Reputation and of Merit as people told me and I believed so seeing his Air and his Behaviour In a matter of 8 days I should hear the secret History of him which was a horrible one The Heros of this Court are as Tacitus says of Mucian people compounded of great Vertues and great Vices Mucianus Luxuria Arrogantia Comitate Industria bonis malisque artibus mixtus These are brave worldly men but for Religion most certainly they have none at all I am of the Opinion That staying in this place is very dangerous for an honest man and people do complain both in Germany and in England that their young people that travel come back from thence lost in Debauchery and Impiety That which preserved me from the Contagion of this place was that I went with an honest and a simple mind however not very ignorant for I had finished my studies This it was that disgusted me at all the disorders and licentiousness I saw there and gave me a horror for all their pleasures Perhaps I should have done like other people if I had not been so stiff and resolute To free my self from the perplexity I was in about Religion through the disorder and irregularity of this Court that is esteemed the Center of Religion from whence according to this supposition there ought to shine forth nothing but Sanctity Purity Humility Charity and Zeal for the salvation of men Contempt of the Grandeurs and Riches of the World with a continual application to the instruction of the people and where I saw nevertheless nothing in the stead of these Vertues but Licentiousness Ambition and Superstition with a horrible Ignorance in the people I then formed a Design to instruct my self and to know a little better the Principles of the Christian Religion And I desired for that end a French Abbot with whom I lodged to lend me a Latin New Testament which he had and which he read but seldom I read it with attention twice over from one end to the other which set my mind in better condition than it was before The more I read the more I was inwardly comforted but I was the more enraged against what I saw without being able to find the least solution to the impossibility that there appeared to me to be in the Popes being the Universal Vicar of Jesus Christ upon Earth and Head of the Church Catholick I there quickly found the principal Articles of Religion established in many places and often in express terms one only Head of the Church Jesus Christ of whom the Church is the Body and Believers the Members one only Spouse of the Church one only Bishop of Bishops but not one word neither far nor near of the Pope and Cardinals nor any thing that had any relation to them Besides all places there were full of Examples and Exhortations to Humility to Piety to Chastity and to Charity The Master and Disciples there spoke continually of renouncing the World its Grandeurs Vanities Pleasures Riches and above all against the Spirit of Domination But in the Popes and in their Court I found Maxims that were quite contrary I sometimes entertained the Abbot who was an honest man and very sociable with the trouble that this Authority of the Popes gave me He laughed at it and gave me pleasing Answers owning one part of what I objected and for the rest he gave me Reasons which to me were not very sufficient One day when I pressed him a little more than ordinary not knowing what to answer me he told me That if I would read Bellarmin I should there find many Reasons that would resolve my Doubts So that I hired one which I read over and over upon this Subject without finding any thing that gave me the least satisfaction There were passages of Scripture wrested with great violence which touched not the question or else were contrary to it and the forc'd sense that he gave them was always directly contrary to the Genius of the Gospel and opposite to other passages of Scripture whereof I had made a great Collection and agreed not at all with the Maxims and with the Example of Jesus Christ and of his Apostles It is true there were some Humane Reasons which at first might seem plausible but besides that they had not that weight which those had which the Scripture furnished with against him they tended to establish a Worldly and Temporal Dominion in the Church and renewed the Error of those Jews who believed that the Reign of the Messias ought to be accompanied with worldly Pomp and Splendor and to be exercised with great Authority and with fleshly Arms for this was the Sum of what he endeavoured to prove That Monarchical Government is the most advantagious in the World and by consequence that the Church ought to be governed by the Soveraign Orders of only one man who is the Pope who hath the power to exterminate Kings and all those who will not submit themselves to him This confirmed me in the Opinion I had before seeing that so subtil a Wit as Bellarmin a man so well versed in Antiquity and that had so much interest in the thing could find out nothing at all to maintain this Opinion At length I went into Germany where after Eight or Nine Months travelling I came to Cologne where I had a great desire to inform my self farther and to know if the Papacy had a great while ruled in the Church and how long since Whether or no the Ancient Doctors of the Church had heard it spoken of and what they thought of it I applied my self then to examine some of the Fathers upon this Article and that I might the sooner have done I consulted them upon those places of Scripture which the Popes make use of to see if the Fathers understood them as they do I found in examining them that they explained them in a manner quite contrary to the Pope's Pretensions This made me certainly conclude that the Papacy must have been set up in the Church by some violent stroke or else by small beginnings and by degrees as it ordinarily falls out in Usurpations which are made either altogether by a greater force or else by little and little and that this Usurpation had been seconded and favoured by people who saw there was not like to be any great resistance and they made their advantage of it through mens ignorance After that another thing that gave me a great deal of trouble was how to separate the Article of the Papacy from the Verities of the Catholick Faith so that the Infallibility of the Church as I understood it might not be prejudiced Thinking on this then often in my unquiet mind I resolved farther to consult the Scripture and the Fathers upon the passages ordinarily alledged to prove the Infallibility of the Church and I found that they did not understand them as I did But because I knew what made the Cardinals and other people employ the utmost
