Chronological History of Popes Intolerable Usurpations, History · Book 1 · Chapter 5 (10 of 15)

Chronological History of Popes Intolerable Usurpations · History · Book 1 · Chapter 5 (10 of 15)

p. 278Eo tempore Hildeſheime…s Epiſcopus cum ſuis ſequacibus manus Saxonum vix evaſit, eo quod contra commune votum totius Saxoniae Henricianis ſe admiſcuerit. Pro eadem etiam culpa Comes Theodoricus eodem tempore occiſus eſt a noſtrae partis fautoribus. Praeratus quoque ſedis Apoſtolicae Legatus praedicto Epiſcopo, cum nollec …, officium penitus interdixit. Hermannus Rex in Quintilineburg Paſcha celebravit, ubi & Legatus Domini Apoſtolici in ipſa Paſcha… hebdomada Generalem Synodum cum Archiepiſcopis, Epiſcopis, & Abbatibus ſancti Petri fidelibus, ſolenniter celebravit. Interfuit autem huic Synodo Gebehardus Reverendiſſimus Juvanienſis Archiepiſcopus; Item Venerabilis Hartungus Magideburgenſis Archiepiſcopus, cum Suffraganeis. Item Suffraganei Moguntiae ſedis de Saxonia, nam Wurceburgenſis et Wormatienſis, Auguſtus quoque, & Conſtantienſis de Alemannia, quique ipſi Canonica neceſſitate impediti venire non potuerunt, per legationem ſuam ſe ſancto Concilio repraeſentaverunt, ſeque per omnia ejuſdem Synodi ſtatutis aſſenſuros, mandaverunt. Rex etiam Hermannus cum ſuis Principibus eidem Synodo interfuit. Cum ergo omnes juxta ordinem ſuum conſediſſent, prolata ſunt in medium Decreta Sanctorum Patrum de primatu ſedis Apoſtolicae; (to wit, of Pope Hildebrand, and ſome others of his Gang) quod nulli unquam liceat ejus judicium retrectare, et de ejus judicio judicare. Quod de totius Synodi publica profeſſione laudatum, & confirmatum eſt: et hoc utique contra Heinricianos qui fideles Sancti Petri conſtringere voluerunt, ut excommunicationem Domini Papae Gregorii ſuper Heinricum, cum illis retrectare praeſumerent. Quidam autem Babenbergenſis Clericus, nomine Gunibertus, Romani Pontificis primati: derogare volens, in mediam Synodum ſe contulit, aſſerens, Romanos Pontifices hunc ſibi **See Gratian, Diſtinct. 22, 23 40.primatum aſcripſiſſe, non aliunde conceſſum haereditaſſe, videlicet, nullus de eorum judicio judicare debeat, nec illi alicujus judicio ſubjaceant. Qui cum aperte a tota Synodo confutaretur, praecipue tamen a quodam Laico convictus eſt per illud Evangelicum,**Joan. 13. 16. c. 15. 20.John 13:16 Non eſt diſcipulus ſupra Magistrum; Cum enim hoc generaliter in omnibus Eccleſiaſticis ordinibus, obſervandum deputetur, ne major a minore judicetur, quis hoc Vicario Sancti Petri denegare potuit, quem omnes Catholici pro Domino & Magiſtro venerantur? (though Chriſt never made nor owned the Pope for his Vicar, never excommunicated any Emperor, King, but ſubmitted to their powers, and cenſures too, as this Pope ought to do, not being above his Lord, by this very objected Text) In eadem Synodo, ordinatio Wecilonis, Moguntini invaſoris, & Sigefridi Auguſtenſis, & Notberti Curienſis imo omnes ordinationes & conſecrationes excommunicatorum, penitus irritae judicatae ſunt, juxta decreta Sanctorum Patrum Innocentii, Leonis primi, Pelagii, atque ejus ſucceſſoris Gregorii 1. Item Secta praedicti Wecilonis ejuſque ſociorum, ſub anathemate damnata eſt, **See Avent. Annal. Boiorum, l. 5 Abbas Uſpergenſis, anno 1085. p. 225. Centur. Magd. …1. cap. 10.quae aſſerit, ſeculares ſuis rebus expoliatos Eccleſiaſtico non ſubjacere judicio, nec excommunicari poſſe, pro ſuis exceſsibus; quaeque excommunicatos abſque reconciliatione recipi poſſe contendit. Statutum eſt autem ibi, ut quicunque ab Epiſcopo ſuo, nec officio nec communione privato, excommunicatus eſſet, etſi injuſte, nullatenus tamen reciperetur ad communionem, niſi abſolutus Eccleſiaſtico more. Similiter & pro Sacrilegio excommunicatos, decrevit ſancta Synodus non recipiendos, abſque ſolita reconciliatione, & niſi dudum, quae ſacrilege ſibi vendicaverant, reddidiſſent, &c. In fine autem Synodi ſententia anathematis, cum ardentibus candelis promulgata eſt, in Guibertum Haereſiarcham, ſedis Apoſtolicae pervaſorem, et in Apoſtatas ſancti p. 279Petri, Hugonem Aibanenſem, Joannem Portuenſem Exepiſcopos, Petrum Excancellarium, Item in Leomarem Bremenſem, Ʋtonem Hildineſhe…menſem, Ottonem Conſtantienſem, Burchardum Baſilienſem, Huzmannum Spirenſem Exepiſcopos, Item in VVecilonem Moguntinum invaſorem, Sigefridum Auguſtenſem, Nortbertum Curienſem, in hos inquam, & in omnes eorum Complices, inevitabilis ſententia anathematis promulgata eſt; only for their loyalty and obedience to Henry their lawful King.ccAbbas Vſpergenſis, Chronicon, p. 225. Cent. Magd. 11 c. 10. Aventinus Annal. Boiorum, l. 5.

Anno 1085. Synodus Moguntiae habetur, cui interfuit Imperator, ubi praeſentibus Legatis Romanis, (to wit, of Pope Clements party) omnes Epiſcopi rebelles Imperatori, deponendi judicantur; caeteri vero anathemate, ut videbatur, condemnantur. Ibi etiam communi conſilio conſtituta eſt Pax Dei: Non multo poſt ſubſtitutis ab Imperatore per parochias abdicatorum Praeſulibus. In locum Aldeberonis, Mainharans, Werciburgenſis, Eccleſiae Praeſul ordinatur, the Emperor ſtill retaining his antient right of Inveſtitures. ccAd Hermannum, Appendix p. 357.Bertoldus Conſtantienſis, of the Hildebrandian faction, thus relates and traduceth this Synods proceedings. Sed hi omnes adverſarii Eccleſiae Dei, in tertia hebdomada, poſt finitam Synodum, ſuam Moguntiae collegerunt, non Synodum, ſed Conciliabulum, in quo umbratilem ſententiam excommunicationis, contra fideles Sancti Petri deprompſerunt, utpote ne quaquam illos excommunicare valentes, ſed apertiſsime ſeipſos a communione Catholicorum ſequeſtrantes, ut non tantum judicio ſanctae Eccleſiae, ſed et proprio eorum judicio, ſicut omnes haeretici, a Catholicis eſſent ſeparati. Sedes quoque Catholicorum Epiſcoporum viventium, temeraria cupiditate caecati, ſibi vendicare non timuerunt.

Deus autem omnipotens ſuis fidelibus per ſeipſum auxiliari non ceſſavit, ſuumque judicium ſuper inimicos ſanctae Eccleſiae mirabiliter exercuit. Nam totam pene Italiam, in qua potiſſimum furebant, tam magni fames obtinuit, ut homines non tantum immunda quaeque, ſed etiam humanam carnem manducarent. Quam famem maudita mortalitas ſubſequuta eſt, ut nec tertia pars hominum remaneret, ſed deficiente Colono, maxima pars terrae in ſolitudinem redacta eſt. Padus quoque fluvius Lo…gobardiae, ripas ſuas excedens, multa caſtella, villas, imo circajacentes regiones penitus ſubmerſit, & inhabitabiles reddidit; Ipſa etiam Capita ſchiſmaticorum eo tempore, heu miſere abiere in locum ſuum, videlicet Parmenſis, & Rhegienſis Epiſcopi; Thedaldus Mediolanenſis non Archiepiſcopus, ſed Antichriſtus, Adalbertus & Reginherus Marchiones, & Comes Boſo, & alii innumerabiles, quorum factione tota pene Italia contra Dominum Papam, & Sanctum Petrum ſe erexit. Hi quoque Mathildam (Hildebrands Miſtreſs) prudentiſſimam ducem & fideliſſimam Sancti Petri Militem multis injuriis af…ecerunt in Italia. Illis autem divina animadverſione de medio ſublatis, ipſa ſuam poteſtatem recuperavit, et Sanctae Dei Eccleſiae in omnibus adminiculari non ceſſavit, ſicque ejus prudentia Mutinenſi Eccleſiae & Regienſi atque Piſtorenſi Catholici Paſtores ordinati ſunt, by meer force and uſurpation.Anno 207…

I have preſented you with this large relation, how theſe two Popes Hildebrand and Clement, the Hildebrandian & Imperial Councils, Biſhops, parties, excommunicated, execrated, depoſed, ſlaughtered one the other, condemning each others Doctrins, practices, Decrees as ſchiſmatical and haeretical: whoſe judgements, becauſe they may ſeem partial in their own caſes, I ſhall acquaint you with the reſolutions of two Greek Fathers, living if not during, yet very few years before Hildebrands antimonarchical Innovations and Poſitions. The 1. of them iseeOecumenius, Enarrat. in Epiſt. ad Rom. c. 13. Pariſiis 1547. f. 369, 370.Rom 13 Oecumenius, or whoever elſe was the Collector of Enarrationes in omnes Pauli Epiſtolas, attributed to him: The 2d.ffTheophylacti Opera Baſileae, 1570, p. 37…, 375. Theophylactus Bulgariorum Archiep. who in their Enarrationes in Epist. ad Roman. c. 13. v. 1, 2, 3, (written about the years 1050, & 1075. ſeem profeſſedly to oppugn both his doctrine and practices; Both their Expoſitions of St Pauls Text are the ſame in ſenſe, if not in ſyllables, with little or no variation: Omnis anima Poteſtatibus ſublimioribus ſubdita ſit, &c.] Postquam abunde paravit mores auditorum, eoſque docuit, ut hoſtibus eſſent benigni; hanc etiam ſubjungit admonitionem; erudiens & inſtruens omnem animam, ſive Sacerdos ſit quiſpiam, ſive Monachus, ſive Apoſtolus, (and Hildebrand was or would be reputed all three) ut Magiſtratibus (or Principatibus as Theophylacts tranſlator renders it) ſubdantur. Nam p. 280haec ſubjectio non evertit, (or invertit) pietatem. Admonet autem hoc Apoſtolus, oſtendens; Quod Evangelium non doceat defectionem, vel inobedientiam aut contumaciam, ſed benevolentiam magis, ac obedientiam. Magnam ubique capitis hujus rationem habet, oſtendens, non ad ſubverſionem communis diſciplinae Chriſti leges eſſe; quumque ſufficientes ſint, veritatis cauſa bellum in Nos gerant; quid, inquit, neceſſe eſt nobis ipſis ſuperfluos procurare adverſarios? Non eſt poteſtas niſi a Deo. Principatus enim eſſe, & hunc quidem gubernare, alium vero gubernari, nec omnia ſurſum ac deorſum ferri, divinae ſapientiae opus eſſe dico, &c. Omnes ergo poteſtates a Deo ordinatae ſive factae ſunt, quamcunque conſideraveris; ſive patris erga filium, ſive viri erga uxorem, ſive alias omnes, etiam quae in animalibus ſint, puta apibus, grubus ac piſcibus. Ita que quiſquis reſiſtit poteſtati, Dei ordinatiom reſiſtit. Ne abjecti viderentur Chriſti ſervi, ſi Principibus ſubjicientur, oſtendit, quod parere oporteat, et non inobedientes eſſe Principibus; nam qui hoc facit, Deo reſiſtit; qui Principatus conſtituit, &c. Enforcing all St. Pauls reaſons to this purpoſe, formerly preſſed by others in and from this Text; which no Hildebrandian ſhifts could ever yet elude, or enervate, eſpecially being written to all the **Rom. 1. 6, 7, c. 16 3, 4, 5, 7, 12, 15, 17, 18.Rom 1:6Rom 1:7Saints, Church, Prieſts, Biſhops of Rome it ſelf, even whiles under Pagan Emperors, Princes, Senators, who ought to pay as ample ſubjection, obedience in all ſucceeding Generations to their Chriſtian Emperors, as Paul, Peter themſelves, and all Saints, Biſhops, Prieſts of Rome in their age, actually did, and are here preciſely enjoyned to render to the very worſt of their Pagan Caeſars.

Beſides aaAle…iados, lib. 1. Edit. Auguſt. 1610. p. 31, 32.Annas Comnenas, an antient Greek Hiſtorian, writes thus ironically of Hildebrands ſeditious practices; Iſte vero execrandus Papa, cum spirituali gratia, & Evangelica pace tota manu ac mente, princeps a… bellum civile progreditur, ille nimirum pacificus atque Pacifici diſcipulus; ad Saxonum enim mittens Duces, ac tum alias multas eis conditiones offerens, tum etiam ſe facturum eos Reges occidentis promittens, ita ad ſe viros allicit; uſque adeo facilem ac promptam habuit ille dextram ad ordinationem Regum: againſt St. Pauls and Peters forecited precepts, and preſidents.

Neither did the Emperor Henry alone in that age exerciſe Dominion over his Biſhops, but the**See Pietre de Pythou Pruvez. des Libertez de Legliſe Gallicane. French, Scotiſh, Engliſh Kings then did the like, (as I ſhall evidence in its proper place) but the Kings of Poland too, though one of them then exceeded the bounds of Juſtice and Chriſtianity. ForbbCromerus de Rebus Poloniae, l 4. Crantzius, l. 3. c. 13, 14. Vandaliae. Centur. Magd. 11. c. 10. col. 606. Staniſ…aus Sciepanovius, Biſhop of Cracovia in Poland, in the year 1079. during Hildebrands Papacy, cum pro officio Regem Boliſlauum amicis primum, poſt vero acerbioribus monitis admoneret verbis, ut ſaevitiam, expilationes, adulteria, luxum, et in rebus adminiſtrandis ſocordiam et ignaviam exueret, tandem cum fruſtra ſaepius monuiſſet, anathematis vinculo eum aſtrinxit. Whereupon, tulit haec justo aegrius Rex, & capta occaſione, Epiſcopum in Templo magna immanitate obtruncavit, diſcerptaſque corporis portiones foras canibus veſcendas objecit, Octavo nonas Maii, Anno Dom. 1079. on whichccAlex. Guag. Rerum, Pol…n. Tom. 1. p. 76, 78. Gaguinus thus deſcants:

Pontificem ſecuit fruſtratim, recta monentem,

Ʋrbis Pontificem, maxime Croce, tuae;

O ſcelus, O portentum, O noſtri infamia Regni!

Non tibi ſacrilegae tunc cecidere manus?

