way of the antient piety of France In fine this man liueth after this manner and not onely he but some others also who are adored in their parishes and all men do so loue them and they are so desired and euen as it were opprest with businesse that men cannot see them but with halfe an eye And as for those others who are euer crying out they breede more feare then enuy in such as would drawe neere to them and they estrange their parishioners from them who beleeue that there is some other thing in the businesse then the pure loue of God the saluation of soules and the preseruation of the Hierarchy I beseech God to preserue this most vertuous Pastor and bestow vpon him a great heape of benedictions and grant that all the rest may walke the same pace and doe so much good that Regulars may haue no more to doe O in how great repose and with how ioyfull a heart would they pray God for so many and so worthy labourers 19. Let vs come to that other exception that Benefices remaine voyde and that now in effect men doe finde no persons capable to fill them with especially in countrey townes and villages Now here I must cleerely auow either my simplicity or my too great credulity For in very truth I was of opinion that there had not beene halfe a Benefice which enow had not extreamle desired to get and to heape one vpon another and that not being able to procure them by any other meanes men buy them out right with ready money and that they vse a thousand trickes to serue one anothers turnes and that Simony was neuer so refined nor lesse apprehended to be ill and all the rest of that which common fame is spreading in all companies Verily I beleeued all this and I confesse I did it as a thing most certaine and without all doubt But my Lords since you haue told me the contrary for you haue sayd it I will resolutely giue my minde this law and I will make it stoope to this yoake that I will beleeue you without contradiction But my Lords you will pardon me if still I tell you that although I beleeue the thing yet I cannot force my heart to beleeue the cause which is alledged namely that Regulars are the cause thereof For how can this be Is it because they get their Benefices let them haue no more of them Is it that they diuert Secular Priests from taking those Benefices excommunicate them Is it that they carry away all the stations or Indulgences They haue none but such as please you and oftentimes they haue but the refuse of others Is it because they debaush secular Priests make them bee punished by their superiors and if they will not doe it you Is it because they doe not Counsell them to studie Alas some times they say that the Iesuites make too many men learned and too full of knowledge and sometimes the direct contrary Good God whom shall wee beleeue If I feared not to offend some and if I had not promised that I would not anger any I would acquaint you very clearely with the true source of all these miseries but I had rather leaue it to your thought and I will impose perfect silence uppon my selfe saving onely in this that I declare to you clearely with a strong voyce and with much truth that it is not good Religious men who are the cause of these disorders 20. So farre of it is that Regulars should bee the cause that a hundred Bishops will tell you on the other side when there hath beene some disorder in Bourgs and Villages they haue served themselues of Regulars to put things in Order as before and the successe hath proved that the choyce was good This is so cleare that it needes no proofe Whether this trouble the Order of the Church whether it bee against the authority of Prelates or against the right of Pastours or against reason I make the most reverend Charles the Bishop of Langres the Iudge who in his Synode after hee had commaunded the publication of that Canon Omnis vtriusque sayth these very words Nè detur materia fratribus Mendicantibus querelandi volumus quod in fine publicationis constitutionis praedictae Omnis vtriusque sexus c. subinferatur publice quod per hoc non intendimus praejudicare Privilegijs super audiendis Confessionibus eisdem fratribus concessis subjungendo quod fratres nobis praesentati possunt audire Confessiones libere confitentibus eisdem paenitentias salutares impartiri de commissis c. All that which he demaundeth is that men doe it vnder his authority and this is done and it is more then most reasonable that it should be so But in the meane time you see that it is he who is called the Proper Priest he who sendeth whom he will and who serueth himselfe of good Religious men for the helpe of parishes And doe you not beleeue that other Bishops haue the same Dictamen with this great Peere of France and Bishop of Langres who held this language 21. Let vs adde to this that if euer there were little cause of complaining vpon this title it is in this age of ours No my Lords