Naked popery, Chapter 5

Naked popery · Chapter 5

p. 90CHAP. V. The true Hiſtory of the Papacy, its original and growth.

THough I reſerve the opening of the ambiguities of the word Papiſt till near the end, I ſhall ſo far anticipate that, as to tell you here alſo, that the word [PAPIST] is equivocal: I. In the ſenſe of Grotius, and all our Reverend Country-men that are of his judgment, [Papiſts are thoſe that without any difference do approve of all the ſayings and doings of Popes, for honour or lucre ſake as is uſual,] Diſcuſ. p. 15.

If of all, then of all the Adulteries, Murders, Simonie, Hereſie, Infidelity charged on ſome of them by their own Writers and by Councils. I am ſorry if this be [uſual] I hope yet that there are few of theſe Papiſts in the World, and that few Popes themſelves will deny that they are ſinners.

But he elſewhere deſireth the Reformation, 1. Of ſome bold diſputes of the School-men; 2. And the ill lives of the Clergie; 3. And ſome Cuſtoms which have neither Councils, nor Tradition.

II. Some who are for the Supremacy of General Countils above the Pope, do call thoſe Papiſts that are for the Pope's Supremacy above ſuch Councils; or that give him the Legiſlative as well as the Judicial Power over the Univerſal Church: Though themſelves give him the Supreme Judicial Power when there is no General Council.

III. Proteſtants call thoſe Papiſts who hold that the p. 91Roman Pope is rightfully the Governour of the Univerſal Church on Earth, either as to Legiſlative or Judicial-executive Power, either with Councils or without. Two things are here included in our Judgment. 1. That there is no rightful Univerſal Governour under Chriſt over all the Church on Earth, either as to Legiſlation, or Judgment: 2. That the Roman Pope therefore is no ſuch Governour.

In this third ſenſe now I am to tell you what we Proteſtants mean by a Papiſt more particularly. And firſt I muſt tell you what a POPE is, before I can well tell you what a Papiſt is: Which I ſhall do, I. De facto Hiſtorically: II. De jure as to the Power which he claimeth.

I. A long time the Biſhops of Rome were ſeldome called Popes, and other Biſhops were ſo called as well as they: At firſt the Biſhops of Rome were pious perſecuted Men, and many of them Martyrs, and uſurped no Power over any Churches but their own; which with Alexandria were the two firſt that brake Ignatius his Teſt of Unity, who ſaith, [To every Church there is one Altar, and one Biſhop with his fellow Presbyter and Deacons.] But Rome having long called her ſelf the Miſtris of the World, and being the Seat of the Empire and Senate, and of the Governing Power of the orbis Romanus, the Chriſtians there grew greater than others, and the Biſhop as it increaſed kept it under his Power: And when Chriſtians had peace (which was under the far greateſt part of the Heathen Emperours, and for the far longeſt time) the Greatneſs of Rome giving Greatneſs to that Church, and ſo to the Biſhop, and great opportunity to help other Churches, becauſe the Governing Power of the Empire was there, this Biſhop grew to be of greateſt wealth and intereſt: And in times of Peace the Strife which Chriſt p. 92once ended was taken up among the Biſhops [which of them ſhould be the greateſt:] And St. Paul having taught Chriſtians that they ſhould not go voluntarily to Law againſt each other before Heathens, if there were but a wiſe man among them to be an Arbitrator; the Chriſtians ſuppoſing that they had none wiſer or fitter than their Biſhop, made him their Common Arbitrator in things Civil, as well as Eccleſiaſtical: By which means Cuſtom making it like a Law, Biſhops became de facto Church-Magiſtrates: But they had no Power to execute any Penal Laws, either Jewiſh or Roman, or to make any of their own, except as Arbitrators or Doctors to thoſe that would voluntarily receive them: And they had no Power of Life and Death, nor to diſ-member any, nor to beat or ſcourge them, nor to Fine them or Confiſcate their Eſtates: But being entruſted by Chriſt as his Miniſters with the Power of the Church-Keys, and by the People with the Power of Civil Arbitrations, they were by this the ſtated Governours of all Chriſtians; who yet obeyed the Roman Heathen Magiſtrates, but brought none of their own differences voluntarily before them.

And becauſe that Multitudes of Hereſies took advantage of the Churches liberty, and ſwarmed among them to their great weakning and diſgrace, and chriſt had commanded his Servants to ſerve him in as much Unity and Concord as they could, duty and neceſſity drove the Paſtors of the Churches to Correſpondencies, and to meet together on all juſt occaſions, and at laſt to Aſſociations for the ordering of theſe Meetings! In which they agreed in what Compaſs and in what Place, or by whoſe Call ſuch Meetings ſhould be held, and what Biſhops in thoſe Meetings ſhould preſide or ſit higheſt, and firſt ſpeak and ſubſcribe: And uſually they thought that to follow the p. 93Order of the Civil Government, and give precedency to thoſe that were Biſhops of ſuch Cities as had precedency in the Civil Government, was the moſt convenient Order: And in theſe Meetings they agreed on ſuch Canons or Orders for all in that Compaſs to obſerve, as they thought beſt tended to their ends: And having no forcing Power (as is aforeſaid) they formed their Impoſitions on voluntarily penitents ſo as might ſerve inſtead of the Power of the Sword: Even Murderers, Inceſtuous, Adulterers, they could not puniſh with Death, Stripes, or Mulcts, and they were loth to diſgrace Chriſtianity ſo much as to accuſe ſuch to the Heathen Magiſtrates; and therefore they laid the greater ſhame upon them, forbidding them Communion with Chriſtians for ſo many years as they thought meet, and before they reſtored them they were humbly to beg the Prayers and Communion of the Church. But yet theſe Synods were ſmall and few and rare, and never any dreamt of them as a Council of all the Church on Earth.

But when God bleſſed the Rome World with a Chriſtian Emperour after the ſharp Perſecution of Diocleſian, and this Emperour had by Religion and Intereſt made the Chriſtian Souldiers his chief confidents or ſtrength, he ſtudied the utmoſt increaſe of the Chriſtians, and to that end invited all to Chriſtianity, by the favour of the Court, and by ſuch Honours, Commands, Wealth, and Dignities, as they were capable of; and above all he exalted the Chriſtian Biſhops, whom he found the Rulers of the Chriſtian Societies: He gave them Honours, and Wealth, and Power: He made a Law that no Chriſtians ſhould be forced to go to the Civil Heathen Judicatures, from their Biſhops, and gave Power to the Biſhops to be the Chriſtians Judges, ſome few hainous Crimes being in time p. 94excepted: And ſo the Biſhops were by his Law made Civil Magiſtrates or Arbitrators; yet not with any Power of Life, or Limbs, or Eſtate: So that all that would become Chriſtians, and would be ſubject to the Biſhops Canons, and Church Diſcipline, were freed from Death, Stripes, and Mulcts, for many Crimes which all others were lyable to, and Excommunication and ſome Penance was inſtead of all: By ſuch means Multitudes of worldly Men, and by the Preaching of the Goſpel Multitudes that were ſound Chriſtians, came together into the Churches: And Biſhopricks being now very deſirable for their Power, Honour, and Wealth, Men that moſt loved Power, Honour, and Wealth, (that is, Proud, Worldly, Carnal Men) did earneſtly ſeek them, and ſtrive for Precedency in them: But yet while the People had the choice, or a Negative therein, and the old Spirit of Chriſtianity remained in many of the Biſhops, in many places bad ones were kept out, and many excellent Men were preferred.

The Hereſie of Arrius and the Alexandrian Contentions thereabout, required a remedy for the Churches Peace: The Biſhops could not end it themſelves: It ſpread ſo far that it was Conſtantine's great grief to ſee Chriſtians ſo quickly diſgrace themſelves, and weaken their Religion in the Eyes of the Heathens: Therefore he called a Council of Biſhops conſiſting moſtly of thoſe of the Eaſtern parts where the troubles aroſe: Two Prieſts of Rome were there, but not the Biſhop, nor but few of the Weſt: Where the Emperours open Rebukes and Lamentation for their Contention, and his earneſt Exhortation to Peace, and his burning all the Libells or Accuſations which the Biſhops brought in againſt each other, and his continual preſence and moderating overſight p. 95of them, brought that meeting at laſt to that good and peaceable End, which elſe it was never like to have attained.