Conſcius itaque Boleſtaus perpetrati facinoris poenitentia adactus, regno relicto inignotas regiones profectus est, ubi in habitu peregrino vitam clauſit. Some write, that Sacris à Romano Pontifice (Gregorio 7.) interdictum erat Polonia ob Staniſlai caedem, till Wladiſlaus, Boleſlai frater, Lambertum Romam, veniam petendi cauſa, mittit; quem Epiſcopum deſignatum Cracoviae, re feliciter ſimul confecta, ad ſuos remiſit ſeptimus Gregorius: Though Platina and others make no mention of this Interdict or releaſe thereof in Hildebrands life; which I having ſo long inſiſted on; Take now this moſt favourable relation of his death, from Bertoldus Conſtantienſis his pen: ddAd Hermannum Appendix, p. 3…7.Sed jam Deus omnipotens famulum ſuum Gregorium Papam nolens diutius laborare, imo pro laboribus ſuis digne remunerare volens, de hujus vitae ergaſtulo eum vocavit. Nam aliquanto tempore graviter corpore infirmatus, ſed in defenſione p. 281juſtitiae uſque ad mortem firmiſſimus, Salerni diem clauſit extremum. De cujus obitu omnes religioſi utriuſque ſexus, & maxime pauperes doluerunt. Erat enum Catholicae religionis ferventiſsimus inſtitutor, et eccleſiaſticae libertatis ſtrenuiſsimus defenſor. Noluit ſane ut Eccleſiaſticus ordo manibus Laicorum ſubjaceret, ſed eiſdem et morum ſanctitate et ordinis dignitate praeemineret, quod illum latere non poterit, quicunque ejuſdem Apoſtolici Regiſtrum diligenter perlegerit. Poſtquam autem in gubernatione ſedis Apoſtolicae, imo totius Eccleſiae, duodecim annos & unum menſem legitime derertavit, tandem ex hac luce, Anno incarnationis Dominicae 1085. Indict. Octavo 8 Cal. Junii, ſubtractus ſupernae vocationis foreign accep…ſſe non dubitatur, ſepultus Salerni in Eccleſia Sancti Matthaei, quam ipſe eodem anno dedicavit. Sed Guib…rtus haereſiarcha multum de obitu ejus laetabatur, licet parum proſperitatis ſuae par… eo lucraretur. Nam omnes Catholici poſt mortem Domini Apoſtolici non minus quam ante, eidem Haereſiarchae reſtiterunt, ipſumque de Roma Ravennam repedare compulerunt.

St. Briget of Sweden (canonized for a Saint by the Bulls of Pope Boniface the 9. and Martin the 5th. prefixed to her Revelations, l. 1. c. 41. printed Nurembergi 1521. brings in Jeſus Chriſt himſelf thus complaining of 5. ſorts of men, quia multipliciter offendunt me, the firſt whereof is the Pope, (what Pope it was ſhe intended, I cannot certainly define, unleſſe it was this Hildebrand) of whom Chriſt there thus complained; Nunc ego conquerror ſuper te, Cap…t Eccleſiae meae, qui ſedes in ſe…emea, quam Petro & ſucceſſoribus ejus tradidi ad ſedendum in ea, triplici dignitate ac authoritate. Primo, ut poteſtatem haberent ligandi animas, & ſolvendi a peccato, Secundo, ut aperirent coelum poenitentibus. Tertio, ut clauderent coelum maledictis & contemnentibus. Sed tu qui deberes ſolvere animas, & ad me praeſentare, tu vere es animarum interfector. Ego eum inſtitui (Petrum) pa…orem & ſervatorem ovium mearum, Tu autem es diſperſor et lacerator earum. Tu autem pejor es Lucifero. Ipſe enim habebat ad me invidiam, & nullum concupivit occidere niſi me, ut pro me dominaretur. Tu autem tanto deteriores, quod non ſolum occides me, removendo me a te per mala opera tua, ſed et animas occides per malum exemplum tuum. Ego redemi animas ſanguine meo, & commiſi eas tibi tanquam amico fideli. Tu autem tradis eas iterato inimico, a quo redemi eas. Tu es injuſtior Pilato, qui nullum judicabat ad mortem niſi me: Tu autem non ſolum judicas me quaſi nullius Dominatorem, et nullius boni dignum, imo et animas innocentes condemnas, et nocentes dimittis. Tu es immititor Iuda, qui me ſolum ven…dit, Tu autem non ſolum vendis me, ſed et animas electorum meorum, pro turpi lucro tuo et vano nomine. Tu es abhominabilior Iudaeis: Ipſi crucifixerunt corpus meum ſolum; Tu autem crucifigis et punis animas electorum meorum, quibus malicia tua et tranſgreſſio amarior eſt omni gladio. Et ideo, quia tu ſimilis es Lucifero, injuſtior Pilato, immitior Iuda, abhominabilior Iudaeis, ideo merito conqueror ſuper te. After which ſhe there brings in Chriſt himſelf, by S. Peters advice, paſſing this ſentence againſt the Pope; Haec autem eſt vera juſtitia, ut primus qui ſedet in ſede tua, et opera habet Luciferi, amittat cum contemptu ſedem in qua praeſumpſit ſedere (as Luciferian Pope Hildebrand did) et particeps ſit poena Luciferi: Then ſhe introduceth Chriſt himſelf ſwearing thrice by God the Father, his own body, and the holy Ghoſt, quod faciam juſtitiam ſuper hos: and paſſing this memorable Judgement upon the Pope, his Miniſters, Members, Vicars, adhering to him, Gladius meae ſeveritatis in corpus tuum intrabit, qui a ſuperiori capitis ingredietur, et ſic profunde et valenter infigetur, ut nunquam extrahatur. Sedes tua mergetur quaſi lapis ponderoſus, qui non ſubſiſtat antequam venerit in noviſſimum profun…i: Digiti, id eſt, aſſeſſores, ardebunt igni ſulphureo et inextinguibili: Brachia tua, id eſt Vicarii, ad animarum profectum extendi deberent; ſed extenduntur ad utilitatem mundi et honorem; judicabuntur poena p. 282quam dicit David; Piant filii ejus orphani, & uxor ejus vidua, & alieni recipiant ſubſtantiam ejus: Quae eſt uxor ejus niſi anima? quae relinquetur a gloria coeleſti, et erit vidua Deo. Filii ejus, id eſt virtutes quas habere videbatur, & ſimplices mei qui ſub ipſis erant, ſeparabuntur ab eis, & dignitas eorum & bona ad alios devolventur; et ipſi pro dignitate aeternam confuſionem haereditabunt. Deinde**The Popes triple Crown & Miter. ornatus Capitis eorum demergetur in lutum inferni, a quo nunquam conſurgent: Vt ſicut hic per honorem et ſuperbiam ſuper alios aſcenderunt, ſic in inferno prae aliis demergentur ita profunde, ut impoſſibile ſit eis reſurgere. Let all proud Popes chew the cud upon it.

Having thus preſented you with Hildebrands Antichriſtian practiſes in his life; hear Benno Cardinalis, & Sigebertus Gemblacenfis both living in that age, Anno 1085. Mat. Paris Hiſtoriae Angl. Anno Domini 1084, 1086. Vincentius Speculum Hiſt. l. 36. c. 82. Floreutius Wigornienſis Anno 1106. Antonin, Chron. Tit. 16. cap. 1. ſect. 21. Magnum Chronicon Belgicum, p. 124. Dr. Barns, Balaeus, and others in Vita Greg. 7 Cent: Magd. 11. c. 8. 10. Chronicon Joannis Brompto…, col. 978. Henricus de Knyghton de Eventibus Angliae, l. 2. c. 3. Lambertus Schafnaburgenſis Hiſtor. Anno 1074. &c. Cuspinian in Henrico 4. learned ccHiſt. Papatus p. 248, &c.Philip de Morney, ddOf the Popes Temporal Monarchy, ch 6.Dr. Crakenthorp, eeDe Chriſtianarum Eccleſiarum ſucceſſione & ſtatu, c. 5.Biſhop Uſher, ffIn their Books De Antichriſto.Dr. Beard, Biſhop Downham, Dr. Squir…, with ſundry others out of them, who give us this account of Hildebrands laſt words, repentance, abſolution of the Emperor and all others Excommunications at his death. Hildebrandus Papa, qui & Gregorius VII. apud Salernium exulans moritur. Volumus vos ſcire, qui Eccleſiaſticae curae ſolliciti eſtis; quia Dominus Apoſtolicus Hildebrandus, qui et Gregorius, nunc in extremis poſitus, ad ſe vocavit unum de xij. Cardinalibus quem prae caeteris diligebat, et confeſſus eſt, Deo et Sancto Petro, et toti Eccleſiae, ſe valde peccaſſe in Paſtorali cura, quae ei ad regendum erat commiſſa, ſeque ſuadente Diabolo, contra humanum genus iram Dei et odium concitaſſe. Poſtea vero ſententiam quae in orbe terrarum effuſa eſt, pro augmento Chriſtianitatis revocaſſe, dicebat. Tunc demum miſit praedictum Confeſſorem ſuum ad Imperatorem, et ad totam Eccleſiam, ut opraret ei indulgentiam, quia finem vitae ſuae aſpiciebat; et jam cito induturus erat angelicam veſtem: et dimiſit et diſsolvit vincula omnium bannorum ſuorum Imperatori et omni populo Chriſtiano, vivis et defunctis, Laicis et Clericis, et juſsit ſuos abire de domo Theodorici, et amicos Imperatoris aſcendere.

I have more largely related this Hiſtory of Pope Hildebrands Antimonarchical, as well as Antichriſtian proceedings, upon theſe conſiderations: 1. Becauſe he was the ggJac … De Chriſtianarum Eccleſ: ſeceſſione & ſtatu, c 5. 6 Aventinus Annal. Bolorum l. 5. Onuphrius in vita Greg. 7firſt viſible founder, erecter of that Antichriſtian Papal Soveraignty & Tyranny, which his ambitious Succeſſors have ſince preſumed to claim, exerciſe over Chriſtian Emperors, Kings, Kingdoms, Churches, Prelates: The firſt who attempted to excommunicate, depoſe, interdict the Roman Emperors, give their Crowns, Kingdoms to others; to abſolve all their ſubjects from their Oathes of Allegiance to them, and excite Subjects to rebell and take up arms againſt their rightfull Kings, to dethrone them, for not obeying their Papal Decrees. 2ly. Becauſe he was the chief contriver (before & after his intruſion into Peters pretended Chair) how to deprive the Roman Emperors of their antient hereditary Soveraign Eccleſiaſtical right of electing, ratifying, inveſting, confirming Popes, Patriarchs, Archbiſhops, Biſhops; and to defraud, robb all other Chriſtian Kings, Princes, Nobles, Lay-Patrons of their Patronages, Preſentations, Collations to Biſhopricks, Benefices, or any other Eccleſiaſtical dignities, under the falſe pretext of Simony, Hereſie, Sacriledge, Idolatry, wherewith he branded it, on purpoſe to monopolize the ſale and diſpoſal of them to himſelf and his Succeſſors, to make allhhPlatina, Onuphrius, Martinus Polonus, Barnes, Balaeus, in Gregor. 7. Sigebertus, & & Schaffnabergenſis, Anno 1074. Cent. Magd. 11. c. 10. col. 485, 486. Mat Paris, Hiſt. Angl. Ann. 1074, 1077, 1084. Biſhops, Clergymen, and Religious Orders ſworn Vaſſals, Feudatories, Votaries, Servants to, and ſole Dependants on the See of Rome, but perfidious Traytors, Rebels to their own natural Kings, Princes, as exempted from, and having no Dominion over them, nor engagements to them. 3ly. Becauſe he was the firſt Pope who violently perſecuted married Prieſts, prohibiting all Laymen to hear their Maſſes, &c. unleſſe they were totally divorced from their wives in obedience to his Papal Decrees.

p. 283Which Antichriſtian Uſurpations, Innovations of his being the Original ground, preſident of all his Succeſſors intollerable Encroachments on, proceedings of like nature againſt our Engliſh Kings, and their Soveraign Eccleſiaſtical Juriſdiction; and the Emperor Henries oppoſitions againſt him and his encroachments, a grand encouragement to our Kings vigorous oppoſitions againſt his ſucceſſors uſurpations of like nature in England; (the chief Subject of my enſuing Hiſtory;) I deemed it not only expedient, but abſolutely neceſſary, to preſent the world with a full and faithfull Narrative of his Hildebrandian Antimonarchical Sentences, Decretals, Proceedings; the opoſitions made againſt them, which have ever ſince infeſted all Chriſtian States, Churches, with high conteſts, ſchiſms, wars between the Crown and Miter: And before I procceed to his Succeſſors, I ſhall give you this further Account of theſe 3. particulars, beginning with the Original ground of the quarrel, Inveſtitures and Simony.

I have**Here, p. 216, 217, 219, 241, 243, 244, 245, 246. formerly diſcovered how ſome of Hildebrands immediate Predeceſſors (by his advice and inſtigation) made ſeveral Decrees, Conſtitutions againſt Clergy-mens receiving Investitures, or Preſentations to Biſhopricks & Eccleſiaſtical Benefices from Lay-mens hands, under the falſe odious crime of Simony, to render it deteſtable to the ignorant vulgar, which produced little or no effect, till Hildebrand himſelf, as Legat to Pope Stephen the 9th. and others, put them in vigorous execution,**Chron. Antonini Tit. 16 c. 1. Sect. 21 depriving many Biſhops and others, in France, Germany, under the Notion of Simo…acks, which he more violently proſecuted after he became Pope. Hence our famous HiſtorianbbDe Geſtis Regum, l. 3. p. 107, 108. William of Malmeſbury, living in that age, ſtories; Quod alii Pontifices inuſitaverant (muſſitaverant reads**Hiſt. Papatus p. 247. Morney) palam extulit, excommunicans electos, qui inveſtituras Eccleſiarum de manu Laici per annulum et baculum acciperent. Unde Imperator Henricus Alemannorum, fremens quod ſine ſua conſcientia talia praeſumeret, et quod excommunicationem in eum propter Inveſtituras Eccleſiarum promulgaverat, cum exercitu veniens Romam obſedit, Hildebrandum expulit, Guibernum Ravennatem introducit; This being the original occaſion of all the Differences, Conteſts, Wars between them. To paſſe by**Printed in Mat: Flacii Illyrici Catalog. Teſtium Veritatis, Appendix p. 54 Waltramus Naumbergenſis Epiſc. his Libellus de Inveſtituris in defence of the Emperors right therin, written in that age.

ccAnnal. Boiorum, l. …. p. 241Joannes Aventinus reciting Pope Adrians Decree, made and ſworn to by him and the Council of Rome, **Here, p. 171, 225, 226.Nullum poſtea fore, neque Romanum, neque aliorum templorum Antiſtitem, niſiquem Carolus, ſucceſſoreſque ejus ſciverint & juſſerint, &c. Subjoyns, Defuncto igitur Praeſule quopiam, Sacerdotes lituum cum annulo ad aulam mittebant, cui ea Princeps ſolenni ritu tradebat, is ejuſdem fani Rector deſignatus erat. Ita obſervatum eſſe ſine controverſia ad Henrici quarti Imperium, legimus. Clariſſimi quique & ampliſſimi viri, advenae etiam, ultro aulam frequentabant, ſpe dignitatis augendae, & adipiſcendi Sacerdotii illecti, abſque ſtipendio in omnibus Principi dicto obedientes erant, quemadmodum noſtro aevo Romae fieri ſolet. Sub Henrico quarto, & Gregorio ſeptimo cum maximo Reipublicae Chriſtianae detrimento, de hoc aucupio armis, non citra ſanguinem decertari coeptum; Imp. veterem morem (as they had juſt cauſe) a tot ſanctiſsimis Pontificibus traditum, comprobatumque, mordicus retinere; Maximi Pontifices jam pares opibus Caeſariis, in ſe trahere conabantur; nec amplius ferre parem, nedum ſuperiorem, dilati ab Imperatoribus noſtris, & ad id faſtigii perducti, poterant. Eſt omnino iniquum (ſicut ait Plinius) ſed nobis quoque uſu jam receptum, quod honeſta conſilia vel turpia, prout male vel proſper…cedunt, ita aut probantur, vel reprehenduntur. Inde plerum que eadem facta, modo ſuperſtitionis, modo pietatis, modo Chriſti, modo Antichriſti, modo juſticiae, modo tyrannidis nomina accipiunt. Diutius in ſe Chriſtiani Principes, ſumma pietatis ac religionis jactura debacchati ſunt (concerning Inveſtitures.) Vicit tandem Romanorum Flaminum fortuna.