of their ingenuity in Defence of the Popes Authority and that I saw not well what Advantage they could draw from the Infallibility of the Church which they maintained with so much ardor that doubled my attention to sound the depth of the matter and I found that by the help of this Infallibility they would conceal every thing so as to save the Popes Authority and all the Temporal Advantages which flow from it and I made no further doubt of it when I saw they applied it particularly to the Clergy excluding all the people and many men to the Pope alone excluding all other Bishops Since these Discoveries I have always held it as a Maxim wherein I have never been deceived which is That when any practice or Custom in the Church brings profit or honour to the Ecclesiasticks I presently suspect and examine it At length having a long time reflected upon all the abuses of this Papal Authority and having observed the Deplorable condition to which it hath reduced the Christian Religion as well without as within the Church and seeing it was that which having driven the Greeks and Protestants out of the Church is still the cause why they return not again unto its Communion and that it even draws strange Persecutions upon the Church from these scattered sheep by reason of the attempts of the Court of Rome and its favourers I at last resolved to publish this little Treatise to disabuse mankind in respect of the unjust and criminal Devotion which they have for the Papacy and also to purge the Church of it as well as of all other vices and misfortunes it hath there caused being perswaded that an Infallible fruit of this Reformation would be the Conversion of the Greeks Protestants Pagans Jews and Mahometans not to mention the Honour it would do to all the Catholick Princes whose Majesty and Greatness are vilified by this shameful subjection to and dependance on the Popes which make them to be despised by other Princes who have freed themselves from their Tyranny A Senator of Sweden told me one day a very good saying of Tacitus to this purpose Viri muliebria patiuntur Men act the parts of women which is as much as to say they are the Catamites of the Popes However since it is in their power to treat those as Hereticks and Enemies of the Church who oppose their Ambition and Interest I prepare my self against it and that doth not at all discourage me It is more Honourable to be hated by such people than loved Illi maledicent at tu Domine Benedices I know the Reader will in this Work of mine presently look after the Caracters of either Jansenist Calvinist or Lutheran or lastly of a man who could not be promoted to Benefices and many times he will think he hath found me As for Benefices I might perhaps have had one if I had had a mind to it but by the Grace of God I will have none nor have I need of any nor was I ever designed for it The Jansenists are as yet too much Papists to speak ill of the Papacy As for the Calvinists and Lutherans I wish they could be brought to own the opinions which I do and which I have no mind to betray in this my Book It is true they have both written often against this power but not with design that the Catholick Religion should be the better for it to which this Work wholly tends Whatever men will judg I think I ought not to renounce any truth because the Hereticks know it nor to put my eyes out rather than see the Injustice of the Papacy because the Hereticks see it If I had not here drawn the Picture of the Jesuits Religion it may be those they call the Jansenists would have suspected them to have been the authors of it as the present times go and for the Calvinists I am sure that in many places they will say that I do but gild over the Pill that they may the more easily swallow down the poyson as some people have said of the Book of Mr. de Condom they may judg of it what they please I have followed the sentiments which the reading of the Holy Scripture hath inspired me with and in which I am confirmed the more by reading the Fathers and the Ecclesiastical History and by making reflection upon all that I have seen in foreign Countries and upon what I see every day here If the Romanists hear this Work spoken of they will say without doubt as heretofore at the Council of Trent when Mr. de Faber made Remonstrances on the Kings behalf concerning the disorders of the Church Gallus Cantat they cried I have no better answer than what he made them Vtinam ad Galli cantum Petrus resipisceret let them come and renounce the Dominion and Tyranny they exercise over the Church and over the World and let our Bishops for time to come behave themselves like worthy Successors of this Apostle This Work shall be divided into Three Parts which will contain so many Chapters In the first I shall prove that the Papacy hath no foundation in the Word of God and shall shew the vanity folly of those arguments which they pretend to draw from the Gospel In the second I shall make it appear that the Primitive Church never knew it and that in the darkest Ages there were ever some who opposed it and I shall confute many human reasons which for want of the Scripture and of the Fathers are made use of for its defence And in the third and last I shall examine all the pretended advantages which this Authority procures to the Church or to States and I shall shew that 't is so far from bringing any real good to the Church or to Catholick States that it is the cause of the Desolations of the Church and of the greatest part of the Disorders among all Christians of Ignorance Heresies Schisms and Irreligion that reign No man ought to be surprised that I conceal who I am in so perverse an age as we live in where Truth and Honesty as well as those who profess it are exposed to cruel Persecutions and wherein I shall have as many mortal enemies as there are worldly Catholicks and Papists and people in possession of Benefices without mentioning the Monks I have no reason to flatter my self with any great success this Book may have by reason of the extream disorder and irreligion of the Age and I do it more to discharge my self of the load lying upon me and for the consolation of my own mind than for any other thing as heretofore Petrarch said upon a like occasion Haec scribo non tam ùt saeculo meo prosim cujus tam desperata miseria est quam ut me conceptis onerem Animum scriptis soler I write these things not so much to profit the age I live in whose misery is so desperate as to unburthen my self of my own thoughts
every thing without whom no man can have neither life motion nor being such a King I say hath no need of a Vicar-General for the Spiritual Government of the Church because he is present in all places no more than an Husband needs a Vicar for his Wife or a living Father for his Children and that he himself assureth us that where two or three are gathered together in his name there will he be in the midst of them If he hath a Vicar-General he can be no other than the Holy Ghost We also see that when he was upon the point of leaving his poor Disciples who were afflicted by reason of his approaching departure from them he tells them not I will leave you the Pope to guide and govern you which had been but a poor consolation But I will send you the Comforter who shall lead you in all truth And if we consider in what the administration of this Spiritual Kingdom doth consist we shall clearly see that no one mortal man can be the Vicar-General of it Can one only man preach the Gospel and administer the Sacraments all the world over They tell you that he will make it be done by others would to God the Popes would do so but these Delegated Preachers would be thus the Popes Vicars who pretends to be the Vicar of Jesus Christ and sometimes of St. Peter which cannot be according to all the Canonists who maintain that one Vicar cannot make another besides that the Ecclesiastical Ministry properly speaking cannot be subdelegated to Vicars for whosoever discharges it ought always to perform it in Preaching or Exâ—rcising the other Episcopal Functions in the name of Jesus Christ and not in the name of any creature and a man must be a fool or a seducer to do otherwise