Romanism Discussed, Treatise · Article 1 · Section 10
SECT. X.
The defect of H. T. his catalogue of ſucceſſion in the eleventh and twelfth age is ſhewed.
IN the eleventh age are reckoned eighteen Popes worſe, if it may be, as bad as any in hell; moſt of them magicians, if their own writers ſpeak truth: from Sylveſter the ſecond, to Gregory the ſeventh, all Necromancers, ſaith Benno a Cardinal of Rome; John the ſeventeenth or eighteenth, H. T. himſelf is not reſolved whether, ſo uncertain is his ſucceſſion on which he builds the truth of his church. Their practiſes were to poyſon one another, and to ſet up one King and Emperor againſt another to advance their own greatneſs, and to domineer over the greateſt Princes by the terror of their excommunications, and giving away their dominions: which was brought to a ſtupendous heighth by Hildebrand, otherwiſe Gregory the ſeventh, under whoſe reign Satan ſeems to have been let looſe for the executing of vengeance on the Emperors, that had ſo adored Popes, as to become their vaſſals (whom Pope Gregory the great acknowledged his Lord) and committed fornication with the whore of Babylon.
Of councils H. T. names but one, telling us, that in this eleventh age about the year 1049. Berengarius an Archdeacon of Ghent (of Aniou he ſhould have ſaid, miſtaking Gaudavenſis for Adegavenſis) began to broach his hereſie (he ſhould more truely have ſaid the doctrin of Chriſt, his Apoſtles, the Fathers, even Gelaſius himſelf Biſhop of Rome, in the firſt five hundred years, and of the moſt learned to that time) concerning the B. Sacrament, affirming it to be only a ſign or figure of the body and blood of Chriſt, not his true body and blood; for which, ſaith H. T. he was condemned in the council of Lateran under Pope Nicolas the ſecond, 1057. As alſo in the Roman council under Pope Gregory the ſeventh, Anno 1073. where he abjured his hereſie in open council, and died a Catholick after divers penances done for his ſin. But methinks H. T. ſhould be aſhamed to mention Berengarius his forced abjuration, in which Pope Nicolas made him ſay, I believe that the body of our Lord Jeſus Chriſt ſenſibly and in very deed is touched with the hands of the Prieſts, and broken with, and rent, and ground with the teeth of the faithful, de con. diſt. 2. Erg… Berengarius, which occaſioned the gloſs it ſelf to ſay, unleſs you warily underſtand theſe words of Berengarius, you will fall into a greater hereſie than ever he held any. And for his Catholick profeſſors and Nations converted, wherein or how far they avowed the Popes ſupremacy, and the now Roman faith is not ſhewed by him; nor do I believe he is able to prove, that they did avouch the Popes ſupremacy which is now challenged, or in all things the now Roman doctrin, though Romiſh ſuperſtitions, and the exceſſive eſteem of the Popiſh Biſhops did very much corrupt men in thoſe days. If the ignorant devotion of one Henricus the Emperor with his wife, make any thing for the credit of the Roman papacy; the ſtory of another Henricus, to wit, the fourth, his wife and childs uſage by Gregory the ſeventh and other Popes is ſuch, as that it demonſtrates the Popes of thoſe times to have been no ſucceſſors of Peter, either in doctrine or practice, but devils incarnate rather than men. And however Anſelms learning ſeem to credit the papacy, yet in many points of doctrin he is not for the now Roman tenents, as where he ſaith on Rom. 12. ſalvation conſiſteth not in mans merits, but in Gods grace, and his contention with the King of England, being animated by the Pope is an evidence, that the faith of Chriſt was not ſo much profeſſed then as the greatneſs of Biſhops, and the unrighteous ways of Clergymen.
In the twelfth age are reckoned up eighteen Popes and three Lateran councils, of which Popes it will be hard for H. T. to ſhew what their faith was, or to prove they did orderly ſucceed, eſpecially conſidering how many Antipopes were ſet up, and what abominable practices were uſed to get up into the chair, and how wickedly they lived, as men that cared not what rebellions they raiſed, what wars and bloodſheds they cauſed, not againſt infidels, but of ſubjects againſt their ſoveraign Chriſtian Emperors; not for the Goſpel of Chriſt, or their lawful liberties, but for the Popes moſt impudent claim of freedom from ſubjection to Emperors, and inveſtiture of Biſhops and Abbats, things which Jeſus Chriſt and his Apoſtles never granted, but commanded the contrary. Their own writers tell us ſo much of them, ſpecially of Calixtus the ſecond, Innocent the ſecond, Adrian the fourth, Alexander the third, and their monſtrous pride in oppreſſing and inſulting on the Emperors, beyond what is to be found in any Prieſts of Pagan Gods towards the Princes of the earth, as ſhews them to be inſpired by the devil, not guided by the Spirit of God. H. T. adds three Lateran councils for inſtauration of diſcipline, for the right of the Clergy, for reformation, with preſidency of Calixtus the ſecond, Anno 1122 of Innocent the ſecond, Anno 1139. which he tells us defined little in matters of controverſie, and ſo by his own confeſſion prove not his ſucceſſion in the profeſſion of the ſame faith. As for the ends in thoſe two councils, which he mentions, all the inſtauration of diſciplin therein was concerning monks in the former, and in the later, the right of the clergy was about the Biſhop of Romes power in civil things at Rome, and exempting of clergy men from the Senate and Conſuls of Rome. Wherein the Romans deſired to be reſtored to their ancient power in civil things, but the Pope and his council withſtood it, anathematizing them that laid hands on a clergy man, yet limiting the Biſhop of Rome in ſome ſort. Theſe are the great buſineſſes of three hundred at one time, and one thouſand Biſhops and Abbats at another time. Which may ſhew how little the Popes and councils then regarded Chriſts doctrin or precepts, but minded the upholding their own inventions and their uſurpations of power.
