quoted by Gratian out of the Epistle of Pope Pelagius the Second*, Universalis autem nec etiam Romanus Pontifex appelletur: "Not the Bishop of Rome himself may be called Universal." Yet how famously is it known to all the world, that the same Gregory's next successor, save one, Boniface the Third, obtained this title of Universal Bishop from the Emperor Phocas; which the said Emperor gave him, in a spleen against Cyriacus, Patriarch of Constantinople, for delivering Constantina, the wife of Mauritius and her children †; or, as some others relate it, upon a worse occasion! And, accordingly, was this haughty title communicated by the same power to the See of Rome; and, by strong hand, ever since maintained. This qualification, their Registrar Platina confesses 1, was procured, not without great contention And Otho Frisingensis fully and ingenuously writeth thus: "Gregory departed hence, to the Lord: after whom, the next save one, Boniface, obtained of Phocas, that, by his authority, the Roman Church might be called the Head of all Churches: for, at that time, the See of Constantinople (I suppose, because of the seat of the empire translated thi ther) wrote herself the first." Thus, their Bishop Otho. Now, if any man shall think, that hence it will yet follow, that the See of Rome had formerly enjoyed this honour, however the Constantinopolitan, for the present, shouldered with her for it; let him know the ground of both their challenges: which, as it was supposed by Otho, so is fully, for the satisfaction of any indifferent judgment, laid forth in the General Council of Chalcedon. "The same," say those Fathers," we determine of the privileges of the most holy Church of Constantinople, called New Rome. For the Fathers have justly heretofore given privilege to the Throne of Old Rome, because that city was then the Governess of the World: and, upon the same consideration, were the hundred and fifty Bishops, men beloved of God, moved to yield equal privileges to the Throne of New Rome; rightly judging, that this city, which is honoured with the empire and senate, and is equally privileged with Old Rome, the then Queen of the World, should also, in ecclesiastical matters, be no less extolled and magnified." Thus they. And this Act is subscribed, Bonifacius, Presbyter Ecclesiæ Romanæ, statui et subscripsi: "I, Boniface, Presbyter of the Church of Rome, have so determined and subscribed:" Et cæteri &c. And, the rest of the Bishops of divers provinces and cities subscribed. What can be more plain? This Headship of the Bishop was in regard of the See; and this Headship of the See was in regard of the preeminence of the City; which was variable, according to the changes of times, or choice of emperors. * Pelag. II. Omnibus Episcopis illicitè à Joan. et Decret. p. 1. Dis'. 99. c. 4. Nullus &c. + Baron. An. 606. Plat, in Vitâ Bonif. III. § Gregorius migravit ad Dominum, &c. A qu», &c. ut, ipsius au horil: te, &c. Otho Frising. I. v. c. 8. Concil. v. Gener. Act. 15. But Binius wrangleth here. Can we blame him, when the freehold of their Great Mistress is so nearly touched? "This Act," saith he*, "was not Synodical; as that which was closely and cunningly done, in the absence of the Pope's Legates, and other Orthodox Bishops; at the instance of Anatolius, Patriarch of Constantinople, an ambitious man, by the Eastern Bishops only." How can this plea stand with his own confessed subscription? Besides, that their Caranza, in his Abridgment, shews † that this point was long and vehemently canvassed in that Council, between Lucentius and Boniface, Legates of the Roman Church; and the rest of the Bishops: and, at last, so concluded, as we have related; not, indeed, without the protestation of the said Legates : Nobis præsentibus, &c: "The Apostolic See must not, in our presence, be abased." Notwithstanding, this Act then carried; and, after this, Pope Simplicius, succeeding to Hilarius, made a decree to the same purpose, not without allusion to this contention for precedency, that Rome should take place of Constantinople §. Yea, so utterly unthought of was this absolute Primacy and Headship, of old; as that, when the Roman Dition was brought down to a Dukedom, and subjected to the Exarchate of Ravenna, the Archbishop of Ravenna, upon the very same grounds, stuck not, as Blondus tells us, to strive with the Bishop of Rome, for priority of place. So necessarily was the rising or fall of the Episcopal Chair annexed to the condition of that city, wherein it was fixed. But, in