY OF POPES Intollerable Usurpations Upon the antient just Rights Liberties of the Kings Kingdoms Clergy Nobility Commons of ENGLAND and IRELAND THE design of this Chronological History and Display being principally to remonstrate to the world by irrefragable Testimonies and Records the manifold unsufferable Vsurpations of the Bishops and See of Rome from time to time upon the antient indubitable just Rights and Liberties of the Kings Churches Nobles Commons of England and Ireland whiles they continued under their Foreign Jurisdiction More especially by Excomâ—unications Interdicts absolving Subjects from their Oathes of Allegiaâ—ce raising Rebellions dethroning our Kings enforcing them to resign their Crowns to become their sworn Vassals Tributaries exempting Bishops Clerks from their Homage Judicatures collating Bishopricks Monasteries Ecclesiastical Dignities Benefices by Provisions to Aliens or others translating swearing Bishops Abbots to them and their Papal See vacating due Elections at their pleasures Appeals to Rome Dispensations Tenths Procurations First-Fruits Bribes Symony Crossadoes varieties of Extortions Oppressions by their Legates and other Instruments To discover their originals progresse growth revivals suppressions with the manifold memorable Complains Letters Oppositions Writs Prohibitions Declarations against them both in and out of Parliament and the frequent Treacheries Usurpations of our Popish Prelates Spiritual Courts Officers upon our Kings just Rights Prerogatives Regalities Courts Subjects Liberties to the extraordinary dâ—â—ger mischief of the Crown Realm Church Christian Religion and peoples grievance And what Soveraign Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction our Kings as Gods Vicars have exercised from King Lucius his Conversion Anno 183. till the total extirpation of the Popes usurped Authority by King Henry the 8. and Edward the 6. by Histories and memorable Records in the Tower and Rolls for the most part unknown to our greatest Clerks Antiquaries worthy publick view yea adding much light to our Ecclesiastical and Political Histories very defective in these Transactions of grand Importance I apprehended it absolutely necessary by way of Introduction like a Wise Builder to lay a deep sure Foundation whereon to bottom this Weighty Structure that so if any Floods shall hereafter come or Windes blow and beat upon it from Rome or other Quarters they may not be able to shake or overturn it because it is founded upon a Rock To this end I shall by Gods assistance in one intire Book Chronologically and Historically remonstrate and where necessity requires Polemically examine discusse the Original of Soveraign Jurisdiction in what Persons God himself hath setled the Primitive Right and Exercise thereof as well over the Churches Militant as Civil State from Adams Creation till Christs Ascension and from thence till this present age And irrefragably demonstrate by Scripture Heathen Philosophers Fathers Councils Ecclesiastical Histories Imperial Laws Edicts Popes own Epistles Decretals Bulls Archbishops Bishops Popish Divines School-men Canonists Protestant Writers Testimonies and Presidents in all ages That the Supreme Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in governing protecting reforming the Church and people of God maintaining propagating the Orthodox Christian Faith the true publike worship of God suppressing all Heresies Errors Blasphemies Idolatries Schisms sinnes against both Tables in all Persons as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal taking care of the souls and salvation of men is originally vested by God himself in Kings Emperors or Soveraign Princes as Gods Vicegerents and Christs Vicars upon Earth as the principal part of their Royal Authority Office Trust not in High-Priests Priests Apostles Popes Patriarchs Archbishops Bishops or any other Ecclesiastical persons whatsoever who are all Subjects to and subordinate Ministers under them in the Churches Militant within their respective Empires Kingdoms Dominions as all inferiour Civil Magistrates Officers of Justice are in their Civil States Kingdoms Courts And that the received Distinction of two supreme Jurisdictions Powers specifically different from and independent on each other in their very essence nature by Divine Institution and at least ever since our Saviours Ascension immediately vested in two distinct callings professions of men to wit the Soveraign Civil Jurisdiction in and over all secular persons affairs in Emperors Kings and Temporal Powers alone the Supreme Ecclesiastical or Spiritual Jurisdiction in and over all Churches Militant Bishops Priests Church-Members Divine and Ecclesiastical affaires only in Popes or Patriarchs not Emperors Kings Secular Princes States is but a meer Popish Imposture Forgery Fancy Stratagem to cheat rob deprive all Christian Emperors Kings Princes of the richest Pearl Jewel chiefest Branch and Flower of their Diadems to exempt the Clergy from their Jurisdictions under this pretext and to subject both their Persons Crowns Kingdoms Subjects to the Antichristian Usurpations Tyrannies Exorbitances Oppressions of Ambitious Popes Prelates Priests as Ecclesiastical Histories evidence ever since this Heresie of two distinct Soveraign Authorities delegated by Divine Institution to two several Functions was first broached in the Christian Church being the same in substance with that of Duo Principia condemned by Popes themselves and the greatest Champions of their Universal Soveraign Monarchy as a most dangerous Heresie invented first by Marcion Manes Hermogenes and other Hereticks against whom Tertullian thus long since argued Quid erit unicum singulare nisi cui nihil adaequabitur Quid principale nisi quod super omnia nisi quod ante omnia in quo omnia Haec Deus solus habendo est solus habendo Deus est Si alius habuerit tot jam erunt Dii quot habuerint quae Dei sunt Quod summum sit Deus est summum autem non erit nisi quod unicum fuerit Unicum autem esse non poterit cui aliquid adaequabitur Veritas autem sic unum Deum exigit defendendo ut solius sit quicquid ipsius est Ita enim ipsius erit si fuerit solius Et ex hoc alius Deus non possit admitti dum nemini licet habere de Deo aliquid Ergo inquis nec nos habemus Dei aliquid Imo habemus habebimus sed ab ipso non à nobis Nam Dii erimus si meruerimus illi esse de quibus praedicavit Ego dixi vos Dii estis stetit Deus in Ecclesia Deorum sed ex gratia ipsius non ex nostra proprietate quia ipse est solus qui Deos faciat I may most aptly apply it to Emperors Kings who are Earthly Gods made such by God in their own Kingdoms as his Vice-roys The Soveraign Power Jurisdiction over all persons Churches causes as well Civil as Ecclesiastical within their respective Realms must be but one inâ—ire indivisible Soveraign Authority incommunicable unto any other subject or person whatsoever but by subordinate derivation and delegation by from or under them else they should presently cease to be Earthly Gods had Popes or Bishops a distinct Supreme Ecclesiastical Power within their Realms coequal with underived from or independent on them Whence St.
