Popery Anatomized, Section 3
SECTION III.
Showing that the Pope and Synagogue of Rome have been the grand Authors of warrs and combuſtions, and confuſions in the Chriſtian world always, both before and ſince the Reformation.
WE come now to the fourth thing propoſed; to wit, that the Pope hath been the grand Author of warrs, combuſtions and confuſions in the Chriſtian world always, both before and ſince the Reformation. This is ſo evident, that he is very unſeen in Hiſtories that will deny it: therefore I ſhal give only a paſſing taſte of what is recorded at large by Hiſtorians.
I. I ſhal begin with Gregory the firſt, who approved Phocas in murdering his Soveraign Mauritius, who killed his children before his eyes, and uſurped the Empire: for he writes a gratulatory Epiſtle to him, in which he thus ſpeaketh, Benignitatem pietatis vestrae, &c. We are glad that the benignity of your piety hath attained to the Imperial dignity. Let the heavens rejoyce, and let the earth be glad, and let the people of the whole Republick be joyful for your gracious deeds.
II. Gregory the 2. rebelled againſt his Soveraign Leo Iſaurus, and made Rome, and the Roman Dutchy do the ſame, becauſe he prohibited the adoration of Images▪ and pulled them down every where: and being ſore afflicted with the warrs of the Saracens in the Eaſt the Pope ſeaſed on Rome, and made himſelf Lord of that part of the Emperors dominions in Italy, which was the beginning of his temporal Principality, and is the title whereby he holds Rome, and the Territory of it to this day, even rebellion, and tyrannical invaſion of the Emperor his Soveraigns Eſtat and Dominion.
III. Gregory the 3. his ſucceſſor came yet a further length: for Platina writeth of him, Hic ſtatim, &c. That ſo ſoon as he attained to the Papal dignity, by the conſent of the Roman Clergy, he deprived Leo the 3. Emperor of Conſtantinople hoth of his Empire and the communion of the faithful, becauſe he had razed Images out of the Churches.
IV. The next inſtance I ſhal mention, is of Pope Stephen the 2. who ſtirred up Pepin King of France to expell the Exarchs out of Italy: and when he had done, he obtained the Exarchat for himſelf, though belonging to the Emperor of Conſtantinople his lawful Soveraign; in which action there was both rebellion and robbery.
V. But Gregory the 7. (aliàs Hildebrand) ſurpaſſed all the reſt; for he was wholly compounded of blood ſhed, treaſon and rebellion: for he excommunicated the Emperor Henry the 4. and depoſed him, and gave his Empire to Rodolph Duke of Suevia. But the Emperor vanquiſhed Rodolph in battel, who dying acknowledged that his right hand was deſervedly cut off in battel, becauſe he had ſworn with it lifted up, allegiance to the Emperor. Rome was taken by the Emperor, and Pope Gregory died for grief.
VI. But Urban the 2. his ſucceſſor, was nothing afraid of what had hapned to Gregory his predeceſſor, but did alſo excommunicat and perſecute him. This is that Urban that made that famous Decree, That an oath made to an excommunicat perſon, muſt not be kept.
VII. But the Emperor was moſt of all afflicted by Pope Paſchal the 2. who ſucceeded Urban; for he made his own ſon to take up arms againſt him, where he was overcome in battel, and depoſed in a Synod held at Mentz by the Popes command; and the Crown, and other Imperial ornaments, were violently taken from him by the Biſhops of Mentz, Colen and Worms, and given to his ſon, and for grief he died ſoon after. But although we ſay, Livor post fata quieſcit. yet the Popes wrath did not ceaſe againſt him after he was dead; for he would not ſuffer his ſon to bury him, ſo that he lay five years unburied. Cardinal Baronius commends this fact, ſaying. Quis negare potest ſummum fuiſſe hoc pietatis genus? &c. Who can deny that it was the higheſt kind of piety, to have ſhewed himſelf cruel in this caſe? And again, Nihil habes in quo damnes filium, magis quam ſi inſanienti furientique pius filius vincula injiciat patri. You can no more condemn the ſon, then if a pious ſon ſhould bind his father who is fallen mad.