He elſwhere obſerves, That ddAnnal. Boiorum, l. 5. p. 446.Hactenus (till Pope Hildebrands Papacy) Pontifices Romani Comitiis curiatis, calatis, a Sacerdotibus, equitatu, plebe, Senatu, pex omnium generum Suffragia electi fuerant, id tum ratum fuiſſe reperio, ſi Imperatores Romani, authores fierent, qui illos, ſicuti alios Epiſcopos ad Concilia jure ſuo evocabant. Caeteros quoque univerſos Pontifices Monachorum, Myſtarum Magiſtros, ex conſilii decreto comitiis centuriatis, per ſuffragia purpuratorum, more majorum, Imperatores per Germaniam, Galliam, Teutoniam, Italiam, Romanum orbem p. 284ſicuti in Carolo Magno commemoravi, capiebant. After this decree againſt Inveſtitures, ddAventinus Annal Bo…orum l. 5. p. 448, 449.Alii verbis quidem ambitus crimen abominabantur; ſed plus auri ſub magna pietatis ſuperficie, dum ſe gratis dare cuncta jactant, corraſere, pluriſque Sacra venum dedere. Et tu vigilantiſſime Gregori, quidnam faceres, ſi nunc demum natus eſſes, quando divitias, opes ambire, Sacerdotia cauponari, ſacra nundinari, & quaſi defectos caballos, juxta commune dictum, commutare, jus eſt, et longinqua conſuetudo, vulgo dici ſaepius audio! Caeremoniae cum Pontifice, ara cum ſacrificulo, templum cum aedituo, omnia venalia ſunt. A Pontificibus minoribus, quos Sacrificos vocamus, ſexcenti exiguntur aurei nummi, in tantum ut quoſdam hoc munus obiiſſe poenituerit: et quoſdam deſignatos, rurſus quod non eſſet unde avaritiae Romanenſium corvorum ſatiarent, abdicaſſe norim; fenus quod ab aliis Pontif: redditur, quotannis a templis abraditur, majus eſt quam ut a me (licet numerorum abaci perito) numerari queat. Tum Simonia tibi Gregori erat; nunc**See Ant de Roſellis Monarchia, pars 2. c. 15. abſentium confirmationem, annatas, ac neſcio quibus aliis nominibus nuncupari audio. This ſin being diſguiſed with other ſpecious, yea lawfull Names in Popes, Biſhops, Clergy-men and their Officers; which is damnable unſufferable S…mony, Sacriledge and Idolatry too in Emperors, Kings, or Lay-Patrons by Pontifical Canonical Decrees: O Hildebrandian Papal Legerdemain! **Chron. Antonini Tit. 1. c. 3. ſect. 21. f. 123. Tit. 17. c. 1. f. 177Titus 1Antoninus (with others) makes this Popes Decree againſt Inveſtitures per annulum & baculum, and proceedings thereupon againſt the Emperor, the ground of all their longlaſting controverſies; Quumque (writes he) jam pax inter Sacerdotium & regnum videretur interveniſſe; rurſus ſuadente Diabolo in Papam & Imperatorem ſchiſma graviſſimum ortum eſt. Cujus Schiſmatis cauſa haec fuiſſe videtur. Inoleverat conſuetudo. praecipue in Imperio (a**See Bodechini Abbatis appendix ad Chronica Ma…ani Scot…, an. 1110. p. 465 Walthramus Naumburgenſ. Epiſc. de Inveſtituris. lib. Illyricus Catal. Teſt. Veritatis Appendix, p. 54 55. Caroli Magni Temporibus per 200. annos et amplius conceſſa et obſervata ſub Summis Pontificibus illius temporis;) qua defungentibus Eccleſiarum Praelatis, annulus et baculus Paſtoralis ad Dominum Imperatorem dirigebatur, unde poſtmodum unum, quemlibet de familiaribus et capellanis ſuis ad Eccleſiam vacantem dirigebat, ut ibi Paſtoris fungeretur officio, non expectata Cleri electione. Quod Dominus Papa contra omnem honeſtatem fieri conſiderans, et jura Eccleſiaſtica in eo conculcari perpendens, ſemel, ſecundo, et tertio Imperatorem monuit, ut a tam deteſtabili praeſumptione deſiſteret. Quumque praeceptis ſalutaribus commonitum, illum revocare non poſset, et hoc ſuum eſſe jus allegat: ob hanc cauſam Gregorius Romae Concilium congregavit 110 Epiſcoporum; In quo primo ipſum Henricum excommunicavit Imperatorem, tanquam perjurum et Eccleſiae Dei perſecutorem et ſubverſorem. Anathematizaverunt autem inſuper, omnes Eccleſiaſticas perſonas qui de manu alicujus ſecularis perſonae acciperent Inveſtituram, et omnes Simoniacos anathematizavit. Inde grave ortum eſt ſcandalum: ita ut nullius Haereſis tempore Eccleſia Occidentalis graviori ſchiſmate ſit diviſa. Hi pro juſtitia, alii pro injuſtitia agebant. Alii a Simonia non declinabant. Aliis notam avaritiae honeſto nomine praetexentibus, dum hoc quod ſe gratis dare, jactant, ſub charitatis nomine vendunt. Et (ut de Montano dicit Euſebius) ſub nomine oblationis artificius munera accipiunt.

Pope,**Chronicon Hildebrands Decrees againſt Inveſtitures and Simony, are thus recorded by aaAntonin. tit. 16. c. 1. ſect. 21 tit 17. c. 1. Cent. Magd. 11 c. 7. col. 374, 485. Gratian Cauſ 16. qu. 7. & Diſtinct. 33. …ox Acts and Monuments, Vol. 1. with ſundry others.Antoni…us and others; Si quis deinceps Epiſcopatum vel Abbatiam de manu alicujus Laicae perſonae ſuſceperit, nullatenus inter Epiſcopos vel Abbates habeatur, nec ulla ei ut Epiſcopo vel Abbati audientia concedatur. Inſuper, & gratiam beati Petri et Eccleſiae introitum interdicimus, ſuſpendimus, quouſque locum quem ſub crimine tam inobedientiae quam ambitionis, ex quo idololatria caepit, reſipiſcendo non deſerit. Similiter, & de inferioribus dignitatibus conſtituimus. Item, ſi quis Imperatorum, Regum, Ducum, Marchionum, Comitum, p. 285vel qualibet ſecularium poteſtatum aut perſonarum, inveſtituram Epiſcopatuum, vel alicujus Eccleſiaſticae dignitaris dare praeſumpſerit, ejusdem Sententiae vinculo ſe eſſe obſtrictum ſciat. Officium Simoniacorum, ſcienter nullo modo recipiatis, & quantum poteſtis tales ſanctis Miniſteriis ubi oportuerit, prohibete.

aaDe Geſtia Regum, l. 2. c. 3. p. 84William of Malmsbury records that Hildebrands Predeceſſor Gregory the 6. in an Oration to his Cardinals at Rome, (when being ſick and likely to die, auſu temerario perſuaderent, ne ſe in Eccleſia Sancti Petri cum caeteris Apoſtolicis tumulari praeciperet, qui tot hominum mortibus officium faedaſſet;) uſed this expreſſion to them concerning inveſtitures. Laudatus eſt olim praedicandae memoriae praedeceſſor noſter Adrianus primus, quod Inveſtituras Eccleſiarum Carolo Magno conceſſerit, ita ut nullus Electus conſecraretur ab Epiſcopo, niſi prius a Rege inſigniretur annulo et baculo. Contra, laudatur in ſeculi noſtri Pontificibus, quod has donationes tulerunt Principibus, Poterat tunc rationabiliter concedi, quod nunc laudabiliter debet auferri. Cur ita? Quod erat animus Magni adverſus avaritiam invictus, nec facile inveniſſet aditum aliquis, niſi intraſſet per oſtium. Praeterea, per**Doth not the ſame reaſon ſtill remain? tot terrarum inſterſtitia nequibat requiri ſedes Apoſtolica, ut unicuique electo accommodaret aſſenſum ſuum, dum eſſet prope Rex, qui nihil per avaritiam diſponeret, ſed juxta ſacra Canonum ſcita religioſas perſonas Eccleſis introduceret. Nunc omnia Palatia Regum, luxus & ambitus occupavit. Quare merito libertatem ſuam ſponſa Chriſti aſſeverat, ne illam Tyrannus ambitioſo uſurpatori proſtituat. Upon which pretexts, Pope Hildebrands made theſe Decrees, to rob Emperors and all others of Inveſtitures, that Popes alone might enjoy the ſales of all preferments.

HencebbDe Planctu Eccleſia lib. 2. artic. 15. f. 118. L. et artic. 2. f. 104. Alvarus Pelagius a Spaniſh Freer, flouriſhing about the year 1320. (though a grand Champion of the Popes Supremacy) thus complains,bbDe Planctu Eccleſia lib. 2. artic. 15. f. 118. L. et artic. 2. f. 104. Mundet igitur Dei Vicarius Curiam ſuam conſuetudinibus Simonaicis, quia ad ipſum pauci intrant, qui non ſolvunt. Nullus quaſi pauper hodie ad Papam intrare poteſt, & non auditur qui non habet quod ſolvat. Vix aliqua petitio exauditur per eum, niſi mediantibus interventoribus corruptis pecunia. Symoniacis contractibus Eccleſia populatur, pauperes excoriantur. Aurum ſitiunt hodie Praelati, aurum bibunt. ccIbid. l. 2. artic. 10.In muneribus judicant, in mercede reſpondent, in pecunia damnant, pro pecuniis celebrant: Corpus Chriſti pro pecunia vendunt. Pro pecunia conſecrant & ordinant; & pro pecunia omnia conferunt Sacramenta. Sacramenta emunt, Sacramenta vendunt, ſed gratiam non conferent quam non habent. Nihil accipitur gratis, nihil datur gratis, &c. Vendunt vocem, ſigillum & calamum.ddIbid. l. 2. artic. 20. Vix credo, maxime in Hispania, quod de Centum Epiſcopis ſit unus, qui non ſit Simoniacus in ordinibus & beneficiis conferendis: Nam nec propter aliud Ordines celebrant, dantes ſuas benedictiones, a Domino maledicti, niſi ut lucrentur pecunias: unde in una ordinatione lucrabitur ibi Epiſcopus, nunc per expreſſas, nunc per tacitas Simonias ſuarum literarum, ſigillorum, portatorum, matricularum obtentu CCCC. & quingentos, et eo amplius frequenter Florenos. Nec de hoc videntur habere conſcientiam, occaecati a Domino in cupiditate ſua, non conſuetudinem ſed corruptelam verius illius provinciae allegantes.eeIbid. l. 2. art. 10. Gratian Cauſ. 1. qu. 1. Hi ergo Praelati venales, aurum pro Spiritu ſancto accipientes, lepram dederunt, & lepram ſibi retinuerunt, & male quaeſita mercede, non tam patrimonii facultatem quam the ſaurum criminum congregant, aeterno ſupplicio, & brevi fructu. O lepra contagioſa, lepra foetida uſque ad aures Domini Sabaoth! lepra labefaciens interiora vitalia, & ſacra in Dei Eccleſia ſacrificia; abominabilis Deo & divinis hominibus apud homines incurabilis, ſoli Deo Chriſto Domino, qui apparere voluit tanquam leproſus, cura poſſibilis, ſed rara & admirabilis. Quis hodie in Eccleſia Dei poteſt dicere verbum Pauli, Acts 20. Argentum & aurum & veſtem nullius concupivi, vos ipſi ſcitis? Utinam non fuerit mortis occaſio, a**Art: 7. f. 102. Gratian Diſt: 96 Cauſ: 1. q: 1 Conſtantino data Corona ex auro puriſſimo Eccleſiae ſacroſanctae, in abutentibus hac corona.ffIbidem l. 2… Omnes de Saba veniunt, id eſt de terra Orientali ubi naſcitur aurum optimum,Iſay 53.Isa 53 Gen. 2. aurum, ſed non thus deferentes (Eſa. 60.) ad Romanam Curiam, et plumbum reportantes. Plus ponderat aurum quod datur pro iſto plumbo, quam ipſum plumbum. Nam et frequenter pro ipſa Bulla plumbea, 50. 70, &c. Floreni ſolvuntur. Sed pro p. 286plumbo datur aurum, ut de plumbo fiat majus aurum, quia quod quis emit, paratus eſt aliis vendere, et Simoniam committere. Recordentur Domini Praelati & alii Clerici de Craſſo Dictatore Romano, qui aurum ſitivit, & aurum bibit, aeque periit vero auro, ſicut vero veneno. Petrus Cephas Eccleſiae, id eſt, Caput, ait, Acts 3. Argentum & aurum non eſt mihi. Praelatus hodie quilibet dicit; Aurum & argentum eſt mihi; ſed non eſt ei quod ſequitur, In nomine Jeſu Chriſti Nazareni, ſurge & ambula: quia auro abutitur & aurum avet.

Not long after, the antient Rythmus printed at the end of**Opera Lugduni Bat. 1613 Nicholaus de Clemangiis his Treatiſe de Corrupto Eccleſiae Statu, p. 29, 30. thus complained of the Simony and Bribery of the Court of Rome;

Ibi nemo gratus gratis;

Nulli datur abſque datis,

Gratiam gratia.

Plumbum quod hic informatur

Super aurum dominatur,

Et Maſſam argenteam.

Sic inſtillant …el Draconis,

Et in ſine Lectionis,

Cogunt Burſam vomere.

Tales Regunt Petri Navem,

Tales habent Petri Clavem,

Ligandi Potentiam.

Cardinal…s, ut praedixi,

Novo jure crucifixi,

Vendunt Patrimonium.

Foris Petrus, intus Nero;

Intus Lupi, foris vero

Sicut Agni ovium, &c.

Cuncta vorat ſicut Leo, &c.

Nicholaus de Clemangiis himſelf, Archdeacon of Baion, about the year 1430. in his Book De Corrupto Eccleſiae ſtatu, c. 11. 15. & De Praeſulibus Simoniacis, makes the like complaints as Alvarus Pelagius of the intollerable Simony of Popes, Cardinals, and Biſhops, which you may there peruſe at leiſure.

The Author ofaaPrinted Coloniae 1531. Onus Eccleſiae (a Popiſh conſcientious**Epiſcopus Chiemnenſis, as ſome conjecture German Biſhop, living above 150. years ſince) cap. 19. De Indispoſitione Romanae Curiae, thus complains, ſect: 8, 11, 12. Heu, ſicut olim in Romano Imperio, ſic hodie in Romana Curia, eſt vorago divitiarum turpiſsima; crevit avaritia, periit Lex a Sacerdote, & viſio a propheta, & conſilium a ſenioribus: Claves Eccleſiae ſunt in abuſu, et ſervitute Simoniae et Ambitionis: Vitia enim ferme Curialium caelari, negarique vix poſſunt. Roma quaſi gurges flagitiorum: (Sequitur ex Brigitha) Papa qui clamare deberet,bbMat. 11.Matt 11 Venite, & invenietis requiem animarum veſtrarum; clamat, Venite ad Curiam meam, & videte me in purpura & ambitione pluſquam Solomonem: Venite ad Curiam meam, & exhaurite burſas veſtras, & invenietis perditionem animarum veſtrarum: Sic enim clamat exemplo et facto. Ecce Roma nunc eſt Vorago et mammon inferni, ubi Diabolus totius avaritiae Capitaneus reſidet. vendens Patrimonium Chriſti, quod ſua paſsione nobis promeruit: qui nobis praecepit, ut gratis demus, quod gratis acceperimus. Idcirco verſum eſt in Proverbium; Curia Romana non petit ovem ſine lana: Dantes exaudit, non dantibus oſtia claudit. In Curia Romana reſidet ſuperbia maxima, cupiditas inſatiabilis, luxuria mihi (Chriſto) execrabilis, ac etiam vorago peſsima horribilis Simoniae. He adds,cccap. 13. ſect: 28. Sylveſter ſecundus, per Simoniam et Magicam artem Pontificatum eſt conſecutus. (Since which time) ultra quingentos annos uſque modo ex divina permiſſione ſolutus eſt Satanas, qui ſuas malas immiſſiones non ſolum in adverſarios Eccleſiae, id eſt infideles, ſed etiam in ipſius Eccleſiae membra, id eſt, in Chriſtianos reprobos effundit, operando in eis fallacias, & novas & inuntatas machinationes & oppreſſiones.ddCap. 15. ſect. 32. Plerique contra Eccleſiaſtica Statuta in Pontifices Simoniace electi, ambitioſe intruſi, & aliquando in tantum vitiati fuerunt, quod rurſus ab Eccleſia rejecti, e ſede expulſi, damnatique ſunt, ac interdum propter ſuos defectus manifeſte a Deo percuſsi. Cap. 20. D… Exceſſibus Praelatorum: & cap. 21. De Praelatorum altorumque Curatorum vita vitioſa, he thus complaines: O quanta nunc eſt obduratio ab Eccleſia Dei! Communiter ad Praelaturas intrant Simoniaci. Praelati ſunt ſuperbi, vani, pompoſi, ſimonaici, avari, luxurioſi, ambitioſi, aut aliter vitioſi, &c. taking their preſident from Popes themſelves. And cap. 25. ſect. 9. Simonia contra Canonum Decreta in Clero jam ubique regnat. A minori uſque ad majorem omnes Clerici avaritiae ſtudent, p. 287Qui dicunt, aquam noſtram, id eſt donum Spiritus ſancti pecunia bibimus, hoc eſt Simoniace adminiſtramus ſacramenta Dei: ideo ſubjungitur: Linguam noſtram pretio comparavimus, &c. Et tamen ad majoris damnationis cumulum illam Simonaicam pravitatem ex inveteratae conſuetudinis jure, quidam malitioſe defendere nituntur, qui cum Giezi & Simone condemnabuntur.

