The offices themselues saith he of Ecclesiasticall dignitie haue passed into filthie gaine and into the businesse of darknesse neither seeke they in these the saluation of soules but the superfluitie of riches For this are they shorne for this they frequent Churches celebrate Masses sing Psalmes c. They impudently striue in these dayes for Bishopricks Archdeaconries Abbotships and other dignities that they might wast the reuenewes of Churches in such vayne and superfluous vses It remayneth that the man of sinne be reuealed the sonne of perdition the Damon not of the day onely but of the mid-day who not onely transformeth himselfe into an Angell of light but exalteth himselfe aboue all that is called God or that is worshiped c. This shall be indeed an exceeding great assault but from this also the truth shall deliuer the Church of the Elect c. Poore Bernard stayed for him at the doore who had alreadie entred the house Baronius anno 1130. art 6. And thus much be spoken to Baronius who affirmeth that S. Bernard inueighed onely against schimaticall Popes Writing to Pope Eugenius nere vpon the yeare 1151 who had been his disciple and had not obeyed his admonitions Benard Epist 137. being entred into the Popedome Who will let me see before I die the Church as in the dayes of old when the Apostles did cast forth their nets not to take siluer or gold but to take soules O how I desire to see thee inherit thâ— voyce of him whose seat thou hast obtayned Thy money perish with thee In his bookes of consideration Ad Eugen. de consideratione lib. 1. what doth he omit for his amendment Tell me I pray thee saith he when art thou euer free vbi tuus where thine owne Euerie where is tumult euerie where the yoke of thy seruitude presseth thee replie not vnto me in the Apostles voyce who saith When I was free from all I made myselfe a seruant of all That is verie far from thee Was it in this seuritude that he serued men in the getting of filthie gaine Was it in this that from all parts of the world did flock vnto him the ambitious the couetous such as exercise Simonie sacrilegious persons whoremongers and incestuous and such other monsters of men that by his Apostolicke authoritie they might either obtaine or retaine Ecclesiasticall honours This man then hath made thee a seruant to whom Christ was life and death aduauntage that he might win many vnto Christ and not that he might encrease the gaines of his couetousnesse c. And truely euerie day the noyse of Lawes are heard in thy Palace but the Laws of Iustinian not of Christ c. Thou Pastour then and Bishop of soules with what mind dost thou suffer that to be euer silent before thee and these to bable I am deceiued if this peruersnesse moue not in thee some scruple Then for to bring him backe to the auntient bounds Lib. 2. he saith Thy high dignitie need not flatter thee thy care is the greater And if then we would thinke rightly of our selues we shall iudge that a ministerie is imposed vpon vs not a domination giuen Thinke thy selfe as some one of the Prophets Is not that enough for thee yea too much c. If thou be wise thou wilt be contented with the measure that God hath measured vnto thee For what is more is from that wicked one Learne by the example of the Prophet to wit Ieremie to be in authoritie not for to commaund but to doe as the time requireth Learne that hast need of a weeding hooke not a Scepter for to doe the worke of a Prophet c. It was sayd to the Apostles thy predecessors The haruest is great but the labourers are few Take to thee the paternall inheritance for if thou be a sonne thou art an heire That thou mayst proue thy selfe heire watch on this care and bee not ydle least it be sayd vnto thee Why standest thou here all day ydle much lesse to bee found loosse in delights 1. Peter 5.3 or wallowing in pompes The will of the Testator assigneth vnto thee none of these c. Dost thou thinke that he hath giuen thee domination heare him Not as though ye were Lords saith he in clero ouer Gods heritage but as made ensamples to the flocke And thinke not that he saith it onely in humilitie and not also it truth It is the Lords voyce in the Gospell The Kings of Nations rule and haue power of them c. But it shall not be so among you It is plaine that domination is forbidden the Apostles If thou wilt haue both thou shalt loose both Otherwise thinke that thou art not excepted from the number of them of whom God thus complayneth They haue raigned but not by me They haue beene Princes but I knew them not And this speech he extendeth verie long How farre different from the Diuinitie of Hildebrand who would vnite to his Mytre the temporall Monarchie of all the world For Appeales How long dost thou dissemble or not perceius the murmure of the whole earth Lib. 3. How long dost thou slumber How long doth thy consideration sleepe at this great abuse and confusion of Appeales How many haue we knowne to haue appealed that by the helpe thereof they might be suffered to continue the greater wickednesse Against all Law and right against all custome and order they are made There is no discretion had of place of time of the person nor of the cause And this matter he discourseth at large Lib. 4. shewing the inconueniences thereof and illustrateth it by many examples which it sufficeth vs only here by the way to point at There were Pastors afore thee who gaue themselues wholly to the feeding of their sheepe c. Their onely gaine pompe and pleasure to prepare and render them vp to God a perfect people Where is now I pray you this custome There is another vnlike vnto it come in place thereof affections are much changed and would to God it were not into worse Yet care anxietie emulation and ponsiuenesse doe continue but translated not changed I heare you witnes that you spare not your substance no more than before But the difference is in the diuerse imploying of it Great abuse few haue respect to the mouth of the Lawgiuer but all to the hands Yet not without cause they doe all the businesse of the Pope Can you shew me one of all that great Citie that hath receiued thee for Pope without money or without hope of hauing some for it And here let the Reader see that we be not tedious vnto him the description he maketh there of the Romans and especially of the Clergie in all kind of wickednesse far worse than others In the middest of all this saith he Thou Pastour marchest all layed with gold compassed about with so much varietie Thy sheepe what desire they These pastures if I durst so speake rather of Diuels than
belong to that Court that vseth to commaund both Emperours and Kings And Baronius hath set downe this excellent Apothegme in great letters Baron an 1169. art 11. By the pride of the seruant we may iudge the modestie of the Master Doubtlesse the wisest of this world judge otherwise of the power and authoritie of the Pope Otho Bishop of Frisinghen saith Otho Frisingens in prologo l. 4. Chron. Two persons are constituted in the Church by God the Priestlie and the Princelie the one hath the administration of the Sacraments of Christ and to exercise Ecclesiasticall descipline with the spirituall sword the other carieth the materiall sword against the enemies of the Church defending the poore and the Churches of God from the oppression of the wicked punishing euill doers and exercising secular iudgement These are the two swords whereof we read in the Passion of our Sauiour but Peter is said to vse but onely one Therefore euen as to the spirituall sword spirituall possession belong that is to say the tithes the oblations of the faithfull and others of like sort so to the materiall are subiect all worldlie dignities as Duke domes Earle-domes and the like Now God would that these things should be in his Church orderly and not confusedly that is to say not in one person alone but diuided betweene two as I haue formerly named Euen as these persons therefore that carrie the materiall sword are not to meddle with those things that are spirituall so is it not fit for the spiritual to vsurp the other And to make good this saying many testimonies of the Scriptures and of our Lord himselfe besides the example of Saints may be alledged as that Gospell that saith Giue vnto Caesar the things that belong vnto Caesar and vnto God the things that are Gods That which our Lord Iesus Christ had deliuered in words he declared also by effects when yeelding tribute to whom tribute belonged he gaue tribute for himselfe and Peter And S. Paul acknowledged that we ought to yeeld honour to whom honour belongeth considering that all power is from God who being brought to iudgement did not appeale to Saint Peter who then possest the chaire at Rome but to Nero a most impious and a wicked man ordained by the will of God King of the whole world And thus much touching the honour of Kings But he goeth about to defend the Pope by some poore weake reasons but in the end concludeth I confesse I know no other refage but this that we haue known holie men both of Apostolike faith and merit as Syluester Gregorie Vlric Boniface Lampert Gothard and diuers others that haue had these things but for my selfe to speake my owne opinion I doubt whether this exalting of the Church in these dayes be more acceptable to God than the humilitie of former times Verily it seemeth that state was the better this the happier Neuerthelesse I agree with with the Church of Rome c. That is to say to be rather temporally happie with the one than spiritually happie with the Apostles and the holie Fathers and shortly after he hides not from vs vpon what foundation he groundeth his reason That all scruple saith he of that controuersie being resolued by his authoritie and example is againe secretly signified by that which was sayd to S. Peter Duc in altum lanch into the deepe and cast your nets to take fish Luke 5. yea it is so secret that for the space of 500 of the first and best yeres none of the auntient Doctors could perceiue this mysterie Jdem l. 3. Chron. 