CHAP. II. IMPOSSIBILITY OF RECONCILIATION, FROM THE NATURE OF THE SECT. 1. From the Impuration or Corruption of the Roman Church. BUT, to leave this first head of our adversaries' indisposition to peace, say that the Papists could be content to hearken to an agreement, which I can never hope to see while Rome is itself; say they should seek it: yet, as things now stand, while they will not and we may not stir one inch from our station of judgment, God forbids, the truth debars our reconciliation. We dare not, whatsoever some kind-hearted mediators may persuade us, either divide Christ, or betray him with a kiss. The truth is on high: "They may well ascend to us," as Leo said of old *; "but for us to descend to them, is neither safe nor honest." First of all, how too plain is it, that THE ROMAN CHURCH IS PALFABLY DECLINED FROM THAT ANCIENT PURITY OF RELIGION, WHICH SHE ONCE PROFESSED! It is not more certain and sensible, that the City of Rome is descended from her seven hills to the Martian plains, that lie below them; or, that the spiteful heathens of old, as Eusebius reports †, turned the sacred monument of the tomb of Christ into the temple of their Venus. What a cloud of witnesses have we, of this noted decay of that Church! yea, witnesses of their own! To begin with that other sex. Hildegardis, a nun and a famous prophetess of her time, accuses the Apostolical Order of the utter extinguishing of religion amongst them: Matilda or Maud, who lived in the same age, censures them with common apostacy from the Christian Faith: and both of them, by some extraordinary revelation, clearly and directly prophesied of this religious and holy restoration of the Church, which our days see accomplished . St. Brigit §, the foundress of the Order of St. Saviour, which was canonized by Pope Urban, sticks not to teach openly in her writings, that the Pope doth " torment, yea, crucify the souls of the elect" and boldly foretells, that all his followers and abettors and whole clergy shall be cut off, and that his See shall sink down into the bottom of hell **: and this she doth so tartly and vehe Epist. ad Euph. Pell. cit. 1. iii. de Laicis. + Euseb. Hist. 1. iii. c. 25. S. Brig. Præfixa Revel. || Anno 1370. imò crucifigere electorum animas, &c. Proph. Rythmic. ** Revel. Extr. c. 8. mently, that the Romanists of those times threatened and endeavoured to burn her alive. Robert, our Bishop of Lincoln, to whom the greatness of his head gave a homely but famous name *, whom Illyricus mis-nameth Rupertus, a worthy and peerless man in his age, durst, before the Pope's own face, openly accuse the pastors of his time to be the spoilers of the earth, the dispersers and devourers of God's flock, the utter wasters of the holy vineyard of God. That Carthusian of Coleyne †, which is said to have gathered that Book of the Bundle of Times ‡, complains that truth was then perished from the sons of men. Petrus de Aliaco, a Cardinal, confesses that the ancient Divines built up the Church, but the then present seducers destroyed it §. And unto these agree John de Rupescissa || a monk; Picus, earl of Mirandula ; Trithemius, the abbot; Laurence Valla; and those worthy lights of the Council of Basil, the Cardinal of Arles and Thomas de Corsellis **. But Nicholas Clemangis, the archdeacon of Bayeux, speaks nothing but stones and bullets; who, in a whole volume, hath freely painted out the corrupt estate of the Church ++: neither did Dominicus, Bishop of Brixia, speak any whit more sparingly; who, even in those times, durst set before his book this title, "The Reformation of Rome" to say nothing of Joachim; of Peter, of Ferrara, the lawyer; of the three Theodoricks; of Lyra, Petrarch, Gerson, Everard the Bishop of Salisburg, Erasmus, Cassander, Espencæus, the Jury of Cardinals selected by Paul the Third, (amongst which, Gasper Coteranus, James Sadolet, and our Cardinal Poole were, as they might, of eminent note) Alvarus Pelagius §§, Savanarola | of Florence; and whomsoever those times yielded at once both learned and good. Even Pope Adrian himself, the Sixth of that name, while he instructs his legate in his message, censures the Church; and ingenuously complains, that all was gone to wreck and ruin. What shall we then say to this? Can any man be so partial, as to think that so many saints of both sexes, prophets, prophetesses, monks, doctors, cardinals, popes, should, as Jerome speaks of the Luciferian heretics, merely devise these slanders to the disgrace of their holy mother? If any man be so mad, he is well worthy to be ever deceived. Indeed, Rome was once a holy city ¶¶ but now, as no less famous the other way, she is become a city of blood ***. This grape is grown a dry raisin ttt. Neither did that good hermit, Antony, so justly say of his Alexandria, as we may now of Rome; "Woe to * Grosseteste in Manusc. An. 1250. Lish. Habetur initio Polychron. Ranulph, Jo. Trevisa, translated into Engin Manuscript. Anno 900. Anno 1350. lib. Vade mecum. ** Enæas Syl. de Gest. Con# Lib. Reform. Cur. Rom. Anno 1400. §§ Aventin. Annal. lib. vii.