It never came into Conſtantine's mind to call this Council as an Univerſal Repreſentative of the whole Chriſtian World, or as the Governours of the Churches that were out of his Dominions; but as a fit expedient to end the ſtrife that was raiſed in thoſe Parts: For as few of the Weſt were there, ſo none of all other Kingdoms were once called. For who ſhould call them! Conſtantine that called the Council neither did it, nor ever pretended to a power to do it. The Pope called not the Council, much leſs did he call the reſt of the Chriſtian World: Socrates tells us, l. 1. c. 15. that St. Thomas had Preached to the Parthians, and Bartholomew to the Indians, and Matthew to the Ethiopians, though the middle India was not Converted till Conſtantine's days, by Frumentius, and Edeſius, and Iberia by a Maid:] And ſo Euſeb. l. 3. c. 3. who ſaith, that St. Andrew Preached to the Scythians; and in Vit. Conſtant. l. 4. c. 8. that there were many Churches in Perſia: And no doubt theſe Apoſtles Preached not in vain: Scotland and other Countries that were out of the Roman Empire had Churches. Yet any Neighbour Biſhop that deſired it, might voluntarily be preſent. When Theodoret (in his Life) tells us that [James Biſhop of Niſibis (in the borders of Perſia) was at the Council of Nice: For Niſibis was then under the Government of the Roman Empire,] he plainly intimateth that none but the Subjects of the Empire were called: And the names yet viſible, of the Subſcribers prove it.

Notwithſtanding this Councils deciſions, the Contentions continue, and the Major part of the Biſhops p. 96went that way uſually as the Emperours went: And ſo in the Reign of Conſtantius, and Valens, they moſt turned to the Arrians, at leaſt in words: And many General Councils (ſo called, of the Empire) the Arrians had, in which they prevailed, and made Creeds for their turn as they at Nice had done againſt them, and brought Perſecution on the Orthodox, ſilencing, and ejecting them, and ſcattering their Meetings as prohibited Conventicles, the Emperour himſelf ſometime executing their diſperſions and reſtraint: And among other Liberius the Biſhop of Rome, againſt his Conſcience Subſcribed to them.

The Fathers at the Council of Nice did determine of the bounds of the Patriarchs of the Empire, which being at firſt but three, (Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch,) Jeruſalem was after added, and after that Conſtantinople: For Conſtantine having now ſtrengthned himſelf by the Chriſtian Intereſt, and being further out of the danger of mutable Souldiers, than his Predeceſſours, did that which none of them was ever able to do, by removing the Imperial Seat from Rome to Conſtantinople, and ſo leaving that Famous City as naked and almoſt neglected: Whereby two great changes befell the Clergie, 1. The Biſhop of Rome was left more abſolute and uncontrouled in the Weſt; 2. And the Biſhop of Conſtantinople ſet up againſt him for the Primacy in the Empire: At firſt he claimed but an Equality, but afterward a Priority as Univerſal Biſhop, becauſe his Seat was the Imperial Seat.

The Patriarch of Jeruſalem was ſo far from the Court, and of ſo ſmall power, that he made the leaſt ſtir of any of the five, though he had the faireſt pretenſe incomparably for a claim of Supremacy on Religious reaſons, if a Supreme there muſt have been (Chriſt himſelf having been there a Miniſter to the Circumciſion, and Shepherd p. 97of the Sheep of the Houſe of Iſrael, and his Kinſman James then Biſhop after, and that being the Mother-Church out of which ſprung all the reſt.) But the other four Patriarchs (eſpecially three of them) became as ſo many Generals of Armies militating frequently againſt each other: and he that got the ſtronger Party of Biſhops and Court-favourers carryed all, againſt the reſt. But no place more turbulent, nor no Biſhop more unquiet than thoſe of Alexandria: Pride and Worldlineſs now grew apace, and ſo corrupted the Clergie, that in their Synods the fleſhly part too oft prevailed againſt the ſpiritual! When Court and Councils were for the Arrians, the whole Eaſtern part of the Empire was embroiled in the Contention, and the Orthodox in the greater Biſhopricks caſt out: When they were down and caſt out themſelves, the temporizing and turbulent Biſhops uſually got the Major Vote: Excellent Gregory Nazianzen for the great ſervice that he had done againſt the Arrians was choſen by the People, and made Patriarch of Conſtantinople: But the Synod of Biſhops envyed him and rejected him, to whom he gave place and would not ſtrive. Dioſcorus of Alexandria and his party fought it out at the General Council, and killed Flavianus: And being after overcome and outed of his Seat, did ſtill claim and keep the Title with his followers, and the moſt of his Patriarchate of the People ſtuck to him; ſo that he propagated his Opinion and Intereſt in all thoſe remote parts of the Empire: Yea among Volunteers in Ethiopia and other extra-imperial parts, which no Law or Canon had ſubjected to him; while the Patriarch that ſucceeded him by the Councils Decree, had his party only as the reſt, within the Empire: So that to this day the Syrians, Ethiopians, and abundance others profeſs themſelves the p. 98followers of Dioſcorus as the true Biſhop injuriouſly, ſay they, caſt out.

Chryſoſtome afterwards was caſt out of his Patriarchate of Conſtantinople, by a Synod of Biſhops and the Court.

At Rome the Biſhoprick was ſuch a prey, that contending for it troubled the Publick Peace: At the choice of Damaſus they fought it out in the Church, and his party won that ſacred Field, leaving many Carcaſſes there to the Church-Communion of the dead.

But it became the great advantage of Rome, that when the Empire was divided, the Weſtern Emperour proved Orthodox while the Eaſtern were oft Arrians: Which kept up the honour of the Weſtern Biſhops who had not the temptations of the Eaſt; where ſharp perſecutions and the deſolation of their Flocks, and the boaſt of the Arrians as the Major part, that was alſo ſetled by Authority, cauſed the ejected Biſhops ſometime to ſolicite them of the Weſt for help, by ſending them ſome to acquaint the Arrians that their Cauſe was owned by the Weſtern Biſhops, or to put ſome Countenance on their depreſſed Cauſe (and indeed the Weſtern Emperour did reſcue them.) This occaſioneth the Papiſts to this day to pretend that this was an Act of their ſubjection to the Pope: St. Baſil was the chief in this ſolicitation, and you ſhall read his words (Tranſlated.)

Verily the manners of proud men (ſpeaking of the Weſtern Biſhops) uſe to grow more inſolent, if they be honoured: And if God be merciful to us, what other addition have we need of? but if Gods anger remain on us, what help can the pride of the Weſt bring us? when they neither know the truth, nor can endure to ſpeak it; but being prepoſſeſſed with falſe ſuſpicions they do the ſame things now which they did in the Caſe of Marcellus, contentiouſly p. 99diſputing againſt thoſe that taught the truth, but for Hereſie confirming it by their Authority? Indeed I was willing, (not as repreſenting the Publick Perſon of the Eaſt) to write to their Leader (Damaſus) but not about Church-matters; but that I might intimate that they neither knew the truth of the things that are done with us, nor did admit the way by which they might learn them. And in general, that they ſhould not inſult over the calamitous and afflicted, nor think that Pride did make for their dignity, when that one ſin alone is enough to make us hateful to God. But this Epiſtle of Baſil Andr. Schottus the Jeſuite left out of Baſil's Works when he publiſhed them, Antw. Lat. A. D. 1616. Tertullian had made as bold with the Biſhop of Rome long before, lib. de Pudic. pag. 742. againſt Zepherinus: So had Cyprian and Firmilian againſt Stephen: Hilary Pictav. with Liberius and the Councils, even that of Nice: But moſt notable was the ſharp Conteſt of the Carthage Council, of which Auguſtine was one, againſt Zoſimus, and Boniface and Celeſtine; when the Pope falſly alledged a Canon of the Nicene Council for Appeal to Rome, they denyed his claim, and evinced the forgery, and ſtood it out againſt him to the laſt.

I. And here you may ſee that they took not the Pope's Power to be of God (jure divino:) For they ſearched only all the Archives to find out the true Copies of the Nicene Council, (Piſanus Canons being not then made;) and did not go to the Scripture to decide the Caſe, nor to Tradition Apoſtolical, only pleading Church-Laws and Order as on their ſide.

And that they never dreamt of a Divine Inſtitution of this Roman Papacy or Primacy, but only as the Arch-Biſhop of Canterbury in England hath precedency by the p. 100King's Laws, and not by God's; ſo Rome was the firſt Seat by the meer appointment of man, even Emperours and Councils, is yet fully evident; 1. In that the ſame Power that made the other four Patriarchs, made the Biſhop of Rome a Patriarch; and he was not made Pope or Prime Patriarch before he was made Patriarch: But no man dreameth of a Divine Inſtitution of the other four Patriarchs: Ergo.

2. Becauſe the whole Eaſtern Church, which was far greater than the Weſtern, firſt equalled the Patriarch of Conſtantinople to him of Rome, and after preferred him; when yet they never dreamed of a Divine Inſtitution of the Patriarchate of Conſtantinople: For it was but lately made: And no man of reaſon can judge, that all the Catholick Emperours, Biſhops, and People of the far greateſt part of the Imperial Church, would profeſſedly equal or prefer a Humane Office before one which they believed to be of Divine Inſtitution.

3. To this day all the Greek Church ſhew themſelves to be of that judgment, by adhering to the Patriarch of Conſtantinople, whom they confeſs to have been made ſuch by Emperours and Councils. And in the Conteſt with them the caſe is commonly pleaded accordingly.