1.3 But the same authour speakes more openly in another place After the donation of Constantine the Church of Rome affirmeth that all Realmes of the West belonged to it by the gift of Constantine this he refuteth himselfe In token whereof it doubted not to exact tribute euen to this present of all those except the two Kingdomeâ— of the French that is to say the Gaules and the Germans which hee would gladly draw into his Net if they would suffer him But in our France at the verie same time they that were called Waldenses or Albienses earnestly set against the Church of Rome condemning all the traditions thereof rejecting the ceremonies and declaring it in expresse words to be that Babylon in the Apocalyps the mother of fornications and the Pope verie Antichrist the man of sin foretold by the holie Scriptures These people maintayned the puritie veritie and simplicitie of the Christian Religion in all the Countries both on the mountaines and vallies of Daulphine Prouence Languedoc and Guyan where the corruptions and papall inuentions could not so easily penetrat no otherwise than as we see the Tongues customes and habits of nations to be preserued in Countries more remote against the inundation and mingling of the people as the originall Tongue of Spaine in the mountaines of Biscay and the auntient Tongue of the Brittons in Wales with their manners and customes also and so likewise of others For that so great a multitude of people spread from the Alpes euen to the Pirence by the instruction of Waldo had beene as it were hatcht vp in one day exceedeth all beliefe all reason Contrariwise he that would retire himselfe from the world seriously to contemplate his owne saluation it is likely he rather learned it of them and afterward taught at Lyon where for the renowne of the citie they that were his followers or affected his doctrine were called Waldenses as they who preached in the citie of Alba ware called Albienses and not many yeres before Peter Bruitzius Henrie his disciple publiquely teaching at Tholouse were called Tholousians and so likewise were they called at the Councell of Lateran held vnder Alexander the third Of this antiquitie to the end we need not doubt thereof the aduersaries themselues auouch the truth amongst whom Frier Rainerius who writ about the yeare of our Lord 1250 Among all the sects that are saith he or euer will be none can be more pernitious to the Church of God than that of Lyons An. 1250. Frater Rainerius de Waldensibus for three causes the first because it hath continued a longer time than any some say that it hath beene euer since the time of Syluester others say from the time of the Apostles that is to say inasmuch as integritie euer went before corruption and the same maintayned by them as it is said of the true Church in the Apocalyps that it was preserued euen in the desart The second because it is more generall for there is not almost any Countrie where into this sect hath not crept whereas in the meane time they aske vs where our Church then was The Third because all the other procure horrour by their blasphemies against God this of the Lionists hath a great apparence of pietie in as much as they liue vprightly before men and put their trust in God in all things and obserue all the Articles
deliuered him to the men of Pisa that mortally hated him through despaire he dashed his head against the pillar to which he was tied and killed himselfe Thus much reciteth the Monke Paris and Sigonius after him who addeth That the enemies of the Church sayd that the Pope had inclined the heart of this Peter to this fact by great gifts and promises And seeing the foregoing practises who can doubt of it Meane time this vnhappie Prince began to loath his life What wee saith he is fallen vpon me that mine owne bowels arme themselues against me That this Peter whom I esteemed the one halfe of my soule hath prepared my death That the Pope whom my predecessors haue created and inriched of nothing laboureth both to ruinate the Empire and by death to destroy me Et obsorduit domini Papae fama per hoc non mediocriter And the Popes reputation was thereby not a little defamed Yet God the infallible searcher of secrets knoweth the truth thereof Of which truth we may yet giue judgement out of that which Krantzius writeth in the same yeare 1249 An. 1249. Krantzius in Metropol l. 8. c. 14. That Pope Innocent the fourth was transported with so great enuie against Frederic eximperatorem deposed from the Empire That not only he opposed against him the Christian Princes but also sent an Embassador to the Souldan of Egypt to diuert him from his friendship And it is great pitie we haue not his letters but at least he representeth the Souldans letters to Innocent translated out of Greeke into Latine and by the answer we may gather what the demaund was The summe is this after the accustomed complements which deserue to be read in the Author That God would make him of the number of them that affect and doe good and that earnestly seeke peace and perseuer in the causes thereof and that God would assist him in things that are conuenient both towards them of his owne Religion and towards others That he vnderstood that which he had declared concerning Christ to whom be praise And of Christ saith he we know more than yee know and doe magnifie him more than yee doe But as touching the Emperour that there was friendship betweene them euen from the time of the Souldan his father And betweene you saith he and your Emperour it is as your selfe doth know Therfore that it was not lawfull for him to treat with the Christians without the aduice and consent of the Emperour And surely it is a maruaile that so many and so great troubles especially now in his old age did not ouerwhelme him Adde to these that his base sonne Hencius was taken prisoner by the men of Bouonia and himselfe suddenly taken with a grieuous sicknesse called ignem sacrum At length being tost with so many aduersities saith the Author hee resolued by all meanes to seeke peace and offered to the Pope an honest forme of peace but the Pope reioycing at his aduersities would not accept of it whereby he incurred the indignation of many and namely of the French Lords who began to comfort Frederic and to adhere vnto him and to detest the pride of the seruant of the seruants of God And thus the affaires of Frederic prospered so well that Innocent entreated the king of England that he might make his abode at Burdeaux vnder pretence of making a generall peace But in the meane season died the greatest of Princes saith the Author Stupor quoque mundi and the astonishment and wonder of the world hauing made a most noble testament recited by Mathew in his additions Collenucius also telleth vs Collenucius l. 4. Hist. Neapol out of the report of Mainardine bishop of Imola That his penitencie was so great in the confession of his sinnes that thereby alone it might be coniectured he had beene a singular vessell of Gods election And as touching the course of his life after he had exalted the great and rare vertues as well naturall as acquired wherewith he was endued the excellent and profitable lawes he had made both Ecclesiasticall and ciuile comming to speake of the debate he continually had with the Popes for which he had beene excommunicat by Innocent the 4 he doubteth much that it was without just cause All these actions considered saith he such as diuerse authors haue described vnto vs weighing also his Epistles and writings I know not verily whether they declared him enemie of the Church because he spake too truely de Pontificijs of the Papists and found many things worthie reproofe in their manners and in all that Apostolicall life or because he ouer stoutly defended the rights of the Empire or for that he was in Italie more powerfull than was to their liking I leaue the iudgement hereof to the indifferent Reader of the gests of Frederick but in the meane time when I consider that Christ whom Popes as his Vicars ought to imitate and obey commaundeth vs to put vp the sword into his place and to pardon a sinner seuentie times seuen times not seuen times onely and that on the other side I see so many ambushes treasons proiected against Frederick so many Ecclesiasticall Legats which are called Pastors sent against him into the kingdome into the Marca de Ancona Lombardie and Romania so many cities and Provinces for the same cause laid wast so much Christian bloudshed and Frederick neuerthelesse alwayes victorious and the Popes side that ioyned themselues against him euer to be vnfortunat and carrie away the worst I cannot but approue that which Pope Pius writeth in his Australl historie That nothing excellently euill is committed in the Catholike Church the first originall whereof proceedeth not from Church-men it may be by some secret counsell of God I haue truely seene and read many Epistles of Frederick which are extant written to Popes and Cardinalls and to other Christian Princes and priuat persons but I perceiued in them nothing against the rule of our faith nothing hereticall nothing that sauoureth of contumacie or oppression of the Church There are indeed in the same many complaints lamentations and admonitions of the couetousnesse and ambition of Priests of the Popes obstinacie who would not heare his excuses the defence of the Empire and of snares and treasons wrought against him He that would see the truth of these things let him read among others an Epistle of his written to all Christian Princes which beginneth The chiefe Priests and the Pharisies gathered a Councell against the Prince Gods annoynted and another also which he wrot to the Colledge of Cardinals That they should dissuade the Pope from maintaining discords between them and the Empire which beginneth In exordio In the beginning of the birth of the world and that also which beginneth Infallibilis veritatis testem We take to witnesse the infallible Iudge of truth and Iustice Out of one among others written to the Christian Princes he produceth these words Petrus de Vineis lib. 1.