VIII. But the ſon felt the Popes no better friends to him then they were to his father; for although Pope Paſchal granted to him the collation of Benefices, and confirmed it with an oath, yet he brake the oath, although when he ſware he divided the conſecrated hoſt betwixt him and the Emperor, ſaying, Sicut pars, &c. As this part of the vivifying body is divided, ſo let him be divided from the Kingdom of Chriſt who will go about to break this compact. And Calixtus the 2. his ſucceſſor excommunicated him, and forced him to compound.
Pope Adrian the 4. cauſed Frederick the 1. to hold his ſtirrop, and quarrelled him for taking the left in ſtead of the right. But the next Pope Alexander the 3. trod upon his neck when he ſtooped to kiſs his Holineſs foot, uſing theſe words of the Pſalm 91. Thou ſhalt tread upon the Lyon and Add…r: the young Lyon and Dragon ſhalt thou trample under foot. And when the Emperor ſaid, Not to thee, but to Peter do I this ſubmiſſion. The Pope treading on him again, ſaid, Both to me and Peter.
IX. I ſpare to ſpeak at large of Pope C…leſtin the 3. who crowned the Emperor Henry the 6. with his foot, and after he had crowned him; caſt down the Crown to the ground, thereby ſignifying that he had power to caſt him down from the Empire▪ if he deſerved it; which Baronius highly commendeth. But his ſucceſſor Innocent the 3. is not to be forgotten, for he excommunicated John King of England, depoſed him, abſolved his ſubjects from their allegiance to him, and did caſt an interdict upon the Kingdom, which laſted ſix years, and gave it to Philip August the French King, if he could take it, which made the ſubjects to deſpiſe him, the Clergy to revile him, the Barons to riſe in warr againſt him, and the French King to fall upon him, ſo that he was brought to ſuch extremity, that to purchaſe his peace he gave the Kingdom to the Pope, and in end a Monk poiſoned him. It would fill a volume to ſpeak at large, how Henry the 3 King of England, was abuſed and tyrannized over by the Pope, and how Pope Innocent the 3. excommunicated the Emperor Otho, and deprived him of the title of the Empire, and how Honorius and Pope Gregory the 9. and Pope Innocent the 4. excommunicated, and depoſed the Emperor Frederick the 2. and ſent an army into Appulia, and ſeized upon his lands: and of the conteſt betwixt Philip the Fair King of France, and Pope Boniface the 8. who excommunicated Philip, and depoſeth him of his Kingdom, and giveth it to the Emperor Albert, and laboreth to arm Germany and the Netherlands againſt France. But the King took him priſoner & brought him to Rome▪ where he died ſhortly through grief.
X. It would alſo be tedious if I ſhould relate how John the 23. and Benedict the 12. and Clement the 6 excommunicated & deprived Ludovicus Bavarus, and elected Charles, ſon of the King of Bohemia in his ſlead: Hence enſued a great and bloody war, and the Emperor Ludovicus Bavarus was poyſoned by Pope Clement, as ſome Authors write. And how Benedict the 13. excommunicat Charles the 6. of France, and how Pope Julius the 2. excommunicat Lewis the 12. King of France, and puts the Kingdom to interdict: excommunicats the Venetians, giveth their Dominions to any that will take them: driveth the Bentivogli out of Bononia: excommunicats the Duke of Ferrara, and invades his Countrey by arms, going to war in his own perſon: makes the Engliſh, Spaniards and Switzers to fall upon the French, takes many Imperial Cities: excommunicats the King of Navarre, and giveth his Kingdom to the King of Arragon, who upon that invades and takes it, and poſſeſſeth it to this day. It is thought that this Pope was the death of 200000. Chriſtians in ſeven years.
XI. But paſſing theſe, I ſhal come to the time of the Reformation happily begun by Luther, at which time we find Clement the 7. the great fomenter of the war between the Emperor and the French King, joyning ſometimes with the one, and ſometimes with the other, and playing falſe with both. He thundered out his excōmunications againſt King Henry the 8. the which his ſucceſſor Paul the 3. confirmed, but it did him no harm.
