Select Discourses concerning 1. Councils the Pope Schism 2. The Priviledges of the Isle of Great Britain 3. The Popes Primacy and the Supream Power of Kings both in Temporals and also Spirituals accordingly as they put on the quality of Temporals and are means for the hindring or procuring the safety of the Republick By F. Barnes of the Order of St. Benedict LONDON Printed by R. I. 1661. TO THE READER Friend I Was put upon the inquiry after the Manuscript of this moderate Romanist our Country-man F. Barnes by the double * Posit 4. reference Dr. Basier makes to it in his Marginal Annotations With some difficulty I at last recovered a Copy of it the same as I remember the Doctour himself used at the composure of his Diatribe which then was with much secrecy conveyed from hand to hand none of us daring to own the having it upon apprehension of some question or inconvenience from the Popes Nuncio in Paris the Authour himself being under his Holinesse's high displeasure and as was said and still is in the severe Discipline of the Inquisition for it Though I presume they will not hold their hand from chastising him nor with-hold a censure from any other of their own communion yet I see no reason why they should so much as blame us for improving our advantage by such ingenuous means as a meer Collection of what hath passed the Press in their publick Writings which might have been made by any man that had leisure and curiosity enough for the search Beside those two Chapters the Doctor sends us to I have excerpd a third which I found significant unto our purpose The benefit that may arrive to you by all is this From the first a satisfaction in or encouragement to your Communion with that Church which subjects her self to the spiritual Authority of Councils and Bishops and Priests those Powers at first ordained by God and continued by a succession uninterrupted among all regular and Catholick Christians in the World By the second are asserted to you those Priviledges of the Britannick Church so as you will be obliged to justifie her yea though a Romanist in the exemption she pretends to from the Pope's Jurisdiction with whom yet she denies not but that christian-Christian-Communion might be held and why it is not you will understand from the Confessions of his own party From the third you will collect the reason why the Oath of Supremacy is imposed upon you and know your indispensable obligation to it no spiritual person upon earth having power to absolve you from it My indeavours were not wanting though successeless on the other side to get a Transcript of that Chapter in Mr. Justell's work of which the Doctour had great expectation as you may read in my Letter which I communicated that you might know the first occasion given of his writing the Diatribe touching the Liberty of our Church The Reverend person who was pleased to take the trouble of it a long time cherished my hopes relying upon his own interest in and some promise I think from Mr. Justell's Son who is possessed of the Books and Papers his Father writ and some say of the learned abilities by which he did At length I was remitted to the Book it self said to be in the Press from which the sheets that were for my purpose could not be spared Whether that reference were a mistake or delusion I cannot tell nor shall make my self so much concerned in it as to inquire being more certainly now inform'd that the foresaid Book is some enlargement upon the Councils Mr. Chr. Justell long since published and that hee hath left his Geographia Sacro-Politica not half finished which so imperfect the learned Gentleman his Son thinks not fit to print so that I beleeve wee are to hope for little help from that hand If what you here have be not sufficient God be thanked the Church of England wants not men highly qualified to accomplish what ere it was Mr. Justell designed in her behalf from whom it may be lookt for when they see cause to intend it In the mean time accept with gratitude what is already done and be instructed by it a Dieu Yours RI. WATSON CHAP. I. Concerning Councils the Pope Schism WEE must obey and submit our selves to Powers ordained by God for the Government of his Church such as are Councils a Bishops Priests to all which obedience prescribed by Canons is to be given so that wee may not gain-say their decrees or opinions canonically delivered for hee receiveth damnation to himself whosoever resisteth the Ordinance of God Roman 13. And as in the Republick it is Rebellion to oppose the command of the Civil Magistrate therefore because he is obnoxious to errour so is it not void of Schism in the Church to withdraw from the Ecclesiastical Magistrate under a pretence of errour b actual or possible it being not clearly proved in a legitimate sense Be it therefore that onely the written Word of God is of necessity infallible and that Bishops and Councils may erre yet until their errour may be convinced in judgement they must be obeyed for avoiding of Schism no less than the Civil Magistrate unconvicted