remoue than confirme the opinion she formerly conceiued of it Katherine also gaue the like censure of the state of the Roman Church nay and if we may beleeue Antoninus she presaged That euen then the Churches confusion was at hand and that presently a reformation would ensue When she heard of the Perugians rebellion against the Pope Begin not your lamentation saith she so soone for you shall haue weeping too much for this you now see is but milke and honie in respect of those miseries to ensue Thus doe the Laitie and presently you shall see the Clergie will doe worse for they shall giue a generall scandall to the whole Church of God which like an hereticall pestilence shall disturbe and dissipate the same It shall not properly be an heresie but as it were an heresie and a certaine diuision of the Church and all Christendome This saith Raimond who writ her Legend we see accomplished in the schisme that followed vpon Gregories death For when the schisme began Raymond told her That what she had prophesied was now come to passe and she replied Euen as then I told you that the present molestations were but milke and honie so I say vnto you That this you now see and behold is but childrens sport in comparison of future miseries especially in adiacent and bordering Prouinces Which we haue seene come to passe saith he ouer all Italie and Sicilia whereunto wee may worthily annex France which neuer felt a more sharpe and terrible warre than at this instant Then Raymond againe prosecutes Being curious saith hee to demaund of her what would follow after this wonderfull agitation and reuolt because it manifestly appeared that shee entertained celestiall reuelations she replied God shall purge his Church from all these tribulations and miseries by a meanes altogether inperceptible and vnknowne vnto men and after this shall occurre such a wonderfull reformation of Gods Church and a renouation of sacred and holie Pastors that through the cogitation thereof onely my spirit euen reioyceth in the Lord. And as otherwhiles I haue many times told you the spouse that now is deformed and rent shall then hee adorned with goodlie and precious iewels and all the faithfull shall exult for being honoured with such holie Pastors Antoninus addes further What this sacred virgine foretold of schismes and tribulations we haue seene them cleerely and euidently come to passe but for that shee denounced touching good Pastors and the Churches reformation that hath not yet beene effected And yet he wrot in the yeare 1450 after the schisme extinguished and the dissolution of the Councels of Constance and Basil the which as it seemes he thought had not sufficiently prouided for the reformation of the Church conformable to this virgines predictions neither can it any wayes be perceiued in the Church of Rome or in the Popes whether you consider doctrine or manners so as this prophesie may verie well be applied to that reformation that began not long after which purged both the errors of doctrine and the abuses of discipline through the diligence and zeale of those godlie ministers which God stirred vp in the age following by a meanes as she said inperceptible of men the which was then a preparing before his death In Bohemia mention is made of one Militzius a famous Preacher of Prage whom Iacobus Misnensis tearmes renowmed and venerable This man declared how against his will he was enioyned by the holie Ghost to search out of the holie Scriptures the comming of Antichrist whom he found to be now alreadie come the same spirit conducting him he was constrained to go to Rome where he preached publikely and afterwards before the Inquisitor he confirmed That the great Antichrist of whom the Scriptures doe prophesie was already come The same man said That in the Church Idols should be erected which would destroy Ierusalem and make desolat the Temple but that they were couered with hypocrisie That many know the truth and yet through iniustice suppressed it and therefore in this silence they renounced Christ and durst not auouch his truth before men He also inueyed particularly against many abuses as we may see in Iacobus Misnensis his treatise de Aduentis Antichristi which he wrot about the yeare 1410. An. 1410. We find also a Bull of Gregorie the eleuenth directed to Iohn Archbishop of Prage wherein he is commanded to excommunicat and persecute Militzius and his auditors who were taught and instructed by him That the Pope and his companions were Antichrists That there was no truth amongst them vndepraued So as it is manifest that the Church in Bohemia came to haue some reformation and so much the rather because the Waldenses as we formerly saw fixed here their habitations long time before In these verie dayes about the yeare 1460 one Iohn Wickliffe An. 1460. a man of singular vnderstanding began to lift vp his head who was trayned vp at Oxford in all learning and science being both a famous Diuine and Philosophâ—â— who was for these parts highly honoured and esteemed of all the Faculties and Degrees in that Vniuersitie This man questionlesse charged the Roman Church on euerie side verie stoutly for not satisfying himselfe in shewing the Pope to bee an Heresâ—arch the Antichrist deciphered in the Scriptures the abhomination of desolation in abstracto in abstract brought in by Sathans guile and their Churches impostume and that he conuinced him to be the same both by the Scriptures the course of all histories diuers preualent reasons and his owne proper actions but further he assaileth the inward poynts of his doctrine taxing it with vanitie superstition and idolatrie reprehending the seruice of the creator conuerted to the creature to mortall men to Saints to reliques to images That the Sacrifice of the Redeemers Passion was turned into the foolish spectacle and mummerie of a Masse the benefit of the death and passion of Christ the sonne of God into dispensations absolutions pilgrimages and indulgences the benefits or rather inchauntments not of a pure but most impure man The people were fallen away from the incomparable merits of Christ our Sauiour to their owne workes from the firme tuition and defence of Christs crosse to the shaken reed of their owne demerits To conclude from God the generall creator to a ridiculous host which must bee worshipped as God though it were knead and made with mens hands And for the furtherance of this so high a worke of Gods he translated the whole Bible into the vulgar Tongue all those heads of doctrine he deliuered to the learned in Latine and to the ignorant in the vulgar Tongue In publique lectures at Oxford he was a Doctor in ordinarie Sermons of the Church a Pastour putting on a brasen forehead against the shamelesse strumpet and a breast of Diamant against the power and violence of the whole Clergie thundring the like euen into the eares of Edward the third then raigning in England and he drew vnto himselfe the attention
it out of question But shall wee therefore call him heretike minimè gentium And why not good sir since many a man hath beene so called vpon farre lesse occasion vnlesse a Pope holding opinion with Arrius by vertue of his Popedome be neither Arrian nor heretike An. 362. Now Athanasius in the yeare 362 held a verie famous Councell in Alexandria whither he inuited the Bishops out of all parts to helpe reestablish the true doctrine of the Church Our Annalist would needs persuade vs that hee did it by order from Liberius and that Liberius confirmed the acts of this Councell Which Baron to 4. an 362. art 208. saith he he plainely expresseth in his Epistle to Ruffinian But let who will read this Epistle and then say whether there be in it any one word tending to that purpose Nazianz. in Athanas At least Gregorie Nazianzene vnderstood it otherwise when as alluding to this Synod assembled by Athanasius he speaketh in this maner He prescribed lawes to all the world and drew euerie mans eyes vpon himselfe And vpon that question Whether and how farre forth such as had fallen were to bee restored he saith That the same courses were taken in all the Synods which had beene assembled In the presence saith he of the Bishops of all forreine Prouinces as also of Greece and of Spaine but of Italie or Rome no one word spoken Likewise in the yeare 364 Sozom. lib. 5. c. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there was another Synod held in Lampsacus where the Orthodoxe of Bythinia and Hellespont saith Sozomene sent Hypatianus Bishop of Heraclea to Valentinian the Emperour to intreat leaue to assemble themselues in councell The Emperour wearied with so many Councels called in the time of his predecessor Constans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to so little good purpose made answer That it was not lawfull for him being a lay man to meddle with the matters of the Church Whence Baronius concludeth That he thereby resigned all authoritie he had or could pretend in Church causes But the Emperour addeth farther Let the Church-men assemble themselues where they will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which words they tooke for leaue and thereupon assembled themselues And in the end that fell out which the Emperour foresaw which was that being ouerborne by the aduerse faction they could not hold themselues to the Nicene Creed Here againe Baronius taketh aduantage because they sent three Legats to Liberius Bishop of Rome with a Synodall Epistle True but these Legats comming to him salute him onely by the name of Collegue and brother and to begin withall tell him That they had brought letters to his Benignitie and to all the other Bishops of Italie and of all the regions of the West Who consequently were associated with him in the same letter And what I pray you hath Baronius now gotten Last of all and for an vpshot let vs not forget a good saying of Baronius who Optat. lib. 3. contra Parmen to shew the pride of Donatus alledgeth a saying of Optatus Seeing saith he that there is none aboue the Emperour but God which made him hee therein passed the state of men esteeming himselfe now no longer a man but a God Which was onely for that he refused to accept the almes and offerings of the Emperour