XII. I ſhal ſhow more particularly afterward, how Pope Pius the 5. excommunicated Queen Elizabeth, and ſtirred up not only her own ſubjects, but alſo the King of Spain againſt her, who prepared a great Navy to invade England anno 1588. yea, this Pope was ſo active in raiſing war againſt Queen Elizabeth, that when he publiſhed the Bull, he laid down an hundred thouſand crowns to raiſe war, and promiſed fifty thouſand more, yea, and to bear the whole charge of the war. He alſo uſed all means to ſtir Spain, France, and the Netherlands againſt England.
XIII. Gregory the 13. who ſucceeded to Pius the 5. was no leſs active in plotting and ſtirring up war againſt Queen Elizabeth; for he gave to Thomas Stukly a commiſſion to help the Iriſh rebells, and get the Kingdom of Ireland for James Boncompagnon his own baſtard ſon; and gave him the command of eight hundred Italians, to joyn with Sebaſtian King of Portugal, who had engaged to the Pope to ſerve him with his whole forces againſt Queen Elizabeth, and had raiſed a great army for that expedition: But when Stukly came to the King of Portugal, he was upon a new deſign, to wit, to help a Moor King of Fez, againſt another Moor King, who kept him out of poſſeſſion, and to get the Kingdom from them both; to which war he invited Stukly, promiſing immediatly after that work was done (which he held forth as moſt eaſie) they ſhould accompliſh the Popes deſire. So they ſailed over to Africa, where the King of Portugal and his whole army were deſtroyed, and with him Stukly and the Popes Italian ſouldiers.
XIV. The Pope had a great hand in the unparalelled maſſacre of Paris anno 1572. for neither his predeceſſor Pius the 5. nor himſelf, would conſent to the marriage, by reaſon of their difference in Religion, while the Cardinal of Lorain told him that it was intended as a trap to deſtroy the Proteſtants, & then preſently he granted a diſpenſation for celebrating of it, and gave all encouragement to the deſign: and when the news of the maſſacre came to Rome, there was nothing but triumphing and joy, and Cardinal Urſin was ſent to France to cōmend & extol the Kings piety and wiſdom in that great action, and to beſtow bleſſings and ſpiritual graces upon the King, the Duke of Guiſe, and the reſt of the Actors of this horrid Tragedy. Not long after, this Pope ſent to Henry the 3. the French King, and to his people, Indulgences for millions of yea…s▪ if they would be diligent and zealous in extirpation of Proteſtants.
XV. This Pope laid a claim to the Kingdom of Portugal (all the males being extinct) as depending from the See of Rome, and would have the Kingdom riſing in arms for him, againſt the heir from the females: but his claim was rejected.
XVI. In the year 1580. he made a new aſſay upon Ireland; for he ſent an Italian, called San Joſepho, with ſome Italian troups there, to joyn with the Iriſ… Rebels, for gaining the Kingdom to his Baſtard, or elſe to the King of Spain.
XVII. About the year 1588. Pope Sixtus the 5. to favor the enterpriſe of Philip the 2. King of Spain, renewed the excommunication of Queen Elizabeth, pronounced by Pope Pius the 5. deprived her of her Kingdom, abſolved her ſubjects from all allegiance to her, and gave plenary Indulgence to all that would make war againſt her; whereupon followed that great Armado of Spain, which the Lord in mercy did wonderfully diſcomfit.
XVIII. This Pope did alſo excommunicat King Henry the 3. of France, and abſolved his ſubjects from their allegiance, although he was a Papiſt, and was a plotter of the Maſſacre of Paris; yet becauſe he did not zealouſly enough proſecute the Popes deſign in rooting out Proteſtants, and was no friend to the holy League, he was excommunicat; whereupon many of his ſubjects rebelled againſt him, eſpecially the City of Paris, and he was ſlain upon that account by a Dominican Frier: which action was highly commended by the Pope (as we told you before) in a full Conſiſtory at Rome, and forbade that any ſhould pray for his ſoul; for the Pope was not content that he had ſlain the King by his Bull, but would alſo damn his ſoul.