High Priest during Moses his absence in the Mount had at the peoples request made erected a golden calf who committed idolatry with it Moses calls him to a strict account for it to whom he made an excuse with this memorable preface Let not the anger of MY LORD wax hot which stile he likewise gave him Nu. 12 11. Yea Moses not he Pronounced the Judgment and punishment upon the people for this Sin of Idolatry as likewise on him that gathered sticks on the Sabbath day the manner of whose punishment he inquired not Aaron and received from God 9ly When the Tables of stone formerly broken were renewed redelivered by God to the people it was alwayes done even after Aarons consecration by the hand mouth ministry of Moses who with his own mouth alwayes spake and delivered Gods Laws Messages to all the Congregation Elders people during all his Government and gave them a special charge of things future and a blessing at his death 10thly God made choice of Moses a Lay-man and Civil Magistrate to be the firâ—â— pâ—â—man and Register of all his sacred Laws and first Five Books of holy Scripture not Aaron or any other Priest And to shew that Kings and Temporal Magistrates were the principal keepers of both Tables God particularly enjoyned when the Israelites came into the Land of Canaan and had set a King over them that the King when he sate upon the Throne of his Kingdom shall write him a Copy of this Law in a Book out of that which is before the Priests the Levites that it may be well with him and he shall read therein all the dayes of his life that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and to keep all the words of this Law and these Statutes to â—o them That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren and that he turn not aside from the Commandement to the right hand or to the left to the end that he may prolong his dayes in his kingdom he and his children in the midst of Israel All which particulars laid together relating to and acted by the very first Supream Civil Magistrat that God himself set up over his own peculiar people Church when he first instituted modelled both their Magistrates and Priests with their distinct Offices and powers will infallibly clear the Superiour Jurisdiction of the Supream Civil Magistrate in and over all Ecclesiastical persons and causes by Gods own institution and that the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction is united to the Temporal The reason why God reserved the Supream Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction to Moses the Chief Civil Magistrate and afterwards to Kings when he transferred the Priesthood to Aaron and his Sons and severed it from the Kingship was because it would be inconsistent with Monarchie and the Peace Unitie of the Republike Kingdom Church to erect two distinct Supream Powers independent on unsubordinate to each other in one and the same Body Politick Nation Kingdom united under one Supream Civil Head and a Cause of perpetual Wars Schismes Contentions between these different powers by reason of mens Natural ambition and desire to enlarge their Juriisdictions to the prejudice of each other This we find experimentally verified in the Israelites themselves immediatly upon their division into two independent kings kingdoms of equal power unsubordinate to each other which produced not only perpetual Warres between them all their dayes in their Realms as sacred Story oft records but a more sad division in their Religion Worship Church Jeroboam erecting two Calves and a new idolatrous worship with suitable Priests to promote it and a new place of worship contrary to that prescribed by God himself to keep his Subjects from Gods true worship at Jerusalem and returning to their allegiance and obedience to their rightfull Kings of the seed of David which all his Successors persevered in till their final captivity and utter desolation for their idolatry And it is infallibly evidenced by the manifold sad Divisions Schismes Wars Rebellions in most Christian Empires kingdoms ever since the ambitious Popes of Rome and other Prelates have claimed by a pretended divine independent right and usurped to themselves the Supream Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction over all Persons Causes inseparably united by God himself to the Crowns of Christian Emperonrs and Kings As God therefore out of his infinit Wisdom at the very Creation constituted but one natural head over every natural body of Men Beasts Fowls Fishes and creeping living creatures though they consisted of two different substances Soul and Body not two distinct heads the one corporal the other spiritual to govern each body because two Supream headâ— would have destroyed the unity harmony operations of these Creatures in their respective orbes and made a Schisme in their bodies So he at first united the Supream Spiritual and Temporal Jurisdiction over Men at the Creation in one person Adam the first sole Monarch of the World And afterwards when his Church and people multiplyed into such a vast dispersed multitude that one person could not possibly execute or discharge the Kingly and Priestly Offices as at first he conveniently might did whiles all united in one Tribe and Family so that there was an absolute necessity to divide them into several Hands Tribes God did even then reserve the Supream Ecclesiastical Government and Jurisdiction as absolutely necessary for inseparable from the Supream Civil Head and Governor of his people to prevent Schismes Confusions and preserve Unity Tranquillity both in Church and State not transferr it from Moses to Aaron the Church with all its Officers Members being included in branches of the Kingdom Republike not divided from it as a distinct independent spiritual corporation Therefore still to remain under the sole Government and protection of the Supream Politick Head This is most clearly and significantly expressed by Ezechiels uniting the two divided sticks into one rod in one hand typifying the uniting of the two divided Kingdomes of Israel and Iudah into one Kingdom Church PEOPLE under one King and Shepheard Jesus Christ and making them all but ONE in their Government and true Worship of God according to his Statutes Hence it is most apparent that the Civil and Ecclesiastical Powers Authorities or Jurisdictions are not thus denominated because they are vested in different persons hands or flow from various fountains or distinct in their natures as the Pontificians and others generally assert and mistake but meerly because they are exercised upon or about different things or objects the persons wherein they originally and supreamly reside and from whence they flow and the very Powers Authorities Jurisdictions themselves in their nature being but one and the same only the objects matters in upon or about which they are exercised various and distinct from whence they have these different Epithites To evidence this truth past all contradiction being the surest Oracle to resolve all future Controversies concerning these Jurisdictions yea keenest axe
their power of consecration on Aarons and his Sons but likewise their Papal Monarchy Jurisdiction over other Bishops Ministers and Kings too on Aarons high Priesthood and imaginary Vniversal Supremacy which quite subverts their pretences Aaron the High Priest being inforior to Moses and he greater then Aaron in administration and in instruction and correction of the people though not in consecration wherein they were both equal as Bartholomeus Buxiensis Joannes Thierry and other Canonists in their approved Glosses on Gratian resolve Whereupon to prop up the Popes tottering Supremacy as founded upon Aarons Priestood Pope Anacletus with others of his Successors have bottomed the Popes Soveraign Jurisdiction in Spiritual and Temporal affairs too upon Moses and Aaron joyntly affirming Moses to be a Chief Priest as well as Aaron from Psal 99. 6. Moses and Aaron among HIS PRIESTS Whence they inferr That as Moses and Aaron were the chief among the Priests in the Old Testament So Peter was ordained head of the Apostles and Original of the Apostleship in the New and the Pope as his Successor And as Moses was constituted a God unto Pharoah and judged the people of Israel So the Pope is the God of the Emperor the First Priest the Vicar of Christ the High Priest and the Cardinals assisting him are Priests of the Levitical kinde by whose assistance he Iudgeth all Criminal causes not only Ecclesiastical but likewise Civil and mixt Moses as a Priest being only a Type of the Pope as were Melchisedec and all those that were Kings as well as Priests before the Law given as Alvarus Pelagius and other Pontificians conclude with very great confidence To which I answer 1. That Moses neither before his flight out of Aegypt nor during his absence before his return thither nor whiles he abode there to deliver the Israelites from their bondage nor after their deliverance was ever made or constituted a Priest much less an High Priest by God for ought we read but only Aaron with his sonnes and Levites 2ly Had Moses been an high Priest as well as Aaron as these assert there had then been two high Priests at once and so two Supream heads of the Church not one and so the high Priest could not be a proper Type of Christ the sole high Priest and head of his Church nor of St. Peter or the Pope his pretended Vicar General by divine Right 3ly The Scripture is expresse that Aaron only was the chief Priest not Moses and that there neither was nor ought to be any more high Priests but one at a time Therefore Moses could be no high Priest 4ly Moses in the 99 Psalm and all other Texts where he and Aaron are mentioned is put and named in the first place before Aaron and asserted by Bartholomeus Buxiensis Thierry and other Glossers to be greater then Aaron in two respects in the very Priesthood it self Therefore he not Aaron was the chief high Priest and so all Popes pretences for their Supremacy drawn from Aarons high Priesthood must vanish into smoak The rather because we frequently read in Scripture that Moses not only COMMANDED AARON but likewise stripped him of his garments and girt them on Eleazer his Sonne and successor a little before his death 5ly Psalm 99. doth not evince Moses to be a chief Priest as well as Aaron no more then the rest of the people as is evident by the coherence with verse 5 6. Exalt ye the Lord our God and worship at his foot-stool for he is holy Moses and Aaron among his Priests and Samuel among them that call upon his Name these called upon the Name of the Lord and he heard them this passage relates to Numb 25. 