with whom he held not communion Let Baronius lay his hand vpon his heart and tell me truely what Optatus would haue said of our Pope of Rome now adayes seeing that he so much lifteth himselfe vp aboue the Emperour both in his decrees and in his actions but onely this That of a trueth he is that man of sinne foretold vnto vs which lifteth himselfe vp aboue God and causeth himselfe to be adored in the Temple of God 6. PROGRESSION What ambition was vsed in aspiring to the Popedome and what was the cause thereof IN the yeare 366 in the election of Damasus successor to Liberius An. 366. appeared plainely with what ambition and violence men aspired to the See of Rome The booke of the Popes saith That Damasus got it by hauing the stronger faction And Ruffin who liued at that time saith That about the choyce arose so great a tumult Liber Pontificalis quia fortior plurima multitudo erat Ruffin l. 1. c. 10. Marcellin l. 27 or rather an open warre whiles some maintained Damasus and others Vrsicin that the houses of prayer that is the churches floated with mans bloud But Ammianus Marcellinus telleth vs both the historie it selfe and also the cause thereof Damasus saith he and Vrsicin enraged with a desire of that Episcopall See drew the people into factions who thereupon grew first to blowes and afterward to murders So that Viuentius finding himselfe too weake either to represse or to appease them withdrew himselfe out of the citie in which conflict Damasus had the vpper hand and it is certaine that in the Church of Sicininus where the Christians vsed to meet at seruice there were left in one day 137 dead bodies and a hard matter it was for a long time after to assuage this enraged populace And thence it was that Ruffin called it an open warre And Marcellinus adding the cause For my owne part saith he I doe not wonder considering the brauerie of that citie if men ambitious of that place set vp their rest for the purchasing thereof for hauing once aspired thereunto they are sure to be enriched with the offerings of gentlewomen and ladies and to be carried in their coaches sumptuously attired and so magnificent in their feasts as passeth any kings table Whereas they might indeed bee truely happie if not regarding the greatnesse of the citie they would order their liues after the manner of other meaner Bishops who approue themselues to the immortall God and to his true worshippers by puritie of life by modestie of behauiour by temperance in meat and drinke poore apparell and lowlie eyes Whence the reader may perceiue and judge wherein consisted the difference betweene the Pope and other Bishops in those dayes yet Baronius glorieth in this pompe and pride of the Popes and taketh great pleasure in these feasts as one delighting to hold his nose ouer the pot Baron to 4. an 367. art 8. 9. Rex Sacrificulus Marcellinus saith he was a Heathen and therefore enuied to see our Soueraigne Pontife to surpasse their High Priest in pompe and glorie But he should haue remembred That this is a question not yet decided among the learned Whether he were a Pagan or a Christian and by his words it should seeme that he was a Christian Hieron Epist 61 The modester sort of Bishops saith he approue themselues to the immortal God and his true worshippers c. What now saith Baronius to all this Hierosme saith he in a certaine Epistle of his telleth vs of one Protextatus then Consull designed who was wont to say vnto Damasus Make thou me Bishop of Rome
tribunall seats of Iudges and the Courts of Princes are not sufficient to receiue the Monkes and Friers The cloysters are emptie the Gospell is shut vp and nothing more common in the mouthes of Ecclesiasticall persons than temporall all lawes c. And with the selfesame mind he writeth to the Cardinals preparing themselues to the Councell That they come not thither as he hath often seene it to sell their voyces thereby the better to helpe their luxurie which he there describeth to be princely exceeding that of Sardanapalus and that he had seene those that haue exulted for joy when they heare of a Synod as if the threshing time after Haruest were at hand This hee speakes of that part of the Church that held with Alexander the second which he himselfe defended which I thought good to tell you that no man might obiect that hee spake of the faction of Honorius the second whom he accounted schismatikes Wherefore being inuited by Alexander and violently incited by Hildebrand to be present at the Councell at Mantua against Honorius by whose good name they hoped to weaken the contrarie faction he falls to foule tearmes with them The Epistle is intituled Patri filio To the father and the sonne the Pope and the Archdeacon wherein wounding Hildebrand or rather the Pope through his sides An. 1064. I humbly beseech saith he my holie Diuell that he would be pleased not to be so cruell vnto me and that his venerable pride would not weare and wearie me with so long stripes but that he would become more mild vnto his seruant my shoulders beaten black and blew faile me and my backe is furrowed with stripes c. And therefore saith the Wise man the stroke of the rod makes markes in the flesh but the stroke of the tongue breaketh the bones But I represse my spirit and put my finger vpon my mouth and seeke for mercie thought it be late But let vs now come to the Opposition OPPOSITION The minoritie of Henrie the third was a great helpe to the Popes proceedings notwithstanding that Agnis the Regent and the Princes whose counsell she vsed to interrupt the prescription did alwaies something to maintaine their authoritie though it were not alwaies answerable to their desires A successour to Nicholas the second was to be thought of about which there arose a ciuile warre at Rome the voyces being diuided betwixt Alexander and Honorius The Romans in the middest of these tumults sent Embassadors to the Emperour lying then at Ausbourge and among others that man that had consecrated Alexander who requested his help against this vsurpation Auentinus L. 5. Annal. Baiorum ex antiquioribus Alexander say they troubleth all against the laws of our ancestors without your consent he vsurpeth the holy priesthood bought the Popedome of the Normans holds it by force he is a wolfe and a theefe not a Pastor a tyran not a Pope Behold here I am that enforced by the Normans God I take to witnesse consecrated him succour vs therefore speedily before this plague disperse it selfe any farther The Emperour therefore taking knowledge thereof sendeth Bocon the Bishop of Halberstat to enquire into the truth hereof who so long as the controuersie continued maintained Alexander in his place But Honorius hardly enduring that entreth with his power into Rome The Lombards defend Alexander the Normans Honorius and Rome is diuided the townes and other strong places of the citie parted betwixt the Popes But Godfrey of Lorraine who comaunded for the Emperour in Italie interposed himselfe by whose authoritie the Popes lay aside their armes and euerie Citizen betakes himself to his own home But presently calling them both before him You are saith he the Shepheards that are clothed with the wooll and nourished with the milke of those sheepe whom yee abuse who violate that peace pollute that pietie which Christ our Lord and Sauiour hath left vs Goe into Germanie to the Emperour and there decide the matter by Law not heere by armes who shall be Pope And so let him whom the Emperour Princes and Bishops shall iudge the more worthie enioy the Popedome peaceably without force Wherefore both of them consenting therunto the businesse is referred to the Synod at Mantua but yet so as Alexander being consecrated and possessed of the Temple of Lateran retayned still the name and title But both of them being impatient of delayes the Emperour being imployed in the warres of Hungarie by meanes whereof he could make no great speed to order and pacifie these matters each other by Synods in his owne faction excommunicated one another Insomuch that the Emperour being hardly thirteene yeares of age was faine to send Hanno the Archbishop of Collen and Wenceslaus of Altaich with diuers other Bishops and Princes to Mantua where Alexander yeelding himselfe to the law Honorius on the other side signified to Hanno That it became not the master to be taught by his disciples and that he would not come but as the Vicar of Christ and President of that Councell Hanno president of the Synod and representing the person of the Emperour answered him by the aduice of the Councell That he must obey the sentence of the Church and the masters of that Councell and submit himselfe to the diuine Oracle Whereupon Alexander being lawfully heard and because there wanted an accuser willed to purge himselfe by oath they pronounced him Pope who neuerthelesse as we haue seene took no great care of the imperiall dignitie These things fel out in the yere 1066. An. 1066. But so soon as Hildebrand without the knowledge of the Emperour had got the Popedome he who in the elections of his predecessors had beene often the author to chuse them without the consent of the Emperors not fearing to doe any thing resolued with himselfe to preuaile in this businesse after another manner than others had done Which forasmuch as Henrie the third was now more growne in yeares as it was an occasion of great tumults in Christendome so it inforced the truth out of many mens mouthes This onely man saith the Apologie of the Clergie of Liege in the yere 1066 Offered hard measure to the sacred Canons but let vs know how Apologia Cleri Leodiensi an 1066. He did it not as Gregorie the first who would not intermeddle with the death of the Lombards nor as all the Popes after him who by the example of Gregorie the first vsed the spirituall sword onely vntill Gregorie the last that is Hildebrand who was the first and by his example encouraged others to doe the like that armed himselfe against the Emperour Vntill this man came saith a graue writer the Popes were chosen by the Clergie the Nobilitie the people the Senat the Emperour ratifying their choice who had power to call them and other Bishops to Councels and was acknowledged by them according to that which the holie Fathers and Iesus Christ himselfe did and taught others to doe
