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truth_n	world_n	zeal_n	zealous_a	61	3	8.9519	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47947	Il cardinalismo di Santa Chiesa, or, The history of the cardinals of the Roman Church from the time of their first creation, to the election of the present Pope, Clement the Ninth, with a full account of his conclave, in three parts / written in Italian by the author of the Nipotismo di Roma ; and faithfully Englished by G.H.; Cardinalismo di Santa Chiesa. English	Leti, Gregorio, 1630-1701.; G. H.	1670 (1670)	Wing L1330; ESTC R2263	502,829	344

Roman Court not only Bishopricks and Masterships but even Cardinalships too But those Missionaries who have wit in their heads and zeal in their hearts go in another road and do things with more maturity of judgement For remedy of such disorders as these 't were fit some persons of authority had inspection into the promoting of Religion otherwise the ordinary Clergymen either through ignorance passion or humour spoil all break a sunder what ought to be joyn'd together and joyn what ought to be separated and bring things into confusion and ruine The Roman Church having resolv'd to assume to its self both a Spiritual and a Temporal Dominion and to make Cardinals precede Princes and Priests Magistrates hath thought fit for the more easie preservation of its Grandeur that not only the Cardinals but the Priests too should keep up a certain Majesty and eminent decorum which intention been so diligently pursu'd that they run even into excess without which excess I believe things would not proceed so agreeably to their humour On the other side the Protestants that is to say the Ministers and Ecclesiastical Pastors for the better preserving their Religion in its due decorum are contented to live with modesty suitable to their Pastoral Charge that is to administer the Sacraments to Preach to visit the Sick to instruct the people in the power of the H. Scripture referring Command Authority Temporal Dominion and even the Protection of Religion to the secular arm of Magistrates and Princes and teaching all to know by proofs both Holy and Political the Preheminence of the Majesty of Soveraigns above the Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical and the obligation incumbent upon Ecclesiasticks to obey the Temporal Power And indeed the Protestant Religion flourishes more and shines with more decency in those places where the Magistrates and Secular Governours have their eyes most open over the people taking cognisance of their actions not only so far as concerns the duty of a Subject towards his Prince but also in reference to Spiritual matters and this not only by the assistance of the Pastors but also by their own proper office which suffers not any to exercise their Spiritual Function but by derivative power from the Magistrate as he that is chosen by God to preside in the midst of his people to the end they may not run headlong without such a stay and guide into irremediable and dangerous errors The Magistrates and Princes study and endeavour as much as possibly to advance their Soveraignty more and more above the Jurisdiction of Churchmen but these aware of the design which might prejudice their independency are not asleep in the mean time but strive not only to preserve but likewise to promote their jurisdiction beyond what they have already if it be possible and they would effect it did not Princes and Magistrates make use of Policy whereby without prejudicing the Church's Interests they restrain the ambition which in these dayes seems natural to all the Churchmen of the world to say no more The Ecclesiasticks who take it in disdain when they see Magistrates intermeddle with their Assemblies the Elections to Spiritual Charges and the Orders of Spiritual Functions have no reason at all to complain of a thing so reasonable because to speak truth Churchmen are in these dayes so farr respected by the people as the Magistrates cause them to be respected by their secular power and the people are so farr inflam'd with zeal for their own Religion as they see the Magistrate zealous for it and the preservation of the Common Liberty For my part I firmly believe there can be no better course to destroy the Protestant Religion than to sow discord between the Clergy and the Magistrate and to bring it to pass that the Ecclesiasticks not contented with the degree and limits of their proper charge may rise against the Princes and Governours an instance whereof is to be seen in a certain Kingdom which perhaps bewails the effects of that Policy even to this day But the thing were impossible in these times inasmuch as the Magistrates well aware of the project have provided remedies against it in such sort that the Churchmen glory in their Loyalty and Obedience towards them if for no other reason yet at least to avoid the involving of Religion in some Schism or other and the bringing of themselves into a Labyrinth hard to get out of without first undergoing the consequences wont to arrive upon civil broils In short the Roman Religion continues such as it is that is good for the Church-men and bad for the Laity on this account that the Ecclesiasticks make use of an