The third Lateran Council, ſaith H. T. (Fathers three hundred) for reformation, Pope Alexander the third preſiding, Anno Domini 1179. condemned Waldenſis the Merchant of Lyons, who taught the Apoſtles were lay men, that lay men and women might conſecrate and preach, that clergy men ought to have no poſſeſſions or properties, that oaths were unlawful in all caſes, that Prieſts and Magiſtrates by mortal ſin fell from their dignity, and were not to be obeyed, &c. His tenents were here defined againſt, and he himſelf anathematized.
But ſuppoſe all this were true that he ſo taught, and that the Pope with his council condemned him, what is this to prove H. T. his minor, that a council in that age profeſſed the ſame faith with the now Roman againſt the Proteſtants? Are the contrary tenents any of the Articles, which in his Manual of Controverſies H. T. defends againſt the Proteſtants? do the Proteſtant churches in their confeſſions avow the ſame, which he here ſaith the council aſcribed to Waldenſis the Merchant of Lyons? but to ſhew the ignorance of this ſcribler, the perſon who was Merchant of Lyons in France was Petrus Waldus, from whom his followers were termed Waldenſes, whom I find to have been condemned in ſome council at Rome about that time, but in the Lateran council 1179. I find other decrees about Prieſts continency, the number of horſes clergy men might have in their viſitations, and the exemption of Eccleſiaſticks from the judgement of Laicks, which it ſeems were the great buſineſs of reformation. As for the Waldenſes there is no cauſe to believe adverſaries in their accuſations of them, eſpecially ſuch ignorant and malicious men as the Friers and Monks of former and later times have been. Beſides the experience which after ages yeilded about their belying Wicklef, Hus and others; our own times yeild many examples of Papiſts falſly reporting the tenents of Proteſtants. Though Bellarmin be more ingenuous in ſetting down the Proteſtants doctrin than many other writers, yet there's ſcarce a controverſie, wherein he doth not deal deceitfully in repreſenting the Proteſtants doctrin or their arguments and anſwers. But the writings, profeſſions, apologies put forth by Balthaſar Lydius in Latin, ſhew that the opinions of the Waldenſes were not ſuch as the Papiſts repreſent them, and the words of Reinerius an inquiſitor and enemy to them in his book of inquiſition concerning them, doth more truely acquaint us what they were, which are thus, that whereas all other ſects by the immanity of their blaſphemies againſt God do make men abhor them, this of the Lyoniſts (the ſame with the Waldenſes) hath a great ſhew of godlineſs, becauſe they live juſtly before men, and do believe all things well of God, and all the articles which are contained in the Creed; only the Church of Rome they do blaſpheme and hate. And now we have more full knowledge of them, by Mr. Morlands hiſtory of the Evangelical Churches of Piedmont. As for the Catholick profeſſors H. T. adds in this age, though Bernardus Abbas, commonly called St. Bernard be reckoned as a profeſſor of the new Roman faith, and it is not denied that he was ſuperſtitious in ſome points; yet he freely noted divers corruptions then ariſing, as the feaſt of the Virgin Maries conception, which tended to uphold the conceit of her freedom from ſin, Ep. 174. ad can. Lugd. the opinion of merits, ſerm. 1. de annunt. of juſtification by works, cant. ſerm. 22. & ep. 190. of freewill, de grat. & lib. arb. of keeping the law, cant. ſer. 50: of ſeven Sacraments, ſer. 1. de Caena Domini, of uncertainty of Salvation, ep. 107. and the Popes greatneſs in temporalities, l. 2. confid. ad Eugen. And for Hildegardis the Nunne, her ſpeeches and prophecies ſhewed her diſlike of the proceedings of the clergy even of the Popes. Noribertus and ſome others were noted for their ſuperſtitious waies of Monkery, Thomas Becket of Canterbury, for his obſtinacy againſt his Prince Henry the ſecond, whom he traiterouſly oppoſed to uphold the wickedneſs of the clergy, and others named, whether they were of good or bad note it is of little moment, ſith its not denied there were too many then infected with the Roman errors and ſuperſtitions. Nor is it of much advantage, that Nicolas the Monke, after Pope, converted the Pomeranians and Norwegians, that Pope being bad enough, and the converſion, if to Romiſh ſuperſtition, rather than Chriſtian faith, little crediting the Romiſh Church.