4. Gregory Nazianzen would never have wiſhed ſo earneſtly that there were no inequality, ſuperiority, or priority of Seats, if he had taken them to be of Divine Inſtitution: Durſt he have ſo oppoſed the Law and Order of God?

5. But to put all out of doubt, it is expreſly determined by the moſt famous General Councils, even two of the four which are likened to the four Goſpels, Conſtantinople and Calcedon, that the Primacy was given to Rome by the Fathers (ſo they called Councils) becauſe it p. 101was the Imperial Seat; and therefore they give equal Priviledges to Conſtantinople, becauſe it is the Imperial Seat. The words of the Council of Calcedon (oft cited) are theſe (tranſlated.)

Act. 16. Binii pag. 134. [We following always the definitions of the holy Fathers and the Canons, and knowing thoſe that have now been read of the 150 Biſhops moſt beloved of God, that were congregated under the Emperour, of pious memory, Theodoſius the Greater, in the Royal City of Conſtantinople, New Rome, have our ſelves alſo defined the ſame things, concerning the Priviledges of the ſame moſt holy Church of Conſtantinople, New Rome: For to the Seat of old Rome, becauſe of the Empire of that City, the Fathers conſequently gave the Priviledges. And the 150 Biſhops moſt beloved of God, being moved with the ſame intentions, have given equal Priviledges to the moſt holy Seat of New Rome; reaſonably judging that the City adorned with the Empire and Senate, ſhall enjoy equal Priviledges with old Regal Rome.

This Council was called by the Emperour Martian; and his Lay-Officers were called the Judges: And the Biſhops, to ſhew what they thought of Rome, cryed out [They that contradict it are Neſtorians: Let them that contradict it walk to Rome. Bin. p. 98.]

If ſuch a General Council be not to be believed, farewell all the Papiſts Infallibility, Authority, Tradition, and Religion: If it be to be believed, the Pope is a Humane Creature, and not a Divine.

But Binius ſaith, that Rome receiveth not the Canons of this Council of Conſtantinople, which this confirmeth, but only their condemnation of Macedonius: And he ſaith [That every Council hath juſt ſo much ſtrength and authority p. 102as the Apoſtolick See beſtoweth on it: For (ſaith he) unleſs this be admitted, no reaſon can be given why ſome Councils of greater numbers of Biſhops were reprobated, and others of a ſmaller number confirmed,] Vol. 2. p. 515. And yet muſt we hear the noiſe of [all the Chriſtian World, and all the Biſhops, and General Councils, and the Tradition of our Fore-fathers, &c.] as againſt us, when all is but the Pope of Rome, and ſuch as pleaſe him? and it is He and his Pleaſers that refuſe the moſt General Councils and Tradition? Away with this falſe deceitful talk.

6. Once more hear their own Confeſſion; Their late Engliſh Biſhop (of Calcedon, a fatal name) R. Smyth in his Survey againſt Biſhop Bromhall ſaith, cap. 5. [To us it ſufficeth, that the Biſhop of Rome is S. Peter's Succeſſor, and this all the Fathers teſtifie, and all the Catholick Church believeth: But whether it be jure divino or humano is no point of Faith.]

Anſ. 1. Is not that a point of your Faith which the General Councils affirm? at leaſt of your Religion? Who can tell then what is your Faith? 2. If an hiſtorical point be not to be believed from General Councils, why ſhould the Hiſtory of Peter's being at Rome, and Biſhop there, be believed as from Fathers? (which Nilas hath ſaid ſo much againſt.) 3. Do not the Fathers as much agree that Peter was firſt Biſhop of Antioch? If then you have no more to ſhew than they, where is your Title? 4. If your Divine Right of ſucceeding Peter be no point of Faith, then he that believeth it not, doth not ſin againſt any point that God would have him believe as from him, and therefore is not to be thought erroneous in the Faith. 5. And yet upon this, which is no point of Faith, you build your Faith and Church, and would have all Chriſtians do the like, on pain of damnation.

p. 103II. And as the Roman Primacy was but of Man's deviſing, ſo I next prove, that it was but over one Empire, unleſs any Neighbours for their own advantage did afterward voluntarily ſubject themſelves. 1. Becauſe the Powers that gave him his Primacy, extended but to the Empire. The Emperour and his Subjects ruled not other Lands.

2. Becauſe the four other Patriarchs, made by the ſame Power, had no power without the Empire: As appeareth by the diſtribution of their Provinces in the Council of Nice, and afterward: Piſanus's Canons we regard not, that take in Ethiopia.

Obj. The Abaſſins now receive their chief Biſhop from the Patriarch of Alexandria.

That proveth not that ever they were under Rome: For there is not the leaſt proof that ever they did ſo, till Dioſcorus and his Succeſſors ſeparated from Rome, being rejected by them as Hereticks, and by long and ſlow degrees enlarged their power over many Neighbour Volunteers.

3. Becauſe the General Councils in which the Pope preſided, were but of the Empire. And the Popes never claimed a more general extenſive power then, than the Councils: Who indeed with the Emperours made the Papacy in its firſt ſtate.

4. Becauſe when the Patriarch of Conſtantinople claimed the Primacy, yea called himſelf Univerſal Biſhop, which Gregory ſharply reprehendeth as Antichriſtian, yet he never claimed the Government of the whole Chriſtian World, but only of the Empire. And in all their Conteſts there is no intimation of any ſuch different Claim of the Competitors, as if Rome claimed all the World, and Conſtantinople but the Empire, or Roman-World: p. 104Their Conteſt was about the ſame Churches or Circuit, who ſhould be Chief.

5. The Inſtances of the ſeveral Countries that were never under the Pope, do prove it: Even the great Empire of Abaſſia, and all the reſt fore-named without the Empire. Of which and the Exception more under the next.

III. The General Councils were all ſo called only in reſpect to the generality of the Empire, and not as of all the Chriſtian World; which was never dreamed of. Proved,

1. Becauſe the Emperours that called them (Conſtantine, Martian, &c.) had no power out of the Empire.

2. There is no credible Hiſtory that mentioneth any further call; much leſs of all the Chriſtian World.

3. It was the Affairs only of the Empire that the Councils judged of, as is to be ſeen in all their Canons.

4. The Names of the Biſhops yet to be ſeen, as Subſcribers, fully prove it.

5. It was not a thing probable, if poſſible, that the Indians, Perſians, and other Nations, ſhould ſend their Biſhops into the Roman Empire, which was uſually at War with them, or dreaded and deteſted by them.

6. Theodoret's foreſaid words of James Biſhop of Niſibis ſheweth it [that he was at the Council of Nice, for Niſibis was then under the Roman Empire.]

7. I have oft cited the words of Reynerius, ſaying, that the outer Churches planted by the Apoſtles were not under the Church of Rome.

8. The executive part neither could, nor ever was performed upon the Churches without the Empire. When did any Patriarch, or any Provincial, or General Council p. 105ſend for any Biſhop or other perſon out of India, Scythia, Ethiopia, or any other exterior Nation, to anſwer any Accuſation? or paſs any Sentence of Depoſition, or Suſpenſion againſt them? or put any other into their places?

9. General Councils are confeſſed by Papiſts to be but a Humane and not a Divine Inſtitution: and what Humane Power could ſettle them in and over the Church Univerſal? If you ſay It is by Univerſal Conſent; prove to us that ever there was ſuch a Conſent, or that ever there was any meeting or treaty for ſuch Conſent, of all the Chriſtian World, and we will yield it to you. Surely if there be any Chriſtians at the Antipodes they were not ſent to in thoſe days when Lactantius, Auguſtine, and others, denyed that there were any Antipodes, and derided it; nor when the Pope by our Countryman Boniface his Inſtigation excommunicated Virgilius for holding that there were Antipodes. Hear their great diſputer Pighius, Hierarch. Eccleſ. lib. 6. c. 1. fol. 230. [General Councils (ſaith he) have not a Divine or Supernatural Original, but meerly an Humane Original, and are the Invention of Conſtantine a Prince; profitable indeed ſometimes to find out in Controverſie which is the Orthodox and Catholick Truth, though to this they are not neceſſary, ſeeing it is a readier way to adviſe with the Apoſtolick Seat.] So that General Councils are Novel, Humane, and only of the Empire then.

10. But to end all the Controverſie, the names of the Subſcribers are yet to be ſeen, who were not the repreſentatives of the Chriſtian World, but of the Empire, as is notorious.

Aeneas Sylvius Epiſt. 288. ſaith that [before the Council of Nice there was little reſpect had to the Church of p. 106Rome.] And though when he was made Pope, Intereſt cauſed him to revoke his judgment of the Councils being above the Pope, he never revoked ſuch hiſtorical narratives.

Their great Learned Mathematical (yet militant) Cardinal Cuſanus li. de Concord. Cathol. c. 13. &c. ſaith [that the Papacie is but of Poſitive right, and that Prieſts are jure Divino equal, and that it is ſubjectional Conſent which giveth the Pope and Biſhops their Majority, and that the diſtinction of Dioceſes, and that a Biſhop be over Presbyters are of Poſitive Right, and that Chriſt gave no more to Peter than the reſt; and that if the congregate Church ſhould chuſe the Biſhop of Trent for their Preſident and Head, he ſhould be more properly Peter's Succeſſor than the Biſhop of Rome.]