XIX. His ſucceſſor Gregory the 14. excommunicated King Henry the 4 of France, forbidding all Peers, Noblemen, Cities and Commons, to yeeld him obedience, and declaring him incapable of the Crown, as an heretick and a relaps. Pope Clement the 8. did the ſame over again: and although many of the French did adhere to him, yet the City of Paris, and the Guiſian faction did violently oppoſe him, and would not acknowledge him for King, and ſeveral attempts were made to take away his life, firſt by a woman next by Peter Barriere, and thirdly by John Chaſtel; all denying him to be King, becauſe excommunicat by the Pope. And although he turned Papiſt, and procured abſolution from the Pope, yet it was his death: for Ravillac who killed him, alledged at his examination, that the King was an heretick in his heart, and deſerved to be ſlain, as an enemy of the Church.
XX. Pope Paul the 5. was as turbulent as his predeceſſors, as witneſſeth his quarrels with the State of Venice, which he excommunicated, and put their State in interdict, becauſe they had ſtopt by Edict the giving of lands to the Church. About the beginning of this Popes reign, was that helliſh Gun-powder plot hatched at Rome, and ſhould have been effectuat in England by blowing up the King▪ Prince, Nobles and Commons, all at one blow. This horrid treaſon was the fruit and effect of the Popes Bulls; for not only was Queen Elizabeth excommunicat, once and again (as we ſaid before) and the Kingdom interdicted: but alſo King James, was by a Bull ſent unto England a little before Queen Elizabeths death, excluded from the Crown, and all that were not Roman Catholicks, were declared incapable of, and excluded from the ſucceſſion: whereof his Majeſty complaineth in his Apologie. For B…llarmin tells King James, Tort pag. 19 That the Pope claims a d…uble right to England, one by reaſon o… his Apoſtolick power, which he extends over all men, according to that (Charter) Pſal. 44. Thou ſhalt eſtabliſh them Princes over all the earth. The other proper by a right of Dominion: for, ſaith he, England and Ireland are the Churches Dominions, the Pope is direct Lord, and the King his vaſſal.
XXI. Neither were they leſs active in ſtirring up wars and combuſtions in other Kingdoms; for a Prieſt of their own named John Brown, aged ſeventy two, in his voluntary confeſſion to a Committee of Parliament (ſet down by M. Prin in his introductiō to Canterburies doom p 202. ſaith, That the Jeſuits (who are the Popes agents) were the only cauſe of the troubles which fell out in Muſcovia, when under pretence to reduce the Latin Church, and plant themſelves, and destroy the Greek Church, the poor King Demetrius and his Queen and theſe that followed him from Polonia, were all in one night murdered by the uſurper of the Crown, and the true progeny rooted out. That they were the only cauſe that moved the Sweds to take arms againſt their lawful King Sigiſmund, and chaſed him to Poland; and neither he nor his ſucceſſors were ever able to take poſſeſſion of Sweden; for the J…ſuits intention was to bring in the Romiſh Religion, and root out the Protestants. They were the only cauſe that moved the Polonians to take arms againſt the ſaid Sigiſmund, becauſe they had perſwaded him to marry two ſiſters, &c. They were the ſole cauſe of the war in Germany and Bohemia, which began anno 1619. which cauſed the death of many thouſands. They have been the cauſe of the civil wars in France, moving the King to take arms againſt his own ſubjects the Proteſtants, where innumerable people have loſt their lives: for the Jeſuits intentions were to ſet their Society in all Cities and Towns conquered by the King, and quite to aboliſh the Proteſtants. They were the cauſe of the murder of the last King of France. They were the only projectors of the Gun-powder treaſon, and their penitents the actors there…f.
XXII. M. Baxter in his key for Catholicks, chap. 45. 46▪ 47 48 49 proveth at large by good evidence, that the Jeſuits had a ſpecial hand in the late Civil War that burnt in the bowels of theſe three Nations, till it had near conſumed them: Whoſe evidence I intreat that the Reader would read and ſeriouſly ponder.
From all which I hope it is evident enough, that the Pope and Church of Rome, have been the continual Authors and inſtigators to wars and combuſtions in Chriſtian Churches and Kingdoms.