all this, we well see what it is, that was stood upon; an arbitrable precedency of these Churches, in a priority of order. And, according thereunto, the Bishop of Rome || is determined to be Prime Sedis Episcopus, "The Bishop of the First See:" a style, which our late learned sovereign professed, with Justinian, not to grudge unto the modern Bishops of that See. But, as for a Primacy of Sovereignty over all Churches; and such a Headship, as should inform and enliven the body, and govern it with infallible influences ¶; it is so new and hateful, as that the Church, in all ages, hath opposed it to the utmost: neither will it be endured, at this day, by the Greek Church; notwithstanding the colourable pretence of subscription hereunto, by their dying Patriarch Joseph of Constantinople, in the late Florentine Council **: and the Letters of Union subscribed by them, anno 1539. Yea, so far is it from that, as that their Emperor Michael Paleologus, for yielding a kind of subjection of the Eastern Bishops to the Roman, would not be allowed the honour of Christian Burial; as * Sever. Bin. in Notis Concil. Chalced. Sedes Apostolica, nobis præsentibus, humiliari non debei. Ibid. + Caranz. Epitom. Concil. Constantinopolitano Episcopo damnato, Ecclesiarum omnium primam esse Romanam. Caranz. Epit. Concil. Carthag. iii. Can. 26. Decr. p. 1. d. 99. poedgías privilegium concessum à Justiniano. Sancimus senioris Roma Papam primum esse omnium Sacerdotum. Prærog, ante alios residendi. Cod. de sacros. Eccl. decernimus. Influentia vita. Capistran. Influentia regiminis. August. Triumph. ** Bin, in Concil. Florent. Amylius hath recorded*. And, in our time, Basilius, the Emperor of Russia, which challengeth no small part in the Greek Church, threatened to the Pope's Legate, as I have been informed, an infamous death and burial, if he offered to set foot in his dominions; out of a jealous hate of this usurpation. SECT. 2. The Newness of challenged Infallibility. THE particulars of this new arrogation of Rome are so many, that they cannot be pent up in any strait room. I will only instance in some few. The Pope's INFALLIBILITY OF JUDGMENT is such a paradox, as the very histories of all times, and proceedings of the Church, do sufficiently convince. For, to what purpose had all Councils been called, even of the remotest Bishops; to what purpose were the agitations of all controversial causes in those assemblies, as Erasmus justly observes; if this opinion had then obtained? Or, how came it about, that the sentences of some Bishops of Rome were opposed by other Sees, by the successors of their own, by Christian Academies; if this conceit had formerly passed for current with the world? How came it to pass, that whole Councils have censured and condemned some Bishops of Rome for manifest heresies; if they were persuaded, beforehand, of the impossibility of those errors? Not to speak of Honorius, of Liberius, and others; the Council of Basil shall be the voice of common observation: Multi Pontifices &c : "Many Popes," say they †, "are recorded to have fallen into errors and heresies." Either all stories mock us, or else this parasitical dream of impeccancy in Judgment, is a mere stranger: and his disguise is so foul, that it is no marvel, if Errare non possum, "I cannot err,' seemed to Eberhardus, Bishop of Saltzburgh ‡, no other than the suit of an Antichrist. SECT. 3. The Newness of the Pope's Superiority to General Councils. How bold and dangerous a Novelty is that, which Cardinal Bellarmin, and with him the whole Society, and all the late fautors of that *P. Emyl. Hist. Gall. + Multi Pontifices in errores et hæreses lapsi esse leguntur. Concil. Basil, in Ep. Synod. t Aventin. 1. vii. See (after the Florentine Synod) stick not to avouch! Summus Pontifex &c: "The Pope is absolutely ABOVE THE WHOLE CHURCH, AND ABOVE A GENERAL COUNCIL; so as he acknowledges no judge on earth over himself." How would this have relished, with those well near a thousand Fathers in the Council of Constance; who punctually determined thus t; Ipsa Synodus &c: "This Synod, lawfully assembled in the Holy Ghost, making a General Council representing the Catholic Church militant upon earth, hath immediately power from Christ; whereunto every man, whosoever he be, of what state or dignity soever, although he be the Pope himself, is bound to obey in those things, which pertain to faith or to the extirpation of schism?" And, fifteen years after that ‡, the General Council of Basil, wherein was president