Object. Oh but this Book is diſallowed by the Pope.

Anſw. No wonder: So is all that is againſt him.

The Exceptions which we grant are theſe. 1. There were ſome Cities of the Empire that were near to other Nations, where the Princes being Heathens, Chriſtians were underlings and few: And the Biſhops of theſe Cities extended their care to as many of the Neighbour Countries as would voluntarily ſubmit to them: So the Biſhop of Tomys was Biſhop of many Scythians, and ſo ſome that were on the Borders of Perſia, had many Perſians, and were at Nice.

2. There were ſome Countries that were ſometimes under the Roman Power, and ſometime under the Perſian, or others, as Victory carried it; and theſe when they had been once of the Imperial Church, took it (when they fell under Heathens) to be their Honour, Strength, and Priviledge to be ſo accounted ſtill, and ſo would come to their Councils after if they could: So it was p. 107with the Armenians; and the Africans, when the … had conquered them, &c.

3. There were ſome Biſhops that lived on the Borders of the Empire, under Heathens, that needed the help of Neighbour Churches, and accordingly were oft with them, craving their help: So it was with the old Britans, as to the Biſhops of France.

4. There were ſome ſmall Countries adjoining to the Empire, who took the Friendſhip of the Roman Power for their great Honour and ſafety, and therefore were glad to conform in Religion to the Empire, and to let their Biſhops join with them.

5. And there were ſome Neighbour Countries who were turned to Chriſtianity by the Emiſſaries of the Biſhop of Rome; who therefore (rejoicing alſo in ſo powerful a Patronage) were willingly his Subjects: But this was long after the firſt great Councils. Theſe two laſt were the Saxons caſe in England. Accordingly you may ſometimes find two or three out of ſuch Countries at ſome of the General Councils of the Empire. Which yet were called General but as to the Empire, and not as to the World.

To proceed in the Hiſtory: When Chriſtians were (moſtly) exempted from the Magiſtrates Judicatures (that were moſt Heathens, though under a Chriſtian Prince,) and ſo the Biſhops Canons were to them, as the Laws of the Land are to us, it is no wonder that Councils muſt then be very frequent, and Canons of great eſteem; and hereupon Biſhops by proſperity growing more and more worldly and carnal, made uſe of their Synodical Power, as is aforeſaid, to accompliſh their own Wills: So that the Synods of Biſhops became the great Incendiaries and Troublers of the Empire. You need no more p. 108to ſatisfie you of this, but to read the Acts of the Councils, and the words of Nazianzen (called Theologus) againſt Synods and contentious Biſhops, and the ſad Exclamations of Hillary Pictav. They that had too little zeal againſt Ungodlineſs, Unrighteouſneſs, Pride, and Malice, were ſo zealous againſt any that withdrew from their Power and contradicted them, that they eaſily ſtigmatized them for Hereticks, and made even godly ſober Chriſtians ſuſpected of Hereſie for their ſakes; while notorious Vice was uſed gently in thoſe that adhered unto them. Even holy Auguſtine ſaith [Drunkenneſs is a mortal ſin, ſi ſit aſſidua, if it be daily or conſtant; (what, not elſe?) and that they muſt not be roughly and ſharply dealt with, but gently and by fair words:] Vid. Aquin. 22. q. 150. a. 1. 4. ad 4. & a. 2. 1.

And their Great Gregory, [That with leave they muſt be leſt to their own wit, (or diſpoſition,) leſt they grow worſe if they be pulled away from ſuch a Cuſtom,] (as Drunkenneſs.)

But when it came to ſuch as withdrew from under them, they were not ſo gentle. Lucifer Calaritanus is made the Head of a Hereſie, becauſe he was but too much againſt the receiving of ſuch as had been Arrians. The large Catalogues of Hereſies contain many that never erred in Fundamentals. They proſecuted the Priſcillianiſts ſo hotly, that if godly men were but given to faſting and ſtrictneſs of life, they were brought into ſuſpicion of Priſcillianiſm: And the Vulgar took advantage of the Biſhops turbulency and ill diſpoſition to abuſe the godly. S. Martin therefore ſeparated from the whole Synod of the Biſhops about him, and neither would join with them, nor have any Communion with them, as ſuppoſing them proud men that ſuppreſſed piety, and ſtrengthened the p. 109wicked, by their intemperate proſecution: Whereupon they ſuſpected and accuſed him alſo as an unlearned Fellow, and a Favourer of the Priſcillianiſts. They did not only bring in the uſe of the Magiſtrates Sword in Religion againſt Hereſie, which Martin could not bear, but they owned and flattered an uſurping Emperour, that they might have the help of his Sword to do their work: So that in all thoſe parts of France, Germany, and the Borders of Italy, I find not a Biſhop that refuſed to own the Uſurper, ſave S. Ambroſe, and Martin, and one French Biſhop: And Sulpitius Severus tells us that they were men too bad themſelves, and that upon his knowledge Ithacius the Leader of them ſcarce cared what he ſaid or did. S. Cyril at Alexandria is noted by Socrates as the firſt Biſhop there that uſed the Sword; and his Kinſman S. Theophilus went beyond him, and took upon him even to favour the Errour of the Anthropomorphites, that he might have their help againſt ſuch as he hated, and proſecuted Chryſoſtom till he had procured his ejection, which made a rupture in that Church, and cauſed the ſeparation of his Adherents, whom the Biſhop would have taken for a new Sect, and called them Joannites; ſuch skill had the domineering ſort of Prelates in making and multiplying Hereſies and Sects; and calling themſelves ſtill the Catholick Biſhops becauſe they kept the upper hand, and major Vote, except where the Arrians over-topt them, who then claimed the Catholick Title to themſelves. And by what Arts ſome of them kept the favour of the Emperours, to do their work and keep up their greatneſs, Socrates tells you in the inſtance of the ſaid S. Theophilus, who ſent one before the great Battel between Theodoſius and Eugenius another Uſurper, with two Letters, and a rich Preſent, and bid him ſtay till the p. 110Battel was over, and then give the flattering Letter and the Preſent to him whoever that got the better.

But though ſtill ſince the World came into the Church, and the Greatneſs, Power, and Honour of Prelacy made that Office a very alluring bait to the deſires of the moſt worldly fleſhly men, yet God kept up ſome that maintained their integrity, and bare their teſtimony againſt the pride and carnality of the reſt; and though the ſcandals of the Catholicks turned many to the Novatians, and other Sects that profeſt more ſtrictneſs, (yea Salvian makes the Arrians, Gothes, and Vandals themſelves to be men of more honeſty and temperance than the Catholick Clergie) yet ſound Doctrine had ſtill ſome holy Men that did maintain it.

But what were the Popes doing all this while? Sound Doctrine by the advantage of the ſoundneſs of the Weſtern Emperour as is ſaid, yet kept out Arrianiſm, Pelagianiſme and ſuch other Hereſies there: but they were ſtill ſtriving to be the Greateſt: Leo one of the beſt of them was one of the firſt that laid claim to an Univerſal Headſhip within the Empire: I told you how Zoſimus and his Followers ſtrove with the Africans, to have Appeals made to Rome from the African Biſhops and Councils: which the Africans ſtifly oppoſed as contrary to the Canons, to Cuſtom, and to the reaſon of Diſcipline, which required that Caſes ſhould be judged and ended where perſons and things were known, and not by Strangers afar off, where Witneſſes could not without intolerable charge and trouble be brought beyond Sea to proſecute the ſuite. The words of the African Council tranſlated are …ſe: [Let your Holineſs, as beſeemeth you, repel the wicked refuges of Presbyters and the Clergie that follow them, becauſe this is not taken from the African Church p. 111by any definitions of the Fathers, and the Nicene Decrees did moſt plainly commit both the inferior Clergie and the Biſhops themſelves, to the Metropolitans: for they did moſt prudently and moſt juſtly provide that all buſineſs ſhould be ended in the very places where they began, and the Grace of the Holy Ghoſt will not (or ſhould not) be wanting to each province: which Equity ſhould by the Prieſts of Chriſt be prudently obſerved, and moſt conſtantly maintained: eſpecially becauſe it is granted to every one to appeal to the Councils of their own Province, or to an Univerſal Council, if he be offended with the ſentence of the Cognitors: unleſs there ſhould be any one that can think that our God can (or will) inſpire a Juſtice of tryal into any One Man, and deny it to innumerable Prieſts that are Congregated in Council. Or how can that ſentence that is paſt beyond Seas be valid, to which the neceſſary perſons of the Witneſſes could not be brought, becauſe of the infirmities of Sexe or Age, many other impediments intervening? For that any (that is Legates) ſhould be ſent from the ſide of your Holineſs we find not conſtituted by any Synod of the Fathers (it ſeems they never thought of a Divine right) becauſe that which you ſent us by our Fellow Biſhop Fauſtinus as done by the Nicene Council—(they prove was falſe)—ſend not your Clergy Executors (or Agitators) to potent men: Do not yield to it, leſt we ſeem to bring the Secular arrogancy into the Church of Chriſt, which preferreth the light of ſimplicity and day of humility for them that deſire to ſee God: For of our Brother Fauſtinus (the Popes Legate) we are ſecure that the ſa… Brotherly love in your Holineſſes honeſty and moderation, can ſuffer him to ſtay no longer in Africa.]

p. 112The Popes took this heinouſly from the Africans; that they ſhould ſtop them in their aſcent to the Univerſal Monarchy: So that Pope Boniface, Epiſt. ad Eulal. ſaith, Aurelius ſometimes Biſhop of Carthage, with his Colleagues, did begin by the Devils inſtigation to wax proud againſt the Church of Rome, in the days of our Predeceſſors Boniface and Celeſtine.] O how little do proud men inſtigated by the Devil know themſelves, when they think that the Diabolical pride is in them that will not ſerve their pride!