of all the great men in the Land which then flourished eitheir in letters or armes obtaining so far by his diuine labour and zeale that truth from his mouth was harkened vnto by many embraced and receiued and happily preached for many yeares so as that light of the Gospell reuiued by his operations and endeauours no puff or whirle-wind could extinguish but rather it kindled vnto vs another fire all Europe ouer I forbeare to speake of the learning incomparable soliditie of his writings all which being duely wayed especially in so tenebrous an age amiddest so fearefull flashings and lightnings whereat the greatest Princes of the world stooped and trembled I thinke no man can justly make any doubt but that his spirit receiued illumination courage and confidence from aboue that God wrought in and by him and in the weakenesse of a wretched and abject man in respect of the world he intended the ruine of Sathans Empire of that same plenarie power so much boasted of and so long time affected by the Popes In so much as Luther seemes to haue spoken most worthily The bodies of the Saints rise againe when there is a resurrection of the Gospell of Iesus our Sauiour so as these pettie desperat Bishops are able to preuaile nothing at all against them with their Herods and Pylats All the Clergie out of doubt he wonderfully amazed and astonisht For Thomas Waldensis in his Epistle to Martine the fift spares not to tell how he wondered and admired at his irrefragible assertions at the perspicuous authorities and inconuincible reasons which he produced Thom. Waldens in Epist ad Martin 5. Thom. Walsingham in Rich. 2. Gulielm Caxtonius in Chron. Anno 1171 1372. alias fructus temporum And the Chronologers of those times seeme greatly to complaine that both king Edward and all his chiefe Counsellors gaue attentiue eare to him as also that the king was woon by him to enact by Parliament That the Bishops from thenceforth should be confirmed by their Metropolitans as in times past and not be tied vpon this occasion to goe personally to Rome But Waldensis mentions some particular men that in England entertayned his doctrine certaine Diuines and Masters of the Vniuersitie of Oxford Robert Rigg Chauncellour of the same Vniuersitie together with the two Proctors and many others whom he seuerally nominates In the Court the king himselfe and the Prince of Wales his son were his auditors Iohn Duke of Lancaster Lewis Clifford William Neuill Iohn Klenbow Richard Struny Thomas Latimer Iohn Montacute who defaced Images throughout all his jurisdiction Iohn of Salisburie who being at poynt of death rejected the Papisticall Sacrament with diuers others of the chiefest Nobilitie Besides Iohn of Northampton the Major of London and sundrie other notable Citizens and Burgesses who many times disturbed the Bishops assemblies and conuenticles which were called for the suppressing of Wickliff But so on the other side he wanted not many potent and mightie aduersaries among the Bishops Prelats Monkes but especially the Mendicants who after Edwards death obtained of Richard the second that Wickliff should be expelled England he therefore repairing into Bohemia brought a great light to the doctrine of the Waldenses when Iohn Hus being yet but a young man had diuers conferences with him about diuine matters But at length beeing recalled home againe from exile about the yeare 1387 the last of December An. 1387. he meekely in his Countrie yeelded vp his soule to God and was buried in the Church of Lutterworth within the Countie of Leicester not without a singular miracle shewed herein notwithstanding the implacable rage and furie of his aduersaries although in the yeare 1428 by Pope Martine the fifths order An. 1428. he was by the Prelats in England disinterred and burnt But God in his good time will re-demaund the bodies of his Saints of all the elements to whom he will then most gratiously communicat his hapinesse and glorie Amen Here we may also adjoyne the principall heads of Wicklifs doctrine as they are set downe by William Wydford his aduersarie who inuents many of them out of his owne braine the more to stir vp enuie against him but in a ward wee may boldly affirme that they are no other in substance then such as are receiued into the confessions of our Churches as may euidently bee seene in many treatises which are extant both in Latine and English Touching the Pope besides the points by vs premised he taught That in the Apostles time there were two only orders of Clerks those were Priests and Deacons for other degrees they proceeded from the pride of the Papacie That the Pope who counterfeitly professed himselfe to be the seruant of Gods seruants in the worke Euangelicall was of no place or degree but Sathans speciall Atturney and procurator that he might perpetually proiect and practise treason against Christ also that he was pointed at throughout all the Scriptures for Antichrist not his person simplie but the chaire and Papall dignitie from whence by meanes of the creeping in of all excesse and sensualitie confusion hath inuaded the Church how it was a most palpable heresie to beleeue that euerie militant Church in Europe depended on his See and authoritie That no man could ground out of the Scriptures how such a Vicar entred into the Church and therefore must needs haue come in otherwise by worldly courses and Sathans subtilties That Christ had neuer any meaning to constitute a Caesarian Pope one that should be both Pope and Emperour at an instant And therefore it belonged to Princes seriously to ioyne both their hearts and hands for the prohibiting of such a Sathan to beare rule in the church His principall Disciples in England grew verie famous both by edition of books and for Martyredome as Walter Bret Iohn Aston Iohn Ashwaly Nicholas Herford Iohn Puruer Richards Wits Iohn Oldcastle Peter Clarke William Taylor William With whose workes and labours Bale cites out of the auntient monuments the seed whereof brought forth afterwards the fruits into England which we both haue and daily see Thomas Walsingham specially notes Thomas Walsingham in Richarde 2. that when the Archbishop of Canterburie had sent Wicklifs condemnation to Robert Rigg Chauncellour of the Vniuersitie of Oxford to be diuulged he appointed them to preach that day whom he knew to be the most zealous followers of Wickliff in contempt saith he of the Archiepiscopall precept and among others he ordayned one Philip Rippinton a Chanon of Leycester to preach on Corpus Christi day who concluded his Sermon with these words For speculatiue doctrine saith he such as is the point of the Sacrament of the Altar I will set a barre on my lips while God hath otherwise instructed or illuminated the hearts of the Clergie The same Author sayth That in the yeare 1378 Pope Gregorie the eleuenth his Bull being presented and read at Oxford An. 1378. and seconded with expresse letters both to the
Court of Rome Secondly I will confute the writings and sayings thereof as erronious and lesse Catholike Thirdly I will declare out of most true grounds that the Court of Rome is wholly erronious and sick in the state of damnation c. And he handleth each of these in order At last after many complaints despairing that it would suffer reformation and much lesse that from it selfe any were to be expected The onely sonne of God saith Paul vouchsafe to reforme his Church himselfe And to shew that it was not his opinion alone he plainely saith in his Preface All men truely doe inwardly murmure but none crie out And the Doctors themselues that sat nere Boniface the ninth seeing this so manifest corruption partly could not dissemble it and partly were diuided in opinions concerning the remedie thereof Theodorick à Niem saith Many also skilfull in the Law Theodor. à Niem l. 2. c. 32. by reason of the continuation of Simonie in the Church of Rome in the time of the sayd Boniface would publiquely argue and hold That the Pope could not commit Symonie yea in benefices and goods Ecclesiasticall by interuention of gaine or couenant of money What will they not say as that harlot in the Apocalyps I sit as Queene neither can be a widow I cannot erre And what readier way is there vnto all mischiefe The Authour addeth Which seemed vnto me verie vniust seeing that at least it is vnciuile and against good manners if that which ought to be giuen gratis to persons worthie be gaunted for vile gaine of money to the vnworthie and that the Pope who is ouer all and from whom others ought to take example of life should be so defiled with such a crime not being able to punish another for that wherein himselfe offendeth for it is a shame for the Doctor that the fault should rebuke himselfe For this cause euen among the common sort the Popes authoritie is abased blamed and defamed namely in this saith he that dispensations which should bee done with great deliberation of his brethren he did them in his Chamber after the maner of Merchants being himselfe Bullator scriptor forsan numerator the maker of the Bulls the writer and teller of mony But he also addeth In his life time some Doctors in Diuinitie and others learned in the sciences grieuing that Symonie was so commonly and openly committed in the Court and that many Iurists and others obstinatly affirmed that it might be so done arguing to the contrarie determined conclusions which they reduced into volumes yet with great feare That the Pope in selling Ecclesiasticall benefices by bargaine made was a Simmoniack that is the successour of Simon Magus not of Simon Peter because he is not established for to sell them but to bestow them freely on persons worthie But in all Nations there arose vp some that passed further Vincent at Venice about the yeare 1400 An. 1400. a great Preacher and famous for holinesse who freely condemned all the Roman Hierarchie Prophetiae editae Parisijs in 8. ex varijs authoribus collectae ibi Epist S. V incentij affirming That religious persons that ought to be the way of lyfe vnto soules are throughout the world become vnto them the way of perdition That Priests fish for honours but not for maners