Julianus, Cardinal of St. Angelo, the Pope's Legate, defined the same matter in the same words. It is no marvel, if Cardinal Bellarmin, and some others of that strain, reject these, as unlawful Councils. But they cannot deny, first, that this decree was made by both of them: secondly, that the Divines there assembled, were, in their allowance, Catholic Doctors; and such, as, in other points, adhered to the Roman Church; insomuch as they were the men, by whose sentence John Huss and Jerome suffered no less than death: and yet, even so lately, did these numerous Divines, in the voice of the Church, define the superiority of a Council above the Pope. What speak we of this, when we find that the Bishops of the East excommunicated in their assembly Julius, the Bishop of Rome himself, amongst others, without scruple; as Sozomen reporteth §. How ill would this doctrine or practice now be endured! Insomuch as Gregory of Valence dare confidently say, that whosoever he be, that makes a Council superior to the Pope, fights directly, though unawares, against that most certain point of faith, concerning St. Peter's and the Roman Bishop's Primacy in the Church, SECT. 4. The New Presumption of Papal Dispensations. FROM the opinion of this supereminent power, hath_flowed that common course of DISPENSATIONS with the Canons and Decrees of Councils, which hath been, of late, a great eye-sore to moderate beholders. Franciscus à Victoria makes a woeful complaint of it ||, professing to doubt, whether, in the end of the year, there be more that have leave by this means to break the laws, than those that are tied to keep them thereupon wishing, for remedy, that there were a re Bell, l. ii. de Concil. c. 17. + Concil. Const. sess. 4. et 5. Caranz. anno 1415. Fr. Victor. Relect, de Potest. Papæ et Concil. p. 151, straint made of those now-boundless Dispensations: and, at last, objecting to himself that such a decree of restriction would be new and not heard of in any former Council, he answers, Tempore Conciliorum antiquorum &c: "In the time of the ancient Councils, Popes were like to the other Fathers of those Councils; so as there was no need of any Act, for holding them back from this immoderate licence of dispensing: yea, if we do well turn over the laws and histories of the Ancients, we shall find, that Popes did not presume so easily and commonly to dispense with Decrees of Councils; but observed them, as the Oracles of God himself: yea, not only did they forbear to do it, ordinarily; but, perhaps not once, did they ever dispense at all against the Decrees of Councils; but now," saith he, "by little and little are we grown to this intemperance of Dispensations, and to such an estate as that we can nei ther abide our mischiefs nor our remedies." Thus that learned Spaniard, in an honest confession of the degenerate courses of the late Popes, from the simple integrity of their predecessors. What should I add unto these, the presumptuous Dispensations with vows and oaths, with the Laws of God himself, with the Law of Nature? a privilege, ordinarily both yielded and defended by flattering Canonists; and that, which meets with us, at every turn, in Hostiensis, Archidiaconus, Felinus, Capistranus, Triumphus, Angelus de Clavasio, Petrus de Ancorano, Panormitan; as is largely particularized by our learned Bishop of Derry †. SECT. 5. The New Challenge of Popes' domineering over Kings and Emperors. I MAY well shut up this scene, with that notorious Innovation of the Pope's Subducing himself from the due obedience of hIS ONCE-ACKNOWLEDGED LORD AND SOVEREIGN; and endeavouring to reduce all those imperial powers to his homage and obedience. The time was, when Pope Gregory could say to Mauritius ‡, Vobis obedientiam præbere desidero: "I desire to give you due obedience;" and, when Pope Leo came with cap and knee to Theodosius, for a Synod to be called, with Clementia vestra concedat, as Cardinal Cusanus cites it from the history. The time was, when Nemo Apostolicæ &c.: "No man did offer to take upon him the steering of the Apostolic Bark, till the authority of the Emperor had designed him;" as their Balbus, out of their own law §. That of Pope Gregory is plain enough: Ecce, serenis * Pontificalis authoritas à juramento fidelitatis absolvit. Decr. p. 2. 15. q. 6. Alius. Almain de Potest. Eccl. et Laicâ. c. 12. äxę. To μn iñ¡×ɛin was the rule of old. + Diatrib. Papa Antichr. l. iv. c. 9. Greg. 1. iv. Ep. 32. et serenissimis jussionibus obedientiam præbeo. Ivid, Hieron. Balb, de Cor. |