I ſhall cloze up this Diſcourſe concerning Hildebrands and other Popes Decrees againſt Inveſtitures and Simony, with theſe memorable paſſages ofaaClaudium E… pencaeum in Epiſtolam Pauli ad Titum, Pariſiis, 1568. p. 71, 72. Claudius Eſſpencaeus, (a learned Popiſh French Biſhop) in his Commentarie upon Pauls Epiſtle to Titus; wherein he complains, that Popes and Popiſh Councils, inſtead of the long expected and promiſed reformation of the ſcandalous ſinne of Simony, tot omnibus votis expectatum, atque a Paulo 3. viris doctiſſimis atque graviſſimis delectis, delegata; who found and informed him, Ejus Sanctitatem hodiernorum malorum inde principium eſſe; quod Praedeceſſores ejus nonnulli prurientes auribus coacervaverunt ſibi Magiſtros ad deſideria ſua, non ut a quibus diſcerent, quid facere deberent, ſed quorum calliditate inveniretur ratio, qua liceret, quod liberet. Hinc effectum, ut prodirent adulatores potius quam Doctores, qui docerent, **See Antonii de Roſellis Monarchia pars 2. cap. 15.Papa beneficiorum omnium eſſe Dominum; ac ideo cum Dominus jure vendat id quod ſuum eſt, neceſſario ſequi, in eum non cadere Simoniam: Ex hoc **Simoniam in Pontif. Romanum non cadere, fons abuſuum.fonte tot in Dei Eccleſiam abuſus, et graviſsimos morbos irrupiſſe, quibus ad ſalutis ea deſperationem fere laboret, et quorum fama ad infideles uſque damnet. Hanc praecipue ob cauſam Chriſtianiſmum deridentes atque blaſphemantes. Non licere ergo nec Chriſti Vicario in uſu Clavium, ſive poteſtatis, ab eo illi collatae lucrum aliquod comparare, hoc eſt gratis datum, non gratis dare, &c. He then obſerves, that from the groſs notorious Simony of Popes, and their open, ſhameleſs ſales of all ſacred things, yea ſales of Diſpenſations, for all deteſtable ſins, all other Biſhops, Clergy-men, and their Officials, openly practiſed this gainfull Trade of Simony.bbIbid. pag. 66. 67, 68, 74, 75. Vide p. 132, 133. Et ut quod quidam ait, A Bove majori diſcit arare minor. Minores non tantum Epiſcopi, ſed & Archidiaconi, corumque malè officioſi (abſit verbo invidia, nam de malis loquor, quae plurima turba eſt, non de bonis quorum utinam major eſſet multitudo) eorum, inquam officiales & vicarii, (And may we not in England make the like juſt complaint?) plerunque, dum Diocaeſes & Parocecias obequitant, non tam facinoroſos, & criminum reos poenis & correctionibus a vitiis deterrent, quo fine peregrinationes hujuſmodi olim jam fuerunt jure canonico ordinatae, quam pecunia praeſenti et numerato titulo procurationis, ne dicam fictitiae juriſdictionis, emungunt et exugunt, tum Clericos, tum Laicos. Turpiſſimum, quod & hos cum concubinis, pellicibus, & meretriculis cohabitare, liberoſque procreare ſimul, accepta ab eis, atque adeo alicubi a continentibus, certo quotannis cenſu; habeat (aiunt) ſi velit; & quoties enim quiſque talis, cum tales tamen tam multi ſint, hodie aliter punitur? Quae ſcandala ex gravaminibus Germanicis paſſim collecta 1, 2, 5, 8, 67, 74, 75, 84, 91, 15. Haec, inquam, lucra turpia, odio Pontificis Romani ficta ſint, ſi non, quod aut & conqueritur ille, velut

**Mantuani Eclog. 5. & 9.Proſtat, et in quaeſtu pro meretrice ſedet, &c.

Si quid Roma dabit; nugas dabit, accipit aurum,

Verba dat; heu Romae nunc ſola pecunia regnat.

Quiſquis opes ſacras nummo reperire prophano

Quaerit, eat Romam; ſacra ſunt venalia Romae,

Templa, Sacerdotes, &c. Templum eſt venale, Deuſq.

Proſtat liber palam ac publice hic impreſſus, & hodie que ut olim venalis, Taxa Camerae, ſeu Cancellariae Apoſtolicae, inſcriptus, in quo plus ſcelerum diſcas licet, quam in omnibus omnium vitiorum Summiſtis et Summariis, et plurimis quidem licentia, omnibus autem abſolutio empturientibus propoſita: parco nominibus, nam quod, ait neſcio quis, p. 288Nomina ſunt ipſo pene timenda ſono. Mirum hoc tempore, hoc ſchiſmate, non ſuppreſſum, tot tamque foedorum, tamque horrendorum ſcelerum velut indicem, adeo infamem, ut non putem in Germania, Helvetia, & ubicunque a Romana ſede defectum eſt, opus proſtare majore hujus ſcandalo, & adeo tamen non ſupprimitur ab Eccleſiae Romana faviſſoribus, ut tantorum ac talium facinorum licentiae ac impunitatis, in facultatibut Legatorum illinc huc venientium, bona ex parte innoventur atque confirmentur, adverſus (ſi Deo placet) quaecunque fatalia reſtituendi, ac etiam quoſcun que Spurios, Manſeres, Baſtardos, ex quocunque illicito coitu, & cum his qui ſe per adulterium pollueriut, ut connubere poſſint, perjuros, ſimoniacos, falſarios, item raptores, uſurarios, ſchiſmaticos, haereticos, ſed ad cor reverſos, non abſolvendi tantum, ſed et ad ordines, honores, dignitates, et beneficia quaecunque, quotcunque, qualiacunque, diſpenſandi; homicidas quoque, ſed caſuales ſeu involuntarios, nam nec voluntarios quidem excepit Taxa ſuperior, Presbytericidas, parricidas, matricidas, fratricidas, ſororicidas, uroricidas, inſonticidas, veneficas, incantatrices, concubinarios, adulteros, inceſtos cum affinibus aut conſanguineis, denique contra naturam cum brutis, &c. Habeat jam Roma pudorem, et tam nullius frontis criminum omne genus Catalogum proſtituere deſinat. Theſe were the fruits, deſigns of Pope Hildebrands decrees againſt Simony, that he and his Succeſſors might be the ſole Merchants of all Eccleſiaſtical Preferements, Indulgences, Pardons, Sins and univerſal Simoniacks in and over the Church of Chriſt.

All which (with other hiſtorical paſſages hereafter cited) duly conſidered, it will appear moſt juſt, rational, advantagious for the Church of Chriſt, that as the Inveſtitures, Donations, Collations of the Papacy it ſelf, all other Biſhopricks and Eccleſiaſtical Benefices, did antiently of right belong to Chriſtian Emperors, Kings, Princes, till forcibly wreſted out of their hands by Popes and Popiſh Prelats: ſo they ſhould in all Realms henceforth reſume, perpetuat thē in their hands; not in Popes, Biſhops or Clergymens, who have bin ſo univerſally, infamouſly overſpread, defiled with the fouleſt Leproſy of real Simony, as this grand reformer of Simoniaks, Hildebrand was. Of whom yet his followers record this forged Miracle.aaWillielmus Malmsburienſis Hiſt. Angl. l. 3. p. 108. Chronicon Antonini Tit 16. cap. 1. Sect. 21. Paulus Bernreidenſis in Vita Gregorii 7. Cent. Magd. 11. cap. 9. col. 484, 485. Chronicon Joannis Bromton, col. 973. Henricus de Knyghton, de Event. Angl. l. 2. c. 3. col. 2350. In Gallia vice Papae praeſederat concilio, ibique plures Epiſcopi, olim per Simoniam in Eccleſias introducti, degradati potioribus locum dedere. Unus erat, quem ſuſpitio iſtius Apoſtaſiae inſimulabat, ſed nullis teſtibus argui, nullis argumentis confutari poterat: quem cum putares conſtrictum maxime, more anguis lubrici elapſum mirarers, ita dicendi arte callebat, ut omnes eluderet. Tunc Archidiaconu, Ceſſet hominis eloquium, producatur in medium divinum oraculum. Scimus profecto quod Epiſcopalis gratia Sancti Spiritus munus eſt, & quiſquis Epiſcopatum mercatur, Sancti Spiritus donum poſſe comparari pecunia opinatur. Coram nobis ergo, qui Judicio Spiritus ſancti congregati ſumus, dicat iſte, Gloria Patri, & Filio, & Spiritui ſancto: quod ſi expreſſe, & ſine titubantia dixerit, constabit apud me, illum non venaliter, ſed legitime praeſulatu functum: Libens hanc conditionem ille accepit, nihil minus quam horum verborum difficultatem ratus; & vere, Gloria Patri & Filio, integre protulit, ſed in Spirtu ſancto, haeſit. Suſcitato cunctorum ſtrepitu nullo conatu vel tunc, vel in reliquo vitae ſpatio Spiritum ſanctum nominare potuit. Hujus miraculi teſtis fuit Abbas ſaepe nominatus, qui dejectum Epiſcopum per loca ſecum ducens, illius rei experimentum ſaepe riſit: de quorum verborum certitudine dubitantem, omnis Europa confutat, quae Cluniacenſis religionis numerum, per eum augmentatum non neſcit. If this relation, upon the Abbot of Clungy his reputation be true, I doubt this Pope with**Si omnes pro Simoniacis & haereticis fuiſſent damnandi & ex Eccleſia excommunicandi, qui gradus, aut functiones eccleſiaſticos pecunia emebant, vel vendebant, nulli pene hujus aetatis Pontifices aut Epiſcopi Romani pro membris Eccleſiae habuiſſent. Centur: Magd. 11. c. 5. col. 146. Plerunque Pontifices Romani ſuam ſellam conſcendun… corruptelis Simoniacis, Ibid. c. 7 col. 382. all his Succeſſors, moſt Romiſh Cardinals, Prelates, as deeply guilty of the ſinne and hereſie of Simony as this Biſhop, would be as unable to pronounce the Name of the Holy Ghoſt, when ever they repeated Gloria Patri in any Council, Maſſe, or Church, as he.

p. 2892ly. As Pope Gregories Decrees againſt Inveſtitures, under pretext of preventing Simony, introduced all ſorts of Simony, corruption, yea ſales of all Sacraments and ſins into the Church of Rom…; and then this boldaaGratian 22. Diſt. c. Omni. Diſtinct. 7… & 40. Antonii de Roſellis Monarch. pars 2. cap. 15. Goldaſti Monarchia Hanc-. viae, 1612. p. 346, 347. Alvarus Pelag. Lib. 1. l. 2. Artic. 16. & l. 1. Art. 34. aſſertion of Canoniſts to juſtifie it, Praeſertim in Papa locum non videtur habere poſse Simonia, quia de omnibus Eccleſiis et bonis earum libere poteſt diſponere: unde ſi Eccleſiis dandis alicui Papa pecuniam recipit, non videtur committere Simoniam, quia poſſit bona ipſius Eccleſiae tollere & Eccleſiam. Item nec pecunia quam reciperet pro praeſtando gratiam ſpiritus ſancti, vel pro praeſtatione ſacramentorum, quia cum poſſit ab Eccleſiaſticis, ſuadente neceſſitate, pecunias exigere; non erit judex qui poſſit vel debeat judicare, utrum pro alienatione gratiae ſpiritus ſancti acciperet, aut ex alia cauſa, quia Papa à nemine judicatur. Concluding poſitively: Quod quamvis Simonia ſit peccatum graviſſimum, pro ipſa tamen, vel pro quocunque alio crimine quantumcunque graviſſimo, Papa non poteſt ab alio judicari, vel propter delictum deponi, etiamſi delictum ſoret notorium ſcandalizans Eccleſiam. (Though Doctor Thi…rry, Barthol…mius Buxie…ſis, in theirbbDiſtinct. 23. S…ct in … Antonii de, Roſellis Monarch. pars… cap. 61. Gloſs on Gratian informs us: Legitur in Chronicis, quod Benedictus 10. qui ſucceſſit Steph ejectus eſt de Pontiſicatu, et factus eſt Papa Iohannis Sabienſis Epiſcopus pro pecunia, cui impoſitum nomen Sylveſter, et iſte ettam dejectus eſt, et deinde iterum reparatus et reſtitutus eſt Benedictus, et iterum ejectus eſt Benedictus, et datus Papatus Iohanni Archipresbytero ante portam Latinam, cui impoſitum eſt nomen Gregorius… et hic ab Henrico Imperatore eſt depoſitus, et ultra montes tranſlatus, (and that for Simony) Hoc totum uno anno factum eſt, et propter hoc datum fuit privilegium Henrico; to elect, conſtitute the Pope, asccSee here, p. 239, 240. aforeſaid.) So on the other hand Pope Hildebrand's violent Decrees and Edicts againſt married Prieſts Wives and Maſſes, introduced all manner of Uncleaneſs, Whoredome, Adultery and Sodomy it ſelf amongſt unmarried Popes, Prelates; Cardinals, Clergymen, Votaries of the Roman Church; yea an**Bp. Jewels defence of the Church of England, pars 1. c. 1. …. 1. avowed toleration, Patronage of Whoredom, publick Stews, Whores in ROME it ſelf, together with an annual tribute to Popes and their Officers both from Whores and Prieſts. HenceddConſtitutiones Legit. Eccl. totiuſque Regionis Angl. Pariſ. 1504. De Concu…. …emovendis, f 36. b. Gratian cauſ. 32. qu…. Johannis Andreat, Johannis de Aton, and other Canononiſts in their Gloſs on Otho…s Conſtitutions, are not aſhamed to publiſh. Videtur quod crimen Meretricii ſub diſſimulatione tranſire debet Eccieſia; Nam et Mareſchallus Papae de facto exigit Tributum a Meretricibus, et hoc forte, ad ma…o malum ev…tandum non eſt culpandum. Theſe publick Harlots, conſtituted Popes themſelves before Hildebrands time, and in moſt ages ſince Prieſts wives prohibited, they have been highly …, courted like Princes and Ladies even in Rome it ſelf at noon-day, as well as in the night, by diſguiſed Cardinals and Clergy-men; as Paul the 3d. his owneeConcil. Delect Card. Concil. Tom. 3. p. 823. Biſhop Jewels defence of the Apology, 4 part. ch. 1. diviſ. 1. p. 426. Cardinals thus informed him: In hac etiam urbe Meretrices, ut Matronae, incedunt per urbem, ſeu Mula vehuntur; quas affectantur de media die Nobiles, familiares Cardinalium, praeſertim noctu: nulla in urbe videmus hanc corruptionem praeterquam in hac omnium exemplari: Habitant etiam inſignes aedes: YeaffIn lib. Judicum, c. 16. Peter Martyr adds, Vehuntur per publicum habitu Principum; Sedent in equis gradiariis, &c. Habent ſecum Torquatos & Larvatos Comites, interdum etiam Cardinalium, praeſertim noctu, & ancilarum ſumptuoſiſſimam gregem. Nunc, O Deus bone, quomodo Romae coercentur Meretrices? Yea,ggGratian cauſ. 2. qu. 7, 8. Summa Ang…. Teſt. ſect. 18. … to prevent the Emperors & other Kings puniſhing and reformation of theſe abuſes, they exempted all Clergy-men from their Tribunals, and the accuſations of Laymen, decreeing, that no Cardinal ſhould be convicted, condemned of adultery, whoredom, &c. but by 72. witneſſes, no Cardinal Prieſt but by 64. no Cardinal Deacon or Biſhop but by 24. nor Sub-deacon or Cardinal of inferior degree, nor Biſhop but by 7. witneſſes at leaſt. And thoſe would be more than impudent, who durſt commit whoredom, adultery, or ſodomy in the open view of ſo many Prieſts or Clergy men; or yet of Laymen, though diſabled to accuſe them by their Canons.