A meer man as the Pope is can he fill the souls of men with peace and joy in the Holy Ghost which is the Kingdom of Jesus Christ Can he defâ—nd the Church against all its enemies visible and invisible Can he give the Crown of Righteousness to those who shall be victorious and faithful to God to the death Can he raise them up again These are Acts of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ over his Church What relation hath the Dominion of the Pope to that of Jesus Christ What resemblance between light and darkness between Jesus Christ and Belial Thus it is evident that it is without any foundation that the Bishops of Rome boast of being Vicars of Jesus Christ thâ—y are no more so then the meanest Priest of the Church and it was with reason that the Council of Basil maintained to them that they were not Vicars of Jesus Christ but of the Church as every Curate is in his Parish Pontifex Vicarius Ecclesiae non Christi Nevertheless they maintain that St. Peter had this Employ of Universal Vicar that he was Head of the Apostles and of the whole Church Bishop of Bishops Soveraign both of Spirituality and Temporality Monarch of the Church and of the World. In a word that he had all the Prerogatives that the Popes at this present time enjoy in quality of Successors of St. Peter And that as I have said without being able to produce so much as one word of the Creation and Institution of this Charge so important to the Church if you will believe them nor of the Rights of this Charge nor of the Succession nor of the manner of the Election nor how so marvellous a Charge ought to be Exercised nor of the respect and obedience due to this Vicar nor of the use of his Office. They affirm boldly that St. Peter was at Rome that he was Bishop there That he founded that Church That he died there and left a Successor who was called Clement or Linus or Anacletus of which things tho they make the Salvation of all men to depend upon them they are not able to prove one tittle And they do affirm that this Successor entered into the full possession of all the Priviledges of St. Peter to which all the Bishops of that City have ever since equally succeeded both good and bad unto the present Pope Innocent the Eleventh It must be readily acknowledged that these Gentlemen must have very penetrating understandings to make these discoveries from the Gospel for it is certain that they are wholly imperceptible there I have sometimes read it without ever finding any thing that was at all like it and I think I saw clearly that St. Peter never knew he had this Authority but that on the contrary he believed that no Christian whatever much less a Bishop ought to have it in the Church nor did the other Aâ—ostles know it any more than he for somewhat of it would then appear and they who protest they have made known to us the whole will of God would have been extreamly to blame not only to have declared nothing of it to us but also to have always spoken and acted with their Soveraign Head and Master as with an Equal And St. Paul would have lost all manner of respect for him when he so warmly reproved him It seems probable also that our Saviour was obliged to have given them notice of it for naturally they could not know it and the Modesty Charity and Humility of St. Peter might have hindred him from declaring and exercising this Empire over them yet it is certain that there is nothing like this to be found Nevertheless this doth not hinder but that the Pope and Cardinals whose eyes their own interest opens as it blinds other peoples have in their own opinions found very strong proofs of it in the New Testament They say for example that our Saviour changed only St. Peter's name the reason as you see is without reply for it follows very necessarily from thence that St. Peter was the Head and King of the Church But unluckily he also changed the names of the Children of Zebedee They say also that he is sometimes named the first but if he be not so always this will signifie nothing to them but tho he had been always so this would not prove that he had authority over the others as the Pope hath over the other Bishops Amongst the Presidents the first hath no power over the others nor amongst the Electors of the Empire the Elector of Mentz who hath the first place hath no authority over the other Electors and so in all Societies the Primacy carries no dominion along with it But besides if that reason should take place the Holy Virgin who is sometimes named the last in Scripture would be greatly degraded from the place that belongs to her If St. Peter were always named the first that might have been given to his Age as the Fathers say and in truth we ought to attribute it to this that our Saviour spoke so often to him as well as to the fervency of his zeal which as we ought to admire and commend so also may
Subjectionalis Obedientiae And he maintains with good reason in another place Si per possibile Treverinus Archiepiscopus per Ecclesiam Congregatam pro Praeside Capite Eligeretur Ille proprie plus Successor esset Beati Petri in Principatu quam Romanus Episcopus That if it were possible that the Arch Bishop of Treves could be chosen Head of the Church by a General Council he would be a more lawful Successor of St. Peter than the Bishop of Rome which shews that in his time no Council had declared the Bishop of Rome as such Besides these words if it were possible shew that he belioved not that the Church could dispose of such a thing Gerson was also of this Opinion for he acknowledgeth very ingeniously that the Papal Authority cannot be conferred by the Church Papalis Authoritas si non a Deo esset immediate instituta a tota Ecclesia institui non poterat If the Papal Authority were not from God immediately it could not be instituted by the whole Church And though it were true that the Church had established it as Pope Innocent the Third pretends when he says Ecclesia non nupsit vacua sed Dotem mihi tribuit absque pretio pretiâ—sam spiritualium plenitudinem latitudinem temporalium illius me constituit vicarium qui habet in vestimento suo scriptum Rex Regum Dominus Dominantium The Church hath not married me without a Fortune but hath given me the invaluable dowry of God the fulness of Spirituals and the latitude of Temporals hath made me the Vicar of him who hath written on his garment King of Kings and Lord of Lords Although that I say were true it would not be less necessary to abolish this power which is the cause of so many disorders because the Church in those days might have created it for the good of the Church as she then thought And having found out that it is to her ruine she ought to destroy it for the Chair of Peter is for the Church and not the Church for the Chair of Peter Petri Cathedra propter Ecclesiam non Ecclesia propter Petri Cathedram Quod propter Charitatem fit non debet contra Charitatem Militare And since that our Faith according to Thomas Aquinas ought to be founded upon the Word of God only and not upon the Eshablishments of the Church as he says Fides nostra innititur Revelationibus Prophetis Apostolis Factis Ecclesia non statuit nisi de non necessariis ad Salutem According to this Truth we are not obliged to believe the Extravagant of Pope Boniface who says That it is necessary to Salvation to submit to the Pope And if the Church according to these People dared to change the Aristocratical