Works of Joseph Hall, Book 1 · Section 21
SECT. XXI.
I Produced the Teſtimonie of their Pope, their Cardinall, their Doctor.Refut. p. 103. 104 Baſils Rule is a ſure one, that the Witneſſes of Enemies are moſt conuictiue. Their Cardinall was Panormitan, Their Pope, Pius the ſecond. Their Doctor, Gratian. For Panormitan; My Refuter likes his words ſo well, that like a ſawcy Fellow hee dare pull off his red Hat, and trample it in the Floore; denying his Cardinalſhip, and charging him With participation of the Schiſme.
But firſt, he cannot (I hope) deny him to hauehave been their Abbot, then their Archbiſhop; As for his red Hat, it neuer came from Wittenberge nor Geneua; it was of their owne dying; Felix the falſe Pope (he ſayes) gaue it him. Reader, the famous Councell of Baſil, conſiſting of no leſſe then foure hundred reuerend Perſons, Cardinals, Archbiſhops, Biſhops, Doctors, gathered and allowed at firſt, by Pope Martin, then by his Succeſſor Eugenius the fourth, afterwards was vponupon ſome Politike conſiderations called off by Eugenius; The Fathers of the Councell finding their owne ſtrength, ſtood vponupon the right of their Superioritie, and (as they well might) cenſured the Pope; hee proceeded to obſtinacy; thoſe braue ſpirits (vponupon ripe conſideration) iuſtly depoſed him. In the roome of this Eugenius, (otherwiſe called Gabriel Condulmarius) was by iuſt number of voices elected Amadeus the deuout Duke of Sauoy, and named Felix the Fifth; a man too good for that See; neither had he euer any ſo great blemiſh in all his life, as the name of a Pope: Volateran can tell vsus, what a Kennell of Hounds he ſhoued to the Ambaſſadors, namely, whole Tables of poore ſoules dayly fed by him; All Hiſtories ſpeake of his Deuotion, and Piety; This man called from his intended retiredneſſe, muſt carie the Keyes. He makes choice of Archbiſhop Panormitan for one of his Cardinals: What offence is here? But he was a falſe Pope. If the Councell of Baſil were a true Councell, then was Felix a true Pope. It is in my Readers choice whether he will beleeue foure hundred Diuines repreſenting the whole Church, or a Popes Paraſite. But Panormitan dyed in the Schiſme againſt Eugenius. The World knowes that the greateſt blot Panormitan euer had, was his violent plea for Eugenius; againſt the Biſhop of Argens, againſt eloquent Segouius, againſt the whole ſtreame of that Councell; This is the thanke he now caries away, Felix ſcelus virtus vocatur; If Eugenius had not dealt vnderunder hand with the Dolphin of France, and Fredericke of Auſtria, (then ambitious of the Empire) and tryed all his wits, both to make new Cardinals and to diuert the Neutrals, Eugenius had not beene foelix; and Felix had been ſtill Eugenius, the true and vndoubted Succeſſor of Peter: How-euer, if theſe points ſhould be ſtrictly ſtood vponupon, Rome would be at a loſſe, which many a time hath been to ſeeke for her head. But what though it were granted that Panormitan was Cardinalated by an intruding Pope? Can this call downe the authority of his iudgement and Writings? eſpecially thoſe which he wrote before he was Cardinall or Archbiſhop, being onelyonly Abbot: And yet may be cited by vsus vnderunder the name of Cardinall: as Bellarmines Dictates and Compoſures elder then his red Hat, yet are fathered vponupon that Title.
Once, this I am ſure of, thatfBell. de Cleric. lib. 1. c. 19. Catholicum alio auin & doctum anthorem. Cardinall Bellarmine doubts not to ſtile Panormitan a Catholike and learned Doctor. This is the man that ſtands with his Hat off to this worſhipfull Clarke of Doway, and tels him that Continency is not of the ſubſtance of order, nor by Diuine Law annexed to it; whereto, hee ſhuffles out a miſerable and deſperate anſwer, as we ſhall ſee in the ſequell.
But in the meane time, ſee the cunning of my Catholike Cauiller; This is not the ſentence I ſtood vponupon, of Panormitan; it was not this, whereto I proclaimed mine OyeZ, but another, which he ſlily ſmothers, not daring ſo much as to repeat it, leſt his Romanizing popular ignorant Readers ſhould heare, and ſee, and ſmell, that the ſacred Celibate of Prieſts did ſtinke an hundreth yeares before Luthers time. I will therefore here ſupply for him, and, hoping hee will in his next take notice of the ſentence, will repreſent it here againe.