6. when Moses and Aaron and all the Congregation were all weeping and worshipping God together promiscuously intermixed with Phinehas and the other Priests as also in Joel 2. 16 17. So as the sole argument hence is this Moses and Aaron worshipped and called upon the name of the Lord at the door of the Tabernacle mixed promiscuously with the other Priests as Samuel did with the people when they called on Gods name Ergo Moses and by consequence all the people too were high Priests as well as Aaron So that the Popes absolute Soveraign Monarchy as well in Temporal as Civil things being thus grounded on Moses his mistaken Priesthood must needs fall to the ground and be for ever exploded upon the premised considerations and because his Successor no high Priest nor Priest at all enjoyed exercised the Soveraign Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction as well as Temporal in the Israelites Church and State 2ly I shall demonstrate this Propositions truth by Joshua who succeeded Moses in the Supream Civil Authority to whom the Israelites not only promised the self same obedience in all Spiritual as well as civil things which they yeelded to Moses but he likewise exercised the same Soveraign Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction as Moses had done as these Ten instances irrefragably prove 1. He commanded the people to sanctify themselves to morrow and commanded directed the Priests when to take up and how to carry and dispose of the Ark of the Covenant and declared the words to the people which God himself immediately spake unto him 2. He circumcised all the uncircumcised Israelites with sharp knives and kept the Passeover formerly omitted by special directions given to him from God not to the Priests 3. By Gods special direction He commanded the Priests to compasse Jericho bearing the Ark round about it seven dayes one after another which they obeyed executed without dispute marching seven times round about it the last day 4. He not the Priests Ordained a publike fast sanctified the people when he discovered Gods wrath against them for Achans taking of the accursed thing against his command and examined punished with stoning to death even that which Popes and Canonists stile Sacriledge appropriated by them to their Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and Tribunals 5ly He built an Altar unto the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal according to the Law of Moses and he not the Priests there writ upon stones a Copy of the Law of Moses and read all the words of the Law of Moses the Blessings and the Curses before all the congregation of Israel with their women little ones and strangers conversant among them there was not a word of all that Moses commanded which he read not unto them and that in presence of the Priests and Levites who there stood on both sides of the Ark and bore it 6ly He and the Princes not Priests descided a case of conscience touching the Oath and Covenant made with the Gibeonites by fraud and circumvention to spare their lives against Gods positive precept and gave sentence against them to be Hewâ—rs of wood and drawers of water for the Altar of the Lord. 7ly The Sunne stood still and the Moon stayed till the
1. The several sorts of Christs kingdomes 2ly What kind of Kingdom his Church is 3ly How and in what manner he reigns and governs in it as King and Soveraign Lord over it For the 1. It is generally agreed by Fathers Pontificians and Protestants that Jesus Christ hath a three-fold kingdom set forth in the premised Scriptures if strictly pryed into The first is a Kingdom of power and absolute Dominion which extends it self not only to all Men and Angels but likewise to all other unreasonable and inanimate Creatures whatsoever in heaven earth and under the earth yea to the very Devils themselves This Kingdom belongs unto Christ principally as he is God and the Creator of all things which comes not within the Verge of our present Discourse however Popes seem to usurp it The 2. is a Kingdom of meer purchase or Grace confined properly not to Angels or Mankind in general but to such as are truly elected called justifyed sanctified redeemed saved by Christs precious blood yet in the largest sense extended to the good Angels and all visible Members of the Church Militant professing the name and gospel of Christ as his Subjects though not actually regenerated justified sanctified saved Of this Kingdom there are two distinct parts the one Triumphant in Heaven over which no Pope or Mortals on earth can pretend the least Kingship or Dominion the other Militant upon Earth the latter in its largest extension comprehending all who bear the name of Christians whether good or bad regenerate or unregenerate This is the Kingdom of Christ of which the Pope as Christs Vicar General and Peters fictitious Successor pretends himself the Supream and sole Governor The 3d. is the Kingdom of Glory not really different from the former long since begun and encreasing every day more and more by new additions of departed Saints thereto which kingdom shall be fully compleated when all the Elect shall be gathered the Church militant united to the Church triumphant actually glorified with Christ in the kingdom of heaven For the 2d It is asserted by Fathers and most Romanists themselves as well as Protestants that this Kingdom of Christ is meerly Spiritual Not any temporal kingdom upon earth as the Jewes some grosse Milenaries Popes and their Parasites fancy over which Christ never actually reigned or shall reign as a Temporal King and Lord even in all temporal things for which we find no warrant in Scripture or Fathers Hence Thomas Waldensis himself though a grand Advocate for the Popes Supremacy layes down and proves at large these 4 Conclusions 1. Regnum temporale Judaeorum sub Jeconio excidium accepit neque amplius Judaecorum aliquis vel de jure vel de facto illud obtinuit 2. Regnum illud Judaeorum terrenum cum figura fuit Regni aeterni spiritualis Christi debuit omnino in adventu eius cessare quemadmodum et sacrificia 3. Regnum temporale quod in Prophetarum scriptis MESSIAE promissum est non est Regnum Carnale et Terrenum sed Spirituale quo per Fidem in Cordibus suorum Regnat 4. Quod ex verbis quae Christus dixit coram Pilato Tu dicis quod Rex sum ego non potest colligi quod ipse fuerit Rex Terrenus de Facto vel de Jure And Gen. 49. 10. proves That the temporal Scepter should depart from Iudah when Christ the true Shiloh came into the world Alvarus Pelagius the grand assertor of the Popes Universal Kingship in and over Christs kingdom the Church and all earthly Kings Kingdoms too informs us That the kingdom of Christ hath various acceptations in Scripture 1. It is taken for Christ himself 2ly For the sacred Scripture or Gospel of Christ 3ly For the Church of Christ divided into two Parts Militant on earth triumphant in heaven yet there are not two kingdoms in the Church but one kingdom because both end in one and there is but one King of both and one Spirit reigns in both Churches but diversly for in the Church of Travellers it reigns by faith in the Church of the blessed by open vision This Church therefore is but One for the unity of its end and beginning but it is distinguished by reason of the diversity of the state Yet this kingdom comprehends not only the Elect but also all the holy Angels for there is but one City and Kingdom of God constituted out of holy Angels and men as he proves out of Augustine and Gratian Distinct 10. 