Government instituted by Jesus Christ under which the Kingdom of God spread it self so far Piety flourished Idolatry was confounded shall it not be allowable for the Church and for Princes who are its natural Protectors to redeem it out of that Slavery into which the Enemy of Mankind hath reduced it to its first Purity and Simplicity Methinks if Men had any sense of Religion they ought to sigh continually for the deplorable condition of the Church and of the Greeks and Protestants whom we have cast headlong into the Evil they now labour under Some people will have it That because the Greek Patriarchs among themselves hold that Place which the Council of Nice and the Emperor Constantine gave to all Patriarchs he of Rome who had the first Place ought still to keep it and as in Place he was the first Bishop and the only Patriarch in the West he ought still to enjoy these Prerogatives But first of all none of the Greek Patriarchs unless it were that John of Constantinople against whom St. Gregory wrote so vehemently ever pretended to bear Rule over the other Bishops nor over the Church much less over Christian Princes as the Popes do and the Patriarch of Rome for above Three Hundred Years after his Institution never attempted it Secondly The Place which the Bishop of Rome held was Propter Principalitatem Vrbis in regard of the Dignity of the City which now hath no weight at all Rome being no longer the Seat of the Empire but the Sink and Common-shore of all filthy Iniquity a Den of Thieves and a Nest of Satan Nido di Satanazzo and the very Habitation of Sloth Laziness and Beggary Paris or London do at this time deserve this Honour a thousand times better Besides it was in a time when there were but very few Christians in the West These great States were not yet converted to the Faith France Germany Poland part of Spain and all the Northern Countries knew not what Christianity was so that one Patriarch might more easily have the inspection of this small number of Christians who resorted also to Rome for their civil Affairs as to the capital City where the Emperor resided How are they now able to govern all the Churches they who cannot govern that at Rome and which is worse that trouble not their Heads about it Add to this a fourth Reason which is That in those days they were not Temporal Princes as they are become since and had not innumerable Legions of Monks and Beneficiaries at their command as now they have which renders this Power the most formidable of any upon Earth among the Catholicks If because Rome had heretofore the first Place for the Spirituality before other Cities she should pretend still to have it it will thence follow that she hath it for the Temporality over these same Cities since the Spiritual Authority of this City as I have already proved was founded upon the Temporal and Civil which she enjoyed as the Seat of the Empire and so in pretending to the Regency of Religion in France Flanders and other Catholick Countries they pretend also to have a Right of treating these States as they please and they have effectually made them their Subjects and Tributaries even to the disposing 〈◊〉 the Crowns of Kings as their fancy leads them There are others who believe they have hit on the right when they say that the Pope is Primus inter Pares and that so he is the first of all Bishops But I ask by what Authority It is true he was so among the Patriarchs whilst that Rome as I have said already was the Seat of the Empire but now I maintain that he is Vltimus inter Pares and unworthy of the Name of either Priest or Bishop being the Tyrant of the Church and of Christian Princes and a Temporal Prince himself Were he not a Temporal Prince all he could lawfully pretend to would be to be the first Bishop of Italy I know it will be said That I ask too much to obtain any thing and I know that it will be neither better nor worse but I will discharge my mind and tell the Truth God Almighty may raise up Princes
had pleased they might have been reconciled to the Church of Rome by submitting to the Laws of that Bishop St. Gregory of Nazianzen writing to the Clergy of the Church of Caesarea in Cappadocia speaks to them thus It is just that care should be taken of the whole Church as of the Body of Jesus Christ chiefly of yours which hath been from the beginning the Mother of almost all the Churches which is so at this time and is so esteemed and to which the whole body of the Church relates as a Circle does to the Center round which it is formed c. This holy man thought not the Church of Rome was the Center of all the Churches In the Milevitan Council where St. Augustine was present it was Ordained That those of Africk who should Appeal to Rome should be Excommunicated These are the words We have adjudged that all Priests Deacons and other Inferior Ecclesiasticks who shall complain of their Bishops Administration shall apply themselves to the Neighbouring Bishops who by the consent of their own Bishops shall decide the Controversie between them And if they will Appeal from their Opinions let them not do it but to the Councils of Africa And if any man makes his Appeal to any place beyond the Seas here Rome must be understood let him be looked upon as an Excommunicated person by all Africa And since that time the same thing was Ordained in the Council of Africa and this they give for their reason That no Council hath taken away this Authority from the African Councils and that the Decrees of the Council of Nice have committed as well Priests as the Bishops to the direction of their Metropolitans Most prudently and justly providing that affairs should be determined upon the place where they had their first beginnings and that no Province would ever want the assistance of the Holy Ghost to discern equity that any injured person might procure a Council of his own Province yea and appeal from that to a General one and a man must be a fool to think that God would not rather inspire with the love and knowledg of Justice a great number of Prelates assembled in Council than a single person be he who he will. What stupidity and dulness is it that hinders Christians in these times from carrying it in the same manner towards Rome And the Council of Constantinople after having limited the bounds of each Patriarchal See says that the Affairs of every Diocess ought to be Regulated by the Synods of the Diocess and that in Confirmation of the Fourth Canon of the Council of Nice And in the sixth Canon it doth Enact That if any man hath been vexed by the Bishop let him complain of this Bishop to all the other Bishops of the Province and if these Bishops cannot determine the affair he ought to apply himself to a greater Synod of Bishops of that Diocess whereby we see that the Bishop of Rome had in those days no Authority over other Bishops but that every thing was then Regulated by Councils and by Synods If an Archbishop or a Metropolitan were accused the Affair was determined by an Assembly of the Synod of the Diocess and if any man appealed from thence it was not to the Bishop of Rome but to a Synod composed of many Diocesses which may be seen in the case of Bagadius Bishop of Bostra Metropolitan of Arabia who having been Deposed by some Bishops of his Province appealed from them not to Rome but to Constantinople where quickly afterwards was assembled a Synod of many of the Eastern Diocesses at which