That the bishops none excepted haue no care of the soules of their Diocesse That they sell the Sacraments for money yea he passeth so farre as to pronounce the Pope to be Antichrist himselfe In a certaine Epistle also printed at Paris entituled The Epistle of S. Vincent he saith That Antichrist is alreadie in the world whom he expected not to come from the Iewes or from auntient Babylon but alreadie beheld him raigning at Rome In Bohemia Mathius Parisiensis wrote a great volume de Antichristo where he proueth that he is come by this That fables and humane inuentions beare sway in the Church That images are worshipped Saints are adored in Christs stead euerie Citie and each person choseth out some one of them for to worship as their Sauiour whom by consequent they place in Christs seat That our Lord himselfe had fortold Loe here is Christ loe there That the Monkes themselues haue left him and haue sought vnto themselues other sauiours in whom they boast as Frauncis Dominick and others The word of God being neglected they bring in their Monkish rules That such like hypocrites raigning in the Church are those Locusts of which the Apocalyps speaketh Neither is it to be doubted but that Antichrist is come who hath seduced all the Vniuersities and all the Colledges of learned men so that they now teach nothing sound neither can they any more giue light to Christians by their doctrine But God hitherto as seed raised vp godly Doctors who inflamed with the spirit and zeale of Elias both refuted the errours of Antichrist and discouer him to the world And he inferteth in this Booke the opinions of many famous men nere to those times concerning this matter amongst whom he extolleth the Diuines of Paris who perceiuing the tares of the begging Friers to grow brought to light againe and published the booke of William de S. Amour Of the perils of the last times which before time Alexander the fourth had laboured to abolish These Doctors saith he in his Preface faithfull in Christ c. Whose multitude was then the health of the world acknowledging partly that most wicked Antichrist and his members and his â—â—â—re and parly prophesying for the time to come haue openly and nakedly reuealed these things for the holie Church and her gouernours to take heedof In England Iohn Puruey Disciple of Wickliff wrote many bookes in defence of his doctrine but among others a Commentarie vpon the Apocalyps the Title whereof was Ante centum annos There he openly saith Seuen yeares are passed since generally the Pope of Rome was published to be that great Antichrist by the Preachers of the Gospell namely from the yeare 1382. And behold how God worketh in our infirmities his owne glorie I neuer had written such like things against Antichrist and his if they had not imprisoned me for to make me hold my peace And then it was God infused his spirit into him so much the more that beeing deliuered he might speake so much the more boldly although by force of torments he had beene constrained by the Archbishop of Canterburie to abiure This booke was since set forth in Germanie in the yeare 1528 where he applieth that famous prophesie in the Apocalyps from point to point to the Church of Rome and out of the 10 and 11 chapters it is manifest that he wrot the same lying fettered with yrons in prison Lastly the Waldenses in this time euery where for the testimonie of the truth submitted themselues to the fire for in Saxonie and Pomerania in the yeare 1490 An. 1490. there were taken of them foure hundred and more and examined
the begging Friers ought to be bridled being burdensome to the people dammageable to spittles and hospitals and to other truely poore and needie wretches preiudiciall also to the Curats and poore of Parishes and likewise if it be well considered to all estates of the Church Those Preaching money-gatherers aboue all because they defile the Church with their lyes and make it ridiculous and the office of Preaching contemptible Monkes after the Canon of Chalcedon to be restrained in their monasteries to fastings and prayer excluded from Ecclesiasticall and secular affaires and to be debarred from all studies Diuinitie excepted seeing it is euident That the Court of Rome in contemning Diuines haue preferred to all Ecclesiasticall degrees the students of gainefull sciences when neuerthelesse the Primitiue Diuines haue edified the Church which some wrangling Lawyers haue destroyed and now seeme to bring to extreame ruine so that now this horrible prouerbe is vsed of some That the Church is come to that state that it is not worthie to be gouerned by any but reprobats Neither doe they withdraw themselues from the jurisdiction of Ordinaries against the holie Decrees by humane priuiledges obtained by importunitie For it is not a little to be doubted saith hee whether such men are in state to be saued All which things although they respect more the circumstance than the substance of Christian religion yet are they in no sort touched in that Councell Moreouer Petrus de Alliaco in Vesperijs this same Peter de Alliaco in his Questions hath disputed Vtrum Petri Ecclesia lege reguletur Whether the Church of Peter meaning the Roman may be ruled by a law where he concludeth affirmatiuely and subiecteth both the Pope and the Roman Church to a Councell Yet there wanted not at the same time euen in France it selfe busie spies of the Pope who maintained contrarie positions for in the yere 1429 one Frier Iohn Sarazenus of the order of Preachers durst teach and maintaine these same that follow First That all powers and iurisdictions of the Church which be other than the Papal power are from the Pope himselfe as touching their institution and collation 2. Such like powers are not de jure diuino of diuine right nor immediatly instituted of God 3. It is not found that Christ hath expressed such powers to wit different from the Papall but only that supreme power to whom hee hath committed the foundation of the Church 4. Whensoeuer any Statuees are made in any Councell the whole authoritie giuing force to those Statutes resideth in the Pope alone Fiftly It is not expresly shewed by the text of the Gospell That the authoritie of iurisdiction was bestowed on any of the Apostles sauing onely on Peter Sixtly To say that the power of iurisdiction of inferiour Prelats whether they be Bishops or Curats is immediatly from God like as is the Popes power is after a a sort repugnant to the truth Seuenthly Like as no flower no bud neither yet all flowers and buds together can doe any thing in the tree which are all ordained for the tree and deriued from the tree so all other powers can de jure by right doe nothing against the chiefe Priesthood or Priest being instituted by him Here after is said that the Spirituall power is the Pope as sayd Hugo de Sancto Victore 2 De Sacramentis out of which it may seeme that here by chiefe Priesthood hee meaneth the Pope Eightly That the Pope cannot commit Canonicall simonie prohibited by the positiue law The professors of Diuinitie in Paris being solemnely assembled on the eighth day of March and hauing duely weighed these positions condemne them publikely and compell the said Iohn to abiure them and force him to answer vnto others contrarie which here doe follow First That all powers of iurisdiction of the Church which are not the Papall power are from Christ himselfe as touching their primarie institution and collation but from the Pope and from the Church as touching their limitation and ministeriall dispensation Secondly Such like powers are de jure diuino of diuine right and immediatly instituted by God Thirdly It is found in holie Scripture that Christ hath founded the Church and hath expresly ordained the powers diuers from the Papall Fourthly Whensoeuer in any Councell any Statutes are made the whole authoritie giuing vigour to the Statutes resideth not in the Pope alone but principally in the holie Ghost and in the Catholike Church Fiftly By the text of the Gospell and by the doctrine of the Apostles is expresly shewed That the authoritie of iurisdiction was bestowed on the Apostles and on the Disciples sent of Christ Sixtly To say that the power of iurisdiction of inferiour Prelats whether they be Bishops or Curats is immediatly from God is consonant to the Euangelicall and Apostolicall truth Seuenthly Any power that is to say of the Church by right may doe something and in certaine cases against the Pope Eightly Any whosoeuer that is but meere man hauing the vse of reason of whatsoeuer dignitie authoritie and preheminence yea though he be a Pope may commit simonie Lastly If I haue vttered or written any other things which seeme contrarie to the foresayd truthes or which are otherwise written I will not stand in them but will and entreat that they be accounted for not sayd or written and all other things whatsoeuer which may seeme to yeeld occasion of scandall or errour The Acts of all which are solemnely kept in the Arches of the Sorbone The Councell of Basil was able perhaps to take in hand a reformation with more courage than that of Constance but it had Eugenius to contend with who as before we haue seene defended stoutly euen the least articles so that by admonitions gaine sayings and oppositions he left nothing vnattempted Notwithstanding the historie of the Councell of Basil written by Aeneas Syluius then Clerke of the Ceremonies who was there present and since Pius the second and therefore a most fit witnesse assureth vs that many things were there grauely pronounced according to the truth although he plainely sheweth that Eugenius had intruded into it many of his which were incorporated and had taken oath in the Councell and yet neuerthelesse in all things tooke the part of Eugenius who were vulgarly named the Grisean sect An. 1438. In the yeare then 1438 when Eugenius had assigned his Councell at Ferrara to the preiudice of that of Basil the Emperour Albert came in betweene to be a mediator of peace and for that intent assembled a Parliament first at Norimberg and after at Mentz wherein were present the Deputies of the Councell of Basil of all nations in Eugenius name appeared none in shew yet verie many in deed who set forward his intention The Fathers of Basil consented that for the commoditie of the Greekes the place of the Councell should be changed Eugenius for to retaine his authoritie would haue the Councell of Basil bee dissolued In the meane