doe not any longer feare that now Secular Priests will not proue such as you desire or that parsonages will be in want of men very well able to serue the Cures or for the seruice also of other Benefices For the fatherly prouidence of God hath sent a new Renforce by a most vertuous congregation of holy Priests who beeing full of knowledge and piety will supply all these wants according to the vocation which God hath giuen them to reforme secular Clergy By the example of their liues they will shew what is to bee done by their endeauours they will fill such places as shal bee voyde both in City and Countrey and they will yeeld good labourers will refuse to take no paines and will gladly spread their Charity ouer the whole World as they haue alreadie begunne to doe in many places and will also by little and little grow substituting excellent Ecclesiasticall men to make this Church of France flourish both in Villages and Townes One onely thing I feare that after men shall haue cryed hard against Religious men they will also beginne to cry out against these every one interpreting their zeale according to his owne fancy and banding themselues perhaps as stiffely against them as against Religious and alleadging a thousand things according to their passions and humours Now if this should happen you would clearely discerne even from that instant that the noyse which is made both against the one and against the other proceedes from some other roote then of meere charity and of a true desire of the good of the true Hierarchy To tell you more of this would serue for nothing to my purpose onely I will say franckly that there will neuer be good labourers enow
AN ANSWER TO THE DEMANDS of a great Prelate Touching the Hierarchy of the Church And the just defence of Priviledged and Religious men Permissu Superiorum Printed at ROAN M DC XXVI EMMANUEL 〈…〉 … ndijs 〈…〉 Patris Will. Sancâ— A.C. Câ—ll Emman Cantat AN ANSVVERE To the demaunds of a great Prelate touching the Hierachy of the Church and the just defence of Priviledged and Religious men MY LORD I Am not able to expresse the obligation which I haue to you by reason of the Commandement which you vouchsafed to lay vppon me which yet notwithstanding is both sweet and sharpe Sweete in regard that it comes from you whom I doe so highly honour as well in regard of the eminent quality which you hold in the Church of God as by reason of your rare vertues and besides for that you are pleased to loue me cordially and more then I shall euer be able to deserue But yet sharpe withall because it bringeth a complaynt with it and sheweth a most bitter roote which hath sprowted forth and produced in the heart of many some little aversion from Priviledged persons and Religious men and which hath filled the mindes of many with a kinde of sharpnesse and euen of contempt and hate against them Yea the matter is past on so farre that many of them haue armed themselues with a certayne fervour and zeale and haue put themselues into combate against those other as against the enemies of their persons or at least as against the enemies of their authoritie their power and their greatnesse And yet certainly it seemes it would haue beene more honourable euen to fight for them as for their Children to protect them as their Orphanes and Pupills to haue set vppon the Wolfe who threatned them being their sheepe rather then to haue beaten them themselues for hauing perhaps a little strayed from the rest of the flocke if yet indeede they haue strayed at all Alas it will not be vnfitly done to feare that the same Serm. 157. which the great Chrysologus sayth of St. Paul may also be sayd of many others Per zelum legis legem impugnabat in Deum Dej amore peccabat I pray God of his great goodnesse to defend vs from this great misery for it is one of the most permitious and irremediable michiefes of all others if a man perswading himselfe that he seeketh nothing but God doe yet indeede vnder that beleefe seeke himselfe and suffer himselfe to be transported by some passion for such a one is a kind of incorrigible man and whilst hee thinketh to merit much he looseth all Qui errat quo magis progreditur Sene. eó magis errat profectus ejus defectus est But now since it hath pleased you to tell me that many of our Lords the Prelates of France haue this firme beleefe that Priviledged and Religious men haue as it were conspired against their authority and desire to abase and weaken their power to rayse vp and strengthen their owne Priviledges vpon the diminution and ruyne of Episcopall powers I will not speake to you as to you but I will doe it to you as to them or rather if it please you I will doe it by you to them but yet with so great respect and by way of discourse so full of honour of candour and of truth that God willing no man shall haue just cause of complaint by it And to the end that