absolute and independent authority in Spirituals and very much likewise in Temporals and on the contrary the Protestant Religion is so far Protestant as the Magistrates have the supremacy both in Spirituals and Temporals If Liberty of Conscience which is so much talk'd of amongst the Protestants and the principal point of the Reformation should any wise come to be molested by the Supreme Authority upon the Ecclesiasticks ambition and invasion of the same there would no longer be a Liberty but a Slavery for People seeing themselves commanded by the Ecclesiasticks would think their Consciences enslav'd and not free it being proper to Churchmen to proceed with too much Zeal or too much Ambition and to be displeas'd when they see that they are not obey'd like Angels although in their commanding they remember not that themselves are but men And indeed the Protestants desire to serve God not according to the Orders and Precepts of men but according to the Divine Laws registred in the H. Scripture which they daily read in their Assemblies publick and private and therefore they reverence their Ministers as men who are contented to preach without commanding The Protestants doubt I conceive lest the Ecclesiasticks being addicted to study and speculation in case the Supreme Authority should be united in them they would reverse the old Model which is Christs and impose a new one upon them of their own and of a plain Ecclesiastical Ordinance make a new Divine Precept and therefore they are very well pleas'd to see the Magistrate use such great care and diligence for the preservation of that Religion which they pretend to be of Divine Institution without any additions of humane invention although the Catholicks accuse them of pinning their Faith upon Luther and Calvin which is false for neither Luther not Calvin instituted any new Religion The Catholick Religion or rather the Roman as we call it in the Primitive times when the piety of Pastors was as conspicuous to their Flock as the Sun went almost in the same order whilst the Emperors manag'd Ecclesiastical Elections and the Magistrates not only preceeded the Churchmen but besides in case of deficience oblig'd them to their duty and constrain'd them to be diligent in feeding the flock of Christ with Charity yea they permitted them not to exercise any publick Function but

't is ignorance and indiscretion that causes all this and should the like case happen to me I could very well make the Father an answer The other was of a certain young Student that went to a Jesuite to Confession amongst other of his Confessions he told him that he had lay'n a whole night with his Fatherships Neice and began to faint almost under the shame and apprehension of his Sin so that he had no mind to proceed but the good Father to incourage him told him That it was no such great matter to lye a night with the Neice for he had ly'n ten years together with the Mother And with this good exhortation he sent the young man back to his house And this second Example I heard my self in a Sermon in a certain Town in the Territories of the Venetian Preach'd by an Augustine Fryer who by his face look'd as like to do such a business as the Jesuite And thousands of these instances may be heard dayly in their Pulpits the Church of Rome by reason of the licentiousness of its Ministers being the laughing-stock of the Catholicks and the obloquy of the Protestant And truly 't is sad that those Confessions that were at first requir'd as conducing to the Salvation of Souls should be turn'd now by the iniquity of the Confessors into the scandal of the Church The Bishops shut their eyes at every thing because the Cardinals connive at them The Cardinals commit all things to the Pope contenting themselves with the magnificence of their Station The Pope because they let him alone in a Pinnacle of Grandeur above all exhalation of scandal leaves them to themselves and retains his opinion of their Piety not regarding what Heresies the Ignorance Malice or Lasciviousness of his Confessors may create To this the Ecclesiastick answers that we ought not to look so severely to the faults of the scandalous because they are but frailties and so will be judged by the Divine Justice it self And for instance they alledge the example of Judas who was a Traytor even in the company of the Holy Apostles so as our eye they say ought not to be upon him but upon the rest To which I answer that if there were indeed but one ill Churchman in twelve all Hereticks both Jew and Gentile would be converted to the Faith but as the case stands there is scarce one good to be found in ten thousand bad and therefore how can they be converted that have so many scandals in their prospect But some will say perhaps how can these things be redress'd I answer with the greatest facility in the world if the Cardinals pleas'd I speak not of the Pope because let the Divines say what they will for His absoluteness to speak the truth the Church of God is not a Monarchy but a Republique the Cardinals and Bishops being Supreme and Soveraign Senators and the Pope as Christs Vicar President of the Senate for though Christ created St. Peter his Vicar he took not away the Authority from the rest of the Apostles