than milke more splendent than precious stones or polished Saphires but now their face is blacker than a coale and they are not knowne to wit for good By this deformation and spot of the Court and of Clergie-men especially of the Prelats Ecclesiasticall censure seemeth to be weakened and obedience diminished Why is this but for the contemptible life and workes of Prelats because they seeke their owne and not what is Iesus Christs But the reformation and amendment hereof belongeth to the Pope who as head of the rest ought to performe it De Censi Rom. l. ◠Q. 7. Cum Pastoris 6. q. 1. ex merito 1. q. 1. Fertur ver Hinc igitur and diligently looke to it But he that would correct others ought first looke to himselfe and them that be about him Because the life of the Pastour is an example to others And if the head languish the rest of the members are infected and when the Pastor is wounded who will applie the medicine to cure the sheepe Whereupon when the Physitian is sicke it will be said vnto him Cure thy selfe c. And to this purpose he bringeth many Canons Of Indulgences So often as sayth hee the Pope went forth in publike on some feastiuall day was giuen a plenarie Indulgence against the custome of auncient Popes notwithstanding that by such vndiscreet and superfluous Indulgences the keyes of the Chruch are contemned and penitentiall satisfaction weakened De poenis remiss c. Cum ex eo § Ad haec Out of this consideration it followeth that about giuing of expectatiue graces greater consideration ought to be had and not thus giuen euerie where on all sides and indifferently because by so great a multitude and confusion for the most part benefices are granted to persons vnworthie great matter of contention ariseth thereby Againe By the euill example and scandall which they giue to Lay men they seeme that they are come to this that S. Bernard speaketh in his sermon vpon these words of the Gospell I am the good shepheard And because it is verie long let the Reader take the paines to see it in the booke it selfe wherein he discourseth of all the corruptions of the Roman Church in his time At Padoua taught Anthonie Rozel a famous professor of the Ciuile Law who in his booke of Monarchie affirmeth That the Pope is not Lord of the world That he hath no power ouer the Emperor no temporall sword neither any authoritie aboue other Bishops There is extant besides other Treatises of the same Author Of the power of the Emperor and of the Pope and of both the swords and of the authoritie of Councels printed at Venice in the yeare 1487. Neither feared also Roderick Sanchio a Spaniard Bishop of Zamora Roderic Zamorens in speculo vitae humanae excuso Argetorti apud Iohan Pris An. 1507. and Referendarie of Paul the second to say in his booke Of the Myrror of mans life That the Pope doth not applie himselfe to wisedome nor to laudible studies neither for the peace and quiet of Christian people but onely vnto earthlie things That the Prelats doe not neither can teach for that they are altogether vnlearned giuen to their bellie and to whoredome and yet bind on the backes of poore Christians diuers insupportable burdens of traditions which in the Primitiue Church either were not at all or were left to mens libertie In the Primitiue Church saith he the faithfull were not bound with the commandements censures and pains of so many Canons Decrees Neither were there then so many snares of laws constitutions of excommunications or censures from which the faithfull though neuer so careful fearful can by no means be safe or warrant themselues There was not so many fasts cōmanded nor vigils nor silences nor Diuine Seruice for day and night enioyned daily to be sayd Lastly there was not so many feasts to be kept nor so often confession and communication of the bodie of Christ nor so many obediences to be yeelded c. So that of the Prelats of the Church may be rightly sayd that of Christ Which bind vnsupportable burdens c. Whence saith he if any of the like things were obserued in the Primitiue Church it was onely voluntarie which as then was no sinne to transgresse because it was not then forbidden And yet notwithstanding this same wretch was not ashamed to flatter Paul the second in the same booke That the Pope is not onely ordained to humane principalitie but to diuine Jdem cap. 1. l. 2. neither to commaund onely ouer men but also ouer Angels not for to iudge the quicke onely but the dead not in earth alone but in heauen also not to rule ouer the faithfull onely but ouer Infidels Aduanced saith he to that verie same dignitie to that same iurisdiction and power and to the principalitie ouer the whole world So that hee blushed not to applie vnto him the places of tha Prophets and of the Psalmes which the holie Ghost hath onely spoke and meant of the onely Sonne of God and he most highly extolleth him aboue that stammering Moses and his brother Aaron both together So that truth and flatterie two contraties proceed out of one and the same mouth In Germanie Herman Ried wrot a booke wherein he represented the corrupt maners of the Clergie by a comparison of what they ought to bee Herman Ried de vita honestate Clericorum and what in his times they then were There are saith he many Clergie-men who follow not the counsell and sentences of the Fathers receiue not the holie Scripture but despise the canons of the holie Fathers These are They which hate and deride vnderstanding and Catholike men who weigh the grieuousnesse of the crimes of the Clergie and endeauour with watchfulnesse to crie out against their false dealing Yea they affirme them to be fantasticall men Hierome de norma viuendi c. 5. disturbers of the peace hauing corrupt and polluted consciences c. And so is verified of them that saying of S. Hierome There is not a crueller beast in the world than an euill Clergie-man or Priest for he suffereth not himselfe to be corrected neither will he euer heare the truth c. Such and the like are by their Prelats permitted publikely so to liue Prouided that they giue euerie yeare a certaine sum of money to their Officials Moreouer how many are there publikely tainted with Simonie insomuch that not being able to conceale their simonie to shift if off they expresse it with other tearmes persuade themselues that so the word simonie be not heard it wil not be perceiued It is say they an ordinance or statute of the Church Others more subtilly to shift it off doe say That the Pope doth it by his fulnesse of power who may in such things dispence admit and ordaine And that then it is simonie and sinne onely when the Pope did forbid it or ordaine
Decree of the Councels of Constance and Basil But Pope Pius the fift caused all his workes to be gelded by Thomas Manriques as may be seen in the librarie of Posseuin the Iesuite who gathered those notes But truely as it was a most grieuous vniuersall euill yet in diuers nations there openly shewed themselues both notable men who acknowledged that tyrannie and also whole corporations that rightly and formally opposed themselues against it In Germanie Bernard de Lublin writing to Simon of Cracouia in the yeare 1515 against the Popes Primacie maintained That it cannot bee that any one man should commaund the whole world That it is sufficient to saluation to embrace the faith of Christ alone That they which neuer heard any thing of the Pope are not the lesse for all that saued That we must stand to the Gospell and lay aside the traditions of men without which saluation may consist but it is a miserable condition of Christians who for the Decrees of men may not giue their assent to the manifest truth the Popes flatterers persuading them That it is not to be endured that any thing should be spoken of them though in a right good and honest zeale whilest in the meane time themselues take libertie to speake against whatsoeuer they list In the Vniuersitie of Erford Sebastian Brand Doctour of Diuinitie and Preacher of the Cathedrall Church of Strasbourg in the yeare 1508 publikely inueighed against Roman Indulgences in these words Deare friends we should this Whit-Sunday haue opened vnto you our wares but here is a Merchant-stranger who boasteth he hath better when he shall be departed hence we will vnfold ours namely the doctrine of the Gospell after the sellers of Indulgences were gone And the same against satisfactions which are performed by other mens workes We haue some which goe to church which pray which sing which mumble ouer their portueis which celebrat Masses for vs but who will goe into hell in our stead This in his Sermon which of many remaineth vnto vs for it is a wonder that they haue left vs any but he was for this occasion driuen away and retired himselfe to Magdebourg chiefely because he was woont to say to his Auditors The time will come when the Gospell shall be read vnto you out of the booke it selfe some of you shall see it Ioh. Alman de domineo naturali Ciuili Ecclesiastico but I shall not liue till then Iames Alman Doctour of Diuinitie in his booke set forth at Colonia 1514 of the Popes power against Thomas de Vio after Cardinall Caietan Legat of Leo for the collection of Tenths Of Indulgences by name It seemeth not to me that the power of binding and loosing ought to be extended to them that be in Purgatorie seeing that wheresoeuer in the Gospell it is promised or giuen it is sayd Whatsoeuer thou shalt bind on earth and whatsoeuer thou shalt loosse on earth super terram mention is neuer made of them that are departed out of this life And hence it followeth that the soules which are in Purgatorie cannot be loossed from payne by bestowing of Indulgences but indeed by suffrages What shall then become of all the Iubilies whereby for so many thousands of yeares true remission by Popes is promised for the deceased And Ludolfe Castrik Curat of S. Michaell at Magdebourg preaching against Indulgences admonished the people to aske remission of sinnes at Gods hands for Christs sake alone giuing