And Harding againſt Jewel, Art. 4. Sect. 19. ſaith [After the whole African Church had perſevered in Schiſm, the ſpace of twenty years, and had removed themſelves from the obedience of the Apoſtolick Seat, being ſeduced by Aurelius Biſhop of Carthage, &c.]

Here note, 1. That ſo numerous were the Biſhops in Africa, that one of their Provincial Councils had far more Biſhops than the Council of Trent, or divers others called General. 2. That they were men of the moſt eminent learning and piety, and that had kept up Diſcipline above almoſt any Church in the Empire. S. Auguſtine was one that ſubſcribed the foreſaid Letter: and were ſuch Men like to be ſeduced by Aurelius? 3. Note with what Impudencie even ſuch men as Harding yet pretend that St Auguſtine was for their Papal Claim, when yet he profeſſeth him to be one of the Schiſmaticks that caſt off obedience to the Seat of Rome. 4. Note what good Company we have in our reproach of the ſame pretended Schiſm. 5. Note how ſhameleſly the Papiſts ſtill tell us of all the Biſhops of the Chriſtian World being for them, and asking us, where was our Church before Luther, that is, a Society of Chriſtians that obeyed not the Pope; when they confeſs that Auguſtine and all the African Church for twenty p. 113years obeyed him not: (and alas, ſoon after the Vandals came and conquered them, and perſecuted and deſtroyed thoſe famous Biſhops that did ſurvive.)

And that you may further know that they had yet more diſobedient Reſiſters than African Biſhops, you may remember that even the Egyptian Monks, ſo long famous for their great auſterity and ſanctity, had renounced not only obedience but Communion with the Pope and his Adherents: Fulgentius was about going to live with them for their holineſs, but he was told of this, and turned his courſe: vid. Vit. Fulgent.

And how great were all thoſe Churches of Aethiopia, Armenia (exterior) India, and the reſt which the Apoſtles converted, which Reynerius aforeſaid truly ſaith, are not under the Church of Rome? Cont. Waldenſ. Catal. in Riblioth. Patr. To. 1. p. 773.

I have formerly recited the words of Melch. Canus, one of their great Biſhops, ſaying [Loc. Theolog. li. 6. c. 7. fol. 201. Not only the Greeks, but almoſt ALL THE REST OF THE BISHOPS OF THE WHOLE WORLD have vehemently fought to deſtroy the priviledge of the Church of Rome. And indeed they had on their ſide both the Arms of Emperours, and the GREATER NUMBER OF CHURCHES; and yet they could never prevail to abrogate the Power of the one Pope of Rome.

See here their own Confeſſion, 1. Where Chriſtians oppoſing the Pope were before Luther. 2. And of what credit their boaſt of Univerſality and Catholick Tradition is. One while (W. H.) ſaith, The Biſhops of the whole World were for them: But when their cauſe leads them to tell truth, they ſay, Almoſt all the Biſhops of the whole World have vehemently fought againſt the Pope, and the Arms of Emperors and the greater number of Churches were againſt them.

p. 114And indeed, if it had been none but the Greeks, he might well have ſaid [The greater number of Churches:] For the Conteſt which begun upon the Emperours removal to Conſtantinople, and at the firſt General Council, increaſing more and more, till Gregory oppoſed John's Claim of Univerſal Biſhop, as Antichriſtian, at laſt Phoc as the cruel murderer of Mauritius gave the Title to the Biſhop of Rome: But that no whit ended the conteſt, following Emperors being contrary minded, and the Greeks continuing their Claim, the Biſhops of Rome and Conſtantinople excommunicating one another; ſo that by this abominable ſtriving which ſhould be the Chief or Greateſt, the Churches that were of old in the Empire have been divided, and ſo they continue to this very Day, as unreconcileable as ever.

And when Gregory ſent his Emiſſary hither to Preach to the Saxons, they found the Chriſtian Britans and Scots not only averſe to the Government, Orders, and Ceremonies of Rome (ſo that in many Kings Reigns neither words nor force could make them yield) but alſo ſuch as refuſed their Communion, and would not ſo much as eat and drink with them in the ſame houſe.

No wonder then that Marinarius at the Council of Trent complain, that the Church is ſhut up in the Corners of Europe: and that Sonnius Biſhop of Antwerp ſay (Demonſtr. Relig. Chriſt. li. 2. Tract. 5. c. 3.) [I pray you what room hath the Catholick Church now in the habitable World?] Scarce three Elns long in compariſon of the vaſtneſs which the Satanical Church doth poſſeſs.

The truth is, ſaith Brierwood, Divide the known World (and alas how much is unknown?) into thirty parts, and about nineteen are Heathens, and ſix Mahometans, and p. 115five Christians of all ſorts: And of theſe Chriſtians the Papiſts at this day are as ſome think about a fifth part, ſome think a fourth part, and ſome think a third part.

And after the aſſuming of the Univerſal Title, their Popes more and more degenerated to ſuch odious wickedneſs at laſt as we hope few Pagans are guilty of: which we ſpeak, not as from Enemies, but from their own Hiſtorians and Flatterers, ſuch as Platina, Baronius, Genebrard, &c. Nay, not ſo much from them as from Councils General and Provincial which have accuſed, condemned, and depoſed them. Read in my Key for Catholicks pag. 220, 221, 222. the words of Baronius, Genebrard, Platina: CL. Eſpenſaeus, … Muſs, Guicciardine, &c. Nic. Clemangis, Bernard, Alv. Pelagius ſay more. Let any impartial man but read the Articles on which the Council at Conſtance condemned and depoſed John 23. about 70 in number, in which they make him almoſt as bad as a man out of Hell can be, and indeed ſay, he was commonly called, [The Devil incarnate.]

Read the Articles on which the Council at Baſil condemned and depoſed Eugenius the Fourth as a perjured Wreteh, an obſtinate Heretick, and all the reſt.

Read the Articles on which another Council depoſed John 13. alias 12. And read the Lives of many more in their own Hiſtorians.

And what came the Church to when it had ſuch Heads? when Baronius ſaith, ad an. 912. that [the face of the holy Roman Church was exceeding filthy: when the moſt potent whores did rule at Rome, by whoſe pleaſure Seats were changed, Biſhops were given, and which is a thing horrid to be heard, and not to be ſpoken, their Lovers were thruſt into Peters Chair, being falſe Popes, who are not to be written in the Catalogue of the Roman Popes, but only for p. 116the marking of ſuch times: And what kind of Cardinals, Prieſts, and Deacons, think you, we must imagine, that theſe Monſters did chuſe, when nothing is ſo rooted in Nature as for every one to beget his like.] For near 150 years, ſaith Genebrard, about fifty Popes were rather Apoſtatical than Apoſtolical.]

And where was their uninterrupted Succeſſion all this time?

Pope Nicolas in his Decretals Caranz. p. 393. 395) ſaith [He that by Money or the favour of Men, or Popular or Military Tumults is intruded into the Apoſtolical Seat, without the Concordant and Canonical Election of the Cardinals and the following religious Clergy, let him not be taken for a Pope nor Apoſtolical, but Apoſtatical.] And of the Clorgy he ſaith [Prieſts that commit Fornication cannot have the honour of Prieſthood;] Yea, [Let no Man hear Maſs of a Prieſt whom he certainly knoweth to have a Concubine or Woman introduced.] (And ſhall not Protestants forgive thoſe that will not hear ſuch, or as bad?) Where then was the Papacy under ſuch?

For above forty years together there were more Popes than one at once, and ſometimes more than two, one dwelling at Rome, and another at Avignion, or elſewhere: One ſet up and obeyed by one Party, and another by another Party, each condemning the other as an Uſurper. And had the Univerſal Church then any one Head? And with what wickedneſs are they charged, one deſtroying what the other was for; ſee in Wernerus Faſcial. and my Key p. 28, 29, 30.