they alwayes with Supreme Authority in their Colledge decreeing what ever they thought necessary for the benefit of the Church St. Peter being allow'd no more than his single voice So that the Care and Government of the Church belonging by legal succession to the Cardinals the right of appointing remedies against such scandals as do afflict us belongs likewise to them And indeed whilst the Church was under a kind of Aristocrasie Miracles and Holiness and Goodness were observ'd to flourish But since the Priests began to flatter the Popes conceiving preferment and advantages easilier obtain'd by the adulation of one person than a Senate they put all into the hands of the Pope and made him a Monarch so that Miracles were lost immediately Sanctity was banish'd and a thousand wickednesses introduc'd because that which was Monarchy in the hands of the Pope became Tyranny in those of the Nephews Insomuch that to reduce the Church to its Primitive Holiness it will be necessary to restore it to its antient Aristocrasie Since my being at Rome I heard of hundreds of Decrees put out by the Congregation of Regolars but I never heard of any of them put in Execution as they ought to have been the Popes for the most part having dash'd them motu proprio besides the application being superficial and only to the top branches of the Tree it was impossible it should reach the Corruption that was in the Root The wickedness of the Churchmen is like a Wart upon a mans hand the more you cut it unless you cut it to the bottom the greater it grows To put out fire it is necessary to remove that matter that sustains it and if the Cardinals would apply any remedy to the scandals that throng dayly out of the Cloysters to the detriment of the Church they ought not to consider the nature of the Fryers after they are made Fryers so much as the qualities of those who make themselves Fryers The Method of the Italians in this age I speak not of other Countreys is good indeed for the advancement of their Arms but not at all for the benefit of the Church For example an Italian that has three Sons picks out the wisest and most gentile and Marryes him to keep up his Family him that is most sprightly and vigorous he sends to the Wars and if any be more foolish or extravagant than other he is sent to the Covent In short those Fathers whose Sons are given to Theft to Drunkenness Lust Dissoluteness or Prodigality if they be Lyers Swearers Cheats Blasphemers c. do presently devote them to the Cloyster where putting on the Habit of a Fryer they put them out of their sight indeed but put them into a Religious house where they become Devils because wickedness or rather a heap of wickedness cannot be taken away by fifteen yards of Cloth Were these disorders but regulated a great part of the scandal that lyes at present upon the Church would be taken away 't is a shame the worst should be given to God and the best to the Devil 't were better to suppress Cloysters and Fryers than to suffer such Fryers to be made In the Church of Rome the quality of the persons that are to enter into Religious Habits is not so much consider'd as their quantity so their number be great no matter for the rest Cheats Back-biters the Hunch-back'd the Lame and the Blind are all admitted into the Cloysters as if the number not the qualities made the Religion O most diabolical policy and fit to be exploded Did it belong to me to supplicate the Pope and the Colledge of Cardinals I would do it upon my knees because I observe goodness and piety declining in the Church and all by reason of the multitudes of Priests whose qualities ought to be more regarded than their numbers One truly Religious man is worth a thousand wicked and edifies the Church more with

ordination belongs to themselves Let them force themselves and endeavour the repose of the Church let them have an eye over the affairs of the poor whose lawfull Princes they are and let them not as they value the praise of the World and the benediction of Christ forget the Jurisdiction that was given them by him If the Popes by debasing the Authority of the Cardinals have erected their own Monarchy why do not the Cardinals by depressing that of the Pope exalt themselves to the condition of Senators in the Christian Common-wealth If the Popes have thought good for the private advantage of their particular Families to change to the great detriment of the Cardinals the Republick of Christ into a Monarchy for their Nephews why shall not the Cardinals for the benefit of the Church subvert that Monarchy and re-establish the Republick of Christ Christ did not call them to the Apostleship to make them Deacons of Apostles but that they should watch over and superintend that the Offices of the Deacons were executed well In Republicks the Dukes are not chosen to destroy the Senators but on the contrary they keep up the Grandeur of the Senators to render their own Authority the more Majestick Let the Cardinals therefore have a care it fares not with them as it did with a Souldier of Alexander who being ask'd his Name by the Emperor and answering Alexander his actions being not answerable to his Name the Emperor reply'd Either leave the Name of Alexander or do as Alexander does