It is very obſervable, 1. ThatddHiſtor. Anno 1077. Aventinus Annal l. 5. p. 457. Centur. Magd. 11. c. 7. col. 282. Jacob Uſſerius De Chriſt. Eccle… ſucceſſione & ſtatu, c. 5. p. 135, 136, 137 Pope Hildebrand himſelf, as Lambertus Schaſnaburgenſis, and ſundry others record, was not only ſuſpected, but openly accuſed, and branded for his incontinency, eſpecially with the Counteſſe Machtil…a, whom he divorced from her husband, that he might the more intirely and ſecurely enjoy carnal copulation with her, Machtilda Pontificis lateri pene Comes individua adhaerebat, eumque imo colebat affectu. Ubicunque opera ejus Papa indiguiſſet, ocyus aderat, & tanquam Patri vel Domino ſedulum exhibebat officium: unde nec evadere potuit inceſtiamoris ſuſpicionem, paſſim jactantibus Regis fautoribus & praetipue Clericis, quibus illicita & contra ſcita Canonum contracta conjugia prohibebat, p. 290quod die et nocte impudenter Papa in ejus volutaretur amplexibus, et illa furtivis Papae amoribus praeoccupata, poſt amiſſum conjugem, ultra ſecundas contrahere nuptias detrectaret. Hence Domniz ggDe Vita Mathildae, Ingolſtad. 1212. l. 2 c. p. 188.a Prieſt thus writes of her:

Poſtpoſuit Regem, per tres tenuit pia menſes

Gregorium Papam, cui ſervit, ut altera Martha.

Auribus intentis capi…bat ſedula mentis

Cuncta patris dicta, ceu Chriſti verba Maria.

Propria clavigero ſua ſubdidit omnia Petro;

Janitor eſt Coeli ſuus haeres, ipſaque Petri.

2ly. ThathhMorney Hiſt. Papatus, p. 2…5, 326. Herman. Sehedel. Cent. Magd: 11 c. 10. col: 544. Petrus D…m…anus living in that age, retired from Rome, as from Sodom and Gomorrah, leaving his Cardinalſhip and Biſhoprick there, betaking himſelf to a Hermits life, writ a Book, entituled De Correctione Epiſcopi & Papae: yea Gomorhaeus, deſcribing ſodomy, filthineſs wherewith the Popes, Cardinals, Prelates, & the Court of Rome were then … (which laſt Book Pope Alexander the 2d. ſtole from the Author and ſuppreſſed, occaſionem cap…ans, quod obſcaenius rem expreſſiſſet:) whenceiiArt. 10, 11, &c.Cardinal **Anno 1049.Beronius himſelf is enforced thus to diſplay the Sodomitical filthyneſs of that age. Vepres infauſti, ſpinae & urticae agrum Patris-familiaes in immenſum oppleverant, qui ex putore carnis, corruptionis fimo turpiter excreverant: Omnis quippe caro corruperat viam ſuam, ut non tantum ad eas abluendas ſordes videretur ſatis eſſe diluvium; ſed nefanda ſcelera ignem ecaelo Gomorrhaeum, quo exuſta eſt Pentapolis, poſtularent. Yea Jo…nnes de Caſa, Biſhop of Beneventum in Italy, was ſo impudent asiiBurt. Melancholly, p. 408 and ſundry others. to write a Book in juſtification of Sodomy, ſtiling it, a ſweet and pleaſant ſin; confeſſing that he (and others of his Roman Brethren) uſed no other carnal copulation but this, preferred before the ſacred Ordinance, and Romiſh Sacrament of Marriage it ſelf, by the Pandors of the Whore of Babylon.

3ly. That Saint kkSee Serm. 66, & 78 in Cant: Serm. ad Paſtores in Concil. Rhemenſi, f. 370. Luc. 1….Luke 1Bernard himſelf, living in and after that age, thus reprehends the pompous apparel, unchaſt Sodomitical lives of the Hildebrandian Virgin, unmarried Prelates, Prieſts, Clergy of thoſe times, Miniſtri Chriſti ſunt, & ſerviunt Antichriſto: honorati incedunt de bonis Domini, cui honorem non deferunt. Ʋnde hinc eſt eis quem quotidie videmus meritricius nitor, hiſtronicus habitus, ſatanicus apparatus, &c. Epiſcopi vero et Sacerdotes hujus temporis caſtitatem et ſanctimoniam (ſine qua nemo videbit Deum) tam in corde quam in corpore, quomodo ſtudent obſervare? Certe Dominus dixit in Evangelio ad Epiſcopos, haud dubium in primitiva Eccleſia, ſint lumbi veſtri praecincti: castitatem approbans non tantum, ſed etiam praecipiens. Isti autem caſtitatis inſigne qualiter cuſtodiunt, qui traditi in reprobum ſenſum, **Epheſ. 5. 12.Eph 5:12faciunt quae non conveniunt? (alluding to the ſodomy and filthyneſs of the Gentiles, Rom. 1. 24. to 30. whereof they were guilty) quae enim in occulto facta ab Epiſcopis, turpe eſt dicere. Melius itaque arbitror ſuper hoc diſſimulare & ſuperſeaere, quam aliquid unde ſcandalizentur innocentes & inexperti, dicere. Sed ego cur verecundor dicere, quod ipſi non verecundantur facere? Imo quol Apostolus non verecundatur ſcribere & publicare: Dicit autem egregius praedicator; Sic,llRom 1. 27.Rom 1:27 maſculi in maſculos operantes turpitu ſinem & mercedem ſui erroris reportantes. Fatres, factus ſum inſipiens, vos me coegiſtis. And in Cant. Serm. 66. Tolle De Eccleſia honorabile connubium, &c. Nonne reples eam concubinariis, inceſtuoſis, ſeminifluis, mollibus, maſculorum concubitoribus, et omni denique genere immundorum?

4ly. ThatmmHiſtor. Angl. p. 819. Editione Lond. Mathew Paris a Monk, records how Pope Innocent the 4th. his Cardinals and Court departing from Lions in France, (where they had continued near ſeven years) unto Millain: upon this occaſion, Frater Hugo Cardinalis, quaſi ex parte Domini Papae valedicens civibus Lugdunenſibus, (ermonem populo fecit generalem. Et poſtquam omnes eleganter informaſſet, & informando ex parte Dom. Papae & totius Curiae civiliter ſalutaſſet, unum ſermonem addidit, quem duximus huic paginae, propter Satyricam reprehenſionem inſerere. Amici, magnam fecimus poſtquam in hanc urbem venimus, utilitatem et elemoſinam: quando enim primum huc venimus tria vel quatuor Proſtibula invenimus, ſed nunc recedentes unum ſolum relinquimus: Verum ipſum durat continuatum ab Orientali porta Civitatis, uſque ad Occidentalem. Et erat verbum offenſionis in auribus omnium mulierum, quarum infinita multitudo ſermoni aſſedebat. Omnes enim Civitatem inhabitantes, voce praeconia convocabantur ex parte Domini Papae receſſuri. Haec autem i…onia in ore multorum verſabatur, quia Cynice remordet univerſos. This Cynical Irony p. 291thus publickly uttered by the Cardinal in the Pulpit, before the Pope himſelf, his Cardinals, Court, Clergy, and all the Citizens ſummoned to hear his Farewel Sermon, preached by the Pope's appointment, and in his name, right, was certainly an unqueſtionable though ſatyrical truth, That the Pope, his Cardinals, Prelates, Court, had made that whole City (as they had done Rome whiles there) but one univerſal continued Stewes from Eaſt to Weſt: ſuch was the fruit of their vowed chaſtity.

5ly. That**Chronicon An. 1074, 1377 Sigebertus Gemblacenſis, flouriſhing and writing in that age,ggHiſtor. Angl. An. 1074: Matthew Paris, hhChronicon, An. 1106.Florentius Wigornienſis, two Engliſh Monks,iiChron. col. 973. Johannis Bromton, kkAbbreviationes Chronicorum, Anno 1074. col. 486.Radulphus de Diceto, llAnnalium Boiorum, l. 5. p. 448.Aventinus, andmmCentur. Magd 11. c. 7. col, 382. &c. 8, 10. Gratian Diſtinct. 32. ſundry others out of them, reciting this Popes Decrees againſt married Prieſts: Si qui ſunt Presbyteri aut Diaconi aut Subdiaconi, qui in crimine fornicationis jaceant (to wit, by living chaſtly with their own Wives) interdicimus eis ex parte omnipotentis Dei & ſancti Petri authoritate, Eccleſiae introitum, uſque dum paeniteant, & emendent. Si qui vero in peccato ſuo perſeverare maluerint, nullus veſtrum eorum praeſumat audire officium, quia benedictio corum vertitur in maledictionem, & oratio in peccatum, teſtante Domino, per Prophetam, Maledicam (inquit) benedictionibus veſtris, Qui vero huic ſaluberrimo praecepto obedire noluerint, idololatriae peccatum incurrent; Samuele inſtante & beato Gregorio instruente, quoniam peccatum ar…olandi eſt non obedire, & quaſi ſcelus idololatriae, non acquieſcere. Paſs this Cenſure on it: Iſte Papa in Synodo generali, uxoratos Sacerdotes, a divino removet officio & Laicis Miſſas eorum audire interdixit novo exemplo, et (ut multis viſum eſt) inconſiderato judicio, contra Sanctorum Patrum ſententiam,**Gratian Cauſ. 1. qu. 1. qui ſcripſerunt, quod Sacramenta, quae in Eccleſia fiunt, Baptiſma, Chriſma, Corpus Chriſti & Sanguis, Spiritu ſancto inviſibiliter cooperante, eorundem Sacramentorum effectum habeant, ſeu per bonos, ſeu per malos intra Dei Eccleſiam diſpenſentur; tum quia Spiritus Sanctus myſtice illa vivificat, nec bonorum meritis amplificantur, nec peccatis malorum attenuantur. Ex qua re, tam grave oritur Scandalum, ut nullius haereſis tempore, ſancta Eccleſia graviori ſit Sciſmate diſciſſa, his pro juſtitia, illis contta juſtitiam agentibus. Porro, paucis continentiam obſervantibus; aliquibus eam cauſa Lucri ac jactantiae ſimulantibus, multis incontinentiam perjurio multipliciori adulterio cumulantibus: ad haec, hac oportunitate Laicis inſurgentibus contra ſacros ordines, & ſe ab omni Eccleſiaſtica ſubjectione excutientibus, Laici ſacra myſteria temerant, & de his diſputant, infantes baptizant, ſordido aurium humore pro ſacro Chriſmate utentes & oleo, in extremo vitae viaticum Dominicum, & uſitatum Eccleſiae obſequium ſepulturae a**Contrary to Concil. Gangr. c. 4. & Conſtant. Grat. diſt. 31. Quoniam. Presbyteris uxoratis accipere parvi pendunt. Decimas etiam Presbyteris debitas, igne cremant, corpus Domini a Presbyteris uxoratis conſecratum, pedibus ſaepe conculcant, & ſanguinem Domini voluntarie frequenter in terram effundunt.

To which Aventinus ſubjoyns: Porro pauciſſimis Veneri bellum indicantibus, quibuſdam caſtitatem jactantiae quaeſtus ergo ſimulantibus, maxima pars ſub honeſto caſtimoniae nomine, ſtupra, inceſtus, adulteria paſsim et impune committunt. Et tu vigilantiſsime Gregori, quid nam faceres, ſi te fortuna ad noſtra tempora ſervaſſet, et nunc demum natus eſſes, quando amare, potare, ſtupra, inceſtus committere, vim puellis inferre, virgines viciare, alienas permolere uxores, (adeo ut caudax ſalax ſacrificulorum in proverbium, vel vulgo protritum abieret,) munus ſacerdotale cenſetur!

6ly. That Alvarus Pelagius a Spaniſh Freer writing about the year of Chriſt, 1330. in his Book De Planctu Eccleſiae, thus complained of the execrable Unchaſtity, uncleaneſs, venery, ſodomy of Biſhops, Prieſts, all ſorts of Clergy-men and Votaries, eſpecially in Spain, Apulia and Italy, ever ſince this Hildebrandian Decree againſt theirs wives. Sequitur Apoc. 18.)nnDe Planctu Eccleſiae, l. 2. Artic. 7: 27, 28. Et cuſtodia omnis ſpiritus immundi, quia intra Eccleſiam omnia peccata inveniuntur hodie, quae immunda dicuntur, quia immundam faciunt animam, maxime ſpiritus immunditiae fornicationis. Quis enim Clericorum intra ſanctam Eccleſiam caſtitatem ſervat? rarus eſt. Perpauci enim hodie ſunt Presbyteri, maxime in Hispania & regno Apuliae, quin ſunt publici Concubinarii. Epiſcopi & Presbyteri nimis incontinenter vivunt, & utinam nunquam continentiam promiſiſſent, maxime Hiſpani & Regricolae, in quibus Provinciis in pauco majori numero ſunt filii Laicorum quam Clericorum. Et (quod ſceleratius eſt) per plurimos annos de latere concubinae qualibet die ſurgunt, non praemiſſa confeſſione vel hypocritali, cum propoſito redeundi, & procedunt ad altare ad terrificam hoſtiam conſecrandam, panem pollutum quantum in eis eſt, Domino, p. 292no, cordibus & labiis ſceleſtis offerentes; Contra ſanctam caſtitatem quam Domino promiſerant, Sic offendunt continuo etiam publice, praeter ea nefandſsima quae in occultis perpetrant, quod nec chartae reciperent; nec poſſet calamus exarare, de quorum immundicia ſaepe diſperſim in hoc opere pertractavi. Non eſt ergo mirum ſi mulieres ſuſpectas tenent in domo contra Canones. Nay theſe unchaſt Popiſh Cardinals, Prelates, Prieſts, Votaries proceeded from Fornication and Adultery, to ſecret and open Sodomy, of which**De Plancta Eccleſiae, l, 2. Artic. 2. …. 83. Artic. 7. f. 104. Alvarus thus complains: Plangit Eccleſia peccata populi, maxime Clericorum, quaſi majora peccato Sodomorum, &c. Adoleſcentibus impudice abuſi ſunt, heu, heu intra ſanctam Eccleſiam multi Religioſi et Clerici in ſuis latibulis et conventiculis, et jam in pleriſ que Civitatibus maxime in Italia (within the Pope's own Juriſdiction) publice quodammodo nefandum gymnaſium conſtituunt et paleſtram, ppOnuphrius Pavinius in vita Greg. 7. col. 234. Gobebinus in Coſmod. aetas 6. cap: 54.in illius flagitii abominatione ſe exercentes, et optimi quique epheborum in lupanari ponuntur, ut factum fuit Hieruſolomis tempore Machabeorum, 2 Mach. 4. Soli verbo tali faedatur os, polluitur aer, &c. Hoc flagitium utinam ſecundum leges ultore gladio puniretur, cum timor Dei eos à tanto malo non revocat. …erro enim neceſſe eſt ut abſcindantur vulnera, quae fomentorum non ſenſerunt Diſciplinam. Tales ergo infames inſurgentibus legibus, armatis viribus ſunt ultore gladio feriendi, to wit of Chriſtian Kings, Emperors, Magiſtrates; ſeeing Sodomitical Popes, Prelates then, and ſince, either would not or could not reform them; much leſs this lecherous Hildebrand.