Wernerus and others ſay, that Silvester the ſecond was made Pope by the help of the Devil to whom he did homage, that all might go as he would have it—but he quickly met with the End that ſuch have that place their hope in deceitful p. 117Devils.] When one Pope cuts another in pieces, and caſteth his Careaſs into the Water, as unworthy of Chriſtian Burial (as you may find in the Lives of Formoſus and Sergius) muſt we yet ſuppoſe ſuch the Lawful Rulers of the World?

The fourteenth Schiſme (ſaith Wernerus) was ſcandalous and full of confuſion, between Benedict the Ninth and five others: Which Benedict was wholly vitious, and therefore being damned, appeared in a monſtrous and horrid ſhape, his Head and Tail were like an Aſſes, the reſt of his Body like a Bear, ſaying, I thus appear becauſe I lived like a Beaſt. In this Schiſme (ſaith the Author) there was no leſs than ſix Popes at once. 1. Benedict was expulſed. 2. Silveſter the Third gets in, but is caſt out again, and Benedict reſtored. 3. But being again caſt out, Gregory the Sixth is put into his place: Who becauſe he was ignorant of Letters, cauſed another Pope to be Conſecrated with him, to perform Church-Offices, which was the fourth: Which diſpleaſed many, and therefore a third is choſen inſtead of the two that were fighting with one another: But Henry (the Emperour) coming in, depoſed them all, and choſe Clement the Second, (who was the ſixth of them that were alive at once.) In my Opinion this Gregory the Sixth ſhewed himſelf the honeſteſt Man of them all: Who though he could not read himſelf had the humility by chuſing a Partner to confeſs his ignorance. And I am perſwaded if the queſtion had come before him, which was the trueſt Tranſlation of the Hebrew or Greek Text, or ſuch like, the Man would ſcarce have pretended to Infallibility in judging. The nineteenth Schiſme, was between Innocent the Second and Peter Leonis, and Innocent (ſaith the Author) got the better becauſe he had more on his ſide.] A good Title no doubt! and thence a good Succeſſion.

p. 118The twentieth Schiſme (ſaith Wernerus) was great between Alexander the Third and four others, and it laſted ſeventeen years.

After Nicolas the Fourth (ſaith he) there was no Pope for two years and a half (where was the Church then?) and Celeſtine the Fifth that ſucceeded him reſigning it, Boniface the Eighth entered, that ſtiled himſelf Lord of the whole World in Spirituals and Temporals; of whom it was ſaid, he entered as a Fox, lived as a Lyon, and dyed like a Dog. I have as good hope of the ſalvation of Celeſtine the Fifth and Felix the Fifth as any two of them, becauſe as they were drawn in as ſimple Men in ignorance, ſo their reſignation ſhewed ſome hope that they repented.

The 22. Schiſme (ſaith Wernerus ad an. 1373.) was the worſt and moſt ſubtil Schiſme of all that were before it: for it was ſo perplexed that the moſt Learned and Conſcientious Men were not able to find out to whom they ſhould adhere: And it was continued for forty years to the great ſcandal of the whole Clergie, and the great loſs of ſouls, becauſe of Hereſies and other evils that then ſprung up, becauſe there was no diſcipline in the Church againſt them. And therefore from this Urban the Sixth to the time of Martin the Fifth, I know not who was Pope.] (Nor I neither: nor any one elſe I think).

The twenty third Schiſme, was between Felix the Fifth and Eugenius the Fourth, of which ſaith Wernerus [Hence aroſe great contention among the Writers of this Matter, pro & contra, and they cannot agree to this day: For one part ſaith that a Council is above the Pope; the other part on the contrary ſaith, no, but the Pope is above the Council: God grant his Church Peace, &c.] The Chriſtian World being all in Diviſions becauſe of ſidings for theſe ſeveral Popes, the Emperours were conſtrained to p. 119call General Councils to end the Schiſmes: That at Conſtance thought they had done the Work; but they left Work enough for that at Baſil, and more than they could do: When they found not a fit Man among the Clergy, they choſe a Lay-man to be Pope, the Duke of Savoy, a Man noted for honeſt Simplicity and Piety, and called him Felix the Fifth: But Eugenius, who was caſt out by the Council for his wickedneſs, kept the place, and made the Duke glad to reſign and leave the Popedome.

Should I ſtay to tell you after the Barbarous Age 900. what work the Popes made in the World, how many thouſand they forced to death upon the Wars at Jeruſalem; how many ſcore thouſand Waldenſes and Albigenſes they Murdered; How they forced Kings to kiſs their Feet, and trod on the Neck of Frederick the Emperour: How they divided the Empire by a Rebellious War againſt the Emperours Henry the Third and Fourth; And how they Armed their Subjects and Neighbours againſt them, yea the Emperours Son againſt his own Father; And how the Writers of thoſe times are divided, and open the lamentable Diviſions of the Ages in which they lived; What work they made here againſt the Kings of England; and what paſſed between Boniface the Eighth and the King of France, and the Coin on which he Stamped his Reſolution to destroy Babylon, &c. you would little think that either Holineſs or Unity were any Property of the Roman Church.

Qu. But if moſt did not favour them, how did they aſcend to ſo great power? Anſ. 1. The old Name of the Imperial Rome, and the Popes Primacie in the Empire, kept up a Veneration for him in the ignorant. 2. The Eaſtern Emperours ſeated at Conſtantinople were ſo taken up with Wars, Rebellions, and other Difficulties p. 120at home, that they could not take ſufficient care of the Weſt; but left the Popes too much advantage to grow great: and wickedneſs alſo increaſing among them (though the Princes preſence kept their Patriarchs in more order and ſubmiſſion, than the Popes that were become maſterleſs) provoked God to give them up to be conquered by the Mahometan Turks: And by the Ambition of the Popes, the Emperours wanted the due aſſiſtance of their Weſtern Subjects, to reſiſt their Enemies. And the Pope took the advantage of the Eaſtern Emperours weakneſs, to lead the Weſt into a ſettled Rebellion, offering the King of France the Weſtern Empire, which he embraced, the Pope making his Bargain with him for his own advantage. 3. And in the Wars of Chriſtian Princes, the Pope uſed to obtrude his Arbitration, in ſuch a manner as tended to his gain: ſo that he ſhortly got to be a temporal Prince of a great part of Italy, and to have Crowns and Kingdoms made feudatary to him. 4. And he got Germany to be broken into ſo many ſmall Republicks and Liberties, as that they were not able to unite to reſiſt him. 5. And he took great advantage of the religious humours of any that were devout, and allowed them ſo many and various Societies, and with ſo great Priviledges, as obliged them generally to uphold and ſerve him. Though he cruelly perſecuted all that were againſt his Power and Intereſt, yet he allowed almoſt all the Diverſities of ſuch as would but unite in him and ſerve him. 6. And as he ſo twiſted his own and all his Clergies Intereſt, that they were all ready to obey and defend him againſt their ſeveral Princes, and thereby had a great power in every Chriſtian State in Europe, ſo, keeping all his Clergie unmarryed, their wealth ſtill accumulated and flowed into the Church: And the Eaſtern Empire being p. 121firſt weakned and then overthrown, and the Weſtern Nations kept weak, and in continual Wars againſt each other, there was none well able to reſiſt his Pride, but one party ſtill was ready to flatter him, partly to keep their own Clergy in Peace, and partly to have his help againſt their Enemies.

And the grand Cheat by which they were commonly deceived was, that they lookt more at his preſent poſſeſſion of Primacie, than at the reaſon and right by which he claimed it; and ſo he that had been Prime Patriarch in one Empire, ſet up by the Prince, ſtill claimed the right of the ſame places when the Empire was diſſolved: as if the Subjects of the Kings of France, Spain, &c. muſt obey him, becauſe they did ſo when they were the Subjects of Conſtantine, Theodoſius, Valentinian &c. For by little and little he changed his Title mentioned in the Council of Calcedon, into a pretended Divine Right, and ſo they that would not have obeyed him as ſet up by Caeſar and his Councils, obeyed him as if he had been ſet up by God: For the name of St. Peter and his Chair and Succeſſour was uſed as the common blind.

And next to that he did by degrees change his claim of a Primacie in the Empire into a claim of Primacie in all the World: and his claim of a meer Primacie, into a claim of Soveraignty, or Governing Monarchy.

If you ask me, how could he blind Men ſo far as to make ſuch a change? You ſeem not to know Man-kind, nor to obſerve common experience. Do you not conſider what power the Clergie had every where got with the People? What an advantage poſſeſſion and St. Peters name were? And how lamentably ignorant they kept the People? Do we not ſee that even in our more knowing times, yea among Proteſtants, yea with ſome p. 122Divines, the evident diſtinction between their Humane Right and their pretended Divine Right, and between an Univerſal Council or Church of the Empire, and of the whole World, have not been ſufficiently obſerved in our Diſputes againſt them?