them hope of a reformation whereby they should shortly be taken away And Conradus Celtes at Vienna a most learned man in his time many of whose writings yet remaine was excommunicated for that he condemned the Roman Hierarchie and doctrine but being borne out by the Emperour Maximilian he made little account of it Wee read likewise that about this time in Germanie arose one that was held for a Prophet who ran about from Church to Church preaching repentance to Christians and that vnlesse they obeyed and repented they shold vtterly perish Joseph Grundperg in specuto Visionis impresso Norimbergae Anno 1508. these were his words Awake O yee Christians out of the heauie sleepe of wickednesse and blacke darkenesse of death and circumcise your eares and your hearts for to heare with attention my words For yee haue cast the law of the Lord into the takes and his words into the filthy sinkes of obliuion and contempt c. Yee haue wasted the patrimonie of Christ on harlots and haue also fulfilled your vnbridled lusts in adulteries and incests and your insatiable couetousnesse with thefts and sacriledges Lastly the Temple of God by your wickednesse and great iniquitie is made a stewes and the house of theeues and robbers in which soundeth forth not hymmes of prayses to the king of heauen but blaspemies c. In Fraunce in the beginning of that age a little after the yeare 1500 flourished Iames Faber of Estaples a man of excellent learning and knowledge but chiefely in Diuinitie Auentine testifieth that he had heard him sixe hundred times together with Iosse Clithou Doctour of Diuinitie his Master saying That Lumbard had confounded and troubled the trueth and the most pure fountaine of holie doctrine with contaminated and muddie questions and streames of opinions But his Psalter printed in the yeare 1508 and his Commentaries on the Gospels and Epistles of S. Paule doe testifie what his judgement was in many principall points of Christian Religion by occasion of which he was so vexed by the Sorbonists brought to that trouble in his old age such was their rage that king Frauncis then prisoner in Spaine was forced to write from thence for his safegard in fauour of his learning And there need no further proofe thereof vnto vs than this Index Expurgat Hispanic fol. 110. vsque ad 111. 120. That the Diuines of Spaine in their Index Expurgatorius in our time commaunded many places and whole Pages to be raced out in the later editions aboue all that his Commentarie vpon S. Iohn should be wholly abolished because it could not be well amended That is to say because all of it wholly repugned against their corruptions traditions inuentions presumptions of men and imaginarie authorities About the same time grew into reputation William Budè of Paris Master of requests to king Frauncis the first who in many places of that famous booke de Asse describeth the state of the Church in his time The Clergie men in all sorts of vices wickednesse and wanton dissolutenesse worse than the worst of the people the Prelats ignorant enemies of learning hauing no care of the saluation of Christians whom they contrariwise cast headlong into hell both by their ill teaching them and by beeing vnto them examples of all wickednesse moreouer Epicures and Libertines and worse if may be He saw in his time with what violence the Pragmaticall sanction was shaken Therefore after hee had discoursed that the riches of his time was nothing to that of
who seeth not that the sacred Canons made in better times to direct as the rules of the Clergie and to fashion posteritie by the prescriptions of the Fathers are now become leaden rules such as in times past as sayth Aristotle were the Lesbian rules of building For as leaden rules and soft giue not euen direction for the right frame of building but being flexible are applied according to the commoditie and pleasure of the builders so we see that the Popes Canons by vse of the Rulers of the Church are made flexible as lead or wax so that now of a long time the Institutions of the Fathers and Decrees of Popes are not vsed for the gouernement of manners but applied for the getting in of money But the Iesuites thought they had found out a fit remedie when by their Spanish Index Expurgatorius Index Expurgat Hispan fol. 97. Budaeus de Tranlat Hellenismi l. 2. they commaunded all these places to be rased out But wee will adde yet this ouer and aboue out of another Treatise The auncientnesse or rather worme-eatennesse of the Canons is now of no more vse but as a doting old woman is cast out of the pleading place and reiected to the deskes of Libraries for the Canonicall discipline of the holie Ghost is long agoe cast downe from the bridge of our assemblies he alludeth to the Latine prouerbe being more than sixtie yea than six hundred yeares old c. Would to God that of this faith now almost buried we held at least but the reliques and ashes in regard of which faith God called the dispensers and disposers thereof his faithfull who inspired of God full of godlie zeale of the spirit and of God himselfe in times past were the pillars honour and ornament of the Church now and of a long time hardly retaineth it tectorium inane Ecclesiae a slight plaistering ouer of the Church the colour and image of religion instituted and taught by Christ if wee will iudge of the whole by the greatest part And he had told vs a little before the reason The ship of sociable and ciuile discipline hath beene left vnto vs by Christ the builder of the Church which hath been furnished by him or by his authoritie and direction with all manner of necessarie prouision and he hath promised vs wind in the poupe to bring the passengers to their wished hauen if the Church had continued to hold the rudder vpright and to receiue into her sayles the blowing of the spirit namely consulted the Scriptures which proceeded from the holie spirit Among the Italians was then admirable Iohn Picus Earle of Mirandula whose workes were printed in the yeare 1504 An. 1504. Joh. Picus in Conclus secund Thom. 14 20 Secund. Scotum 15. Picus in Apologia cap 3. Among the nine hundred Propositions which he publikely disputed at Rome are these The true bodie of Christ is locally in heauen sacramentally on the Altar By the power of God one same bodie cannot be in diuers places at one time to wit because there would be implication of contradiction which he maintained out of Thomas Aquinas Also according to Scotus By these words precisely This is my bodie without expressing the words going afore to wit The day before he suffered consecration cannot be made because consecration dependeth not of certaine words but on Christs institution And when the Doctors of Paris had reprehended this his Proposition Neither the Crosse nor any Image is to bee worshipped with the worship of Latria also in that manner that Thomas setteth downe In his Apologie he maintaineth that the same is Catholike and the contrary false When also they had condemned his Theses of the Eucharist he vnderttook to defend That without conuersion of the bread into the bodie of Christ and the annihilation of the same the bodie of Christ is present according to the truth of the Sacrament Yet euer to keepe himselfe from being mistaken he spake of what is possible not of what is done No doubt if he had beene free he would haue spoken more freely In a certaine Epistle of his to the Emperour Maximilian in the yeare 1500 Alexander the sixt raigning Pope he sheweth indeed with what feruentnesse he was carried to a reformation I beseech thee saith he by the faith and pietie I possibly can that thou accomplish that thy most holie purpose of setting the Christian Commonwealth into her auntient libertie so soone as possibly may be It is shaken by outward enemies rent in peeces by inward and this sheepe-fold enclosed about and consecrated by the bloud of Iesus Christ hath suffered and doth daily suffer much worse from wolues in sheepes cloathing than from the wolues that assaile it in their owne skinne Set therefore your hand vnto it most excellent Emperour and excite thereunto by all meanes the Christian kings shew thy selfe a faithfull minister to Christ the King of kings who will presently deliuer his sheepe both from enemies and from perfidious Pastors But the euent answered not his prediction Ioh. Franc. fide ordine credēdi Iohn Francis also his brothers sonne degenerated not from him In that conflict betweene the Councell of Pisa and of Lateran handling this question In matters of Faith which is to be preferred the Pope or the Councell he answereth out of the Decree it selfe It is written in the Glosse of the Decretalls Distinct 19. The Pope is bound to require a Councell of Bishops when matters of faith are treated of and then the Councell is greater than the Pope Wherupon the Archdeacon of Bononia approuing this Glosse saith It were a dangerous thing to commit our faith to the iudgement of one man And S. Bernard speaketh in the same sence saying What greater pride can there be than that one man should preferre his iudgement before a whole congregation as if he alone had the holie Spirit And after he had sayd that the greater number ought to carrie it away from the lesser caeteris paribus But sayth he if the greater part would decree any thing against the diuine Scriptures and against those things that cannot be violated without grieuous sinne the rest which are the lesser part holding the contrarie the lesser number ought to be stucke vnto as it happened in the Councell of Arimini and in the second Ephesine Councell Yea which is more a plaine rusticke fellow children and sillie old women are rather to be beleeued than the Pope and a thousand Bishops if these speake against the Gospell and those for the Gospell Handling also this question Theorem 4. Whether Councels or Popes may erre out of him is easily decided seeing he presupposeth that they might erre from the holie Scriptures hee sheweth that many Councels haue erred many Popes fallen into heresie and it hath often fallen out that he which was accounted chiefe President of the Church either did not preside or gouerne by right or else could not preside at all For saith he Historie teacheth