59. That Christ ever challenged or enjoyed any temporal kingdom upon earth he offers not the least proof out of Scripture or Fathers in which Cardinal Bellarmin himself confesseth he could never find that Christ had any such kingdom after most diligent search but only a kingdom in and over his Church which is not temporal but spiritual For the 3d. All antient and most modern Divines of all sorts assert that Christs immediate Government in and over his Spiritual Kingdom the Church is Spiritual not Temporal and that principally in and over the souls spirits consciences wills hearts affections of his elect Saints in which he dwells lives rules reigns by his Spirit and Grace And this his Spiritual Government is neither communicated nor transferred by Jesus Christ to any King High Priest Priest Bishop Pope or other Mortal whatsoever but resides in Christ alone the King of Saints as an incommunicable unseparable part and prerogative of his Regal not Sacerdotal or prophetical office But more of this in the two next Propositions BOOK I. CHAP. IV. That Jesus Christ as Supream King Lord Head of his Kingdom the Church whiles on Earth never claimed exercised enjoyed any Temporal Royal Jurisdiction or Magistratical Authority over any of his Subjects much lesse over Emperors Kings Kingdoms Nations or Soveraign civil Powers nor ever deprived any of them of their Crowns nor absolved their Subjects from their Allegiance nor pulled up cast down or rooted up their Kingdomes nor gave them to whomsoever he pleased Neither did he either before at or after his passion resurrection or ascention derive any such superlative Power to Saint Peter as his sole universal Vicar or Viceroy nor to any other Apostle Bishop Priest or Pope whatsoever Nor delegate his Supream Spiritual Jurisdiction over his Kingdom the Church militant in this world and all the Members of it but only committed to them the Ministerial part of his Prophetical Office his High Priestood being personal untransferrable and incommunicable unto any other of teaching and preaching the Gospel publikely to all Nations administring the Sacraments of Baptism the Lords Supper to them according to his institution and command feeding them as his Sheep with the sincere milk of his word teaching them as his Apostles Ministers Servants to obey whatever he hath commanded them beseeching intreating them as his Embassadors in his stead to be reconciled unto God and to declare pronounce them absolved
affairs being diametrically contrary to and inconsistent with their spiritual vocations 14ly St. Paul chargeth Timothy a Bishop as Bishops assert To give himself wholly to reading exhortation and doctrine that his profiting might appear before all men and give him with all other Bishops Presbyters and Ministers of the Gospel this dreadfull charge I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom Preach the word be instant in season out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all long-suffering doctrine denouncing a Wo to himself if he preach not the Gospel which he thereupon preached constanly publikely and from house to house as Christ and his Apostles daily preached it whose examples all Bishops Popes Ministers ought to follow Now this they could not possibly do had they all Temporal and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction delegated to them the execution whereof would totally divert or very much interrupt them in their ministerial Office preaching instructing the people and other duties of their Ministry Therefore it is infallible Christ never gave to any of them any temporal Jurisdiction 15ly St. Paul blaming the Christians of the Church of Corinth for going to Law with their brethren before Pagan Judges to the scandal of christianity doth not delegate the hearing and decision of such controversies to the Bishops or Elders of the Church but adviseth them To set them to Judge who are least esteemed in the Church as no wayes fit for the Bishops and Pastors thereof Therefore they neither had nor ought to have any Temporal Jurisdiction 16ly St. Paul makes this the special badge and character of Antichrist that man of sinne and sonne of perdition that he opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God to wit over all Kings and secular Magistrates stiled Gods in the Old Testament or that is worshipped so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God And St. John describes him under the Notion of a bâ—ast exercising temporal Jurisdiction in the Church and State causing all both great and small rich and poor free and bond to receive a mark in their right hand or foreheads and that no man might buy or sell save he that had the mark and that he had power given him over all Kingdoms Tongues and Nations which Popes now claim so that all that dwelt on the earth worshipped him whose names were not written in the Lambs book And he further subjoyns That the ten horns he saw were ten Kings who receive power as Kings one honour with the beast who have one mind and shall give their Kingly Power and Strength unto the Beast that so by pretext thereof he may claim and exercise both civil and ecclesiastical Jurisdiction as Popes do now by pretext of Constantines Charls the Great and other Kings donations and resignations of their Temporal Jurisdictions to the Pope and his Successors Upon which account most Protestant and some Romish Divines assert Popes claiming exercising both the supream temporal and ecclesiastical Jurisdiction over Kings Emperors Kingdoms Churches to be the ANTICHRIST And if so Then that Jurisdiction which is thus declared to be Antichristian neither did of right belong to Christ nor was ever delegated by him to St. Peter or the Bishops of Rome or any other Bishops whatsoever being diametrically contrary to Christ and Christianity 17ly Christ himself as he did with some indignation refuse to be a voluntary Judge or Arbitrator in a small temporal inheritance to divide it between two brethren when required saying Man who made me a Iudge or a Divider over you neither God nor Man the Supream Magistrate having given him any such Commission So he hath in precise terms expresly prohibited all Kingly and Lordly Dominion to his Apostles and in them to all Popes Prelates Bishops and Ministers whatsoever Mat. 20. 25 26. Luke 22. 25 26. And he said unto them The Kings of the Gentiles exercise Lordship over them and they that exercise Authority upon them are called Benefactors or Gracious Lords as the old Translations render it But ye shall not be so or it shall not be so among you but he that is or will be Great or Greatest among you let him be your Minister and whosoever will be Chief among you let him be your Servant From which Text Origen in Mat. Hom. 13. in Isay Hom. 13 Chrysostom Opus Imp. in Mat. Hom. 31. in Epist ad Ephes Hom 1. Hierom Epist 2. ad Nepotianum c. 9. Comment in Epist ad Ephesios c. 6. Gregorius Magnus Pastoralis Curae p 2. c 6. Homil 17. in Evangelia Beda Ambrosius Theophylus Antiochenus Rabanus Maurus Paschatius Rasbertus Anselmus Theophylact and most other antient and modern Commentators on Mat 20. Lu 22. condemn all Regal and Lordly Dominion not only in Temporal but in Ecclesiastical and Spiritual things in Popes and Prelates of the Church as expresly prohibited by Christ yea by in Peter himself as well as others Hear St. Bernard for all the rest in his excellent Book a De Consideratione where he thus expounds and applies these forecited Texts against Papal Sycophants Glosses on them to Pope Eugenius in the ruff of his Papal grandeur Nam quid tibi aliud promisit Sanctus Apostolus quam sedula sollicitudo omnium Ecclesiarum Quod habeo inquit hoc tibi Do. Quid illud unum scio non est aurum neque argentum cum ipse dicat Argentum Aurum non est mihi Esto ut alia quacunque ratione haec tibi vindices sed non Apostolico Jure Nec enim illa tibi dare quod non habuit potuit Quod habuit hoc dedit sollicitudinem ut dixi super Ecclesias Numquid dominationem Audi ipsum Non dominantes ait in Clero sed forma facti gregis Et ne dicium sola humilitate putes non etiam veritate Vox Domini est in Evangelio Reges gentium dominantur eorum qui poteâ—â—atem habent super eos Benefici vocantur Et infert inter vos non sic Planum est Apostolis interdicitur Dominatus I ergo tu et tibi usurpare aude aut Dominans Apostolatum aut Apostolicus Dominatum plane ab alterutro prohiberis Si utrumque similiter habere voles perdes utrumque Alioquin non te exceptum illorum numero putes de quibus queritur Deus sic Ipsi regnaverunt non ex me Principes extiterunt non cognovi eos I am si regnare sine Deo juvat habes gloriam sed non apud Deum At si interdictum tenemus audiamus Edictum Qui major est vestrum ait fiat sicut minor qui praecelsior est sicut qui ministrat Forma Apostolica haec est Dominatio interdicitur indicitur ministratio quae et Commendatur