-Osiand. Confut. Thes. Coster. Il Jo. Mirandula, Marsil. Fecin. et Comineus report him to have been a prophet.-Espenc. in Tit.-Ostand Papa non Papa. *** D'OM T). Ezek. xxiv. 6, 9. Idyl. zn. Τα Matt. iv. 5. πολίς ἁγία. +++ Αταφυλις ταφίς ἐτι Theocrit. thee, thou strumpetly city, into which the devils out of all the rest of the world have assembled themselves *." Certainly, therefore, so shameful and general a deformity could not but be discerned by our latter Papists; and, to avoid all shifts, we have gently and lovingly laid our finger upon these spots: but, in the mean time, how heinously have they taken it! and, as Ruffinus speaks of Apollinaris the heretic, while they are transported with the vicious humour of contention, and will be crossing every thing that is spoken, out of the vain ostentation of a strong wit, they have improved their idle brabbles to heresies. Jerome said wittily; "They use to wink and deny, which believe not that to be done, which they would not have done." Impossibility of Reconciliation arising from the wilful Fable of the Pope's Infallibility. IT is therefore a most lamentable and fearful case, that a Church, which, of her own favourites, is justly accused of many and dangerous errors, should block up against herself the way whereby she should return into the truth; and, as Francis à Victoria honestly complains, should neither endure her own evils, nor their remedies. For, while she stands upon it, that she cannot err; and stubbornly challenges unto her chair a certain "IMPECCANCY OF JUDGMENT," that we may borrow a word from Tertullian ; what hope can now remain of recovering the truth? How are we now too saucy, that dare mutter ought against her! The first hope of health must needs be fetched from the sense and acknowledgment of the disease. That of the Epicure is common and true: "The beginning of recovery is the knowledge of the fault." “Thou must find thyself amiss," saith Seneca ¶, ere thou canst amend thyself." Rome brags that she cannot be sick: what do we now talk of medicines for her? These Doctrinal Principles, as our Stapleton calls them, are they, from which a certain fatal necessity of erring must needs follow." 66 For, to what purpose is all this we do? If, upon the sentence of this Romish Oracle; for in the closet, or prison rather, of his breast, as Jerome objected to John of Jerusalem **, the Church is included; all things do so depend, that, whatsoever he shall determine must be received without all contradiction, and his decree can by no inferior means be repealed: in vain, do we wrangle for truth; in * Hier. de Vitâ Pauli. + Ruff. 1. i. c. 20. Dum contentionis vitio nimis aguntur, &c. Hier. Advers. Luciferianos. § Fr. à Victoria Relect. quarta de Potestate Papæ et Concilii: Propos. duodecima: Sect. ultima. Proventum est ad hunc talem statum, ubi nec mala nostra, net remedia pati pos sumus. Judicii impeccantiam. Senec. Ep. 28. ad Fammach, de Error. Joh. Hierosol. An tu solus Ecclesia? **Epist. vain, have all those former Synods both met and defined; in vain, do we either teach or learn ought of any other master. Is it possihle she should ever be drawn to remorse for her error, which eageriv defends that she cannot err? Either, therefore, let our Papists suffer this vain opinion of Infallibility to be pulled up by the very roots out of their breasts, or else there can be no hope so much as of a consultation of peace. And, do we think that our masters beyond the Alps will ever abide themselves stripped of this darling, which they have made so dainty of all this while? Why do we not as well demand St. Peter's throne, and his revenues; and, together with his patrimony, all the body of religion? For, what one tittle is there of the now-Roman Faith, that hangs not on this string? Let them give us this, and Rome falls alone; and lies shamefully in the dust. Let them deny it us, and she shall be still that great harlot, still an enemy to peace, still hateful to heaven. But, so far are their modern Doctors from an ingenuous rejection of Infallibility, that no age ever knew so well how to flatter a Pope. For, not only have some yielded this unto him, without a Council; as Albert Pighius *, Gretser, Bellarmin †, and all Jesuits wheresoever: but some others; as Gregory of Valentia, have fastened this upon him, without any care or study required on his part. O happy chair of Peter, firm, eternal, full of prodigious virtue! which if we might imagine a wooden one, I should sure think were made of Irish oak: there is no spider of error can touch it, but presently dies. Behold, the tables, written with God's own hand, were soon broken and gone; but the bars of thy frame can feel no age, cannot incur the danger of any miscarriage. Sure I think Vilius Rufus is alive again; which, because he sat in the same seat wherein Julius Cæsar had sat, and married Cicero's wife, had wont to vaunt of botli: as if he should sure be Casar, for his seat; or, for his wife, Cicero §. Belike, all the virtue of it is from Peter. It is well, that his other successors conferred nothing towards it: lest, perhaps, Alexander the VIth., should have turned the succeeding popes into letchers; Clement, into sacrilegious church-robbers; Julius, into swaggerers; Benedict, Gregory, Sylvester, into simonists; Pascalis, into perjurers; Pope Joan of Mentz, into women; Martin and that other Sylvester, into magicians; the two Johns, into devils incarnate ||. Now, on the other part, can any man be so foolish, to hope that our Church will ever be so mad, as thus basely to bolster up the great bridge-maker of Tiber: as though we could be ignorant, how Christ never either performed or promised them any such privi * Lib. iv. Hier. Eccl. si maturè procedat. + Bel. l. iv. de Pont. Rom. c. 2. ‡ G. Valentia. Analys. Fidei. 1. viii. de Vi et Usu Auctorit. Romani Pontific. in Fide. Quæst, sexta. Respondeo, sive Pontifex in definiendo studium adhibeat, sive non adhibeat: modò tamen controversiam definiat, infallibiliter certè definiet, atque adeo re ipsâ utitur authoritate sibi à Christo concessa, &c. § Xiphilin Epit. Dionis. Tiberio. dippy Ty Kaioap iQ §, &c. || Quær. Plat. de Vitis Pontif. Clem. vi. Jul. ii. Ben, ix. Greg. vi. Sylvest. iii. Mart. ii. Sylvest. ii. Joh. xxiii, and xxiv. lege? For, where is it written, as Luther jested well, unless perhaps at Rome, in St. Peter's, upon some chimney, with a coal? Christ said, indeed, Thou art Peter: but, "Thou art Paul the Fifth," he never said. He said, I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not so he said too, Go behind me, Satan, thou savourest not the things of God. Now, let this Oracle of the Chair teach us, how he can, at once, make himself full heir of the promise, and yet shift off the censure at pleasure. Yet, to tread in the steps of the times, as though we could not know that the following ages knew not of this; not Policrates and Irenæus, which resisted Victor the Pope; not Cyprian, which opposed Stephen; not the Fathers of Calcedon, which would not yield to Leo; nor the Eastern Bishops, which would not yield to Julius; nor the Fathers of Constantinople, which refused to yield to Vigilius and Honorius: yea, of the latter days, those, which have had either sense or shame, as John Gerson, Chancellor of Paris, Turrecremata, Almaine, Alphonsus de Castro, Pope Adrian the VIth, Archbishop Catharinus, Cardinal Cajetan, Franciscus à Victoria; and who not, of the best rank of their doctors, have not feared openly to deny and disclaim this fancy t. And Alphonsus shall give a reason thereof, for all: "There are many unlearned Popes," saith he ‡, "that know not so much as the rules of grammar: how then should they be able to interpret the Holy Scrip tures ?" As though we knew not which of their Popes favoured Arius, which Montanus, which Nestorius, which Atacius, which the Monothelites, which the Sadducees, and which were in league with Devils; which of them have defined contrary to their fellows, and which contrary to God; and, that I may use Jerome's words, how silly a pilot hath ofttimes steered the leaking vessel of the Church! As though every tapster and tinker, now-a-days, could not point. their finger to the long bead-roll of Popes; and say, "Such and such were the monsters of men §: such," as Platina ||, Lyra ¶, Genebrard ** confess, "were apotactical and apostatical miscreants." I wis, their life hath been long the table-talk of the world, as Bernard speaks. There can, therefore, be no peace possible, unless they will be content to be headless, or we can be content to be the slaves of Rome. Imagine, they could be so ingenuous, as to confess that the same serpent, which insinuated himself of old into paradise, might perhaps creep closely into Peter's chair; yet there would be no less controversy, de facto, than of the possibility of error. |