Nectarius of Constantinople Flavian of Antioch and Theophilus of Alexandria all three Patriarches assisted and the case was determined in the year 394 and Bagadius Reestablished in his place It was the opinion of St. Hierom tho a Roman and very zealous for his own Patriarch That if there be any question concerning Authority that of the whole world is greater than that of one single City For what end shall a man alledg the Customs of one only Town Wheresoever there is a Bishop there is always the same Dignity Neither Riches nor Poverty making them Superiors or Inferiors They are all Successors of the Apostles St. Chrysostom was also of this opinion when he spoke thus If any Bishop affecteth Supremacy on Earth he shall find confusion in Heaven And whosoever shall be ambitious of raising himself above others shall not be reckoned among the servants of Jesus Christ. Thus are all the Popes Inclusively Excommunicated by St. Chrysostome since Boniface the Third and not only by him but by the Milevitan Council by the Council of Sardis the third Council of Carthage and another Council held at Carthage at the Instance of Gregory the First under the Emperor Maurice all these Councils do Excommunicate and declare him a forerunner of Antichrist who shall call himself Universal Bishop St. Grâ—gory doth himself abominate the Pride and Impiety of our Popes of these last Ages when he says That whosoever shall make himself be called Vniversal Bishop shall be the forerunner of Antichrist because he will by his Insolence raise himself above others And in another place speaking to Anastasius Bishop of Antiâ—ch he says That without mâ—ntioning the dishonâ—ur that the pride of such a man would do you If a Bishop should mâ—ke himself be called Vniversal Head of the Churâ—h the whole Church must run to ruin if this Vniversal Head shâ—uld fall For my pâ—rt I prâ—y God keep me from hearkening to any such folâ—ies and from bâ—ing capable of so greâ—t â—â—anity c. I should never have done if I should pretend here to relate all the Evidences of Antiquity which are contrary to the pretences of the Bishops of Rome for some Ages past St. Austin tells us a story which I cannot lâ—t pass which shews things pretty clearly He says that Donâ—â—us had accused Ceciliâ—n Arch-bishop of Carthage of a great Crime and that the Emperor Constantine chose the Bishop of Rome and several other bishops for Judges of the Affair Donatus was condemned by them and made his Appeal to the Emperor who referred the Judgment of his Appeal to Arles At this Judgment the Bishop of Arles presided and the Affair was by him determined in favour of Cecilian and the Judgment given at Rome confirmed It would be a fine thing now to see the Emperor in an Affair purâ—ly Ecclesiastical as that was establish the Pope as his Commissary with other Bishops and an Appeal made from their sentence before the Emperor and he should send the cause before another Bishop to judge definitively of it I know not after this what Evidenâ—es I further need to prove the Usurpations which the Popes have made since those times Christians ought to die in confusion who want Proofs for a thing as clear as the day considering the enormity and exorbitance of the power which these people take
of France hath maintained it self against all their endeavours without being divided and hath still kept some small Remains of Liberty which they daily attempt to rob us of The second device was to engage Princes and great men and those who were very rich in the Croisadoes and Expeditions of the Holy Land and to make them take the Cross which besides the vast Treasures which the Popes got by it augmented greatly their Authority for from hence they invented Indulgences from whence the Court of Rome hath drawn unspeakable Advantages as well in Riches as in Authority The third was by introducing neatly under the pretence of ignorance and the weakness of Princes the use of Cardinals of divers Nations in the Election of the Pope for by this these Nations are for the Spiritual â—art become subject to the See of Rome the Clergy and people of Râ—me as well as the Emperors have lost the Right of Electing the Bishop All these States have thought that the Bishop of Rome was greater than another Bishop and that they had great Interest in his Election and the Popes have gotten many Creatures in all these States It is true that at this time they are almost all Italians because they have of late so well bridled all these Countries by the Infinite number of their Monks and by many other Inventions that they now fear not their casting off the yoke After that Henry the Fourth had been Deposed and the Right of Investing Bishops taken from him the Successors of this Gregory pretended that the Ecclesiasticks were exempt from all Jurisdiction and power of â—ecular Princes even in Civil Affairs And besides that that the Bishop of Rome could Dâ—pose Kings if they did not submit to all his Orders and to fortifie this came forth the Decretals of many Popes of which these people at last made so good use to compose their Bull de Caena Domini and the Directory of the Inquisitors But say they all this does not hinder the Bishop of Rome from being Head of the Church for we see that the Laws and Rules and Roman Discipline have been followed by the other Churches It is true that in the West as there was no other Patriarchal See and as in most places thee Christian Faith had been received by means of the Roman Churâ—h the woâ—ld had a great respect for it and beâ—ides it was by reason of the Dignity of this City As in France we always consult the Sorbonne at Paris concerning matters of Religion not that for this reason the other Universities or Churches depend upon it But it is false that all Christians or the greatest part of them have received the Rules and Discipline of Rome The Greek Churches never owned them nor any of those who are in Asia or in Africa as the Armenian the Ethiopian and others And what we have already alledged from many of the Fathers and Councils from the Gallican Church from the Churches of Ravenna Milan and Toledo who with so much difficulty received the Roman Office even in the Eleventh Century shews sufficiently that they had no dependance on the Bishop of Rome I could bring a thousand other proofs did I not fear being too tedious to the Reader Aventin relates that Gregory the Second sent one Winefred towards the Countries lying upon the Rhine to reform the Churches there and to set them on the Roman bottom but that they vigorously opposed him and many Bishops called him the Author of Lyes and corrupter of the Christian Faith. In the first Tome of the Councils we have a Letter of Damasus Bishop of Rome to Hierome a Priest where we find these words which do sufficiently confute the pretences of our people I intreat Brother thy charity to send us the Greek Psalter with the Notes by which they sing them These are the words Peto charitatem tuam ut Graecorum Psallentiam ad nos dirigere tua Fraternitas delectetur For adds he we are so simple that upon Festival days we do nothing but read a Chapter in the Epistles or in the Gospel and we have no custom of singing Psalms nor is the Grace and Glory of Hymns to be found in our mouths Observe these words Charitas tua and Fraternitas tua from a Bishop of Rome to a Priest and how far they were from endeavouring to make other Churches subject to their