demonstrated by Mat. 18. 17. If he shall neglect to hear them tell it to the Church or Congregation and if he shall neglect to hear the Church let him be unto thee not the Church as an heathen man and a publican This word Church or Congregation is never taken throughout the Scripture for any one particular person whether High Priest Priest Apostle Bishop or Presbyter nor yet for two three or more Apostles Bishops Priests Ministers assembled together without or as contradistinct from the Laity but ever for the whole Church or congregation either as conjoyned with the Apostles Bishops Ministers and sometimes without them for Lay christians alone as severed from their Bishops and Pastors particularly in these signal Texts Acts 15. 3 4 5. And when Paul Barnabas and other of them were come to Jerusalem they were received of the Church and of the Apostles and Elders being brought on their way by the Church And he went through Syria and Cilicia confirming the Churches Acts 14. 23 27. And when they had ordained them Elders in every Church they commended them to the Lord. And when they were come to Antioch and had gathered the Church together they rehearsed all that God had done with them which Church is stiled the multitude gathered together not Bishops or Priests Acts 15. 30. c. 16. 5. So were the Churches established in the faith c. 20. 17. 28. And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the Elders of the Church not Elders the Church And then gave them this charge Take heed to your selves and to all the flock over which the holy Ghost hath made you Bishops to feed the Church distinguished from the Bishops feeding them which he hath purchased with his own bloud Acts 21. 18 to 25. The day following Faul went in with us to James and all the Elders were present And when he had saluted them they heard his relation and what was reported of him by the Jewish Proselytes they concluded The Multitude or Church must needs come together to hear the businesse put in distinction from Iames and the Elders of the Church at Ierusalem Rom 16. 16. The Churches of Christ salute you Gaius my host and of the whole Church saluteth you Thus the words Church and Churches are used 1 Cor. 1. 2 3. c. 7. 17. c. 11. 16. 18. c. 12. 28. c. 14. 4. 23 33 34. c. 16. 1. 5. 2 Cor 1. 1. c. 8. 18 19 23 24. c. 11. 8. 28. c. 12 13 Gal 1. 19. 22. Ephes 4. 11 13. c. 5. 25 27 32. Col. 4 15. 1 Tim 5. 16. 1 Thess 1. 1. c. 2. 14. c. 5. 27 2. 2 Thess 1. 1 4. 2 Tim. 3. 2 4 5. A Bishop must be one that ruleth his own house well For if he knoweth not how to rule his own house how shall be take care of not rule the Church of God Here put as distinct from him Iam 5. 14. Let him call for the Elders of the Church 1. Iohn 3 v 9 10. I wrote unto the Church but Diotrephes who loveth to have the preheminence among them receiveth not us nor the brethren and casteth them our of the Church Rev 1. 20. The seven Stars are the Angels of the seven Churches and the Candlesticks are the seven Churches distinguished from them Rev 2. 1. 11 c. c 3. 1. 6. 13. 22 c. The Angel of the Church of Ephesus Pergamos and the other 5. Asian Churches interpreted to be the Ministers of Bishops of them are distinguish'd from the people who are stiled alwayes the Church of Ephesus c. but the Angel Bishop or Ministers thereof whether singly or joyntly considered are never once stiled the Church throughout the New Testament or Old Therefore tell the Church never signifies St. Peter or the Pope a single person only and so no Church nor yet the Jewish Sanhedrim as many fancie being never stiled a Church but Councel only in the New Testament and no divine institution but only the particular congregation or Church collectively considered whereof the person offending was a member And if meant of it or of the Jewes Sanhedrim or Councel St. Peter and the Pope with his Conclave of Cardinals being no such Council or Church consisting of the Princes of the Tribes of Israel and 72 Laymen not of Priests alone and no Successors to them by Divine institution the Jewish State Priesthood Church ceremonies being totally abolished by Christ the Pope and other Prelates can pray in no ayde from this much wrested abused mistaken Text to support their pretended Supremacy and divine Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction principally vested in the whole Church which is to rebuke loose seclude retain or absolve penitent or impenitent scandalous sinners as St. Paul himself resolves 1 Cor 5. throughout When ye are gathered together in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ to deliver such a one to Satan Purge out therefore the old leven that ye may be a new Lump Do not ye judge them that are within Therefore put away from Your selves that wicked person spoken to and of the whole Church of Corinth not to the Ministers of Elders thereof 2 Cor 2. 6 7. Sufficient for such a man is this censure inflicted by many the whole Church not the Apostle Pope Bishop So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive and comfort him lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up of grief Wherefore I beseech you that you would confirm your love towards him To whom ye forgive any thing I forgive also 2 Thess 3. 14. If any man obey not our Epistle note ye that man and have no company with him that he may be ashamed Rom 16. 17. Now I beseech you brethren mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrines ye have heard and avoyd them 2 Tim 3. 5. From such turn away All directed to the Church Saints Brethren not the Bishops or Ministers of the Church in whom the power of the Keyes of binding and loosing originally resides and in them only ministerially as servants of and to the Church Whence St Augustine thus determines Cum Christus Petro diceret tibi dabo claves Regni caelorum Vniversam significabat Ecclesiam Whereupon in the Primitive Church sinners and penitent persons desired the prayers pardon and absolution of the whole Church and all the Members of it when they were restored to it as Tertullian Origen Bishop Iewel Albispinaeus and others relate 3dly This binding and loosing remitting and retaining sinnes was not by any judicial sentence pronounced by the Apostles in any Consistory Court where they sate as Supream Judges as Popes and other Prelates since have done the Apostles having no such Courts nor exercising such a Soveraign Jurisdiction in them as these since have done for which St Jerom thus sharply reprehends them Istum locum Episcopi Presbytâ—ri non intelligentes aliquid sibi de Pharisaeorum assumunt supercilio ut vel damnent innocentes
fratres erant nondum Presbyterii gradu potiti ac verisimile est illud idem in aliis locis fieri quamvis nobis obscurum et minime cognitum Not long after this Aedesius and Frumentius two godly Christian Merchants trading among the Indians occasionally preached the Gospel to them and converting them to the Christian faith exhorted them to meet together and celebrate divine Mysteries which they exhibited to them Upon their return from thence and reporting the Indians conversion to the faith by their means Athanasius thought sit to give them Orders make them Bishops and send them again to the Indians for their further instruction and conversion to compleat that work which God had so happily began by them Neither can Popes nor Popish Prelats decry this for Bart. Buxiensis Dr. Thierry with other Glossers upon Gratian Panormitan Angelus de Clavasio and most Canonists resolve That the Pope Bishops yea and Priests too may license a meer Lay-man to preach to the people and excommunicate Priests themselves yea authorize women to preach against Saint Paul resolution 1 Cor 14. 33 34. 1 Tim. 2. 11 12 13. Upon which ground about the year 1620. there sprang up a new order of Iesuitesses or She-Iesuites in Italy Germany and other places who took upon them to preach publikely and privately to others of their sex and under pretext of promoting the salvation of souls alia opera permulta sexus et ingenii imbecillitati modestiae muliebri virginali praesertim pâ—dori minime convenientia aggrediantur The scandal whereof grew so great that Pope Vrban the 8. by his Bull dated in Ianuary 1630. was enforced utterly to suppress their Congregation Order Houses Pope * Gregory the 13. Anno Domini 1584. by a speciall Bull granted this special Priviledge to the whole Society of the Jesuites and their Emissaries to preach in all places without interruption though not in Orders Explaining and ratifying the Bull of Pope Paul the 8th which as Gregories Bull recites had granted them this Priviledge Ex illo concessionis hujusmodi tempore etiam Scholares alii Religiosi vestri sacris Ordinibus nondum initiati alias tamen idonei ad praedicandum verbum Dei passim ubique mittuntur Verum quia nonnullis dubitatio curiosius incessit anâ—dictum privilegium praedicandi etiam eos comprehendat qui ad Ordines ipsos nondum ascenderunt Nos quemcunque hoc scrupulo eximere volentes praesentium authoritate declaramus ac etiam decernimus vestrum unicuique etiam ad sacros Ordines praedictos non promoto praedicationis munus in vim privilegii hujusmodi exercere potuisse posse Vobis insuper concedentes ut etiam Clerici vestri prima tantum tonsura insigniti prout hucusque fecerunt valeant deinceps ipsum Dei verbum ubique populo praedicare Districtius inhibentes universis singulis locorum Ordinariis quibusvis aliis quacunque dignitate Authoritate fungentibus quemquam vestrum quovis pretextu praemissorum occasione impedire vel molestare audeant quoquo modo Non obstantibus Apostolicis ac in generalibus provincialibus Conciliis edâ—ctis generalibus vel specialibus constitutionibus ordinationibus caeterisque contrariis quibuscunque Therefore this Title of an Evangelist or Preacher can derive no supream Jurisdiction power to the Pope who seldom preacheth or any other in and over the Church of God since every Jesuit though not in Orders may preach This Liberty of preaching indulged by this Popes Bull to Lay-Jesuits in all places without controll hath been one cause of the growth of such Preachers during our late Confusions many of these disguised Jesuits having bin preachers among us of the prodigious increase of the Jesuites beyond all other Orders of the Roman Church through the extraordinary favours assistances of the Pope and King of Spain they being the most active Instruments to promote the Popes Vniversal Monarchy over the Church and Spaniards Universal Monarchy over the whole world worthy our special Observation Their Order Society by Ignatius Loyola his sollicitation the Founder thereof was first ratified by the Bull of Pope Paul the 3d. October 5. 