of errour yea obedience is yeelded him while hee errs Now of Catholick Tribunals a Council is supream unto which the Pope all Bishops and beside them all faithful people are obliged to resign themselves in things spiritual yea if the Pope should pertinaciously withstand a decree of Faith in an Oecumenick Council hee would be presumed an Heretick and separation from him as from an Heretick may be made without the character of Schism by denying him obedience fellowship and communion especially after the declaration of the Church according to prescript and Rule of the Canons Paralipomena a SEE my Tractate concerning the Supremacy of Councils wherein I have proved out of the Scriptures and perpetual practice of the Church that Popes are subject to the Canons That the Deacons of Rome preferring themselves before Priests against the eighteenth Canon of the Council of Nice the Pope seeing and consenting St. Hierom Epist 85. ad Evagr. calls men without sense or reason Why saith hee do yee alledge to mee the custome of one City why vindicate you a small number of which this pride is sprung against the Laws of the Church Augustin in Q. Vet. Nov. Test q. 10. styles the same Deacons somewhat immodest in that they live neither by Law Custome nor Example but because they are Ministers of the Roman Church think themselves more venerable than any other In the second Synod Flavianus being excommunicated by the Bishop of Rome as the a Lib. 10. cap. 10. Tripartite history shews is restored against his will by the first Synod as appears by a Synodal Epistle in b Lib. 5. cap. 9. Theodoret according to the Prescript of the Nicene Law and Decision as the Canon requires In the third general Synod notwithstanding the
received for Catholick so as the opposite is heretical and they accused of Heresie that defend the same which is delivered as such by the definition of an Oecumenick Council approved by an undoubted Pope But when as b De Locis l. 5. c. 4. Conclus 3. Canus c Lib. 4. De Rom. Pontif. cap. 2. Bellarmine c. do every where confess But when as the d Sess 4. 5. Council of Constance approved by the * Sess 16. Bull of Martin 5. and e Sess 2. that of Basil confirmed for legitimate by the Bull of Eugenius determine the Pope to be under an Oecumenick Council it is at least probable that the opposite to it is Heresie Chronicon Chronicorum the work of a learned nameless Writer in the time of Eugenius the fourth and one that favoured him writes That Eugenius by Apostolick Letters approved their decrees So likewise Platina in Eugenius and it is a matter very well known to him that reads the Bulls The University of Paris in an appeal against Leo the tenth saith That the condemnation of the Council of Basil is against the Catholick Faith f T. 2. Comment de Gest Concil Basil 9. Aeneas Sylvius reports That an Almoner to the King of Arragon a Bishop of Eureux an Abbot of Virgiliac and a Bishop of Lubec when they perceived their hour of death to approach having called many grave men to them in the very presence of Christs body which they were presently to receive and before whose Tribunal within few hours to appear spake thus All you who are present pray yee God that hee would convert them who acknowledge Gabriel for the Holy Pope because in that state they cannot be saved professing in their own behalf That they died in the Faith of the Council of Basil Lewis Cardinal of Arles a man famous for learning and miracles calls Eugenius a Devastatour of the Church and those that adhere to him men departing from the truth of the Faith And on the contrary hee saith Those that adhere to the Council of Basil will not refuse to dye for the truth of the Faith and traditions of the Holy Fathers Aeneas Sylvius in the same place calls the Anti-Synodal sentence The Eugenian Heresie The Council of Pisa among these in Bochellus calls Cajetans little Book concerning the Authority of the Pope because it is against the Councils of Constance Basil and Pisa and against John Gerson the best defender of the Church suspected and full of injuries and Cajetan for it is termed a bold and dangerous man And the most learned man Vigorius witnesseth That in the Pragmatical Sanction of Charls the seventh the Decrees of the Council of Basil were received with the consent of all the Orders of France the Gallican Church and Universities Moreover Pius the second in Bulla retract witnesseth That honour is given to the Council of Basil by men almost of all Nations so that Vigorius truly related in the cited place That it was pronounced by the best Lawyers whom hee quotes an arrogant and sacrilegious thing to demur at the things approved by the Council of D Constance or the Conciliary authority it self See the Speech of St. Robert of Lincoln in Westminster Matth. Paris 1253. Polychronicon Fabian and Harpsfield who thinks it would be the greatest sort of pertinacy in the holy Pontifies to compel men by censures and excommunications to embrace those things which are bad and which fight against faith and good manners But the