this good fortune may happen to me and that God may inspire me with his grace I doe in mine owne heart desire your holy and paternall Benediction I demaund not of you for the particular which I haue in hand any grace or fauour nor the sweete effects of your friendship nor any thing indeede but meere justice yea and euen rigour if you will sauing that you being so good can hardly be rigorous to any and that you may make no account of my reasons but according to the true value of them and by the just weight of a minde which is not pre-occupated or possessed by any contrary opinion nor wrapped vp in certaine jealousies and vntrue reports nor inflamed with the false fire of passion which may be ouer-cast with zeale nor yet pricked on by any discontentments but of a minde intirely free from all these things and which weigheth reason by the ballance of the Sanctuary and judgeeth of the whole businesse as in the presence of God and as being to render an account to the Divine Majesty of all his actions for the true way of treating well the affaires of God is to treate them so as belongeth to such affaires and to banish from thence all kinde of humane interest and all that which may sauour any way of earth But now before I will plunge my selfe more deepely into this sea which is tossed by so many windes and into the handling of this truth which is opposed by so many men it commeth into my thought that I must here doe that which was anciently remarked by Tertullian to haue beene done by those Primitiue Christians when they were persecuted much for their enemies caused the God of the Christians to be painted after a very strange and barbarous manner for it was in the figure of a man appareled with a large loose garment full of Majestie vpon the toppe whereof as vpon the shoulders the head of an Asse was put with a booke in his hand The feete which did appeare vnder the fringe of his Robe had vppon them these Wordes which were written in letters of gold Deus Cadeaux Christianorum Ononychites Now vppon this ground the Pagans build strong discourses in prejudice of God and of truth and made the Church so ridiculous and did so disadvantage the faith of Christ that it was not possible to do it more Vidimus in foro sayth Tertullian risimus formam nomen Quod colimus nos Deus vnus est But yet me thinkes saith he it is but reason that it should first bee vnderstood whether indeede we doe adore that fantasticall thing or no and men should first be agreed vpon the matter in fact before they should put their wits into such a full carriere and giue themselues law and liberty to say that which is sayd and indeede all that to which they haue a minde tearing in peeces that white and innocent Robe of Truth It is greatly to be feared least the passion of some particuler men may haue chalked out and framed some very deformed face for the representing of this particular which we haue in hand and for the shewing it forth in ill posture and with an aspect of great disadvantage and setting it also in a false light They say that these Priviledged persons haue a minde to oppresse the authority of our Lords the Prelates that they destroy the Hierarchy of the Church that they invest the authority which was established by the Apostles that they are tyed too close vpon the Pope and of this
facit per alium per seipsum facere potest 16. Blasphemiae vicinum est dicere quod Episcopus non potest vsum clauium exercere in quemlibet suae Diaecesis sicut Christus posset 17. Potest institui Religio ad subveniendum pauperibus in necessitatibus corporis ergo multo magis potest institui ad subueniendum animabus per Praedicationes Confessiones 18. Quod potest inferior potest etiam Superior quod ergo potest Curatus potest Episcopus potest Papa Cui vt ait Cyrillus omnes iure diuino caput inclinant 19. Alij gubernationes alij opitulationes inquit Apost 1. Cor. 12. Opitulationes Opusc 14. c. 23. sunt ij qui ferunt opem maioribus vt Titus Apostolo Archidiaconi Episcopo c. Hoc autem non destruit Hierarchiam 20. Alter alterius membra vnum corpus in Christo Rom. 12. Manifestum Opusc 15. c. 3. est quod Ecclesiasticae vnitati derogat quicunque Religiosis impedit ne docere possint c. 21. Qui Romanae Ecclesiae Privilegium ab ipso summo omnium Ecclesiarum capite traditum auferre conatur Ibid. c. 3. hic proculdubio in haeresim labitur vt dicitur in Decretis Dist 22. Cap. Omnes à Sancto Ambrosio qui ait se in omnibus sequi Magistram sanctam L. 3. de sacram c. 1. Romanam Ecclesiam It is Pope Nicholas the second who speaketh against them of the Church of Millan for entring into competition with Rome and would needes march hand in hand with the Romane Church which Saint Thomas applieth also to the point in question 22. Ab Apostolis 7. Diaconi instituti fuerunt qui erant in statu perfectionis Opusc 14. c. 23. nam relictis omnibus secuti erant Christum Ab