1540. their Number at first not being above 15. or 16. increasing by Degrees was ordered not to exceed 60. at most but 3. years after the Pope left it free to Ignatius and his successors to admit so many as they pleased into their Society Whereupon they increased so exceedingly that Petrus Rabadeniera Anno 1608. and Aubertus Myraeus Anno 1620. published a Catalogue of the Number of their Colleges Houses Cells in all quarters of the world and of the fellowes of their Society therein besides their Novices and Scholars Their Domus Professae then within the compasse of 80. years announted to 21. their Colledges to 371. their Domus professae separatae to 43. their Houses and Residentiaries to 103. in all 538. and their Socii or Patres societatis in them to 13010. The Numbers of these Locusts being then so augmented that Claudius Aquaviva their General boasted That he could raise an Army sooner then any Christian King and in the time of the Venetian Interdict when Pope Paul the 8th was in some danger covenanted to raise him an Army of forty thousand men upon this condition that whosoever was slain in that war should be reputed a martyr In the year 1640. being their Jubile or 100. year from their Societies institution they published in print new Tables of their Houses Colleges Cells then printed at Antwerp with additions to the former wherein Ignatius was pourtrayed lying along on the ground with an olive-tree springing out of his Loyns as the root of Jesse spreading it self over all parts of the world Europe Asia Africa and America with the names of every Colledge House Cell in every leaf of this tree in the Province whether its branches extended they then amounting in the total to 935. Houses Colledges Cells and their Socii societatis in them to no lesse then 15591 their Scholars Novices and others admitted into their Society being ten times more in number Amongst these they enumerated no lesse then 15 private Houses Colledges Cells in Provincia Anglicana in the Province of England wherein they had then 267. Socii sociâ—tatis besides 4. Colledges of English Jesuites in forreign parts one of them in Rome it self another at Lovain another at Audomar in the Netherlands and the fourth at Valladolid in the Kingdom of Castel in Spain Moreover they had then in Ireland and elsewhere 8. Colledges of Irish Jesuites two of them at Salmantica and Compostella in Spain in Scotland some Residences of Scotish Jesuites who had besides two Colledges in forraign parts the one of them in Rome it self being so many seminaries or professed Traytors against our Kings Church State Ribadeneira a Spanish Jesuit informs us Collegia Seminaria Jesuitarum esse Hoereticorum exitia Apostolicae sedis
propugnacula And Jacobus Crucius Rector of the Jesuites Novices at Landsperg An. 1584 writes Miles esse debet nostrae Societatis pater as Ignatius a fiery Souldier was quia ut Militis est totis viribus in hostem irruere nec desistere donec victor evadat ita nostrum est in omnes irruere qui Pontifici Romano resistunt illosque consiliis dictis et scriptis vocato etiam seculari brachio hoc est ferro igne tollere et abolere sicut Pontifex et nostra vota contra Lutheranos suscepta volunt et mandant Nay Edmond Compian the English Jesuit in his Dissertatio Ecclesiae Catholicae or Letter to Qu. Elizabeths Council printed Treveris Anno 1583. p. 22. proclaims to all the world Quod ad Societatem nostram attinet velim sciatis omnes nos qui per totum orbem longè lateque diffusi sumus quorum est continua succesâ—io magnus numerus sanctum faedus iniisse nec quamdiu vel unus nostrum supererit studium consilia nostra de salute vestra that is as his own Treasons against Queen Elizabeths person shew to destroy her and her Kingdoms together and as Ludovicus Lucius and Hospinian truly interpret it id est Religionis Reginae et Regni vestri eversione aut sub Papae iugum reductione intermissuros Iampridem inita ratio est et inchoatum certamen nulla vis nullus Anglorum impetus superabit And this whole Society as Watson a secular Priest in his Quodlibets informs us have long since boasted That they were the men miraculously constituted by God who should turn all things in England upside down and make such an universal dismal change in Church Lawes Parliaments in such sort as from the beginning of the world the like was never heard of before and turn our Kingdom into a Japonian or Helvetian Commonwealth which they lately effected Therefore it cannot consist with the safety of our King kingdoms Church State Religion to tolerate any of this spreading Desperate order of Jesuites amongst us banished out of most forraign Popish as well as Protestant Kingdoms States for their manifold Treasons seditions against their Kings Magistrates Government and who made very many attempts to destroy the sacred persons of Queen Elizabeth King James were the principal contrivers of the late horrid Gunpowder Treason to blow up our King Queen Prince all the Royall Issue Lords Commons Church Kingdom Religion Parliaments at once had a principal hand in the unparallel'd murder proceedings against our late King Charles of glorious memory and had no small influence in the late metamorphosis of our Hereditary Kingdomes into the confused Chaos of a new Free Commonwealth Having as the General of the English Jesuites confessed to a Noble English Lord in their Colledge at Rome Anno 1653. in England above 1500 of their Society able to work in several trades which the Buâ—l of Pope Gregory the 13th inables them to exercise as well as to preach without Orders They having a Consistory and Council that ruled all the affairs of the Kings in England into which they never came over in those swarms as they did during our late confusions as Cromwell himself relates in his printed Speech Sept. 4. 1654. p. 16 17. and being the Heads and Lay-preachers to most of our New sects as well as Soldiers in our late Armies and Garisons Their 5th Title whereunto all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and that by divine right is now pretended to be annexed as inseparable incommunicable to Kings Temporal Magistrates or to ordinary Priests Presbyters Ministers is that of Bishop or Overseer and their office a Bishoprick or good work Acts 20. 28. Phil 1. 8. 1 Tim. 3. 1. Tit 1. 7. To which I answer first That if the Supream Titles offices of Apostles Disciples Evangelists have no such Jurisdiction included in or conferred by them as is pretended then this of Bishop or Overseer inferior to them can have none at least none greater or so great as they 2ly It is only a Title of Ministry not of Dignity of Labour not Honor of Operation not Denomination of Watching not Lording or loytering as Fathers and Councils in all ages have defined I shall present you with a short view of their resolves herein to abate that Timpany of Ambition pride superciliosnesse luxury which Popes others challenge only from this Title of Bishop Origen within 220. years after Christ resolved Qui Principatum desiderat Ecclesiae debet fieri omnium servus in humilitate servili ut obsequatur omnibus in his quae perrinent ad salutem haec docet nos sermo divinus Ecclesiarum Principes Principum mundalium imitatores esse non debent sed imitari debent Christum accessibilem mulieribus loquuentem pueris manus imponentem discipulis suis pedes lavantem atque tergentem exemplum eis dantem ut ipsi similiter faciant suis fratribus Neque enim ad Principatum Ecclesiae venit qui salvari vult etsi praeest sed ad servitutem Ecclesiae Et si oportet discere de Evangelio Principes quidem Gentium dominantur eis qui potestatem habent in illis Magistratus vocantur vos autem non sic Qui vocatur ergo ad Episcopatum non ad Principatum vocatur sed ad servitutem totitius Ecclesiae Si vis credere de Scripturis quia in Ecclesia servus sit omnium qui praeset Propter quod ait Apostolus Ita nos existimet homo ut ministros Christi dispensatores mysteriâ—ram Dei. Peccat autem in Deum quicunque Episcopus qui non quasi conservis servus ministrat sed quasi Dominus Frequenter autem et quasi amarus Dominus dominans per vim similis constitutus Egyptiis qui affligebant vitam filiorum Israel vi c. St. Ambrose resolves Nisi bonum opus amplecturis Episcopus esse non potes a Bishoprick being not a Dignity or Dominion but a good work c. St. Chrysostom Hom. 11. in Ephesios Non dominamur ait fidei vestrae thus resolves O Dâ—lecti nec Domini more haec imperamus Doctrinae verbi praefecti sumus non est nobis mandatus Magistratus nec data Auctoritas Consiliariorum admonentium locum tenemus Opus Imperfectum in Matth. Hom. 35. Principes Gentium dominantur eis c. Christus fructum humilitatis terrestris posuit primatum caelestem et primatus terrestris fructum posuit confusionem caelestem Quicunque ergo desiderat primatum caelestem sequatur humilitatem terrestrem quicumque autem desiderat Primatum in terra inveniet confusionem in coelo ut jam inter servos Christi non sit de Primatu certamen nec festinet unusquisque eorum quomodo aliis major appareat sed quomodo omnibus inferior videatur Conversatio igitur melior est desideranda non dignior gradus Principes autem Ecclesiae fiunt ut serviant minoribus suis et ministrent iis