I might at large inform you, what Nicholaus de Clemangiis, Archdeacon of Bayon, in his Book De corrupto Eccleſiae ſtatu, c. 13. 14, 15. 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26. records of the Incontinency, lechery, Sodomy of Romiſh Cardinals, Biſhops, Prieſts, Monks,Aencas Sylvius (afterwards Pope) Hiſtor. De Act… & Geſt…s in Concili Baſiliae, l. 2. Nuns in his age, what Theodoricus de Niem. Nem. Vnionis, p. 5. & 137. Cla…dius Eſpencaeus, De Continentia, lib. 4. & Comment in Titum, c. 1. Cornelius Agrippa, De Vanitate Scientiarum, cap. 62, 63. Guicciardin Hiſtor. l. 1. Polydorus Virgilius De Inventoribus Rerum, l. 5. c. 4. Mantuanus, l. 3. & 6. Cuyckius. Speculum Concubinar. Udo…ricus. Epiſtola ad Nicolaum De Caelib. Clericorum, Alanus Charter, cited by Joannes Marius De Sciſmate & Concil. p. 264, 467. Gravamina Germaniae, drawn up at the Diet of No…inberg. nu. 31, & 91. with others of the Roman Religion have largely written of his Subject. But I ſhall conclude with the nobleaaOratio De Moribus Re…ormand. ad Leonem, p 204. Dr. John White his Defence of the way to the true Church, chap. 5. ſect. 3. Picus Mirandula his brief, though ſad complaint, That in Elyes time the Prieſts ſlept with the Women at the door of the Tabernacle, but in our time they break into the ſacred Houſes, (& proh pudor) Women are brought in to ſatisfie their Luſts, and Boyes that are ſodomitically abuſed againſt Nature, are lent and given them by their Parents, and theſe Boyes afterwards are made Prieſts. with our own**In lib. ſapientiae, Lect. 182. fol. 167. Baſil. …506. Robert Holcot his Confeſſion of the Prieſts in his age: Proh dolor, Sacerdotes moderni ſunt Angeli Sathanae, per diſcordiam; Angeli Apoſtatici, per ſuperbiam; Angeli Incubi, per luxuriam; Sacerdotes Priapi, vel Beelphegor. Hunc viliſſimum Deum (Priapum whom he there deſcribes) excolunt non pauci Sacerdotes moderni, Diſcipuli illius maligni Angeli de quo loquitur Paulus, 2 Corinth. 12. Datus eſt mihi ſtimulus carnis, Angelus Sathanae qui me colophaſſet. And with the complaints in Onus Eccleſiae, (written by a German Biſhop of the Romiſh perſwaſion) which are very obſervable, cap. 8. ſect. 4. Oblationes fidelium hodie rareſcunt, non offerunt Decem, quoniam Eccleſiaſtici plures expendunt in uſus meretricantium, quam indigentium pauperum, &c. cap. 21. ſect. 10. 15. Ecce modo Praelati & Sacerdotes, natant in comeſſationibus, cubilibus, & impudicitiis; ſolvunt fraenum carnalis concupiſcentiae, tam in ſe, quam in ſuis ſubditis, &c. cap. 23. ſect. 8.**See Gratian Diſtinct. 34. & …ſſa. Caeterum Sacerdotes frequenter fornicationibus coinquinantur, maxime Curati ſordeſcunt in concubinatu adeo manifeſto, quod nulla tergiverſatione celari poſſint. Et quamvis Concubinarii ſunt ab ipſo officio ſuſpenſi, tamen a celebratione miſſarum aliiſque actibus eccleſiaſticis nequaquam abſtinent, quin divinis ſe continuo immiſceant, ob hoc irregularitatem incurrentes. As for the chaſtity of Monks and Nunnes, he renders us this account out of St. Catherine of Sienna, and others, cap. 22. ſect. 6. 12. Religioſi collocati ſunt in religione velut Angeli, ſed quamplurimi ſunt daemonibus deteriores, incontinentes, diſſoluti, &c. Religioſi facti ſunt arma Diaboli. In Eccleſiis enim Cathedralibus quam Conventualibus hodie plerumque faeces mundi Eccleſiaſticis gubernaculis praeficiuntur, utpote p. 293quibus mundus uti vel frui nequit. Tandem de moribus Monialium perverſis, non audeo, imo pudeo dicere, quia ſuſpicor, ne meis verbis quempiam virginum Deo dicatarum coetum reddam ſuſpectum; attamen iſtum quoque gradum paucis attingere conor. Sunt namque nonnulla Monialium monaſteria, e quibus profeſſas juxta regulae tenorem nunquam exire vel quempiam introire decet, adeo propatula, ut ipſa loca Veneris proſtibulo ſint ſimiliora, quam Dei ſacrario. Hinc procacitas, ſtuprum, inceſtus mulierum ſacratarum; hinc quoque verenda ſcandala & offendicula oriuntur quamplurima, quae ſingula recenſere jam nolo.

What ſinks of uncleaneſs, whoredom, adultery, ſodomy, our Engliſh Monaſteries were found to be before their diſſolutions, you may read at large in John Bales Acts of Engliſh Votaries, the Records in the Augmentation-office. Henry Stephen his Apology for Herodotus; cap. 21. f. 183. Speeds Hiſtory of Great Britain, lib. 9. cap. 21. ſect. 161. p. 143, 144. John Weaver his Funeral Monuments, &c. c. 12. & 15. whoſe Senſualities, Adulteries, Whoredomes, Sodomies, Murders of Baſtard-infants, as they defiled their Cells to their final overthrow, ſo let their remembrance for ever ſtain the memory of this leacherous Hildebrand, and Religion of the**Rev. 17. 1, 2, 5.Rev 17:1Rev 17:2Rev 17:5 Great whore of Babilon, which defiles the bed of Prieſts lawfull marriage, and yet diſpenſeth for mony, with ſuch prodigious crying ſins, ſinners: There being at the diſſolution no leſs than 15. Sodomitical Monks in Battle Abby, 8. in Canterbury, beſides Adulterers, Whoremaſters; John White Prior of Bermonſey Abby keeping no leſſe than 20. VVhores, to ſatisfie his unſatiable luſtfull cloyſtred Virginity; which enforced Godly Chriſtian Princes, by their Supreme Eccleſiaſtical Authority, to ſuppreſs when they could not reform theſe Nurſeries of Uncleaneſs. Theſe prodigious, unchaſt, ſodomical conſequences of prohibiting Prieſts marriages are a ſufficient evidence not only of the lawfulneſs, but expedience, yea neceſſity of their marrying, when or where they cannot live chaſt without it;**Cauſ. …6. qu. 2. Gratian himſelf confeſſing, Copula Sacerdotalis, nec Legali, nec Evangelica, nec Apoſtolica authoritate prohibetur; the legality whereof in point of conſcience, I ſhall briefly evidence againſt all Hildebrandians by theſe following Scripture Arguments, wherewith I long ſince ſo ſilenced a vaunting Romiſh Prieſt, (who held our Miniſters no Prieſts becauſe married) that he had not one word to reply.

1. That God himſelf inſtituted Marriage in the ſtate of InnocencyaaGen: 1. 27, 28 c. 2. 19, to 29. before Adam's fall, when he had neareſt communion with God; therefore it cannot defile or incapacitate any of his poſterity, to be a Biſhop, Prieſt or Miniſter of God.

2ly. That Gods primitive command to Adam and Eve in the ſtate of Innocency at the firſt inſtitution of Matrimony; and to Noah and his Sons after the ſtood; bbGen: 1. 27. c. 9. 1.Increaſe and multiply, and repleniſh the earth, by the uſe of lawfull Matrimony; extended to Adam, Noah, and all their Poſterity in ſucceſſion to the end of the world; (and that as a ſpecial priviledge and benediction, not a curſe; it being accGen. 11. 30, &c. c. 15. 2. c. 25. 21. c. 29. 3. c. 30. 3. 1 Sam. 6. 23. Jer. 22. 30.Gen 11:301 Sam 6:23Jer 22:30 curſe to be childleſs, but addGen. 17. 5, 6. c. 23. 5. Pſ. 113. 9. Pſal. 127. 3. Pſal. 128. 3, 4, 6.Gen 17:5Gen 17:6Ps 113:9Ps 127:3Ps 128:3Ps 128:4Ps 128:6 bleſſing to have children, poſterity, as the Scripture oft reſolves.) Therefore to Priests, Clergy-men, they all being Adam's and Noah's poſterity, as well, as much as others, and ſo not to be debarred from this ſpecial bleſſing.

3ly. ThateeSee here, p. 2, 3, 4. Gen. c. 5, & 10. throughout.Gen 5 Adam himſelf, and the firſt born, Patriarch of every Family, during the law of Nature, even from Adam's creation till the inſtitution of the Levitical Prieſthood, were the only Prieſts and Miniſters of God to offer Sacrifices, inſtruct their Children, Families in the fear and worſhip of God, to bleſs them, and pray for them: Now theſe were ff1 Chron. c. 1, & 1, & 2, &c. Mat. 1.1 Chr 1Matt 1married to propagate Mankind, perpetuate Poſterity, and the Church, by God's own precept, without the leaſt reſtraint or any impediment at all to their primitive Prieſthood; Therefore Prieſts may be ſo too under the Goſpel.

4ly. ThatggExod. 6. 23, 25. c. 27. 2. c. 28. c. 29. 4, 9, &c. c. 30. 30. Levit. c. 1, & 2, & 3, &c. Num. c, 3, & 4. 1 Chron. c. 6, & 23.Exod 6:23Exod 6:25Lev 11 Chr 6 Aaron the firſt High-prieſt under the Law, all the hh2 Chron. 6. 4, 5. c. 9. 20. c. 2. 3, to 8, 28. 1. 1 Sam. 2. 12, 34, 35. c. 8. 1, 3. 1 Chron. 13. 28. Ez. c. 7. 5. Hag. 1: 12, 14. c. 2. 2, 4. Lu: 1: 5, 24.2 Chr 6:42 Chr 6:51 Sam 2:121 Sam 2:341 Sam 2:351 Chr 13:28Hag 1:12Hag 1:14High-prieſts ſucceding him, who were types of Chriſt himſelf, and iiHebr. 9. 6, 7, &c.Heb 9:6Heb 9:7entred once a year at leaſt into the Holy of Holyes, were all married, having Wives and Children: That the other kkLevit. c. 1, & 2, & 3. 1 Chron: c. 6, & 23, & 24. throughout.Lev 1Levitical Prieſts, Levites and Church-officers under the Law, were all married, or permitted freely to marry without reſtraint, being High-prieſts, Prieſts, Levites only by deſcent and ſucceſſion in the ſelf-ſame Tribe, not by election and mere ordination; God himſelf preſcribing what llLevit. 21. 1, 7, 9, to 16, 24.Lev 21:1Lev 21:7Lev 21:9–16Lev 21:24Perſons they ſhould marry, and what not; their Wives, Marriages, Children, no wayes diſabling or hindering them from the execution p. 294of their Prieſtly Offices, as the Scriptures abundantly evidence. Yea the Prophets likewiſe had bothmm2 K…ngs 9. 1. Amos 7. 14. Ezech. 24. 8.Amos 7:14Ezek 24:8 Wives and children under the Law; therefore all Biſhops, Prieſts, Prophets, Miniſters under the Goſpel, by parity of reaſon may, or ought to be married, and to enjoy their Wives, Children without any impediment to their Miniſtry: There being no divine inhibition to the contrary, as Clemens Alexandrinus Stromatum. l. 3. & 7. long ſince reſolved.

5ly. That nnJohn 22 1, to 12.Chriſt himſelf, under the Goſpel, with his Mother and Diſciples honored Marriage not only with their preſence at it, but by Chriſts working his very firſt Miracle, in turning water into Wine, to adorn this Solemnity, and manifeſt his glory thereat.

6ly. That Chriſt in theooMat. 19. 1, to 10. Mat. 10. 2, to 13.Matt 19:1–10Matt 10:2–13 Goſpel, not only, not repealed, but approved, ratified the uſe of Marriage according to its primitive inſtitution at the creation, which he rehearſed, reducing the Jews unto it, who had ſwarved therefrom: adding this farther divine ſeal and codicil thereunto; What God hath therefore joyned together, let no man put aſunder. By which he juſtified its uſe, lawfulneſs under the Goſpel, to be as univerſal, extenſive, free from the leaſt reſtriction in relation to Prieſts, as it was at the Creation, and before his incarnation, and prohibits**See Gratian Diſtinct. 37. Prieſts divorſes from their Wives, by any human or Papal Roman Canons whatſoever.

7ly. That it is evident bothpp1 Cor. 9. 5. Mat. 8. 14. Mar. 1. 30. Lu. 38. Mar. 10. 18, 19. Lu: 18. 28, 29. Pſal: 3, 4. Acts 21. 8, 9.1 Cor 9:5Matt 8:14Mark 1:30Mark 10:18Mark 10:19Acts 21:8Acts 21:9 by Scriptures, andqqIgnatii Epiſt: ad Philadelph. Clem. Alexand. Strom: l. 4. Origen in Epiſt: ad Romanos, c. 1. l. 1. Euſebius Eccleſ: Hiſt: l. 3. c. 30. Omnes Apoſtoli excepto Johanne, Uxores habuerunt, Ambroſe in 2 Cor. 11.2 Cor 11 Fathers, that the Apoſtle Peter himſelf, James, Philip the Evangeliſt, all Christs Apoſtles except Saint John, yea St. Paul himſelf were married, and had Wives, without any reprehenſion, reſtraint from Chriſt, or diſability to exerciſe their Apoſtolical, Epiſcopal or Miniſterial functions. Therefore all other Evangeliſts, Biſhops, Elders, Prieſts, Deacons, may lawfully and laudably marry, without prejudice to their Spiritual functions, as well as they: as ſundry godlyrrSee Biſhop Jewels Defence of the Apology, 2 part, cap: 6. p. 207, 208, &c. Biſhop Halls honour of the married Clergy. Biſhops, Prieſts, Deacons, and ſeveral Popes too married and had Wives in the primitive Ages of the Church, for many hundred years after Chriſt, (as they ever had and ſtill have in the Greek Churches) till, yea after Hildebrands time, when they were by force and abſolute tyranny divorſed from them.

8ly. The Spirit of God reſolves by Paul himſelf, That**Hebr. 13. 4.Heb 13:4 Marriage is honourable to ALL (whether Male or Female; Popes, Biſhops, Monks, Prieſts, Clergy-men of all ſorts, as well as others) and the Bed undefiled. Therefore to all Popes, Biſhops, unmarried Prieſts, Votaries, unleſſe they will deny themſelves to be compriſed under the univerſal word All, and make themſelves Beaſts or Angels. But Whoremongers and Adulterers (as**See John Bales Acts of Engliſh Vota…ies. The Anatomy of the Engliſh Nunnery at Liſbon. moſt unmarried Prelates, Prieſts and Romiſh Votaries have been, and ſtill are) God will judge.