horum exemplo omnes Religiones deriuatae sunt Quemadmodum ergo Apostolu Episcopi discipulis Parochi sic Diaconis Religiosi successerunt 23. Behold here is a part of the Propositions which Saint Thomas defended at Paris in publike manner and with such amazement of all the Vniuersity that there was not found a man so bold as to dare once stirre this stone The Preface of his Booke carrieth these very wordes in the front Praedictus Doctor post diuinitùs obtentam victoriam Pariseos rediens omnes dicti operis Articulos public◠solemnitèr repetens disputauit firmavitque That which goeth immediatly before these words and the sentence of the Pope is a thing which I will not cite here but let him see it who will I will say nothing here which may offend or which may sauour of recrimination or which by any ill odour of strong passion may poyson this discourse which is dedicated to pure and free but yet strong truth I coniure you my Lords to weigh well these foure words Publice Solemniter disputauit Firmauit So that all Paris had the contentment to see this great person sustaine all the assaults of the whole world and hee was so happy and so puissant that he made truth tryumph and did with a little stone beate downe that huge Colossus which men had erected to the ende that falling vpon him it might driue both himselfe and all his Order into dust 30. That which Gulielmus de sancto Amore had enterprised at Paris with so ill successe a certaine Richardus Armaeanus the Primate of Ireland after he had played rex in England did also enterprise in Auignon in the yeare 1356. vnder Innocent the sixth before the Pope himselfe and the Cardinals and presented them with a booke made aduantageously in the behalfe of Parsons and Vicars yea and also of Bishops against Regulars wherein he deliuered the same things which had beene offered before by Gulielmus de sancto Amore for in this businesse there is neuer any thing but repetitions and noyse enough without any fruite at all and ordinarily the matter ends in some disastrous death I will not tell you here how this poore 〈◊〉 died but I will only put you in mind that the book was held worthy to dye with him and that many who haue banded themselues against the seruants of God haue either sooner or later had regret and sorrow in their hearts or else some other thing which was worse The face of death makes the face of businesse chaunge very much 31. The wisest men haue euer iudged that they haue no good bargaine who make themselues opposites to the seruants of God especially in those things which are established by his diuine Maiesty or his Grand Vicar and there bee a thousand and a thousand Histories to shew this as lamentable and feareful as they are authenticall Men vse sometimes to dispute in Diuinity whether the Pope may erre in the Canonization of Saints as also about the approbation of Religious Orders For my part I will not enter at this time into that question but I will not feare to say that when God hath any such desire and that he sendeth some to this effect if any man then make opposition God doth certainly find himselfe offended therby and is wont to resent it and therfore Saint Paule saith aloud Itaquè qui haec spernit non hominem spernit 1. Thes 4. sed Deum c. Now after points of faith and some others of the most important of the Church I knowe fewe thinges whereof there is more formall cleere and authenticall proofe then of the point which here I defend For twenty Popes three Generall Councels so many Prouinciall Synodes in France so many Cardinals Primates Arch-bishops Bishops Canons expresse Texts fifty Buls Sentences of Parliaments Iudgement of eminent Doctors in great number consent of some Parsons and Vicars euen of Paris doctors of the Sorbonne Saints Miracles Reasons Arguments possession beyond the memory of man Texts of the Gospell particular vocations of God who hath expresly sent vs more then sixe Religious Orders all entire the authority of so many Emperours Kings Potentates soueraigne Courts of Iustice heauen and earth such a number of ages and the voice of the world Is not I say all this sufficient to fortifie this truth against those poore reasons which they alledge and which in very deede in the sight of God and of disinteressed men are not of such moment as to warrant that account and noyse which some make thereof There was a time when a sentence was giuen against Saint Bernard and that from the highest Tribunall in the Church of God The Saint seeing himselfe ouer loaden by so mighty an authority here on earth had recourse to heauen and sayd Tuum Domine Iesu Tribunall appello tuo me iudicio servo tibi committo causam Epist 1. meam Tu vides qui tua video qui quaerunt sua It que arbiter meus esto Domine Iesu de valtu tuo tudicium meum prodeat oculi tui videant aequitatem O Iesu bone quam multa facta sunt prounius animulae perditione c.