Bull in Coena forbidding appeals to General Councils under pain of excommunication doth in effect forbid them to be above the Pope for as the Lawyers teach It were open iniquity and against the Law of Nature to prohibit an appeal unto him who is acknowledged to be Superiour Hee therefore that will seem holily to take away Appeals to Councils by censures potentially takes away their Supremacy and highest power over the Popes These are the words of Westminster relating to the year 1254. under Henry the third Hee grievously reproves as well the Friars Preachers as the Minours saying That therefore their order is constituted in voluntary poverty that they might more freely rebuke great ones for their errour But in that they do not reprehend the sins of great persons hee said They were manifest Hereticks and added Heresie is an opinion chosen by humane sense contrary to Holy Scripture openly taught obstinately defended But to give cure of souls to a little childe is the opinion of a certain Prelate chosen by humane sense for carnal reason or through rashness and it is contrary to Holy Scripture which prohibits Pastours to be made who are not meet to drive away the Wolves And it is openly taught because it is manifestly carried in sealed or embossed Paper Chartâ sigillatâ vel bullata And it is obstinately defended because if any one would contradict it and doth not contradict it hee sinneth and seems to be a favourer of errour according to that of Gregory Hee wants not a scruple of close co-partnership who ceaseth to oppose a manifest wickedness These things hee spake upon occasion of the Popes Letters appointing to have somewhat done which seemed unjust for a Bishop of the Church and dissonant from reason The Judgement of Westminster concerning St. Robert is of this sort This Robert having a good zeal unto the Lord and his neighbour although hee vexed much his Canonicks and darted lightning terribly against the Religious of both Sexes yet I confidently averre That his vertues have pleased God more than his excesses have displeased him which now is manifest by the miracles shining forth at his tomb And that although our Lord the Pope being very much moved at deeds and words of that sort determined to precipitate him into confusion that hee might become an astonishment and an Example of trembling to the whole world yet at length being mollified by better counsel permitted him to passe away without taking any notice of it lest he might seem to raise a greater tumult hereupon Thus hee See the Authors before cited I think I shall do what will bee acceptable to such as are studious of Antiquity if I here briefly transcribe out of my Tractate some few things by which it may appear that the Britains and Scots whom wee call Irish before the coming of Augustin into England were Catholicks and enjoyed the same Priviledges in the Western Church as wherewith the Cyprians were honoured in the Eastern Gildas the Wise writeth That Britain almost from the age of the Apostles had Bishops who communicated with the rest of the world in a Pacificis formatis Pacifique and formed letters even from the beginning of the Gospel Tertullian in his Book against the Jews Num. 43. of Pamelius's Edition after hee hath reckoned up all the Catholick Churches throughout the world adds And the Britains holds inaccessible to the Romans are subdued to the yoak of Christ And Pamelius upon the said place out
of Bede and Polydore Virgil confesseth That Britain had publickly received the whole Evangile not onely in the time of Marcus Antoninus Verus under King Lucius but asserts also out of b Lib. de excid Britan. Gildas from the beginning of the Gospel Out of Polydore Virgil That the Britains had received the Religion of Christ from Blessed Joseph of Arimathea See thereupon c In Desens Hist Britan. Bilsius and d In 6. primi secul cap 1. Harpsfield With Gildas not onely Tertullian giveth suffrage but also e Hom. 4. in Ezechiel Origen yea and f In secunda Apol. contra Arian St. Athanasius glorieth That Bishops passed out of Britain to the Council of Sardis wherein Athanasius's absolution was obtained And in his Epistle to Jovinian then Emperour which is extant in g Cap. 42. Nicephorus Calixtus's tenth Book of Ecclesiastical History he proves that hee communicates with the Catholicks diffused through the world and among others with the Spanish Britannick and Gallick Churches which hee saith by common consent receive the Catholick Faith of Athanasius Hierom in his 85th Epistle Both Gaule and Britain adore one Christ observe one Rule of Truth The same thing teacheth a In Orat. contr Gent. Chrysostome And that Catholick Bishops came from Britain to the Council of Ariminum is manifest out of Severus Sulpitius Theodoret b In Chron. Hierome Ruffinus Socrates Zozomen c In 15. Primi seculi cited by Harpsfield That the Britannick Church kept this Communion and unity of Rule with the Gallicane to the coming of St. Augustin into England and afterward I have proved in a large Tractate concerning the Primacy of