9ly. God himſelf by the Truth inſpired hand, pen of Saint Paul, gives this univerſal adviſe, if not precept to every man and woman,ſſ1 Cor. 7. 2, 9.1 Cor 7:21 Cor 7:9 Let EVERYMAN (therefore every Pope, Biſhop, Prieſt, Deacon, as well as Layman) have his own Wife, and every Woman her own Husband, rendring this unanſwerable reaſon for it, for it is better to marry then to burn; better for every man, for any man; Therefore for Popes, Biſhops, Prieſts, Monks, who burn as much, if not more than any others.

10ly. ThatttEpheſ. 5. 22, to 33.Eph 5:22–33 marriage, (eſpecially of Chriſts Miniſters under the Goſpel) moſt lively repreſents, typifies to Chriſtians, the conjugal union, love, affection that is between our Lord Ieſus Chriſt, his Church, and every true Believer; the Church in Scripture being ſtileduuCant: 1. 8, to 13. c. 5. 1. Chriſt's Spouſe, thexxRev: 21. 9. Lamb's wife, to whom he is ſaid to yyMat. 22. 2, 4. c 25. 10. Jer. 3. 14. Rev: 19. 7, 9. Jer. 31. 32. c. 54. 5.Matt 22:2Matt 22:4Jer 3:14Jer 31:32be married, yea to be her Husband, and to whoſe marriage all Chriſtians are invited. Therefore it can no ways unfit, or diſable Popes, Biſhops, Prieſts, Miniſters (who pretend they have neareſt approaches to, and union, communion with Jeſus Chriſt, engroſſing to themſelves the Title of his Church, Spouſe) to enjoy or execute their holy Functions in his Church, as Popes decree and dictate.

11ly. That God himſelf by St. Paul (the only pretended Patron, Patern of Prieſts ſingle, unmarried lives) hath in preciſe terms, in two ſeveral Epiſtles tozz1 Tim. 3. 2, 4, 10, 11, 12.1 Tim 3:21 Tim 3:41 Tim 3:101 Tim 3:111 Tim 3:12 Timothy andaaTitus 1. 6. c. 2. 4, 5.Titus 1:6 Titus, (Dioceſan Biſhops of Epheſus and Creet, as moſtbbSee my Unbiſhoping of Timothy and Titus. Pontificians and Prelates aſſert) preſcribed Marriage as a neceſſary qualification, amongſt others, for all Biſhops, Presbyters, Deacons, allowing them, (without the leaſt inhibition or reſtraint) to be the Husband of one Wife, yea to have Wives and Children lawfully begotten on them, in theſe poſitive words: A Biſhop then muſt be blameleſs, the Husband of one Wife, vigilant, &c. one that ruleth well his own Houſe, having his Children in ſubjection, with all gravity. Likewiſe p. 295muſt the Deacons be grave, &c. Let the Deacons be the Huſbands of one Wife, ruling their Children and their own Houſes well: Even ſo muſt their Wives (to wit, of Presbyters, Biſhops, Deacons,) be grave, no Slanderers, ſober, faithfull in all things, chaſt, Keepers at home, &c. Which qualifications were purpoſely inſerted into theſe Texts by Gods ſpecial providence, to juſtifie the lawfulneſs of Biſhops, Prieſts, and Deacons marriages, wives, and conjugal eſtate, againſt all Papal ſubſequent Decrees, Canons prohibiting them; Which qualifications bothccGratian Diſtinct. 26, to 33. Decrcta Eugenii Papae, l. 3. c. 2. 4. Bochellus Decrct. Eccleſ. Gal. l. 2. Tit. 1. l. 3. tit. 5, to 11. Surius Concil. Tom 4. p. 494. 919. Hoſtienſis, Summa Angelica, Summa Roſella, Tit. Ordo, Clerici, Uxor, &c.Titus 1 Gratian, and other Popiſh Canoniſts, Writers concerning the Ordination, qualification of Biſhops, Prieſts, Deacons, recite, retain: yet impudently endeavour to elude by theſe two irrational ſhifts, diametrically repugnant to the words and ſence of theſe unanſwerable Texts.

The 1. evaſion is,Evaſion 1. That the Husband of one Wife, is intended only of the time past, of Biſhops, Prieſts, Deacons, before they are admitted in to theſe Orders, not preſent or future time; of ſuch who are to be actually ordained Biſhops, Prieſts, Deacons, at the time of their Ordination, or after admittance to theſe Orders. To wit,ddSee Gratian Diſtinct. 26, 27 &c. the Statute of Bygamy, 4 E. 1. c. 5. Cook. 2. Inſtit p. 273. Papae Greg. 9 Decr. l. 6. Decr. 2. 1… that no Perſon who hath had two Wives, either together or ſucceſſively, or maried a Widow, though both Wives be actually dead or divorced from him, ought to be ordained a Biſhop, Prieſt or Deacon, or admitted to claim or enjoy the benefit of Clergy in criminal caſes: but only ſingle Perſons, or ſuch who have formerly had but one Wife, from which they muſt be ſeparated either by death or divorce, before they muſt be ordained; their actual marriage and cleaving to one Wife, diſabling them by their Papal Conſtitutiors either to receive Orders, or to retein or exerciſe theſe their Functions after their Ordinations.

I anſwer,Anſwer. 1. That this Papal reſtriction of Paul's qualifications only to ſuch as are to be ordained Biſhops, Prieſts, Deacons, before their Ordination, without relating to thoſe who are ſuch, is 1. Directly contrary to the letter of the Text; which deſcribes the qualifications of ſuch who are**Leo 1. Epiſt. 87 Ambroſe, Primaſius, Chryſoſt. Sedul, Theod. Theoph. Oecum. on 1 Tim. 3. & Tit. 1.1 Tim 3Titus 1 actual Biſhops, Prieſts, Deacons, as well at and after the time of their ordinations, as before, as the words in the preſent and future (not preterperfect) tence, A Biſhop then muſt be blameleſs, the Husband of one Wife, &c. poſitively reſolve. Now no Perſon by theeeGratian Diſtinct. 91, 92. Summa Roſella, Angelica, Hoſtienſis, and others, Tit. Clericus, Ordo Sacerdos, Epiſcopus, Praedicatio, Sacramentum. Popes, Canoniſts, Schoolmens reſolutions, is or can be a Biſhop, Prieſt, Deacon, or exerciſe theſe Functions in the Church before he be actually ordained: Therefore this qualification applyed to them as and whiles they are Biſhops, Prieſts, Deacons, muſt be intended after their admiſſion to theſe Orders, rather than before. 2ly. This reſtriction of it only to the time paſt, preceding their Ordinations; turns, A Biſhop then muſt be the Husband of one wife; Let the Deacons be the Husband of one wife, into, Let him not be the Husband of one, or any wife at all, whiles either a Biſhop, Prieſt or Deacon. A diametrical contradiction to the Texts. 3ly. The ſubſequent clauſes relating to their wives, children, Even ſo muſt their Wives be grave, &c. having faithfull children in ſubjection, ruling their children and their own houſes well, refer not only to the time preceding their Ordinations, but ſubſequent thereunto, ſince they cannot be actually divorced from their Children, Houſholds, at or after their Ordinations, againſt the**Tim. …. 8 laws of God, Nature, though they may be from their Wives: Therefore the Husband of one Wife, muſt have the ſame conſtruction in point of Time. 4ly. All the other qualifications there actually coupled with and ſurrounding this (the Husband of one Wife) are principally intended of thoſe who are actually Biſhops, Prieſts, Deacons, both when and after they are ordained ſuch, rather than before, viz. A Biſhop then muſt be blameleſs, vigilant, ſober, modest, of good behaviour, given to hoſpitality; not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy of lucre; but patient, not a brauler, not covetous. One that ruleth his own houſe with all gravity (for if a man know not how to rule his own houſe, how ſhall he take care of the Church of God?) Not a Novice, &c. Moreover, he muſt have a good report of thoſe that are without, &c. Likewiſe muſt the Deacons be grave, not double tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre, holding the myſtery of Faith in a pure conſcience, &c. If all theſe qualifications be intended of ſuch who are actual Biſhops, Prieſts, Deacons, as well when and after they receive orders, as before their ordination, then the husband of one wife, &c.**See Concil. Crangr. c. 4. … ▪ Conſtantinop. Gratian Diſt: 31, 37. Jerom. in Jovinianum, l. 1. muſt have the ſelf-ſame conſtruction being conjoyned with them. 5ly. It would be a monſtrous, ridiculous, untheological interpretation to reſtrain all theſe qualifications to Biſhops, Prieſts, Deacons, only p. 296in the time before their Ordinations, not after them: For example, every Perſon to be made a Biſhop, Prieſt, Deacon muſt, and ought to be blameleſs, vigilant, ſober, of good behaviour, apt to teach, not given to wine, no ſtriker, not given to filthy lucre; &c. before he be ordained, but when and after he is made a Biſhop, Prieſt, Deacon, then he muſt be no longer thus qualified; but as he was and muſt be the huſband of one wife, only before his Ordination, not after, ſo for congruity-ſake (if this be the true meaning of this Text) by the ſame Papal interpretation, he may and muſt be (… to many degenerating Popes, Biſhops, Prieſts, Deacons) blameworthy, …, unſober, of ill behaviour, un-hoſpital, unapt to teach, or an un-preaching …, given to wine, awa…rier, striker, greedy of filthy lucre, impatient, a brawler, …, not ruling his own Houſe, Children well, lifted up with pride, not having a good report, not holding the myſterie of Faith in a pure Conſcience. And is not this …n interpretation well beſeeming a Popes unerring Chair, very ſuitable to St. Pauls and Gods own meaning? This interpretation ſuits well with outaa… Gildas, and St. bb…Bernards obſervations, complaints of the Biſhops in their ages: Fratres, ſic facit … hodie, multos… … Diabolos Epiſcopos. Ubi enim, proh Dolor, Reperiemus Epiſcopos, qui poſt adeptam dignitatem in humilitate ſe contincant, &c. Male vivunt, et ſubjectos male vivere volunt. Porro, … hujus temporis avaritiam quomodo declinent? Quod enim ſine miſerabili … non eſt, Chriſti opprobria, ſputa, flagella, clavos, lanceam, crucem & mortom, haec omnia in fornaci avaritiae conflant, & profligant in acquiſitione tu… pis …, &c. Vendunt homicidia, adulteria, inceſtus, fornicationes, ſacrilegia, perjuria, & … ad ſummum implent manticas ſuas, &c. Animarum nec caſus reputatur nec ſalus, &c. And withcc… Petrus Bleſenſis Archdeacon of Bath his obſervation: …requens eſt inter Epiſcopos aliquem invenire, qui primum ſuae promotionis annum dedicat ſanct…ati, cumque in ſua novitate factus eſt agnus, inveteratus aliquot dierum fit rapaciſsimus lupus, &c. What chaſt Biſhops, Prieſts, Deacons, Votaries, they prove after their enring into religious Orders, abjuration of Marriage and lawfull wives, you have heard before: Perchance to make theſe Qualifications only antecedent, not concurrent with, not ſubſequent to their Ordinations, nor concomitant or dependent on them, as they do the husband of one wife.

The 2d. Evaſion is this, That the Husband of one Wife is to be interpreted only Metaphoricallie,… not properlie, That is, a Biſhop, Prieſt, Deacon, ought to have only one Wife; that is, one Biſhoprick, one Benefice, dd…Church, or Eccleſiaſtical Living with Cure of Souls, and no more, not of a proper wedded Wife, This is a ſtrained, pittifull eluding of theſe Texts, pointblanck againſt the words, meaning, yea fatal to the former Popiſh evaſion.

For 1. The husband of one wife, A…wer.is never taken in this ſenſe in the Old or New Teſtament, for the Biſhop, Prieſt, Parſon, Rector of one Biſhoprick, Parochial Church, Synogogue, or Congregation, but in a litteral genuine ſenſe: Therefore it muſt be ſo intended here. 2ly. All the other recited qualifications of Biſhops, Prieſts, Deacons, here conjoyned with…it, are taken, interpreted only in their proper, not in any allegorical, analogical, tropological or metaphorical ſenſe: Therefore this ought to be ſo too. 3ly. The qualifications here required in their Wives, in direct terms: Likewiſe muſt their Wives ee…be grave, not Slanderers, ſober, faithfull in all things, chaſt, keepers at home, &c. are all improper, unapplicable to a Biſhoprick, Benefice, or Parochial Church in any ſenſe; being peculiar only to real Wives and Women; Therefore it can only be meant, interpreted of ſuch. 4ly. Theſe Clauſes, A Biſhop, Prieſt, Deacon, muſt be one that ruleth well his own Houſe, having faithfull children in ſubjection, ruling their own children and their houſes well, are put in direct oppoſition to publick Churches, Benefices; the children here onelyonly intended, are children begotten of their proper Wives bodies, (as the children of High-prieſts, Prieſts, Levites were under the Law) not children ſpiritually engendred by the miniſtry of the Word: as will be yet more evident by comparing theſe Texts with 1 Tim. 2. 15. Notwithſtanding ſhe ſhall be ſaved by Child-bearing, & ch. 5. 10, 14. If ſhe have brought up children: I will therefore that the young women marry, bear children, guide the houſe, (all uſed in a proper litteral ſenſe, in the ſame Epiſtle;) Therefore children muſt be thus interpreted in theſe Texts too, not in a ſtrained Metaphorical ſenſe or conſtruction. 5ly. If by this one Wife, be only meant one Biſhoprick or Benefice, then p. 297why do Popes or Popiſh Prelates diſpenſe with their having Pluralities, againſt ſundry aaConcil. Agathenſe, Can. 57. Calc…donenſe, Can. 10. Epaunenſe Can. 19. apud Palatium Vernis, Can. 6. Nicaenum 2. Can. 15. Aquiſgranenſe 1. Can. 50. 2. Can. 16. Wormatenſe Can 51. Metenſe Can. 2. Mannetenſe Can. 8. Pariſienſe, l. 1. cap. 4. Romanum ſub Nicholao 1. apud Claremont, Anno 1045. Lateranenſe ſub Alexandro 3. Anno 1180. pars 1. c. 13, 14 pars 30. c. 1, to 10. Baſilienſe Seſſ: 31. Reformatio Cleri Leodienſis, Concil. Lateran. ſub Leone 10. Seſſ: 9. Colonienſe pars 1. c. 30, 33. Auguſtenſe, c. 11. Colonienſe & Mogunt. 1549 c. 64. Tridentinum Seſſ: 7. de Reformatione, Can. 2, 3, 4, 5. Seſſ: 21. c. 17. Concil. Tholouſanum, Anno 1590 Surius Concil. Tom. 1. p. 714. T…m. 2. p. 201, 322. Tom: 3. p. 142, 194, 3…5, 384, 415, 527, 552, 570, 630, 680, 693, 694. Tom. 4. p. 94, 95, 501, 632, 635, 756, 803, 814, 820 843, 854. 920, 985. Laurentius Bochellus Decret. Eccleſ. Gal. lib. 7. Tit. 8. Gratian Diſtinct. 21. quaeſt, 1, 2. Summa Angelica, Beneficium, ſect: 34, to 38. Summa Roſella, Beneficium 17. 20.Councils, and their own Canons, Decrees, bbOtthonis Conſtitutiones, fol. 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, 29, 74, 88, 89, 99, to 105. Johan: Pecham. Conſtitut. f. 130. Conſtitut. Concil…i de Redyng, f. 130 131. Reformatio Legum Eccleſiaſt. cap 6. f. 29, 13, 14. Mat Paris Hiſt. Angl. p. 12, 122, 357, 431, to 435, 698. Mat. Parker Antiqu. Eccleſ. Brit. p. 202, 203, 204, 205.Conſtitutions prohibiting Pluralities of benefices, as contrary to the Apoſtles inſtitution in the Primitive Church, inſtituting many Biſhops, Elders, Deacons, in and over one particular Church, Dioceſs, not one over many, as is evident by Acts 11. 30. c. 13. 1, 2. c. 14. 23. c. 15. 2. 4, 6, 22, 23. c. 16. 4. c. 20. 17, 28. c. 21. 18. c. 22. 5. Rom. 16. 3, 9, 12. Phil. 1. 1. Col. 1. 7. c. 4, 9, 12, 27. 1 Cor. 14. 29, 30, 31. 1 Theſſ. 5. 12. 15. 1 Tim. 5. 17. Tit. 1. 5. 7. 1 Pet. 5. 1, 2, 3. James 5. 14. Hebr. 13. 17. (See my Unbiſhoping of Timothy and Titus p. 35, 36, 37. &c.) Which Pluralities have been frequently complained, written againſt, as not only ſcandalous, but pernicious to the Church of God, the peoples ſouls, and occaſions of manifold inconventences, grievances, as well by conſcientious ccAlvarus Pelagius de Planctu Eccleſ. lib. 2. artic. 8. 15, 19, 20. Petrus Bleſenſis Compendium in Job. c. 1. Bibliothec Patrum Tom. 12. pars 2. f. 919, Petrus Bensfeldius De Juſtitia & Injuſtic. Clericorum in Ordine ad Beneficia, c. 3. p. 489, to 406. Mr. Tyndals Works, p. 20, 102, 135, 267, 289, 360, 373. The Ship of Fools, p. 58, 59, 60 Haddon. contra Oſorium, l. 3. f. 297. Gulielmus Peraldus, Summa virtutum ac vitiorum, c. 2. Tit. Avaritia, f. 58, to 63. Biſhop Hooper on the 8th. Commandement, f. 67. Dr. Taylor on Titus, p. 723. Roderick Morſe his Complaint to the Parliament, cap. 9. Biſhop Pilkington on Nehemiah, Onus Eccleſiae, c. 19, 20, 21. 23. Nicholaus de Clemangiis, de Corrupto Eccleſ. ſtatu, c. 11.Job 1Popiſh, as Protestant Writers in moſt ages; by ſundryddRot. Parl Anno 25 E. 3. pars 1. nu. 46, to 56 Rot. Parl. 47 E. 3. n 90, 94, 95, to 102. Rot. Parl. 51 E. 3. n. 36. 62, 78, 79. Notable Petitions even in Popiſh Parliaments: yea, why do they authorize Cardinals, Archbiſhops, Biſhops, Prieſts, Deacons, to hold Pluralities of Biſhopricks, Benefices, Abbeys, Priories, and Eccleſiaſtical Dignines, by way of Commendams, notwithſtanding theſe expreſſe prohibitions to Timothy and Titus? yet will not dispenſe with them to hold one lawfull wife, upon any termes, which God himſelf expreſly allowes them; though they dispenſe with them for money to keep as many Concubines as they have Livings, enforcing Prieſts to pay annual Penſions to their uſes for every Living they enjoy, which they must duly pay, though they keep no Concubine at all, becauſe they have licenſe to do it, if they pleaſe; as the German Princes in their Diet at eeFlacius Illyricus Catal. Teſtium Veritatis, p. 533Norimberg, Anno 1522. in Gravamina Germaniae, ffDe Vanitate Scientiarum, cap. 63, 64. See Claudius Eſpencaeus de Continentia, & in Titum Comment. Biſhop Mortons Proteſtants Appeal, lib. 1. cap. 2. ſect. 36. Burtens Melancholy, p. 408, 409. Biſhop Jewels Defence of the Apol. part 4. cap. 1. diviſ. 1.Cornelius Agrippa, and others complain and publiſh to the world. 6ly. A Layman is utterly ggGratian Cauſ. 10. quaeſt. 7. Summa Angelic… & Roſella: Rebuffus, & Duarenus, De Beneficiis.uncapable of any Biſhoprick, Benefice, or Eccleſiaſtical preferment, before he be in Orders. And if the husband of one wife, that is, of one Biſhoprick, or Benefice, be a previous qualification to his ordination; a Lay-man ſhall then be capable of a Biſhoprick or Benefice before he is in Orders: ſo as this Text remains unanſwerable, to juſtifie the Lawfulneſſe of Biſhops, Prieſts, Deacons Marriages, notwithſtanding Pope Hildebrauds or others Decrees, as Claudius Espencaeus (a learned Popiſh Biſhop) acknowledgeth, in his Commentaries on 1 Tim. 3. 2. & Tit. 1. 5, 6.