Laws since that on the contrary they did correct their own faults by the good example of others We find also at the end of St. Gregory's Works that about the year 593 he sent a Monk called Austin into England who passing through France was surprized to see there another manner of Divine Service than he had seen in Italy with Ceremonies quite different that when he wrote to Gregory he asked him how it came to pass that since there was but one Faith the customs of Churches were so different and that the custom and manner of Masses was not the same at Rome as in France To which St. Gregory answered You know Brother what is the custom of the Roman Church wherein you have been educated But my opinion is that if you find any thing be it in the Roman Church or the Gallican or in any other which may be more agreeable to God you should prâ—fâ—r it for we ought not to love the things for the places but the places for the good things we find in them There are some people also who would make an advantage of this that the Church of Rome is by the Fathers called the Apostolick See. In truth as the Pharisees sat in the seat of Moses as our Saviour says so do the Bishops of Rome also â—it upon the Seat of the Apostles But it is certain that the other Bishops who teach the Doctrine of the Apostles and imitate their example are more Apostolick than they You must know that all the Churches founded by the Apostles were honoured with this Title and particularly famous and Metropolitan Cities which were looked upon as the Mothers of other Churches tho sometimes they had embraced Christianity after others that were less considerable because there Resided the Civil which drew after it the Ecclâ—siastical Jurisdiction And because there were many in the East where Christians were far more numerous than on this side none of those Churches ever raised it self above the others but in the West there being but one which was the Roman and no other having been since erected tho the Germans Spaniards French and othâ—r Nations have embraced the Christian Religion since those times yet Rome alone hath had this Glorious Title and the others have had great respect for it without any manner of dâ—pendance on it however at the beginning as hath already been shewed But that hindereth not but that other Orthodox Churchâ—s may also have it consult Tertullian he says that all Churches that follow the Faith of the Apostles are Apostolick And Pope Pelagius confirms the same
thing Whensoever says he there ariseth any question in peoples minds concerning an Vniversal Synod let those who love their own Salvation consult the Apostolick Sees that they may learn the reason of what they understand not And St. Austin speaking of Cecilian Bishop of Carthage condemned by the Donaetists before whom he refused to answer says that he might reserve the whole cognizance of the thing to the judgment of his other fellow Bishops chiefly those of Apostolick Sees We have seen already that the Council of Rheimes assembled under Hugh Capet says that the Apostleship of the Bishop of Rome is not to be prâ—ferred before that of other Bishops and so his See is no more Apostolick Apolâ—inaris gives this account of the Apostleship to Fontelus Bishop of Vaison and says also that the Bishop Tricassin lived forty years in an Apostolick See. Grâ—gory of Tours calleth the Church of Bourdeaux an Apostolick See. The Council of Antioch assembled against Paulus Samosatensis calleth the Church of Antioch the Church Catholick We have say they been obliged to give unto the Catholick Church another Bishop in the room of this Heretick Nevertheless this Catholick Church was not subject to the Bishop of Rome no more than Cecilian Bishop of Carthage of whom the Emperor Constantine also said that he presided over the Church Catholick As for the quality of Bishop of Bishops which the Popes take upon themselves and which the Fathers have sometimes given to the Bishops of Rome it is like that of King of Kings in regard of those who had Kings under them The Metropolitans who were the first Bishops were thus called Chrysostome is called Father of the Fathers and Teacher of the whole World by the Emperors Theodosius And Sydonius calls Lupus Tricassin Bishop of Trequier Father of Fathers and Bishop of Bishops He also calls one Graecus Massiliensis Bishop of Marseilles by the same name and gives also the Title of Soveraign Pontife even to those sort of Bishops and to Aegrotius Bishop of Sens and to Fontelus Bishop of Vaison He says in another place that Evatrix King of the Goths having subdued all Aquitain killed all the Soveraign Pontifes that were there and that there were no other Bishops establiâ—hed in their stead The same Author calls also Mamereus Bishop of Vienne Soveraign Pontife And there also speaking of Lupus Bishop of Trequier he says he is the firâ—t Bishop of the Habitable Earth This same Sydonius having been chosen by the Clergy of Bourges to Elect and in the presence of the Archbishop of Sens to establish a Bishop at Bourges says You have giâ—en me this Commission to Elect a Bishop in the presence of our most Holy Father the Pope a man mâ—st worthy of the Soveraign Priesthood Praesente sacro sancto Papa Pontificatu summo Dignissimo So he calls Aegrotius Bishop of Sens and not the Pope of Rome We see also that St. Ignatius acknowledges no Dignity above that of a Bishop Honour the Bishop as being the chief Priest whâ— beareth the Image of God. And Pope Lâ—o acknowledgeth that above a Bishop there is no other degree The Poet Fortunatus gives St. Germain Bishop of Paris the Title of High Priest Pontifici summo nos commendare Precamur Regibus Dominis forte salutis opus As for the word Pope which these people have affected to distinguish themselves by from other Bishops it is like the word Legate or Nuncio which they give to their Embassadors and Envoys instead of using the ordinary Terms these are singular marks of vanity and pride which however have their effect on silly people who imagin by these words that the Pope is a man of a quite different kind from others You must know that this word in its Original signifies no other thing than a Priest or Bishop and that it was common heretofore to all people of this Character and even now at this day they are so called in Greece and also in Germany and the Motto of the Duke of Brunswick who stiled himself Gottes friend and Paepsten fiend signifies no less that he was an enemy to Priests than to Popes We see in the Life of St. Cyprian written by Pontianus a Deacon that he is there called Pope And in the Epistle of the Roman Clergy to St. Cyprian there are these words Cypriano Papae to Pope Cyprian and at length We desire thee most Hâ—ly and most Glorious Pope And in the Epistle of Calerin which is the 89 th in Cyprian The most Holy Pope Cyprian And Ischyras writing to Athanasius says thus Beato Papae Athanasios To the blessed Pope Athanasius Greeting I need not bring any more proofs since Baronius himself doth acknowledg and attest that this name had been common to all Bishops until the year 1070 that Gregory the Seventh that Able Pope whom we have already mentioned forbad it to be given to any other Bishop than he of Rome As for the Cardinals who are in no other See than that of Rome they in my opinion give so little advantage to it above the Sees of other Bishops speaking like a Christian that they do abase and