Pontificians will conclude with Ennodius his censure of them Successores Petri una cum Sedis privilegiis peccandi quoque licentiam accepisse It is the memorable saying of Prosper Aquitanicus That as it was the will of God ut Evangelium Christi totus mundus audiret in eas gentes quae remotiores sunt longe lateque percurreret To effect this design Ad cujus rei effectum credimus providentia Dei Romani regni latitudinem praeparatam ut Nationes vocatae ad Vnitatem corporis Christi prius jure unius consociarentur Imperii most of them turning Christians when Constantine the Great and other Emperors embraced and propagated the Christian faith quamvis gratia Christiana non contenta sit eosdem limites habere quos Roma multosque â—am populos sceptro Crucis Christi illa subdiderit quos armis suis ista non donavit Qua tamen per Sacerdotii Apostolici principatum amplior facta est arce religionis quam Solio Potestatis And elsewhere De Obsequiis Debitis Principi he thus determines Mitibus et Sanctis nulla est Spernanda Potestas A Equum servire est Regibus ac Dominis Vt Christi famulis ad veram prosit honorem Dilexisse bonos tolerasse malos Socrates Scholasticus his Contemporary hath this passage thus Englished by Bishop Hanmer his Translator We have therefore throughout our History made mention of the Emperours because that since they began to embrace the Christian Religion the Ecclesiastical affairs seemed much to depend of them so that the chiefest Councils were in times past and are at this day summoned by their consent and procurement not the Popes And he there further observes how when the Commonwealth hath been tossed and turmoyled with troublesom dissention and discord the Church of God likewise as infected with the same contagious disease hath been altogether out of quiet For whosoever with diligent observation will remember the aforesaid times without doubt he shall perceive as our selves have lately done that when the Commonwealth was in an hurliburly the Church in like sort was shaken with the storms of adversity for either he shall find that both at one time were out of quiet or that the ones misery ensued immediately after the others misfortune and sometimes when the Church began to vary about Religion the Commonwealth immediately followed after with Rebellion and some other times on the contrary Therefore Godly Christian Emperors are the principal means under God to preserve the peace and advance the felicity of Church and State by having the Supream Jurisdiction in and over both and endeavouring the defence propagation of the true orthodox faith and spiritual as well as temporal happinesse of their Subjects as he proves throughout his Ecclesiastical History and Sozomenus too his coaetanean and fellow Historian in his History Pope Leo the 1. flourishing about the year of Christ 450. with all the Churches Clergy under him earnestly besought the Emperor Theodosius the younger with Epistles and Tears That he would command the General Council to be held within Italy which he would not grant but summoned the Council at Ephesus and them to appear thereat A clear confession of the Emperors and disclaimer of his own Ecclesiastical Superiority especially if compared with his 24. 25. Epistles to the Emperor Theodofius where he writes thus Ecce ego Christianissime Imperator consacerdotibus meis implens erga reverentiam Clementiae vestrae synceri amoris officium cupiensque vos per omnia placere Deo cui pro vobis ab Ecclesia supplicatur c. In his 59 Epist to the Emperor Martian he writes thus Unde ineffabiliter Deo gratias ago qui eo tempore quo oboritura Haereticorum scandala praesciebat Vos in Imperii fastigio collocavit in quibus ad totius mundi salutem et regia potentia et Sacerdotalis vigeret industria Epist 60. to the Empress Pulcheria he thus expresseth himself Per quam significationem Clementiae vestrae absolutè me gaudere et incessabilibus a Deo precibus postulare ut vos et Romanae Reipublicae et Catholicae Ecclesiae in omni prosperitate conservet In his Epist 74. to the Emperour Leo he writes Non desinimus gratias agere et providentiam Dei in fidei vestrae fervore benedidicere qui sancto et Catholico Spiritu ita Haereticorum impudentiae restitistis In his 78. Epistle to the same Emperor he begins thus Multo gaudio mens mea exultat in Domino et magna mihi est ratio gloriandi cum Clementiae vestrae excellentissimam fidem augeri per omnia donis gratiae celestis agnosco c. Epist 99. to the same Emperor Leo he writes thus Sciat igitur Clementia vestra omnes Ecclesias Dei cum laude vestra exultare pariter et laetari Inveniemur impares in gratiarum actione si nostri tantum oris angustiis Vniversalis Ecclesiae gaudia celebremus c. Yea this Pope himself in these and other his Epistles exhorts all these Emperors to defend the Christian saith against Hereticks defined in the Councils of Nice Ephesus and Chaelcedon against all Hereticks that opposed their Creeds by their Imperial Edicts to disannuall all Constitutions of heretical Councils Bishops and represse all Hereticks or Heresies contrary to them and not suffer them to redebate the Articles of faith established in them The same Pope Leo in his 7. Epistle highly commends Theodosius the Emperor for his most pious care of the true Christian faith and religion Ne scilicet in populo Dei aut Schismata aut Haereses aut ulla scandala convaleseant And Epistola 33. writing of the Priscillianists and their Heresies first breaking out in the world he thus relates the zeal and Edicts of Princes then made against them Quando mundi Principes ita hanc sacrilegam amentiam detestati sunt ut Authorem ejus ac plerosque discipulos legum publicarum ense prosternerant Videbant enim omnem curam honestatis auferri simulque divinorum jus humanumque subrui si hujusmodi hominibus vivere cum tali professione licuisset Et profuit diu ista districtio Ecclesiae lenitati quae etsi Sacerdotali contenta judicio et cruentas refugit ultiones severis tamen Christianorum Principum constitutionibus adjuvatur ut ad spirituale nomumquam recurrant remedium qui timent corporale supplicium What stronger clearer evidence then these of this Pope Leo can we desire to prove the Supremacy of Christian Emperors Princes in divine and Ecclesiastical affairs and over Popes themselves and that they ought to take speciall care to preserve propagate the true Christian faith and suppresse all Heresies Schisms and scandalous crimes repugnant thereunto Primasius Bishop of Utica in Africk in his Commentary on 1 Tim. 2. Orate pro Regibus c. thus descants ut cognoscant Deum sive ut subjectas habeant Gentes in illorum enim pace
quis contra nostram jussionem facere ausus fuerit exilio afficiatur Illud enim propter superiores tumultus adjectum videtur ut ad vitanda Comitiorum dissidia aut Legati Regis aut Rex ipse si in Vrbe adessent consecrationi Pontificis interessent sic enim subsequentibus 〈◊〉 est observatum postremo nova lege sancitum By reason of this new Law Gregory the 4th was elected Pope Anno 827. by the people sed ante non est ordinatus quam Imperatoris Legatus Romam veniens electionem populi qualis esset examinavit Et Gregorius Papatum inire noluit futura pericula timens donec Imperator ejus approbasset electionem This Pope coming to the Emperor Ludovicus in France under pretext to reconcile Lotharius to his Father but in truth to forment and promote his sons and some French and German Bishops conspiracies to deprive him of his Empire for which they were afterwards condemned and banished and to excommunicate those Bishops who adhered to Ludovicus they returned him this answer Si excomminaturus adverniret excommunicatus abiret who departing thence returned not with that honour he expected The Synod of Mentz under the Archbishop Rabanus Maurus assembled by the Command of this Emperor Ludovicus Pius Anno 829. sent all their Canons with a Preface before them to this Emperor with this inscription Domino Serenissimo Christianissimo Regi Ludovico verae Religionis Serenissimo Rectori ac Defensori Sanctae Dei Ecclesiae una cum uxore prole sua ejusque fidelibus vita salus honor benedictio cum victoria sine sive mansura Dignissimae reverentiae vestrae patefecimus nos humiles simul vestri Rabanus cum Coepiscopis ejus c. wherein they have this notable passage touching Princes Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Petimus ut sicut apud antecessores vestros Reges atque Imperatores qui ante vos fuerunt honorem sancta Dei Ecclesia habuit per immunitatem eorum possessiones Ecclesiasticae inconvulsae perstiterunt manentesque in eis semper inlaesae perseveraverunt ita apud vos modernis temporibus incontaminatae permaneant Zelo enum Dei oportet vos defendere Ecclesias Christi qui vobis Regnum in terra et dominationem tribuit ut per nullius suggestiones iniquas vestram concessionem quam in Eleemosynam vestram Ecclesiis Christi contulistis sinatis permutari Quia inhonestum est ut hoc quod non solum Christianis temporibus a Christianis Imperatoribus sed etiam a Paganis regibus tempore Gentilitatis ad honorem Dei collatum est vestris temporibus in vestro Regno permutetur Nam legimus apud Esdram quod Artaxerxes Rex Esdrae scribae legis Dei per Epistolam mandaverit Ego Artaxerxes c. De Christianis vero Regibus Imperatoribus non necesse est aliqua exempla ponere cum omnes qui rectae fidei et sani dogmatis fuerint a Constantino Imperatore qui primus Imperatorum Christianam Religionem defendere atque honorem Ecclesiarum Dei amplificare caepit usque ad vos semper in hoc studio solerter laboraverint ut Ecclesia Dei pacem et tranquillitatem haberet quatenus cultus Dei incontaminatus foret et serviâ—e jus sine impedimento Deo delectabiliter deservirent At the end of their last Chapter they conclude with this Petition to the Emperor Haec vero quae vobis transmissa sunt petimus ut vestra authoritate firmentur Et si quis adversarius illis existere voluerit praevalere non permittatur Dei enim cooperatores vos esse debetis et adjutores sanctae ejus Ecclesiae quatenns