And the additional Countries of voluntary Subjects in Brittain, Hungary, Sweden, Denmark, &c. which of later times, ſince his Imperial Primacie, have fallen in to him, have much helped to blind the people herein, and to ſerve his Claim as by Divine Right. For which ends his Emiſſaries have taken great pains, at the Eaſt and Weſt Indies, in China, and Japan and Congo, (and once they made an attempt in Abaſſia,) and among the Greeks and in many other Nations of the World; laudably ſeeking to win ſome Heathens to Chriſt, that they might win them to the Pope; and turbulently ſeeking to diſturb the Greeks and other Chriſtian Churches, to draw them to the obedience of the Pope.

The Doctrines by which they promote their deſign are more than I may now ſtay to open.

I. One of the chief is, by depreſſing the Honour of the ſacred Scriptures, as inſufficient to acquaint us with all Gods will that is neceſſary to our ſalvation, without ſupplemental Tradition; that ſo all men might be brought to depend on them as the Keepers of Tradition.

But 1. Is their Tradition yet written in any of their own Books, or not? If not, where are they kept? And who knoweth what they are? Is it not ſtrange that ſo many Doctors in ſo many Ages, all remembring them, would none of them ever write them down? Are they in the Memory of the Pope only? (What of thoſe that could not read, or that were condemned as Hereticks of Infidels?) Then all the World muſt receive them from p. 123the Popes Memory. If ſo, muſt it be Word or Writing? And had he no Memory of them before he was Pope? But if it be in other Mens Memories that your unwritten Traditions are kept, in whoſe is it? If in all the Doctors of your Church, why did not Luther, Melancthon, Pet. Martyr and the reſt that turned from you, know them? Or did they ſuddenly forget them all when they turned Proteſtants? And how vaſt muſt your neceſſary Religion be, if yet it muſt have more in it unwritten, than is to be found in all your great Volumes of Councils, and your huge Library?

But I ſuppoſe you will ſay that all your unwritten Traditions are now written: If ſo, they are not unwritten: And how long have they been written, and by whom? If Fathers and Sons could keep them unwritten in memory a thouſand years, why not 1100, and why not 1600? &c. If they were written in the beginning, where be the Books? Are they not ſuch as other Chriſtians can read and underſtand as well as you, (or an illiterate Pope?) If there be a neceſſity of having them in writing now, was there not the ſame neceſſity to former Ages?

2. I ſuppoſe you will ſend us to your Councils for thoſe Traditions: But if the Biſhops know them not before they come to the Council, how do they begin to know them then? Do they go thither for a new miraculous Revelation of an old Tradition left with the whole Church?

1. But do not Councils oft determine things confeſſedly uncertain to the Church before; and yet out of utter uncertainty, it ſuddenly becometh an Article of Faith? For Inſtance, the great Council at Baſil ſaith (Bin. ſeſs. 30. p. 80.) [A hard Queſtion hath been in divers parts p. 124and before this Synod, about the Conception of the glorious Virgin Mary, and the beginning of her Sanctification: Some ſaying that the Virgin and her Soul was for ſome time, or inſtant of time, actually under Original Sin: Others on the contrary ſaying, that from the beginning of her Creation God loving her gave her Grace, by which preſerving and freeing that bleſſed Perſon from the Original Spot—We having diligently lookt into the Authorities and Reaſons which for many years paſt have in publick relation on both ſides been alledged, before this holy Synod, and having ſeen many other things about it, and weighed them by mature conſideration, do Define and Declare, That the Doctrine affirming That the glorious Virgin Mary the Mother of God, by the ſingular preventing and operating Grace of God, was never actually under Original Sin, but was ever free from all Original and actual Sin, and was holy and immaculate, is to be approved, held and embraced of all Catholicks as godly and conſonant to Church-worſhip, Catholick Faith, right Reaſon, and ſacred Scripture: and that henceforth it ſhall be lawful for no Man to Preach or Teach the contrary.

Where was this Tradition kept before, that was ſo hard a Controverſie till now?

2. And do not General Councils bring in Novelties? I cited formerly the words of Cajetan in his Oration in the Council at the Laterane under Leo 10. charging the Council of Conſtance, Baſil and Piſa with Novelty, and ſuch Novelty as would have quite defaced the Church and was inconſiſtent with it. And Pighius chargeth them with the like. Yea I told you before where he ſaith that General Councils themſelves are a Novelty deviſed by Conſtantine.

p. 1253. Be not General Councils themſelves approved or reprobated at the pleaſure of the Pope? What a number of reprobated Councils were there? that yet were as numerous as the approved, and as lawfuly called and aſſembled. Bellarmine inſtanceth in the 2. of Epheſus, Conſtance, Baſil, and many more: Of which more before.

II. Another of their deceits is by pretending to Vinc. Lerinenſis Rule, quod ab omnibus, ubique, ſemper, &c. as if Antiquity and Univerſality were on their ſide. I muſt remember that I have long ago confuted theſe and the reſt of their deceits in my Key for Catholicks: Yet I will briefly ſpeak here to theſe two.

1. For Antiquity we willingly ſtand to it, and to the rejecting of all Novelty in Religion: But we muſt have better proof than the word of our Grand-fathers, or a Prieſt. 1. Is any of their Books or Traditions elder than the holy Scripture? 2. Either the Greeks, Armenians, Abaſſines, &c. have been ſure Keepers of Antiquity, or not: If yea, then we may take their Teſtimony as well as the Church of Romes. If not, why may not you prove as ill Keepers of it as they?

3. But are they not certain Novelties that you would impoſe on us under the colour of Antiquity? Read but Pet. Moulin de Novit. Papiſmi, or Mr. Th. Doelittles Diſcourſe in the Morning Lectures againſt Popery, and you ſhall ſee the Novelty of your Religion fully proved. Take now but theſe few inſtances. 1. Your very Patriarchate, Primacie, Claim of Univerſality, General Councils, are all proved Novelties before.

2. Your own Writers confeſs that the denying the People Chriſts Blood (or the Cup) in the Lords Supper is a Novelty, that prevailed by Cuſtom by little and little, p. 126and was not common long before the Council at Conſtance: Dare you ſay that it was ſo from the beginning, or of old?

3. Can you poſſibly believe that your forbidding men to read the Scriptures in a known Tongue without a Licence is not a Novelty, if ever you read Chryſoſtom, Auguſtine, Jerome, or any thing of the Ancients?

4. Is it not a Novelty for the publick Prayers of the Church to be ordinarily made in a Tongue not underſtood by the generality of the People? But I muſt ſtop.

2. And as to Univerſality I have before proved, 1. That by their own Confeſſion moſt of the Churches and Biſhops of the World have been againſt them. 2. That at this day they are not above the third part of Chriſtians. Too ſmall an Univerſal Church for any man of Charity and Conſideration to be a member of: A Sect that call themſelves All the Church. Jacob. a Vitr. Hiſtor. Orient. Cap. 77. tells us that, the Churches in the Eaſterly part of Aſia alone exceeded in multitude both the Greek and Latine Churches.

As for their telling us that all theſe followed Dioſcorus a Heretick, or were Neſtorians, and that all the Abaſſines, Armenians, Georgians, Syrians, Coptics, Greeks, Proteſtants, &c. are Hereticks, or Schiſmaticks, I have anſwered it ſo oft at large that I muſt not repeat what I have ſaid. Only, 1. I ſay that if the Cenſures and Revilings of Adverſaries can un-chriſten all others, and appropriate the Church to them that have leaſt Charity, perhaps the Qualiers may ſhortly have as fair a Title as the Papiſts. If General Councils be not to be believed when they Hereticate Popes, I will not believe a Railer when he Hereticates moſt of the Chriſtian World, whom he never ſaw or ſpake with▪ Sure that man judgeth perſons p. 127unheard. 2. I repeat the words of Barchardus one of your own, that long lived among them, and ſpake what he ſaw, p. 325, 326. [And is for thoſe that we judge to be damned Hereticks, as the Neſtorians, Jacobites, Maronites, Georgians, and the like, I found them to be for the moſt part good and ſimple men, and living ſincerely towards God and Men, they are of great abſtinence, &c.—And p. 324. he ſaith, that [the Syrians, Greeks, Armenians, Georgians, Neſtorians, Nubians, Jubeans, Chaldeans, Maronites, Ethiopians, Egyptians, and many other Nations of Chriſtians there inhabit; and that ſome are Schiſmaticks not ſubject to the Pope, and others called Hereticks, as the Neſtorians, Jacobites, &c. but there are many in theſe Sects that are very ſimple, knowing nothing of Hereſies; devoted to Chriſt, materating the Fleſh with Faſtings, and clothed with the moſt ſimple Garments, ſo that they far excel the very RELIGIOUS of the Church of Rome.] And, p. 323. of the Papiſts, whom he calleth by the Name of Chriſtians, as if it were proper to them, he ſaith, [There are in the Land of Promiſe men of every Nation under Heaven, and every Nation liveth after their own Rites; and to ſpeak the very truth to our own great confuſion, there are none found in it that are worſe and more corrupt in Manners than Chriſtians;] (that is, Papiſts.)