make it infinitely less than others For what are these people They are worldly men Epicures people of pride vanity and prodigious expence there are but few of them who devour less than Three hundred thousand Livres a year after an Infamous manner and it was not without reason that the Emperor Sigismond represented to the Council of Constance that they were good for nothing in the Church and their Dignity ought to be supprest And of latter days even in the Council of Trent there were men bold enough to propose the abolishment of this Dignity or else to reduce them to their first Functions of Curates As also the Gallican Church demanded in its Remonstrances to the Council of Constance Domini Cardinales My Lords the Cardinals say they are Curates of the Parish Churches of Rome and in this respect are they called Cardinals that is to say thâ— chief of Principals And according to this Institution their chief duty is and ought to be to hear Confâ—ssions Preach and Baptise Besides there were many other Churches who as well as Rome had such like Priests as the Cardinals We see it by a Brief of the Gallican Churâ—h under Charles the Fifth It is not only Rome says this Brief which hath Cardinals but there are many other Churches who have them as that of Ravenna and who call them Cardinals who have the chief Employments in the Church And so it was in many other Churches Kingdoms and Provinces And the Cardinals were in those times under the Bishops as may be seen by the Chronicle of the Abby of St. Jean de Vignes at Soissons where Theobald Bishop of Soissons is brought in speaking of the Curate of St. John de Vignes and says Presbiter vero Cardinalis ipsius
Bishops if they preached the word of God if they instructed their Diocess in the knowledg of God if they applied themselves to their Prayers without being ambitious without desiring Command and Authority and playing the Princes at Rome without abusing the World with their Dispensations Induglences false Reliques Agnus Dei's and other Fooleries without drawing of Annates giving of Bulls and comparing themselves to Kings and Princes If I say they behaved themselves like the first Bishops of Rome I should honour and admire them as a Souldier said heretofore to Nero I loved thee dum amari meruisti sed postquam Parricida Histrio incendiarius extitisti c. whilst thou didst deserve it but since thou wert a Parricide a Stage-player and destroyer of thy Country I have abhorred thee They say furthermore that were it not for the Pope there would be no Missions to the Indies and that those People would never be converted On the contrary by the Ambition Pride and carnal Pleasures which they keep up in the Church Zeal and Charity are almost wholly extinguished But what do the Popes do for these Missions If they contribute any thing towards them it must be as in all other things for their own Interest But there were Missions to the Indies before ever the Bishops of Rome undertook to govern the Church those who are now sent thither go only for Gain and Traffick and by the Relations we have of them they are the strangest Conversions in the World they take no care at all to instruct these poor People nor to teach them any thing they baptize them only without explaining to them the Virtue of that Sacrament or what it signifies nay without turning them from their former Idolatry They are contented instead of instructing them to tell them that in worshipping their Idols and doing all as they did before it is sufficient if they direct the Intention to Jesus Christ or to the Saints and so they are no less Idolaters than they were before These now are their Conversions But say they does not the Pope create a great many Bishops in partibus Infidelium in the Countries of Infidels That may be done without the Pope Metropolitans and Primates did heretofore create them and Bishops may do so still This tends to nothing but to flatter the Vanity of the Popes who not being able to establish themselves effectually in those Countries will however satisfy their Fancies by this imaginary Empire which they attribute to themselves in disposing of fantastick Bishopricks in those Countries This is all but Farce My Lord the new Bishop makes wry Faces as if he were going to his pretended Diocess where the People shall be Greeks Pagans or Mahometans he prepares his Equipage to be gone and whilst he is just ready to depart his Holiness hath a tender Affection for his dear Son commends his Zeal and his Piety to go to hazard himself among the Infidels dispences with him as to his Journey and for a recompence of his Devotion he gives him good Pensions and Benefices wherewith the good Prelate lives jollily at Rome in Pleasures and in Honours They have by this Principle of Vanity created four Patriarchs at Rome to make themselves amends because they could not make the four Greek Patriarchs submit to them There are some People also who pretend that the necessity of a visible Head of the Christian Church is proved by this that the Mahometans have one and the Pagans also had one And they say that the Mahometans who have a Musti and had heretofore their Caliphes the Pagans their Pontifex Maximus as the ancient Romans had will have less Aversion for Christianity when they see in it a Head of Religion like their own But there is a great deal of difference for these never did usurp the Temporal Power of Princes like the Popes they never exacted Oathes of Allegiance from their Clergy nor pretended to a share of the Princes Authority as the Popes do in Catholick Countries The Ambition of the Popes will ever keep them back more than this Conformity will induce them to embrace Christianity But Men must not form to themselves such carnal Ideas of the Religion of Jesus Christ who is all Spirit Truth and Holiness it is a sort of Idolatry to believe that Jesus Christ hath such Vicars It is to be wholly ignorant of God and to make Jesus Christ the Minister of Sin. It may be yet said that the Popes keep Princes and great Men in the Catholick Religion by the conveniency of Dispensations which they many times gives them very opportunely and such as they could not find in other Religions as Cardinal Palavicini maintains that if the Pope did not give these Dispensations to those who possess and change many Benefices they who enjoyed them would offend God and be uneasy in their Consciences and that it is because that God should not be offended that the Popes have found out the Secret of Dispensations But these Dispensations are either against the Law of God or they are not If they are then Princes are so much the more to be blamed to address themselves to the Pope for this is manifestly to mock both God and Men. I know very well as I have already observed that there are some good People who maintain that the Popes can make that a Sin which is not a Sin and that not a Sin which is a Sin but I do not think that any Prince was ever so simple as to believe so thus the Action of a Prince who hath recourse to the Popes for Dispensations authorizeth this abominable Impiety and by his Example makes it pass for an Article of Faith making himself the shameful Instrument to establish the most pernicious and the most infamous of all Impostures If the thing be not contrary to the Law of God there is no need of a Dispensation for any whatsoever And furthermore be they necessary or unnecessary the meanest Bishop hath as much right to grant them as the Pope nay more since that as I have already said the Popes being Temporal Princes can not be in the Christian Religion either Bishops or Priests they have forfeited this Character and have no calling under God since God hath not instituted this monstrous Authority Besides these Dispensations are only for the Popes advantage for by them he raiseth and maintains himself in Credit not only other above Bishops his fellow Brethren but even above God himself abrogating his Laws and fastning Princes with his whole Families indispensably more and more to their Service it being their Interest to maintain this pretended Authority of the Pope without which their Actions would appear shameful and scandalous and as many times it is for their Marriages which they are dispensed with their Children would be illegimate which would confound the order of the Succession Thus does every thing turn to the Popes advantage who are always of his opinion who said