Religio Christiana incontaminata temporibus Regni vestri usque ad finem servetur In the year of our Lord 829. the Religious Emperors Lewes and Lotharius commanded a general Fast to be kept throughout their Realms to divert Gods warth and judgements and likewise summoned 4. Councils at Paris Mentz Lyons and Tholose to reform both in the Clergy and Laity Church and State all sins vices errors corruptions contrary to Gods word which had brought plagues wars and other judgements on them to appease Gods wrath against them and their Subjects Et quia nos magis in hoc peccasse cognoscimus qua forma salutis omnibus esse debuimus et omnium curam gerere et per authoritatem Imperialem pravorum acta ne tantum adcrescerent corrigere cupimus write these Emperors in their summons of and pious prologue to the Council of Paris wherefore totius Ecclesiae sibi commissae mark it generalitati consulere gestientes they summoned these Councils to assist them in this their general desired reformation Consultu Episcoporum Sacerdotum Optimatum caeterorumque fidelium nostrorum Whereupon the Bishops and others assembled in the Council of Paris Orthodoxorum Principum jussionibus obedientes compiled several Constitutions and Rules for the reformation of themselves and other Christians which they digested into three Bookes The first for the reformation of the corruptions lives of Bishops Priests Monks abuses in Gods worship and prophanations of the Lords day The 2d describing the respective duties and regulating the enormities of Kings Civil Magistrates Officers and sinnes of the people in relation to Gods worship and service The 3d. relating both to Kings Bishops Priests and people In the 2d Book they thus describe the office and duty of a King Cap. 1. Quid sit Rex quid esse quidque cavere debet Rex a recte agendo vocatur Si enim piè justè misericorditer regit merito Rex appellatur si his caruerit non Rex sed Tyrannus est c. Quia ergo Rex a regendo dicitur primò ei studendum est ut semet ipsum suamque domum Christi adjuvante gratiâ ab operibus nequam emaculet bonisque operibus exuberare faciat ut ab ea caeteri subjecti bonum exemplum semper capiant ipse etiam salutiferis Christi praeceptis fideliter atque obedienter obsecundet recte agendo eis quibus temporaliter imperat in pace concordia atque charitate caeterorumque bonorum operum exhibitione quantum sibi divinitus datur consistere faciat et dictis atque exemplis ad opus pietatis et justitiae et misericordiae solerter excitet attendens quod pro his Deo rationem redditurus sit quatenus ita agendo sanctorum Regum qui Deo syncere serviendo placuerunt post hane peregrinationem consors efficiatur De Rege autem qualis esse vel quid cavere debeat ita in Deuteronomo legitur Cum ingressus fueris terram quam Dominus Deus tuus dabit tibi possederis eam habitaverisque in illa et dixeris Constituam super me Regem sicut habent omnes per circuitum Nationes eum constitues quem Dominus Deus tuus elegerit de numero fratrum tuorum Et post pauca Non habebit Uxores
Emperor and Pope perceiving the various contentions and events concerning the Emperors election arising from the ambition of Princes Episcoporum philargyria they ordained in this Synod ut jus eligendi Caesares apud Germaniae Principes deinde maneret scilicet Maguntinensem Treverensem Coloniensem Archiepiscopos Comitem Palatinum Rheni Ducem Saxoniae ac Marchionem Brandeburgensem Bohemiae Principem ad dirimendas discordias in paribus suffragiis Quam sanctionem Anno Dom. 1002. Otto Imperator approbavit without which it had been a meer nullity Which Constitution the Kings of France iniquissime ferebant sed aper to bello id illis eripere non audebant This Pope Gregory deceasing Anno 997. Gilbertus alias Gerbertus Archbishop of Ravenna of whom before per Otthonem Imperatorem ad Romanae urbis sedem evehitur and named Sylvester the 2d This Pope artibus Diabolicis intentus totus se Satanae mancipabat jurejurando se tradidit from his youth obtaining all his former preferments and the Papacy magicis artibus strenua opera Diaboli adjutus Which he concealing after he was made Pope lest he should seem the Devils Vicar rather then Christs Aeneum vero caput domi in abdito quodam loco servabat per quod Diabolus de rebus futuris an ipso rogatus responsa dabat Sylvester in tanto honorum gradu Diaboli ope constitutus consuluit aliquando Diabolum de tantae foelicitatis suae dinturnitate qui ressondit Non eum moriturum nisi Hierosolymas missam celebraret Pontifex urbem Palestinae intelligens longissime mortem a se abesse somniabat cumnihil minus quam de Hierosolyma adcunda cogitaret Impiam igitur ab omni â—mendations cura liberam agebat vitam But soon after saying Masse in Lent according to the custom of former Popes in the Church of St. Crosse called â—rusalem in ipsis sacris ardenti febre corripitur daemonumque audit strepitum whereupon conceiving himself deluded by the Devils ambiguous answer and that his death approached Conscientiae morsu saevissimo excitatus scelus suum deploravit praesentibus Cardinalibus rem omnem multo cum gemitu aperuit Membra omnia quibus Diabolo obsequium praestiterat viz. manus linguam sunt qui addunt genitalia praecidi jussit Deinde truncum mortuum super bigam jussit poni at ubicunque animalia perducerent subsisterent sepeliretur And then expiring Anno Dom. 1001. as some or 1003. as others compute the Cardinals executed what he desired on his corps Et quis non hinc intelligat writes Balaeus qualenam istud munus sit qualis sit dignitas quale officium quod Diabolus sine censura novit quodque Satanicis atque nefariis artibus adepisci possunt homines perditissimi Quale sit etiam Missae sacrificum quod vivis mortuis prodesse crebro jactitant cum Diabolus tantam tragoeâ—iam adversus sanctissimum Petri successorem socium Simonem Magum potius sub eo excitaverit atque ad lacum tartareum secum tandem traxerit Before I proceed further I cannot but take notice of a memorable passage of Cardinal Baronius a chief Assertor of the universal Supremacy and uninterrupted Succession of the Popes and Church of Rome touching the corrupt detestable state of the Church and Bishops of Rome in this age Quae tunc facies Ecclesiae Romanae quam foedissima cum Romae dominarentur potentissimae aeque ac sordidissimae Meretrices Quarum arbitrio mutarentur sedes darentur Episcopi quod auditu horrendum infandum est intruderentur in sedem Petri eorum amasii et Pseudo-Pontifices qui non sunt nisi ad consignanda tanta tempora in Catalogo Romanorum Pontificum scripti Quis enim a Scortis hujusmodi intrusos sine lege legitimos dicere posset Romanos fuisse Pontifices Nusquam Cleri eligentis vel consentientis postea aliqua mentio Canones pressi silentio decreta Pontificum suffocata proscriptae antiquae traditiones veteresque in eligendo Summo Pontifice consuetudines sacrâ—que ritus pristinus usus prorsus extincti Sic vendicaverat omnia sibi libido seculari potentia freta insaniens aestro percita dominandi Dormiebat tunc plane alto ut apparet sopore Christus in Navi cum ipse flantibus validis ventis navis ipsa fluctibus operiretur Dormiebat inquam qui ista non videre dissimulans sineret sic fieri dum non exurgeret vindex Et quod deterius videtur deerant qui Dominum sic dormientem clamoribus excitarent discipuli stertentibus omnibus Qualesnam reris delectos ab hisce monstris Presbyteros Diaconos Cardinales fuisse putandum cum nihil tam naturae insitum sit quam unumquemque sibi similem generare Quos in omnibus his a quibus delecti fuerint consensisse dubitare quis poterit imitatosque esse ipsos sectatosque eorum vestigia quis non facile credat optasse hos omnes Dominum dormisse semper nunquam in judicium surrecturum evigilaturum nunquam ad ipsorum cognoscenda punienda facinora quis non intelligat On which passage Philip Lord Morney hath this observation Et ex hoc solo loco judicet Lector quam tantopere ostentavit Episcoporum Romanorum successionem he might adde his Supremacy Headship over the Church as Christs Vicar General quo jure defendere possit To which I shall subjoyn this observation of learned Gualther relating to the successive Popes in the same age Jam ergo penes cordatum quemvis judicium esto non merito de Pontificum tyrannide iniquitate conquesti sint optimi quique cum tot quos modo commemoravimus nebulones tyrannos fures raptores latrones seditiosos adulteros et palam sacrilegos he might have added homicidas apostatas Necromanticos haereticos idololatricos atheisticos intra tam paucos annos sedes illa gestaverit Et quis sodes ceu sanctam veneretur quae tor pestes sustinere potuit Nondum tamen impletus satis fuit impiissimorum hominum catalogus c. To these I could subjoyn the concurrent Testimonies of Platina Sabellicus Wernerus St. Bernard Genebrardus Bellarmin and others collected by our incomparable Iacobus Usserius in his Book De Christianarum Ecclesiarum Successione statu c. 2 3 4. to which I refer the Reader concluding with this memorable passage of Ant. Coccius Sabellicus evidencing the Emperors Supremacy over Popes Non possum non multum mirarâ— unde Tragica haec Pontificum fluxerint exempla quam dira pretatis oblivio eorum mentes irrepserit ut neque personae quem sustinebant ratio ab his ulla haberetur neque loci quem tenerent ut non immerito aliquis suspicaretur quicquid moderaminis fuit et Majestatis in illis quiâ—a Caroli cognomento Magni temporibus ad Gallici Imperii exitum interfuit interfuit enim aetas una sedem tenuerunt non tam sua sponte quam Regum