Abb. Panorm. de Cleric. coniugat. Cap. Cùm olim.The words are theſe: Melius foret, et pro bono & ſalute animarum ſalubrius, ſi & vniuſcuiuſ que voluntati relinqueretur, ita vt non valentes aut non volentes continere, poſſint contrahere; Quia experientia docente experimus contrarium effectum ſequi ex illa lege continentiae, cùm hodie plerique non viuant ſpiritualiter, nec ſint mundi, ſed emaculenter illicito coitu cum ipſorum grauiſsimo peccato, vbi cum propria vxore eſſet caſtitas. That is, It were better, and more wholeſome for the good and ſaluation of ſoules, if it were left to eueryevery mans will; ſo as they which either cannot, or will not containe, might marry. For we find by experience a contrary effect to follow vponupon that Law of Continency; ſince the greateſt part (of our Prieſts) at this day liue not ſpiritually, neither are chaſte, but are defiled with vnlawfull copulations, not without their moſt hainous ſinne; whereas, with their owne Wiues it ſhould be Chaſtitie. Thus he. A ſentence worthy of that Epiphonema of mine. (Is this a Cardinall thinke you or an Huguenot?) With this, my Detector deales, as their Inquiſition doth with a miſ-named Heretike; he chokes it vp in ſecret, or, if hee bring it forth,Refut. p. 107. it is not without a gag in the mouth: All his anſwer is, We tye not our ſelues to eueryevery mans opinion; and, This ſentence is cenſured by Bellarmine as erroneous; As if Panormitan were eueryevery body, and Bellarmine an Oracle. It is enough for vsus, that one of their owne greateſt, learnedſt, zealouſeſt Prelates iuſtifieth our Mariages, and wiſheth them in vſe rather then their Continency.
To that other Teſtimony of Panormitan, he anſwers by a grant, yeelding vsus freely, That if we take diuine Law for that which is expreſſely determined in Scripture, Refut. p. 105.it muſt needs be ſaid, that there is no euident proofe ſet down of continency in Eccleſiaſticall men by the Apoſtles; yet, that it is ſo inſinuated, and the obſeruation of it hath beene ſo ancient, as Bellarmine noteth, that it may be truely termed Apoſtolicall; Thus he. And euen for this are we beholden to him; All his friends would not hauehave beene ſo liberall. His Ioannes Maior, his Clictouaeus, his Torrenſis, and all their rigorous Clients would not hauehave ſaid ſo: As, on the other ſide, the old Gloſſe was not ſo wiſe, that could onelyonly ſay (which is now expunged) Apoſtoli docuerunt exemplo, The Apostles taught this by their example. But what are theſe ſo pregnant inſinuations? Good wits hauehave found them out; One was, that ofgDecret. p. 1. diſt. 28. Innocentius the ſecond, That theſe men are the veſſels and Temples of God, therefore they may not Cubilibus & immunditiis ſeruire, ſerue for chambering and wantonneſſe. Ywis, no Lay-men is ſuch; therefore he may be allowed to be filthy. Another was,Luke 21. of Franc. Torrenſis, Take heed leſt your hearts be oppreſſed with ſurfetting and drunkenneſſe, and cares of this life: Whereof BiſhophEſ…enc. de cont. l. 2. Eſpencaeus is ſo aſhamed, that hee anſwers it with an Abſit; God forbid (ſaith he) that we ſhould thinke that the Lord, which is the Author and ſanctifier of Mariage, ſhould hold it in the ſame rank with ſurfetting & drunkenneſſe. Another was of the ſame Author (iTit. 2. Si quis legitimam commixtionem & filiorum recreationem, corruptionem & coinquinationem vocat, ille habet cohabito torem daemonem Apoſtatam. Ignat. Epiſt. ad Philadelph. teaching vsus to deny vngodlineſſe and worldly Luſts:) vsus, of the Clergy; belike the reſt need not; And who knowes not the witty and learned inſinuations of their good Siritius, Thoſe that are in the fleſh cannot pleaſe God? Theſe, and ſuch like are the forceable inſinuations of this impoſed continency, which euen very boyes and Ideots can hiſſe out of the Schooles.