And certainly the Cardinals ought either to act like Cardinals and vindicate that dignity God has given them as principal Ministers in his Church or relinquish that Eminent Title The habit makes not a Monk nor the Purple Robe a Cardinal if that were so there would not want Purple to make Cardinals nor habits to make Monks The zeal of Religion the safety of the Christian Common-wealth the protection of the People the care of the Cures the administration of the wealth of the Church the banishment of Vice Sweatings and Labourings and Watchings for the augmentation of the number of the Faithfull and the propagation of Christianity are as the Poles upon which the Wheel of Cardinalism ought to turn If a Cardinal goes this way to work tyres and harrasseth out himself in prosecution of the virtues aforesaid he will be a Cardinal indeed though he wears no Purple but if he shuts his eyes and leaves all things forsaken and deserted he may have as much of the Purple as he please but he will have nothing of the Cardinal The Cardinals tremble at the very Name of the Pope and yet it is they themselves that give him his Papacy They humble themselves at the beck of him who proceeds from their own bowels they are contented to be stript of their Authority to invest him with it that robb'd them The Protestants deny the whole power of the Pope and in their Schools bring many arguments to refute it yet they allow more dignity to the Cardinals than they know how to ask of his Holiness They say that if the Pope could be contented to be a Cardinal amongst the Cardinals and the Cardinals as Popes with the Pope the Church of God would be restor'd to the true form in which it was created in the infancy of Christianity when the Apostles were Peters and Peter as the Apostles and they would not find that difficulty of closing with our Church which by that means would be Universal and not particular whereas now they are glad of any opportunity to distract it because they see it particular by reason of the absolute Authority that is given to the Pope I was a while since invited to dinner by a Friend of mine and by accident there were several Protestants and some Catholicks at the Table About the latter end of dinner the Catholicks with great freedom began to discourse it was in the time of the vacancy of the Chair of the discord and dissention amongst the Cardinals one of them instanc'd the example of the Apostles who when the Holy Spirit descended upon them were Congregati in unum applying all to the difference betwixt the Apostolick Colledge in these times in which they are at variance and what it was in the Primitive when there was nothing but meekness and charity and love Amongst the rest there was a French Gentleman indifferently well learn'd and of a pleasant conversation who taking the word from the other reply'd smilingly that those words Congregati in unum might very justly be apply'd to the Apostolick Colledge in being with this difference only that the Apostles then were Congregati in unum with Christ and now they are Congregati in unum with the Pope And ●e had gone further had he not been interrupted and forc'd to rise from the Table upon an unexpected visit that was made which altered the whole discourse I who had then this Cardinalism in my head and resolv'd to make an end of it and publish it to the world began to make some reflection upon what the French man had said and I found his opinion was not ●ll grounded so much did it correspond with mine For in truth in Rome where the Congregations are infinite the Cardinals are Congregati in unum not in their judgements or desires in which many times there is so much discrepancy that every Cardinal has a several opinion but in a resolution to do whatever his Holiness commands them They are Congregati in unum because in the Consistories they conclude of nothing but what is dictated by the Pope From whence it happen'd that a Cardinal of a very profound judgement that liv'd in the time of Innocent the tenth being ask'd one day whether he went he answer'd To Donna Olimpia's Congregation implying that that Lady having the absolute management of his Holiness her Cousin it was necessary to observe her orders exactly whether they were good or bad and indeed some few that would needs peevishly and obstinately withstand her Commands found but little ease or advantage by it Were the Cardinals Congregati in unum for a good understanding amongst themselves as they are Congregati in unum to do what ever they are commanded by the Pope the Church would be better serv'd than it is the State would flourish in plenty and peace and the Nephews reduc'd to their primitive indigence and necessity The Popes do rejoyce if not contrive to see the minds of the Cardinals divided as much fearing the consequence of their unity and a certain great Pope that lived in our age was wont to say That the division of the Cardinals was the exaltation of the Popes a saying as Diabolical as Politick which discover'd clearly that the intentions of the Popes were fix'd upon the Supremacy they injoy that is to keep and conserve the Monarchy of the Church in their own absolute Dominion though to the utter destruction of all that oppos'd them and because there is no