Councils and it appears out of the first book of the History of the English Nation d Cap. 20. Hist 6 prim sec Harpsfield and other English Writers That the Gallick Church sent into Britain St. German and Lupus before the coming of Augustin into England to succour the Britannick Church And e Lib. 3. cap. 7. Bede relates That Aegilbert a Gallick Bishop resided no small time in Ireland being imployed in reading upon the Scripture Moreover it appears out of f Hist lib. 4. Bede g Hist 7. Seculi cap. 36. Harpsfield Surius and others That Hilda the Nunne of Calice was sent into England by St. Aidan and had communicated with the Britannick Church But on the other side presently when as she lived in the Monastery at Calice That St. Malo Brendan Samson Polensis about the year 550. communicated with the Gallick and Aremorick Churches moreover with the Britannick and Irish as appears out of h C. 26.27 Hist Harpsfield among other things Argentraus and such like Writers And that St. Turseus did the same Ceadde Fislan Vetan Eustathius Disciple of St. Columban Disigod Fridegund Cedwall King Oswald Wigbert Fiakre Willebrod Columban who communicated with both Church the Britannick and Gallick The Britannick Church therefore in the time of St. Augustin the Apostle as they call him of England was Catholick and consequently the Scotick or Irish for it is evident out of a L. 2. c. 4. Hist Bede That the Irish whom they call'd Scots lead the like course of life and profession and afterward The Scots differed nothing in conversion from the Britains Now it appears out of b L. 1. Hist c. 7. Bede in the place last cited and otherwise as also c Hist l. 3. Henry of Huntington That neither Britains nor Scots would communicate with the English and their Bishop Augustin more than with Pagans as Huntington speaks and the reason was because Augustin seemed to deal with them uncanonically by constraining them to receive him for their Arch-Bishop and to submit themselves to the mandates of Foreigners when as the ancient manners of their Church required that they should act all things Synodically among themselves as in their Ordinations of Bishops so in other affairs of the Church their words out of d L. 2. Eccles Hist c. 2. Bede are Because they cannot without the consent and license of their Clergy so assembled renounce their ancient manners when as this appears to be against the sixth Nicene Canon which commands ancient manners to be kept and the eighth of the Ephesine Council which will not have the rights of Churches taken away and if they be taken away even by what Patriarch soever his fact is declared void and command is given him that hee restore the Province which hee hath made his own In the mean time what are the manners of the Britannick Church appears out of c L. 3. c. 3. Bede St. Oswald the King an observer of the Scotick and Britannick communion desiring to have a Bishop by whose learning and Ministry hee might be ruled the English Nation sent unto the Ancients of the Scots they begin to hold a great Treaty in Council what should bee done They decree Aidan worthy of the Episcopate and so ordaining him send him to preach Which custome continued a long time in Ireland as appears out of Sylvester Girald and the Topographie of Ireland a Dist 3. c. â—7 In Ireland the Bishops only consecrated one another to the time of Eugenius the 3d. wherein Papirio was sent Legate to constitute Arch-Bishops there And both in b Lib. 3. Huntington and c L. 2. Hist Bede it is manifest that the Scots and Britains act all their businesses by common consent As evident it is out of Baronius at the year 1089. In the end of that year Lanfrank Arch-Bishop of Canterbury relates in an Epistle to Serdalnac King of Ireland That the customes of the Kingdome were that Bishops might be consecrated by one Bishop Yea that the Britannick Churches were Catholick in the Judgement of Augustin himself with whom they would not communicate appears out of d L. 2. Hist c. 2. Bede for Augustin offers the Bishops of Britain his communion if they would conform themselves to the Roman Church in the ceremonies of Baptism and observation of Easter which shew that the Britains agree with Augustin in matters of Faith About this by the way mark a lapse of Bede for in his Book concerning the sixth Age Anno Mundi 4585. hee writes That the Scots were Quartodecimans and yet e L. 3. c. 4. Bede saith That they celebrated Easter on the Lords day on which it is manifest Anatolius Patriarch of Constantinople celebrated it who is asserted to have delivered to them his use The ancient manners of Britain were abrogated more by the force and power of the English Saxons then Synodical consent which those most holy men Colman and his fellows seeing had rather desert their Bishop and Monasteries than their ancient manners of living as a L. 3. cap. 16. Bede relates Since these things had been so the three States of England willing to retrive the ancient Rites of the Kingdome taken away more by force and power than by Canon by concession of the