to People that are condemned Nec quisquam dicat se injustè hâc ratione condemnari nec conqueratur do judicibus Ecclesiasticis vel de judicio Ecclesiae ita statuentis Nor let any Man say that he is condemned unjustly upon this account nor complain of the Ecclesiastical Judges or of the Church so ordaining These Hangmen will make the Church accessary to their Barbarities Sed si injustè condemnatus sit gaudeat potiùs quòd pro veritate mortem patiatur but if he be unjustly condemned let him rejoyce rather that he suffers Death for the Truth What could the Devil do worse if he were incarnate Yet this is the Churches Head the Vicar of Jesus Christ the Holy See the Apostolick See it is his Holiness who hath made and decreed these things They do yet worse than this to Kings and Princes for they make use of secret means for fear they should get notice of them and by their Power prevent their wicked Designs They employ ignorant Creatures that are loaden with Iniquity such as Ravilliac who was a Murtherer by Profession and a Sorcerer too as was commonly said they give these People Absolution from all their Crimes and promise them Paradise if they perish in the Execution or if they are taken after it They have for such purposes as these in Italy those whom they call Crocesegnati and in Spain los Familiares See in the Book of Francis Suarez the Spaniard called Defensio fidei Catholicae By the way we are very much obliged to this Loyal Loyolist for calling these Maxims the Catholick Faith. If what he said were true it would be no great advantage to be a Catholick It would be perfect Manicheisme a Man must believe two contrary Principles good and bad God and the Devil at the same time There is a certain Author called Guliel Nubrigensis who relates the Story of a Monk who dethroned his natural Prince and sat himself in his place he had engraved upon his Seal Ferus ut Leo mitis ut Agnus This Monk was Villain enough thus to usurp the Authority of his Prince but he was a thousand times better than any of these Thieves at Rome For my part I will all my Life-time hold Communion with the Catholick Gallican Church but for the Bull de Coenâ Domini the Inquisition the Superiority of the Pope above the Council and the Morals now in fashion I declare I do detest it as a thing dangerous to Salvation to hold Communion with them who believe and maintain these things and that I believe them as far from being saved as the Mahometans Who can believe that Jesus Christ who gave himself for the Salvation of us all and who is all Charity it self can approve of it that People should be put to death for Religion or that he does not detest the Barbarities which these Monsters exercise under the Name of Vicars of Jesus Christ How contrary are these Practices to those of Jesus Christ and of his Apostles See after what manner our merciful Saviour spoke to his Apostles who would have forsaken him What and will you also leave me upon which St. Chrysostom makes this Reflection * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He asks them saying Will ye also go away which was the voice of one taking away all force and compulsion And in truth they did all abandon him yet after his Resurrection he received them as kindly as tho they had followed him to the very Cross and we see that when he gave his Apostles the Power of the Keys he ordered them only to teach Men and not to compel them by force and on that occasion when the Apostles were discontented with the Samaritans and would have called down Fire from Heaven upon them he says to them Ye know not what Spirit ye are of the Son of Man is not come to destroy Mens Lives but to save them But the Popes who make a quite contrary use of this Power are come to destroy both Souls and Bodies too We see that the Apostle St. Paul followed these holy Rules of Charity when he wrote to Titus teaching him the Duty of a Bishop he says to him only A Man that is an Heretick after the first and second Admonition reject He says not do him Injustice kill him ruin him by Violence or by Craft break your word with him according to the Maxims and Practices of the Court of Rome According to these Principles St. Chrysostom says these words Apud nos non cogendo sed suadendo id agendum est ut qui malus est melior evadat neque enim ad coercendos peccatores Potestatis jus nobis datum est si datum maximè esset locus non esset juris istius exercendi cum Deus coronet non eos qui necessitate sed qui voluntate liberâ à malo abstinent We must not endeavour to make a bad Man better by Force but by Perswasion For we have no Authority to compel Sinners and if we had we ought not to make use of it seeing God crowns not those that abstain from Evil out of meer necessity but those that do it out of free choice And hence it comes that St. Hierom comparing a King to a Bishop says Ille nolentibus praeest hic volentibus The one rules over those that are unwilling the other over those that are willing And Gregory Bishop of Rome writing to the Bishop of Constantinople says to him Nova est inaudita ista praedicatio quae verberibus exigit fidem That is a new and unheard-of sort of Preaching that requires Faith with Blows The Fathers abhorred not only that Men should be put to death but that any Injustice should be done to them upon the account of Religion for to make this use of Religion is to betray it and it is a sure means to make Hereticks more obdurate for it is certain that they who do thus have only the Name of Christians and People readily believe that a Religion is nothing worth which they are forced to embrace by such ways as these St Athanasius speaking of the Religion of the Arrians who persecuted the Catholicks driving them out of all Employs depriving them of the means of getting their Living prohibiting them the Exercise of their Religion and doing them many other Wrongs by Violence and Fraud and by groundless Accusations even to the bringing some of them to Death says very well Atque seipsum quà m non sit Pia nec Dei cultrix manifestat and shews it self how it is neither pious nor worshipping God. The same thing may be said of the English at present St Chrysostome also says Errantis poena est doceri the Punishment of the erroneous is to be instructed The Emperour Antoninus tho a Pagan was much more a Christian than the Popes and their Inquisition when in his 9 th Book he says Si potes meliora doce si non potes memento in hoc tibi