3. If greater Errours and Vices than are among the Armenians, the Abaſſines, Syrians, &c. will allow us to reject men from our Communion, how much more cauſe have we to renounce Communion with Popes and Papiſts than with theſe Churches?

4. How can any man ſay that Nations and Countries are to be rejected as Hereticks, unleſs the ſingle perſons guilty were tryed and heard? when there is no Hereſie p. 128but what is in individuals, and no Law of God or Reaſon condemneth the innocent for the guilties faults; much leſs all Poſterity for their Anceſtors.

III. But they never gain more than by aggravating the Diviſions that are among other Chriſtians, and boaſting of the Unity of their Church: And the Contentions that have been among us have given them ſuch advantage, as that ſome in the ſenſe of their former guilt, having been Sect-maſters themſelves, have turned Papiſts, as thinking it the ſtate of Union; and having found no ſettlement in thoſe ways, which they have tryed, becauſe they never rightly underſtood the true temperament of the Chriſtian Religion which they profeſſed, they think to find it in that way that they never tryed; as ſick men turn from ſide to ſide for eaſe, while the cauſe of their wearineſs and pain is within them, and turneth with them.

Here let the Reader note, 1. That Fools judge of Differences in Religion by the noiſe that it makes in the World; but men of Reaſon judge of it by the greatneſs and number of the points of Difference. Verily our Differences here in England, and the Neighbour Proteſtant Churches, have ſhewed in us much perſonal peeviſhneſs, unskilfulneſs, and other faults; but in my judgment they are ſuch as greatly commend our real concord in the ſame Religion, and partly our Conſcience in valuing it, and being loth to loſe it.

If you ſee Latine Grammarians reviling one another, about the ſpelling or pronunciation of a word or two, and critically contending with Varro, Gellius, &c. which is the right, when a man that never knew a word of Latine but Welch or Iriſh, never ſtrove about ſuch Queſtions in his life; which of theſe will you think have more p. 129agreement in their Language? I would ſay that thoſe men that diſagree but about the pronunciation of a few words are very much agreed, in compariſon of a Barbarian, that agreeth not with them in a Sentence or a Word. Even the old Schoolmen were in Language more agreed with Eraſmus, Faber, Hutten, and other Critical Grammarians that derided them, than any illiterate man was with any of them. All Gruterus his Volumes of Grammatical Controverſies, ſhew not ſo much diſtance in Language, as the peaceable ſilence of an unlearned man doth.

And no one ſtrives much about that which he doth not much care for: Countrymen can contemptuouſly laugh at Logical Diſputes or Criticiſms. Horſes or Oxen will not ſtrive with us for our Gold or Jewels, Clothes or Food, as we do with one another; and yet they are not ſo like us in the eſtimation of ſuch things, as we are to one another.

When I hear religious perſons contentiouſly cenſuring each other, about ſome little points of Ceremony, Order, Diſcipline, or Form, which are but the fimbria, or the Welts and Laces of Religion, I am angry at their weakneſs and defect of love; but I muſt needs think that there is very great concord in the Faith and Religion (Objective) of theſe men, who differ about no greater matters than ſuch as theſe. If men that were building a Palace would fall together by the Ears, only about the driving of a Pin, I ſhould marvel at their concord that differed in no more; though I could wiſh them, like wrangling Children, whipt for their folly and frowardneſs till they were quiet. The great things that Proteſtants have paltrily wrangled about, are, 1. The Doctrinal Controverſies called Arminian: 2. And the matters p. 130of Diſcipline. and Ceremonies. The former I have ſhewed lately in a large Volume, hath much more of verbal than of real difference, and is cheriſhed by the ambiguity of words, and the unskilfulneſs of too many to diſcuſs thoſe ambiguities, and find out exactly the true ſtate of the Controverſie: It is oft but Stubble that maketh the greateſt blaze.

And as for the other, I would not undervalue the leaſt things of Religion, but I will ſay, that Engagement, Faction and worldly Intereſt are magnifying Glaſſes to many men, and make a Mote to ſeem a Beam, and a Gnat to ſeem a Camel. And it is one of the Devils old Wiles, to keep men from learning of Chriſt, how to Worſhip the Father of Spirits, in ſpirit and truth, by ſtarting ſuch Queſtions, as, whether in this Mountain or at Jeruſalem men ought to worſhip? and to hinder godly edifying by doting about queſtions that gender ſtrife. And fighting for Shoo-buckles may ſhew the quarrelſomneſs of men, but it proveth not the Greatneſs of the matter.

2. Note further that though Subjective Religion (the meaſures of our belief, Love and Obedience) be as various as perſons are; yet the Objective Religion of all true Proteſtants is the ſame: Not only the ſame in the Eſſentials (one God, one Saviour and Lord, one Baptiſmal Covenant, one Creed, one Spirit, one Body of Chriſt, and one Hope of Glory, Eph. 4. 4, 5, 6.) but alſo the ſame in all the Integral parts: For it is Integrally the Holy Scripture which containeth all that they take (with the Law of Nature) to be the whole Law of God, and ſo the Rule of Divine Faith, Deſire and Duty. They may ſubjectively have ſome difference in underſtanding ſome Texts, (as the moſt Learned and holy in the world have:) p. 131But Objectively they have no other Divine Faith or Religion.

3. And note, that the Church that Proteſtants, yea Greeks, Armenians, Syrians, Abaſſines are of, are all certainly one and the ſame Church: For a Church is conſtituted of the Ruling and the Ruled Parts. And they perfectly agree that Chriſt is the only Eſſentiating and Univerſal Head; In him they all unite, and confeſs that there is no other. Even the Patriarch of Conſtantinople, as I have ſhewed, claimeth but a Primacie in the Empire, and not the Government of all the World, no not of us in England.

And as for the Ruled Conſtitutive part, we are agreed that it is All Baptized Chriſtians that have not apoſtatized, nor forſaken any Eſſential part of Chriſtianity, nor are excommunicate by Power from Chriſt. So that we are clearly all of one and the ſame Church.

But how far the Papiſts differ in the Greatneſs and number of their Controverſies, I think to tell you a little more anon.

IV. I may not ſtay to ſhew at large, how they vary their ſhape and courſe as may fit their Intereſt: How ſometime they put on the perſon of Infidels or Atheiſts to plead men into an uncertainty of all Religion, that they may be looſe enough to follow them into theirs: For even ſo Car. Boverius would have perſwaded our late King, Apparat. ad Conſult. [The firſt thing is (ſaith he) ſeeing true Religion is to be inquired after by you, that before you addreſs your ſelf to ſearch for it, you firſt have all Religions in ſuſpicion with you; and that you will ſo long ſuſpend (or take off) your mind and will from the Faith and Religion of the Proteſtants, as you are in ſearching after the truth.]

p. 132Reader, doth not this tell you whence much of our late Atheiſm and Infidelity cometh, and what it tendeth to? I tell thee not the words of a Novice, but a perſon choſen to have ſeduced our King, when he was Prince, in Spain. And is not this way very ſuitable to the end? How muſt men become Papiſts? Boverius will teach you: Firſt ſuſpect all Religion, and with your very Mind and will ceaſe to believe that there is a God, or that he is Powerfull, Wiſe or Good, or that we are his Creatures and Subjects, or that there is any Heaven or Hell or Life to come, or that Chriſt is not a Deceiver but a Saviour, or that any of the Bible is true: Ceaſe from Loving, Fearing, Obeying or truſting God, and from loving man for his ſake: Ceaſe praying to him, and forbearing any wickedneſs, injuſtice, cruetly, perjury or filthineſs as being forbidden by him, and this as long as you are ſearching after the truth.] Verily this deviliſh counſel is ſo notoriouſly followed now by ſome, that we may fear what truth it is that they are ſearching after. Certainly this way is of the Devil, and how it can lead to God I know not. I love Carteſian Philoſophy the worſe becauſe its principle is ſo congruous to this.

And their Doctrine of lawful hiding their Religion by Equivocation is commonly known. And what they ſay about coming to our Churches I have formerly cited at large out of Thom. a Jeſu, and the lawfulneſs of denying the perſon of a Clergie-man or a Religious man: And the ground of all, [becauſe humane Laws for the most part bind not the Subjects Conſcience when there is great hazard of life, as Azorius hath well taught, Inſt. Moral. To. 1. l. 8. c. 27. See the Authors words de Converſ. Gent. li. 5. Dub. 4. pag. 218. and Dub. 5. p. 218, 219. and Dub. 6. p. 220. p. 133We may find them in our Churches and garb when their intereſt requires it. But again I muſt for all theſe points refer the Reader to my forementioned Book (A Key for Catholicks.)

The hiſtory of the Papacie being thus briefly given you, I ſhould next briefly tell you, I. What a Pope is; II. What a Papiſt is; III. What the preſent Papal Church is: But it requireth more than this ſhort Writing, to open any one of theſe to the full: But take this breviate.