12ly. God himſelf, by a prophetical Spirit, not only predicted, but in preciſe terms pre-condemned in this very Epiſtle of Paul (where he permits, preſcribes Biſhops, Prieſts, Deacons, to be the Husband of one wife) the forbidding of Prieſts wives mariage, as unlawfull, as the very doctrine of hh1 Tim. 4. … ▪ 2, 2.1 Tim 4Devils, and ſeducing ſpirits, ſpeaking lies in hypocriſie, having their conſciences ſcared with an hot iron; commanding Timothy to put the brethren in minde of theſe things, as a good Miniſter of Jeſus Chriſt. Which, compared with Hildebrands fore-alledged confeſſion at his death; that,**Here, p. 28…. ſuadente Diabolo, he had raiſed up Gods wrath and hatred amongſt Chriſtians, (by his prohibiting of Prieſts Marriages, as well as receiving inveſtitures from Laymens hands,) is a ſufficient motive eternally to explode it.

p. 29813ly.aaGratian cauſ. 27, to 33. & Gloſſa ibid. Bochellus Decreta Eccleſ. Gal. l. 2. Tit. 1. lib. 3. Tit. 5, to 11. Concil: Trident Seſſ 7. de Sacrament…s Eccleſiae. Surius Concil. Tom. 4. p. 494, 414. Hoſtienſis Summa Angelica, Summa Reſella, Lyn… wode &c. Tit. Matrimonium Sacramentum, Ordo.Titus 1 The Gloſſes on Gratian reſolve, Matrimonium eſt res ſacratiſſima; yea the Church, Popes, Biſhops, Prieſts of Rome have enrolled Marriage in the very liſt of of their 7. Sacraments, as a Sacrament and moſt ſacred Ordinance of divine inſtitution; by this device, they have made Popes, Biſhops, Prieſts in their Eccleſiaſtical Conſiſtories, the ſole and only competent Judges of aell cauſes, queſtions concerning matrimony; which no Kings, nor other Laymen may any wayes examine or determine. Moreover they have canonized Orders for another of their Sacraments, and joyned it and Marriage to each other in the Catalogue of their Sacraments: It ſeems therefore very ſtrange, irrational, contradictory, that this their Sacrament of Marriage ſhould ſo defile their Popes, Biſhops, Prieſts, and all other perſons admitted to their Sacrament of Orders, as to render them utterly uncapable of executing or enjoying their Orders; That theſe 2. Sacraments ſhould be ſo incompatible, inconſiſtent, adverſe to each other, as to null, deſtroy one another; that the ſole Judges, ſolemnizers of all Marriages between other men and women, ſhould be only uncapable of this Sacrament of Marriage, yea that it ſhould more pollute, diſable them to receive, retain, execute their Sacrament of Orders, then profeſſed ſinglebbFornicatio ſimplex non eſt d…gna depoſitione, quia pa…ci ſine …lio vitio inveniuntur. Gratian Cauſ. 2. qu. 7. Diſt: 81. in Gloſſa. Bp. Jewels Defence, part 4. Artic. 1. fornication, whoredom, or adultery, which they generally connive at, tolerate, diſpence with in their Prelats, Prieſts, and other Votaries of ſingle life: They muſt therefore either henceforth diſclaim both Marriage and Orders from being Sacraments of their Church, which thus deſtroy, pollute each other: (the rather becauſe Marriage was inſtituted at the creation, not under the Goſpel; is common to allccMatrimonium tempore antiquius eſt, et communius Sacramentum. Antiquius, qui ante peccatum inſtitutum eſt; communius, quia cum Sacramenta omnia ſint in Eccleſia Dei, haec tamen apud Gentes omnes eſt; ſanctitas autem ejus, non eſt niſi in ſancto monte ejus, id eſt, ubi Eccleſia aedificata eſt, Bart: Buxienſis & Thierry Gloſſa in Gratianum, Cauſ. 27. qu. 1. Cauſ. 28. qu. 1. c 1 Cor. 7. 12, to 17.1 Cor 7:12–17 Pag…n Nations out of the Church, as well as to Chriſtians in it; yea to many Birds and Beaſts, (as Doves, Swallows, &c.) which couple and live together byddGen. 6. 20. c. 7, 8, 9.Gen 6:20 Pairs, as well as man and wife, by a divine, natural inſtinct, precept, given equally to both at the very creation,eeGen. 1. 22, 28.Gen 1:22Gen 1:28 Be fruitfull, and multiply and repleniſh the earth,) Or elſe admit marriage to be not only lawfull, but moſt proper for Biſhops, and perſons in holy Orders, becauſe it is a Sacrament, of which they are as capable, as any Laymen, or of any other of their ſeven Sacraments, to which they freely admit them without reſtraint.

3ly. I ſhall cloze up the Hiſtory of Hildebrands Papacy, with theſe memorable Cenſures of his Antichriſtian proceedings againſt the Emperor Henry the 4th, written by learned Biſhops of that age in juſtification and defence of the Emperors Soveraignty, againſt his New Uſurpations. Valtramus Naumbergenſis Epiſcopus ſhall lead the Van, who in his Notable Treatiſe aaMat. Flacius Illyricus Catalogus Teſtium Veritatis, Argentorati, 1562 p. 212, &c. Mat. Freherus, Germaniae Scriptores Francofurti, 1600. p. 228, &c.De Unitate Eccleſiae, (written about the year 1077.) aſſerts from Scripture and other Evidences, Papam non habere politicum gladium, multo minus aliquod Dominium ſuper Imperatorem; Nullo jure poſſe eum ſubditos Imperatoris, aut aliorum Dominorum, a juramento fidelitatis abſolvere. Quod omnis anima ſit ſubjecta ſuperioribus poteſtatibus: atque ideo etiam Spirituales ſummos & infimos, politicis Magiſtratibus obedire debere. Papas & Epiſcopos non tantum nullas justas cauſas habere, quod Caeſarem (Henricum 4.) perſequantur, ſed etiam in ipſa perſecutione adeo modum excellere, ut plane ſcelerate et impie contra omnia divina et humana jura fecerant. His arguments againſt the Popes Supremacy from Scripture, are principally theſe: Nolite plures Magiſtri fieri, fratres mei, ſcientes, quoniam magis judicium ſumitis; Sicut dixit zzJac. 3. 1.Jas 3:1Jacobus Apoſtolus. Ex doctrina Domini ac Salvatoris noſtri; aaMat. 23. 8.Matt 23:8Vos, inquit, nolite vocari Rabbi: unus eſt enim Magiſter veſter: bbMat. 23. 11. Luke 22. 26.Matt 23:11Luke 22:26Qui enim, inquit Chriſtus, major eſt veſtrum, erit miniſter veſter; ccLuke 14. 11. c. 18. 54.Luke 14:11Qui enim ſe exaltaverit, humiliabitur; & qui ſe humiliaverit exaltabitur; Sed cum ipſe unus Magiſter Chriſtus, idem que Deus, ddDan. 2. 21.Dan 2:21muter tempora, & transferat regna, eeProv. 21. 1Prov 21:1tenens corda Regum in dextra ſua; Legimus docuiſſe Hildebrandum Papam, quod poteſtatem ipſe habuerit ſuper Reges, et ſuper regna? et poſſe id facere, quod per Deum tantum fieri dicit Pſalmiſta; ffPſal. 75. 7.Ps 75:7Hunc humiliet, & hunc exaltet: Nam ggMat. 22. 21.Matt 22:21reddite, inquit, quae ſunt Caeſaris, Caeſari; & quae ſunt Dei, Deo. Quam certe regulam proprio conſirmavit exemplo, dicens Petro Apoſtolo, hhMat. 17. 24, 25, 26, 27.Matt 17:24Matt 17:25Matt 17:26Matt 17:27Ut non ſcandalizemus eos, id eſt, ne nos Caeſari contradicentes, tumultuandi eis occaſionem praebeamus, vade ad mare, & mitte hamum, & eum piſcem qui primus aſcenderit, tolle, & aperto ore ejus invenies ſtaterem; illam p. 299ſumens da eam pro me & te. iiMat. 11. 29.Matt 11:29Et diſcite a me quia mitis ſum, & humilis corde. Qui utique do…u…t Apoſtolos, Eccleſiam, non Regnum diſponere, vel ordinare, quod nec ip…e legitur affectaſſe,kkJoan. 6. 15.John 6:15 Qui fugit in montem ſolus orare, cum turbae veniſſent rapere eum & Regem conſtituere. llPhil. 2. 6, 7. 8Phil 2:6Phil 2:7Phil 2:8Quoniam cum in forma Dei eſſet, formam ſervi accipiens, mmMat. 20. 28.Matt 20:28Venit miniſtrare, non miniſtrari; juxta quod etiam Paulus: Apoſtolus, nn1 Cor. 9. 18.1 Cor 9:18Cum liber eſſet ex omnibus, omnium ſe ſervum fecit, ut plures lucr…aceret. Unde & Gregorius Papa, cum eſſet Summus Pontifex, & virtutum artifex, in tantum ſe infra omnium humiliavit, ut prius ipſe in Epistolis ſuis, Servus ſervorum Dei, ſe appellaverit, & hoc humilitatis nomen ad poſteros quoque tranſmiſerit, &c. (After which he ſubjoyns) Ecce quomodo ille Miniſter Diaboli (Hildebrandus) Ecce quomodo inſanit, quomodo nos ſecum in foveam perditionis mittere quaerit? Sic diviſit Sacerdotia, quemadmodum Eccleſiam Dei, atque Rempublicam Imperii, quoniam partes inde ſegregavit ſibi. Inter ipſum namque & inter Regem Henricum graves exortae ſunt atque execrabiles diſſidiae; Papa plurimum anitente, ut Rex deponeretur a Regia poteſtate pariter et dignitate; Rege vero contra nitente, ut defenderet ſe ab hoſtium ſuorum circumventione, qui pro parte ejuſdem Papae certant, quaerebant eum opprimere; Exinde omnia ſcandalorum exorta ſunt genera:**See here, p. 272. Exinde crevit grave & diuturnum bellum, & non ſolum civile, ſed plus quam civile bellum, & factae ſunt abſque divino pariter atque humano reſpectu, vaſtationes Eccleſiarum, & caedes hominum. Exinde etiam corruptae ſunt divinae pariter et humanae Leges, ſine quibus non ſubſiſtit vel Dei Eccleſia, vel Imperii Reſpublica: Exinde violata eſt fides, et publica et catholica: Exinde etiam crevit illa injuſtitia, ut pro veritate falſa teſtimonia, et pro fide catholica abundent perjuria, ut poſtquam leges bello ſiluere coactae, impleatur jam iſta Domini ſententia perooOſe 4. 1, 2.Hos 4:1Hos 4:2 Oſeam Prophetam; Non eſt, inquit, veritas, & non eſt miſericordia, et non eſt ſcientia Dei in terra; maledictum & mendacium, & homicidium & furtum inundaverunt, & ſanguis ſanguinem tetigit; Haec nunc abundant et ſuperabundant propter Doctrinam Hildebrandi Papae, qua diviſit corpus vel Eccleſiae, vel Reipublicae. Nunquid hoc eſt Apoſtolicum eſſe? Et in doctrina et converſatione Catholicum eſſe? et Gregorium, id eſt, vigilantem eſſe? et in doctrina et converſatione Catholicum eſſe, ſecundum ſententiam ſuperius propoſitae Epiſtolae? Atque cum tali Hildebrando partes habere, et ejuſmodi qualia ſupradicta ſunt, flagitia nutrire, fovere, vel defendere, nunquid hoc eſt,ppPhil 2. 14:Phil 2:14 Filios Dei eſſe, & qq1 Cor 3. ….1 Cor 3ſpirituales, & rrPhil. 3. 20.Phil 3:20coeleſtes eſſe, juxta ſententiam Scriptoris ejuſdem Epiſtolae? Abſit hoc, &c. He there proves all the Apoſtles equal to Peter, and all Biſhops to the Pope, out of Cyprian and others.